Pollinators
Pollination is how flowers get fertilized, allowing them to create more flowers. Pollinators are important because they allow flowers to reproduce. Without them, pollen wouldn’t be able to spread as efficiently. This means we would have a lot less flowers and other plants. For a full guide on pollinators in Folly Beach, click here.
Butterflies
Butterflies are vital pollinators to ecosystems all over the world. Here in South Carolina, there are many butterfly species including swallowtails, monarchs and cabbages whites.
Monarch butterflies are frequent visitors of the Charleston coast. They are cold blooded creatures, meaning they can’t survive intense winters up north and need warmer climates to survive. In order to make their long journey, they stop along the coast of Folly Beach to fuel up.
The Migration
Each Fall, the monarchs make their journey south to Floridia and Mexico, stopping on our coast to feed on plants and drink nectar to obtain nutrients.
After a nice warm winter down south, the monarchs embark on their spring migration, travelling back up north from where they came. During this migration from March to June, the monarchs search for milkweed plants to lay their eggs on.
Why is milkweed important?
Monarch butterflies use milkweed as their host plant, meaning they lay their eggs on it. When these eggs hatch as caterpillars, they begin to eat the milkweed, a poisonous plant when ingested.
When the caterpillars turn into butterflies, this poison stays in their system, making them taste very bad to predators.
Their brightly colored orange and black pattern warn creatures thinking about eating them, “don’t eat me!”.
After a predator eats a monarch, the poison from the milkweed plant will make them feel quite sick. From this point on, when predators spot an orange and black patterned butterfly, they will stay far away.
Bonus: Thanks to SCWF, you can receive free milkweed seeds. Mailed out after April 1st, you’ll be able to plant them in spring and have them ready for summer. Sign up here.
How can I attract butterflies to my garden?
Plant milkweed
Milkweed native to South Carolina:
Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata)
Butterfly Weed (A. tuberosa)
Whorled Milkweed (A. verticillata)
White Milkweed (A. variegata)
Aquatic Milkweed (A. perennis)
Sandhill Milkweed (A. humistrata)
There are many native species of milkweed in South Carolina, read more about them here.
There are other ways to attract butterflies, like with a butterfly puddler. Learn more about this in the full guide.
Bees
Bees, known as the most efficient pollinators, are found almost everywhere on Earth. Folly Beach is home to different kinds of solitary bees.
Solitary bees
Solitary bees are types of bees that do not live “social lives”. They do not belong to a colony or produce honey, meaning they don’t protect a queen or compete with other members of their hive. Solitary bees don’t have painful stings like a bumblebee, and they do not swarm.
Due to their non-aggression, solitary bees rarely sting and are practically harmless to humans. For these reasons, they are peaceful and efficient pollinators, which is why they are perfect to have in our backyards.
Native solitary bees in Folly include leafcutter and mason bees, carpenter bees and ground nester bees.
Bee houses
We can help our local hole nesters by providing them a “bee house” to nest in. Attracting native pollinators like mason bees to your garden can help your plants blossom like never before.
To make a DIY bee house, all you need is an old soup can or another hollow container and to follow these three simple steps.
- After washing the can out, feel free to paint or decorate it to best suit your yard.
- Then, using cardboard straws or bamboo shoots, stuff the center of the can and trim appropriately to match the length of the can.
- Lastly, tie a ripe or string around the center of the can and secure it to a tree or fence in your yard!
For the complete guide to building and maintaining a bee house click here.
Check out our mason bee houses at Muriel Edge Weathers Shadow Race Park.
Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds may be the cutest pollinators of all. With their long beaks and crazy-fast wings, these little guys know how to get the pollinator job done. Due to their small size, they can hover in place, fly backwards and upside down with ease! The most common hummingbird species in South Carolina is the beautiful ruby-throated hummingbird.
You can attract hummingbirds with really any bright red or orange flower that has a high sugar content. It helps if the flowers hang down a bit, so the birds have easier access.
Native to South Carolina, the cardinal flower and bee balm are perfect for a hummingbird buffet.
How to make a hummingbird feeder
Another way to attract hummingbirds to your yard is with a hummingbird feeder. You can purchase these online or make one yourself. A whimsical DIY hummingbird feeder idea is to upcycle, using something like a glass bottle as the dispenser.
All you need:
A glass bottle
A stopper
A hook, copper wire, or rope to hang it up
To make the mix, you only need two ingredients: sugar and water.
While it might seem like a good idea to add red food coloring to the water, it can actually harm the hummingbirds. For full instructions, click here.
Bats
Bats may be the most unusual pollinator in South Carolina, but they are also arguably one of the most interesting. These mysterious, nocturnal creatures eat fruits and nectar, which means they spread pollen too.
Not only do they pollinate plants and crops, they also act as incredibly efficient natural pest control, eating things like mosquitoes late at night.
There are 14 different bat species in South Carolina, including the Eastern Red Bat. Bats save millions of dollars in crops with their extremely well-honed hunting, assisted by echolocation.
Echolocation is when bats produce a high frequency sound through their mouth or nose and listen to the echo to determine where something is. Other mammals like dolphins and whales use echolocation too, which is how they find family members or their prey.
Sadly, bats are under threat due to habitat loss. You can help bats find a safe place to sleep during the day (and get some free pest control) with a bat box.
According to Bat Conservation International, one small brown bat can eat 60 medium-sized moths or over 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in one night!
For a complete guide on building your very own bat box, click here.
Check out our bat boxes at Muriel Edge Weathers Shadow Race Park.
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