Minnesota Water Garden Society

Asters and Goldenrods:  Autumn’s Pollinator Banquet

Presented by Heather Holm – award winning author

Asters are critical late summer and fall forage for native bees including many pollen-collecting specialists.  Heather will explore the nutritional components of the nectar and pollen of asters and their fall-blooming cousins the goldenrods and demonstrate the importance of these two groups of plants for native bees as well as migratory pollinating insects such as butterflies.

Heather Holm is a pollinator conservationist and award-winning author of four books:  Pollinators of Native Plants (2014), Bees (2017), Wasps (2021), and Common Native Bees of the Eastern United States (2022).  Both Bees and Wasps have won multiple book awards including the American Horticultural Society Book Award (2018 and 2022 respectively).  Heather’s expertise includes the interactions between native pollinators and native plants, and the natural history and biology of native bees and predatory wasps.  Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and many local publications.  Heather is a National Honorary Director of Wild Ones.

**PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS MEETING IS BEING HELD ON THE 3RD SUNDAY OF THE MONTH INSTEAD OF THE 2ND!