White House initiative and growers encouraged promotes planting pollinator-friendly species for contributing to consumer and retailer demand.

It’s time for Garden Challenge growers to finalize plant availability for their customers. It’s more important than ever to include pollinator-friendly plants on grower availability listings this year. Garden-retailer customers are demanding them, a top federal priority is pollinators and the plants on which they depend.

The pollinator challenge is that In June 2015 a group of national gardening and habitat organizations led by American Public Gardens Association, National Gardening Association, National Wildlife Federation and Pollinator Partnership joined with industry organizations American Hort, American Seed Trade Association, Home Garden Seed Association and the National Garden Bureau to form the National Pollinator Garden Network.

This collaborative along with more than 25 other organizations and 8 federal agencies, established the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge (MPGC) to encourage Americans to plant pollinator-beneficial plants; whether a window box, a home garden or a large-acreage landscape planting, every pollinator-friendly planting contributes to pollinator survival. The MPGC encourages Americans to grow seeds and plants for the benefit of pollinators and to register those plantings to reach the goal of one million pollinator gardens by December 2016.

Now the question is that why availability matters?
With the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge hitting consumer awareness full force this spring via both the mainstream and garden media, demand at the retail level for seeds and plants beneficial to pollinators will be unmatched. It makes both environmental and economic sense to fill the growing need. Not only do bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and dozens of other pollinators need these plants for survival, consumers are stepping up to the Challenge and asking for the horticulture industry’s help by making pollinator-beneficial plants and seeds available.