OnEBoard Celebrates Earth Day 2025: Supporting pollinator biodiversity

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This week Bob Danley lead OnEBoard's Earth Day discussion with a presentation on how you can garden for butterflies and other pollinators. 

Nina Trankova and Peggy Kolm also shared information from their corners of the planet.

Plus there's a free Earth Day badge you can download to use on social media, email, blog or website. Read on for details!

  
The slides from the presentation:

Topics

This week's OnEBoard Chat was a challenge and call to action to plant flowers to support pollinator biodiversity. 
  • The problem of declining butterfly species. 
  • Selecting flowering plants for your garden.
  • Assessing your yard and garden, your skills and available tools. 
  • Understanding your local climate, finding local nurseries, and native plants.
  • Nina shared her garden experience and local initiatives restoring biodiversity near Sofia, Bulgaria. 
  • Peggy shared information about California projects to support pollinators.

Takeaways


Bearded Iris in Nina Trankova's garden.
Bob Danley: 
  •  "So, hey, you can take action. You know, you don't have to wait for anybody, organizations or the government. you immediately can help with this challenge of declining butterfly species. Okay? And you can do it by assessing, you know, your yard or your garden, um your skill set, biological factors and hardware needs. 
  • Even if you are not a homeowner "you can still participate in this by having containers outside on your apartment patio."
  • "In fact, there is a plant, a weed that grows in the city called nettle, and that is a food source for uh some butterflies. So, you know, it's not unknown to walk down the street and see them flitting around in, you know, the concrete and steel environment. So, you know, take that as a hint that don't be so tidy in your own yard ... even dandelions are a great nectar source early in the season."
Nina Trankova: 


Seed balls for the Fukuoka method of planting
  • "... when you start the garden you should think how it will appear in the future."
  • "I also wanted to give shout out to the Povey foundation working in our small community and it's doing a fantastic job populating the nature attitude, everything related to pollinators to forestation."
Peggy Kolm: 
  • "One of the libraries in my area actually has a seed library. And the idea is that you can go and take a few seeds to plant in your garden and then they ask that you collect some seeds at the end of the season and donate them back to the seed library. And so this is a way you can get your garden going for free and sort of share the love with everyone in your community."

Free Earth Day Badge

Let everyone know you are helping butterflies and other pollinators!

The Earth Day "I Planted for Pollinators" badge has a transparent background. That means you can either share the badge directly or add it to your own photo using Photoshop, Canva, or your favorite image editing software.

Related Resources

From Bob: Recommended Reading
Use the WorldCat listing to find the books at a library near you.
  • Burris, J., & Richards, W. (2012). The life cycles of butterflies: From Egg to Maturity, a Visual Guide to 23 Common Garden Butterflies. Hachette+ORM. (WorldCat listing)
  • Hurwitz, J. (2018). Butterfly gardening: The North American Butterfly Association Guide. Princeton University Press. (WorldCat listing)
  • Roth, S. (2002). Attracting butterflies & hummingbirds to your backyard: Watch Your Garden Come Alive With Beauty on the Wing. Rodale. (WorldCat listing)
  • Vane-Wright, D., & Vane-Wright, R. I. (2015). Butterflies: A Complete Guide to Their Biology and Behavior. Comstock Publishing Associates. (WorldCat listing)
From Nina: 
From Peggy: 
▶ Join the next OnEBoardChat on YouTube on May 4, 2025.
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