Reno Food Systems, with support from the Save The Bee's Foundation marked it's second year of holding their community Bee Friendly Reno campaign with a celebration at Betsy Caughlin Donnelly Park Farm. Where they provided signs to show support for saving the bees or you could make your own custom sign. All to encourage everyone to make their very own pollinator garden to help keep the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds alive to keep the environment thriving.
Melissa Gilbert, the Coordinator of the Bee Friendly campaign says "One of the things about pollinator gardens is they look a little different than lawns so when you put out a Bee Friendly Reno sign in your front lawn people know what you're doing."
Moana Nursery is one of many plant stores that sell pollination plants. The plant doctor says there are many bees hatching, and if they don't get the food they need then they die and we see less pollination in plants.
Jon Bruyn, the Plant Doctor at the Moana Nursery explains "We sell a lot of pollinator plants that produce flowers at different times of year to sustain that food production for the bees and butterflies and hummingbirds."
Pollination plants are also no more expensive than other plants, some like dandelions, are free.
Gilbert says "Dandelions are the first flower that blooms in the spring so they're actually really useful." She also says one thing that's really important is buying organic seedlings, she explains "Any seedling that's been grown with neonicotinoids is actually going to harm the fertility of the honey bee."
She also mentions bee's are responsible for 70% of our food crops, she adds "We're very rich, we have about 25% of all pollinators of bees in the United States."
On April 27, 2022 Reno City Council voted to approve the proclamation making Reno part of the Xerces Society Bee City USA project to be The Biggest Little Bee City.
