POLLINATOR CONSERVATION

The Crystal Lake Park District has dedicated pollinator gardens throughout our parks.

The purpose of these concentrated gardens is to provide habitat and a food source to benefit butterflies, moths, bees and other pollinators. Pollinators are critical to the environment and our agricultural industry. One in three bites of food that a person eats in a meal has been pollinated by one of our precious pollinators.

For more information about Crystal Lake Park District Pollinators initiatives, contact Preston Skultety, Manager of Natural Resources at pskultety@crystallakeparks.org

pollinator garden locations

Nature Center Landscape Beds

Veteran Acres - Pond Buffer/Rain Garden adjacent to Acorn Alley/Rain Gardens adjacent to Rotary Building

Main Beach triangle between Dole & Lakeshore Drive

Woodscreek Park

Hampton Park

Kamijima Park shoreline

Ken Bird Park

Four Colonies Park

---

Celebrating Earth Day

On April 22, 2023, Earth Day, the Crystal Lake Park District distributed pollinator garden seed packets to Community Clean Up Volunteers. In addition, the free seed packets were available at the Nature Center and Administration Office.

The packets included the following mix of Mesic Prairie Wildflower seeds (Medium Moisture) designed to be a good fit for pollinator gardens on residential properties where height and maintenance are important considerations:

COMMON NAME	SCIENTIFIC NAME	HEIGHT	BLOOM COLOR	% OF MIX
Black Eyed Susan	Rudbeckia hirta	2'	Yellow	16
Butterfly Milkweed	Asclepias tuberosa	2'	Orange	1.6
Hoary Vervain	Verbena stricta	2'	Blue	9.6
Ohio Spiderwort	Tradescantia ohiensis	3'	Blue/Purple	1.6
Partridge Pea	Chamaecrista fasciculata	2'	Yellow	16
Prairie Blazing Star	Liatris pychnostachya	4'	Purple	1.6
Purple Coneflower	Echinacea purpurea	4'	Lt. Purple	12
Purple Prairie Clover	Dalea purpurea	2'	Purple	8
Rattlesnake Master	Eryngium yuccifolium	4'	White	1.6
Side-Oats Grama	Bouteloua curipendula	2'	Green/Brown	12
Smooth Blue Aster	Symphyotrichum laeve	4'	Blue	2.4
Smooth Penstermon	Penstemon digitalis	4'	White	6.4
Stiff Goldenrod	Oligoneuron rigidum	4'	Yellow	4.8
Wild Bergamot	Monarda fistulosa	4'	Lt. Purple	4.8
Wild Quinine	Parthenium integrifolium	4'	White	1.6

For more information about the Crystal Lake Park District Pollinators initiative, contact Preston Skultety, Manager of Natural Resources at pskultety@crystallakeparks.org.

---

BioBlitz with us! Our staff will lead community volunteers in finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time. BioBlitz participants will help Park District Natural Resources staff capture photos and data needed to build information on our area's biodiversity. This info will be used to select plants and locations that will expand pollinator pockets throughout our parks!

For more information on how to become a BioBlitzer, contact Will Sutphin.

---

CONSIDER USING NATIVE PLANTS IN LANDSCAPING

TYPES OF POLLINATORS

Many species of butterflies as well as other pollinators are in decline. Luckily, supporting them can be as simple as adding native plants to your existing landscape. Native plants have evolved with our region's conditions and can be relatively easy to establish. Adding native plants is important because many pollinators have adapted to specialize in feeding primarily on certain native species. Also, many cultivated non-native plants are selected for showy traits that sometimes diminish their pollen producing ability. The following are some of the recommended native plant types that benefit pollinators and can often be purchased at plant nurseries.

NATIVE FORBS	NATIVE GRASS	NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS
Asters	Little Blue Stem	Buckeye
Blazing Stars	Prairie Dropseed	Cherry
Bonesets	Side-oats grama	Dogwoods
Cardinal Flower		Hawthorn
Golden Rods		New Jersey Tea
Ironweeds		American Plum
Joe-pye-weeds		Eastern Redbud
Milkweeds		Spicebush
Mountain Mint
New England Aster
Phlox
Coreopsis
Bergamot

Many of these native plants can be found at your local garden center. Most centers these days will have at least a small native plant selection. There is also a growing number of nurseries specializing in native species propagation. A good resource for finding native plant suppliers in our region is The Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee based in McHenry County.

POLLINATOR FRIENDLY LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE

When land use goals allow, the following maintenance practices are also beneficial to pollinators:

• Wait to mow later into the spring as some early flowering species in turf can provide nourishment for pollinators.
• Allow a certain amount of flowering "weeds" to persist in turf by limiting or eliminating lawn treatments.
• Leave the leaves where possible in the fall as leaves provide nutrients, insulation and important cover for overwintering insects.
• Allow some bare soil areas that can host ground nesting pollinators.
• Select some early and late blooming plants that provide a food source when other sources are scarce.
• Save the stems. Hold off on pruning and snipping late spring or let the stems naturally decompose. The last growing season's stems provide nesting sites for insects and can often have insect eggs on them.
• Leave snags and logs where possible as these provide burrowing chambers for insects.

Guide to Flower Gardening for Pollinators, publication provided by Kremp Florist*