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Just over a year ago I wrote that “I’m getting pollinator steward-certified” and my quest for a science-based, effective pollinator nonprofit. I’d paid the $150 to take the Pollinator Stewardship Training program offered by the Pollinator Partnership.

What I was looking for from the training:

• For my town, a science-based alternative to the Xerces Society’s Bee City program, which started and still promotes the thoroughly discredited “No-Mow April (or  May)” campaign.  A city council member, having received my post about it, asked me to find an alternative.
• For my local garden club, the possibility of becoming a Pollinator-Certified organization (which would require that two or more members be certified individually).  I’d spoken with an outreach staffer at Pollinator Partnership about their plans for such a certification, and we were excited about being in on the ground floor.
• For writing and answering local requests for information, I was seeking a source of practical and science-based help for aspiring pollinator gardeners.

Well, here’s my report on the 7-mobile online training. To be certified, I’d need to fill out a short summary of the learning, which I did, and then complete and report on “one habitat creation action and one outreach or education action,” which I didn’t do.

What I liked in the training:

• General information about bees, butterflies, et cetera – well done and quite interesting.
• Mention of herbs and cover crops as examples of nonnative plants for pollinators, noting that they’ll benefit some but not all pollinators. E.g., lavender used by generalist foragers like bumblebees and honey bees. Some bred ornamental plants are excellent. “It’s okay to grow some plants purely for their beauty. Plant diversity and structure are important.” Aim for 3 types of plants that bloom in each of 3 seasons. (3×3 rule). Use ecoregions for picking plants.
• About the lasagna method of turf removal, the useful note that it can take three years for all the cardboard to break down.
• Noting that bee houses are trendy but can be harmful. Bare ground is good. Avoid mulch, or just use thin layer (2-3 inches) of organic mulch.

What I didn’t like in the training

• The module “Habitat Creation for Yards, and Balconies” covers only large projects created where there’s currently turfgrass, thus missing the opportunity to suggest creating and/or enlarging existing beds, borders, and islands, not to mention growing plants in pots, since the title included balconies. The instructions for “gardens, yards and balconies” somehow became quite daunting: site prep, followed by detailed instructions for sheet mulching, “lasagna gardening,” solarization, sod removal and tilling.” Nothing for small gardens or even, I’d say, DIYers.
• The list of “Plants that Attract Pollinators” in my region (Southeast Mixed Forest) excludes nonnatives.  No herbs, salvias, caryopteris, et cetera – the plants that reliably support a long season of pollinators in our gardens.
• All the stormwater management benefits of plants are ascribed to natives only.
• Asserting the thoroughly debunked claim that native plants have longer roots. (Read the summary of debunking here.)

What I partially liked in the training

• This power point page has lots of good suggestions but I’m not sure how to interpret the term “non-invasive native plants,” since the federally mandated definition of “invasive” excludes natives and you rarely see them labeled as invasive, no matter how aggressive they may be.  And we’re supposed to rid our gardens of all our other plants?  How eco-friendly or pollinator-supporting would that be? Or economical or practical, for that matter.
• The instructions for planting are good but a video would be much more instructive than still images.

Deciding against Pollinator Partnership

My fellow garden-club member and I both reported these criticisms on our feedback forms, and there was no response. Certainly the staffer who recently emailed me suggesting I blog about their stewardship training had not read my feedback report.  

One last complaint? Seeing a $20 charge to Pollinator Partnership on my Visa card recently, a charge I knew remembered nothing about. So I inquired and learned that when I initially joined their Bee-Friendly Gardening program the text did refer to a recurring fee that I’d be paying automatically until I cancelled, which I can hardly believe I agreed to! I have enough trouble keeping track of all my streaming services.  My bad, I guess.  (They did refund the $20 when asked.)

But about the fund-raising practices used by the organization, I’ll note that promised benefits of $20/year membership include chances to give them more money – for a yard sign, “exclusive access to the BFG store where you can purchase hats, brochures, and more!” and “20% off Pollinator Partnership consulting services.”

On criticizing an environmental organizations

I know that criticism of any environmental group is upsetting to some folks – I’ve heard from several over the years.  But how else can the educational content and outreach programs of well-meaning groups like this one ever improve, ever become really effective? Oh, I know – they could hire a garden writer or educator to help! Or, like the Penn State certification program mentioned below, involve Master Gardener leaders in the effort.

Sadly, Pollinator Partnership now joins the other pollinator-advocacy groups whose membership or certification programs I’ve researched and/or tried and rejected (like the Xerces Society’s Bee City program and Pollinator Pathways.)

Can we at least agree that knowledge of entomology doesn’t automatically convey knowledge of residential landscape design, of DIY gardening, or of how to incentivize people to take up pollinator gardening and then enable them to succeed at it? Instruction in pollinator gardening has to include gardening experts!

UPDATE: What I’d like to see nativism handled in pollinator garden education and certification

A lively discussion of this post ensued over on the 27K-member Garden Professors Blog Facebook group, including challenges to parts of it.  So thanks to that large group of smart, knowledgeable people, I realize I need to say how I think the native/nonnative issue could best be handled. 

So here’s my suggestion: focus on and require specialist-supporting plants, and then secondarily on generalist-supporting plants, no matter where they came from.  Focusing on function, not provenance, makes sense and would, I think, reduce the divisiveness around this topic.

And of course much better instruction in creating or adding to residential gardens, especially small ones, with lots of photos of pollinator gardens.  Ecogardeners want ideas!

A promising alternative – Penn State!

Still, I hope to find something better – more helpful, do-able, and based more in science than dogma, and I may have found it – the Pollinator Habitat Certification by Penn State (which charges a one-time $10 processing fee, by the way).  I’ll have much more to say about it after visiting the campus this summer and talking to the savvy folks who dreamed up a very impressive program indeed.

But here are just two examples of what makes Penn State’s program so promising: the actions they require for certification are targeted to do the most good, and they even offer real garden photos, like the ones at the top of this post, for inspiration and design help. Unfortunately, it’s only available to residents of Pennsylvania, but maybe my state’s extension university will get on board.  I’ll sure suggest they do!

What I’m looking for

Pollinator Partnership’s Stewardship Training – a Disappointment originally appeared on GardenRant on January 19, 2025.

The post Pollinator Partnership’s Stewardship Training – a Disappointment appeared first on GardenRant.

* This article was originally published here

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