Home » Blog » Happy #PollinatorWeek! Happy #PollinatorWeek! June 20, 2014 Education, Insects, Kids, Plants, Seasonal, Summer, Van Putte Gardens, Wildlife, Wildlife/Insects “Seven years ago the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Pollinator Week has now grown to be an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles.” — www.pollinator.org This year Pollinator Week is June 16-22 and we’re pretty excited about it — where would we be as a garden center without all those little guys flying around??? We see the pollinators change with the seasons and even the time of day here at Van Putte Gardens, from the excitement of the first hummingbirds in the spring, to all sorts of bees and other insects in the heart of summer, to bats swooping across the nursery to the tree line at dusk. In honor of the pollinators and all that they do, be sure to follow #pollinatorweek on Twitter for cool pollinator facts from around the globe. And in the meantime, pique your curiosity with these pollinator-sized tidbits: Pollinator Fun Facts: Over 200,000 species of animals act as pollinators. Of those, about 1,000 are hummingbirds, bats, and small mammals. The rest are insects such as beetles, bees, ants, wasps, butterflies, and moths. One out of every three mouthfuls of food we eat is delivered to us by pollinators Worker bees must visit 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey A worker bee gathers only 1/10 tsp of honey in its entire life A tiny fly (a “midge”) no bigger than a pinhead is responsible for the world’s supply of chocolate! (facts taken from www.pollinator.org and http://www.ycbk.org/Honeybee%20Facts%20and%20Trivia.htm)