Talk and Meeting: Pollinators and the Flowers They Love

Please note: Talk will take place after the Williamstown Garden Club holds their annual meeting.

As it turns out, plants love their pollinators too! Not all pollinators are able to utilize the same types of flowers. In fact, each flowering plant has evolved a specific variety of traits designed to attract their “favorite” pollinators. Plants and their pollinators have a mutually beneficial “symbiotic” relationship.  Amy Musante will introduce the diversity of pollinators and discuss how a combination of floral traits will predict which type of pollinator will be likely to visit.  She will also provide examples of local native plants that are particularly beneficial to our local pollinators.  You can design your garden to attract specific pollinators or tailor your variety of plants to attract a diversity of pollinators.

Brief biographical information for Amy Musante:

• She is a broadly trained biologist
• Master’s Degree in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Univ of California
• 30 years studying animal behavior in birds, mammals, and insects while working for several universities, the Smithsonian Institution, California Department of Fish & Game, and the US Forest Service
• Past 10 years, breeding honey bees adapted to our challenging New England climate