Roger Myers loves eating watermelon in summertime.

When he and his wife, Judy, moved out to Swanton 22 years ago, he was excited to grow some of his own. They even purchased their house because of its wide, expansive garden. But that summer, his watermelon plant didn’t bear any fruit.

“The garden wouldn’t pollinate the first year,” Mrs. Myers said. “We had a friend who had bees and we thought, ‘Oh, maybe Walter can help us get started.’ So he did.”

Over the years, beekeeping has gone from hobby to profession for Mr. and Mrs. Myers, who now work full-time collecting and selling Myers Honey. Mr. Myers said they now have 75 hives.

Matt Markey

Protecting pollinators deserves an appropriate, urgent buzz

Mr. Myers has been president of the Maumee Valley Beekeepers Association for the last eight years. The group has about 80 members and meets monthly for classes or discussions.

“If you give 10 beekeepers a problem to solve they’ll have 12 different ways to solve it,” he said with a laugh.

“They’re an interesting bunch,” Mrs. Myers added.

In recent years, the Maumee Valley Beekeepers Association has seen an influx of new members. Mr. Myers attributes this spike in interest to the high-profile plight of the bee community.

“People hear on the news that all the bees are dying so they want to do something to save them,” he said.

To many, bees are pesky at best and scary at worst. But, like most species in the natural world, they have an important role to play. Bees are the largest single group of insects that pollinate, said Kelly Milewski, a naturalist and environmental education specialist at Metroparks Toledo.

Pollinators — a group that includes butterflies, moths, birds, and even flies — move pollen from male to female plants, fertilizing and producing new seeds and fruit. It is often said that these pollinators are responsible for one of every three bites of food we eat.

Mr. Myers and other beekeepers like him work mostly with honeybees. Unbeknownst to many, the honeybee isn’t native to North America. Early settlers brought hives over with them from Europe. But more recently, shrinking honeybee populations across the United States have generated interest in the preservation of pollinators.

“Honeybees capturing a lot of media attention in the last 10 to 15 years has spawned a greater appreciation for all bees and pollinators,” said Heather Holms, an award-winning author and environmental educator. Ms. Holms’ work focuses on pollinators, especially native bees. She cited habitat loss and pesticide use as the two main causes of pollinator decline.

Despite the wide scope of the problem, anyone with a yard can do their part to nurture pollinators.

Experts across the plant world agree that avoiding pesticides is an important first step. Most big garden centers’ shelves are littered with pesticide-treated plants, Hal Mann said. Mr. Mann is president of the Oak Openings chapter of Wild Ones, a nonprofit that promotes and educates about native plants. “Every bee and butterfly and beetle that comes and gets pollen or nectar from a plant that’s been treated has been poisoned,” he said.

Ms. Holms agreed: “Number one is to reduce or eliminate any kind of pesticide use, including lawn chemicals.”

Making space for pollinators may also mean adjusting your grooming habits.

“If you want to be pollinator-friendly you have to change your perspective on what a yard looks like,” Mrs. Myers said. “These five-acre lots with the beautiful lawns, there’s no habitat for bees there; they kill every dandelion!”

Even small changes can have a big payoff. Michael Horst, the apiary inspector for Fulton, Henry, Lucas, and Wood counties, suggested adjusting your mower settings.

“You can mow at three and a half inches instead of two and a half inches and bees have more nectar,” he said.

When it comes to selecting plants, there’s no disputing that natives are the way to go.

“When you start getting plants from someplace else, local bees and butterflies can get a little confused,” said Karen Madoff, a volunteer garden keeper for Metroparks Toledo. She noted that pollinators and native plants “have made an agreement over hundreds of years about how to service each other.”

For the last four years, Mrs. Madoff has tended to the pollinator garden at Wildwood Preserve. She said that visiting places with pollinator gardens and native plants is a great way to get ideas about what to plant in your own yard.

Metroparks Toledo is one of several organizations making an effort to do their part for local pollinators. Another is the Ohio Department of Transportation. Last summer, ODOT opened a Pollinator Habitat Education Center at the southbound I-75 rest area just south of Bowling Green, the first of its kind in the state.

ODOT has 19,000 miles of roadside land, said Rebecca Dangelo, ODOT’s district spokesman in Bowling Green. She said that eventually ODOT hopes to use this land to plant similar pollinator habitats all over the state.

The Pollinator Habitat Education Center helps pollinating species and educates people who are stretching their legs during a long drive.

“We’re hoping that people can read the sign and learn how to do something similar at home,” she said.

Once you start paying attention, you’ll see that pollinators are everywhere. “There’s a crazy world right under your nose,” Ms. Holms said.

Next month, Ms. Holms, a Minnesota native, is coming to Toledo to give a talk fittingly titled, “Forget Television: The Real Entertainment is Happening in Your Pollinator-Friendly Garden” She said she spends “quite a bit of time every day” monitoring all of the activity in her garden.

At home in Swanton, Mr. and Mrs. Myers don’t grow watermelons anymore. But their garden has a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and, of course, native plants. One favorite is a patch of native goldenrod that’s specific to Oak Openings.

“It started as a weed in a flower bed,” Mr. Myers said. “Before we pulled it we noticed that the bees, especially the native bees, really liked it.” So, they let it spread instead.

Contact Eve Sneider at esneider@theblade.com or 419-724-6171.

First Published June 26, 2018, 5:49 p.m.