Pollinators
Pollinators are vital for our food supply, flowers, shrubs, and trees which are so important for preventing soil erosion, providing habitat for wildlife, shade, oxygen, and many of the world’s oils and raw materials as well as capturing carbon emissions. In fact, three-quarters of flowering plants and approximately 35 percent of all food crops are dependent on pollinators. We need to do all we can to ensure their survival and this page provides many tips on how to do so. Our precious pollinators are challenged by disease, parasites, chemical contaminants, climate change, and loss of habitat, which is why every little thing we can do to help them is appreciated and important. Although the wind is a source of pollination, affecting wildflowers, grasses, and trees it is the live pollinators this page is concerned with helping.
Garden Path’s list of some of the best flowers for attracting pollinators: Borage | Butterfly Bush | Coneflower (Echinacea) | Cow Parsnip | Dahlia | Daisy | Dandelion | Goldenrod | Lavender | Marigold | Milkweed | Snapdragon | Sunflower. Other plants/herbs include Zinnia, Poppy, Aster, Queen Anne’s Lace, Larkspur, Monarda, Cosmos, Oregano, Rosemary, Mint, and Marjoram.
It is advantageous for the pollinators to plant a variety of flower sizes, shapes, colors, plant heights, and plants with varying growth habits to ensure the survival of our pollinators along with planting native plants because of their abundance of nectar and pollen and their higher ability to survive due to being relatively low maintenance, drought tolerant, and generally pest free.
Other than the obvious bees, pollinators include bats, hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, flies, wasps, beetles, lacewings, black-and-white ruffed lemurs, honey possums, blue-tailed day geckos, monkeys, squirrels, mice, and other birds or animals prone to sticking their faces in places where pollen rests.

Pollinators Partnership: Pollinators need you. You need pollinators
Hashim Al Gahili: New drone can pollinate flowers, just like honeybees
David Suzuki Foundation: How to attract pollinators
Penn State: The Center for Pollinator Research
USDA – US Forest Service: Unusual Animal Pollinators
ESA: Lizards, mice, bats, and other vertebrates are important pollinators too

FB Page: Pollinator Partnership Canada
TreeHugger: Why Some Bees Are Endangered and What We Can Do to Help
Brandywine.org: Wind Pollination: Social Distancing In The Plant World
US Dept of Agriculture: Wind and Water Pollination
Endangered Species Coalition: How Climate Change Has Affected Pollinators
FB Page for Bat Conservation International: How Bats Pollinate

Beyond Pesticides: Pesticide Threat to Pollinators Decreases Agricultural and Economic Productivity, and Food Security – Since 1990, roughly a quarter of the global insect population has been vanishing, according to research published in Science.
Phys.org: Pesticides detected in pollen and nectar may pose a long-term hazard for pollinators
Big Think: Researchers breed a fungus that kills mites to save bees
EcoSnippets: Pollinators Under Pressure & How We Can Protect Them