Got food? Thank a pollinator

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This article was published 19/06/2025 (317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s nice to indulge in a little chocolate binge now and then — taking the time to unwrap your favourite bar and getting ready to enjoy it with a nice coffee on the side ….

Before you take a bite, though, take a second and thank a midge.

“There is a little midge, a tiny fly smaller than a mosquito, that pollinates the cacao plant, and without these tiny little flies, the flower can’t open,” said Sherry Punak-Murphy, chairperson of Bee City Brandon.

And for those of you who like a little tequila in your sunrise, it’s primarily hawkmoths who are doing the pollinating.

“Scientists have proven that one in three bites of food comes from pollinators,” says Punak-Murphy.

“Our pollinators pollinate watermelon, tomatoes, potatoes … They’re just not for pretty flowers, they’re also for our food sources.”

In Canada, National Pollinators Week, which wraps up on June 22, is an opportunity to draw attention to the crucial role of pollinators in the ecosystem. And when we think of pollinators, the first little fliers that come to mind are bees.

“When it comes to bees, Manitoba is very lucky,” Punak-Murphy said. “We have a bee scientist at the University of Manitoba Entomology Department, Dr. Jason Gibbs, and he and his students are doing surveys across Manitoba to determine how many bee species we have. We’re up to 392 in the province and I think around 30 are bumblebees.

“There are so many more pollinators out there that we haven’t yet identified.”

Bees aren’t the only pollinators, so Bee City Brandon and other conservation groups give their attention to a wide variety of other creatures.

“There are a whole bunch of insects and birds that pollinate. It’s actually our wild pollinators that are having issues with declining populations,” she said. “We concentrate on the native species rather than honey bees. Honey bees are considered livestock because they can’t live without us. Wild pollinator populations are decreasing because of what we’re doing — climate change, pesticides and loss of habitat are the three big ones.”

“Bee City” is a designation from Pollinator Partnership Canada which recognizes communities that support pollinators, particularly bees, with habitat creation and community engagement.

The City of Brandon also has an official bee with a scientific name that sounds like it’s right out of Game of Thrones: “Bombus ternarius” — better known as the orange belted bumblebee, who along with other insects like monarch and swallowtail butterflies, is a busy pollinator of local gardens.

“Different moth species are pollinating plants that bloom at night. People don’t think about moths as pollinators, but yes, they are! And beetles do it. And wasps will even do some,” Punank-Murphy said. “There’s a whole world within our gardens that’s going on that we don’t see because we’re not paying attention.”

Attention is crucial to conservation.

“Insects have their own sort of ecosystem. There will be some that feed on others and some that don’t. It’s a balance,” she says.

“I’ve heard it said that if somebody isn’t eating somebody in your garden, you don’t have a good garden whether it’s a plant or your insects or whatever.”

To help them thrive, pollinators need the same things we do.

“They need something to eat from early spring, all the way to late fall. They need somewhere to live. With bees, the majority of them live underground and only the queen survives and hibernates underground,” she said.

“In the fall, don’t clean up your yard all spic and span because all those broken twigs and rose twigs and raspberries are really good for nesting spots. So just leave the twigs because somebody could be nesting in them. And I always say leave a little bit of bare ground in your garden — don’t cover it all up with that black landscaping cloth as mulch because the queen needs to be able to get in and out of her nest.”

Pollinators also need a water source.

“A lot of people have bird baths but when pollinators go into the bird bath they will actually drown. I always recommend a small dish with some rocks and a little bit of water that you change every day. Different pollinators and insects will come by and take a little sip of water,” she said.

As for food, Punak-Murphy said trees, like maples, elms, apple trees, and willow, are good food sources for the queen when she emerges in the spring.

“Anything that flowers that has pollen in it is good for pollinators and we encourage native plants that are from southwestern Manitoba.”

An extensive list of plants can be found on the website at beecitybrandon.com and local greenhouses will often carry native plants.

“We have about a 90 per cent loss of native grasslands in Manitoba. It’s one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet and because we’re losing that habitat, we’re losing the pollinators,” she said.

Bee City Brandon welcomes volunteers in various roles and especially with hands-on gardening work — planting, weeding, and watering the plants — to restore the gardens at Eleanor Kidd Park.

“This is our second year planting native plants out at Eleanor Kidd Park,” she said. “We want to make it a place for pollinators, plants and people — to be an educational place with signage explaining about native plants, pollinators and Indigenous plant use. The goal is to be a hub where you can come and learn what you can do in your garden.”

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