Polinator Resources
Preserving Biodiversity
The diversity of pollinators worldwide is incredible. Each of the worlds 185 distinct bioregions has its own native species and unique conditions. Below is a collection of resources for the Willamette Valley and greater Oregon bioregion.
Did you Know?
We have an estimated 600+ species of native bees in Oregon.
Until the Oregon Bee Project was started in 2018 there had been no effort to track or identiy these important pollinators since the 1960s.
Pollinator Resources
~ Books and Publications ~
Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest
A beautiful and thorough book on the Butterflies in our region. This is absilutely a must have for anyone into native pollinators. You can purchase it on Caitlin's website.
This is a good starter guide for identifying the natives bees of Oregon. It just scratches the surface of our 600+ species, but it's a nice overview. It can be downloaded here.
The Bees of the Willamette Valley
An excellent resource for our region. The photos are stunning and the descriptions provide a great way to begin identifying our native species. It can be downloaded here.
This is a very thorough book on Bumblebees. While it's not Oregon specific, it goes into a lot of detail on their lifecycle and has excellent resources for identifying each species.
Planting for Pollinators
~ Books and Publications ~
Not Oregon specific, but a great starter guide and the native range of each plant is shown as a map.
Native Plants for Willamette Valley yards
An excellent resource for our local area. The plants are arranged by size, from large trees to small shade friendly ground cover. It's a free publication that can be downloaded here.
Plants for Pollinators in Oregon
This is a very thorough publication with a lot of Oregon specific information. One of many nice things they've included is a list of the beneficial insects each plant attracts. It's a free publication that can be downloaded here.
While not specific to planting for bees, this is my favorite Permaculture book and covers principles that can and should be applied to any gardening adventure.
This handbook is a fantastic resource written specifically to help gardeners, landscape professionals and ecologists in the Willamette Valley design and plant communities of native prairie plants in urban garden settings.