My neighbors probably wonder what’s wrong with my grass cutting efforts this spring.

The lawn has been looking a little wild from section to section this year and it doesn’t really have a whole lot to do with our torrential rainfall this June.

It has a whole lot more to do with our pollinators; the honey bees, the bumble bees and the butterflies and their appearance on my wild flowers, shrubs and clover grasses.

I have been known to stop mowing the lawn because of an industrious bee was working a wild flower and not getting out of the way of my lawn tractor.

I used to be wary of honey bees, until I learned the important role they play as a pollinator of crops, fruit trees and gardens in general.

Now I tend to stop and study them and have even saved them from drowning in a bird bath when they were cooling down with some water for their hive.

They truly are hard working and peaceful critters for the most part.

One of my most prized shrubs is a mock orange bush that was given to me by a butterfly lover from Butler over 30 years ago. Adele is gone now but she left a legacy with her “butterfly bush” as she called it.

Countless bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and more have enjoyed the fragrant blossoms and protection that original twig of a shrub has offered.

Adele would have chuckled if she saw the impressive center piece that mock orange has become in our plantings.

Over the years I have collected, purchased and transplanted many perennials, shrubs and trees to aid our pollinators.

The other day I read an alarming story of the drastic declines of all of our pollinators due to loss of habitat, clean farming practices, manicured lawns, uses of chemicals and pesticides and pollution.

One of the most well known butterflies, the Monarch Butterfly has declined nearly 80 percent in total population.

The monarch depends on the common milkweed plant to maintain the species as it lives on the milkweed through at least 3 of its 4 stages of life.

Thus no milkweed…no monarch!

The adult butterfly lives on liquids from flowers and blossoms.

However, she lays her eggs which hatch in about 5 days into a larva which grows to about 4 inches molting 4 times and then goes into a pupa stage. The pupa takes 10 to 12 days before it cracks the cocoon and a beautiful butterfly emerges.

All of the process taking place on the milkweed plant, a common weed for many of us.

Well back to my mowing story…there I was mowing the side of the front yard which had a whole lot of white clover grass.

I had watched deer, turkey, cottontails and the pollinators visit that patch on a regular basis as the rains kept me out and the grasses to grow and blossom.

Clover smells great, is a pretty blossom and animals love it!

I have friends that plant food plots for wildlife and here I had one that was already abundant in its ability to support wildlife.

I decided that I was going to do something radical but ecologically sound for helping the pollinators.

Besides having our feeding stations, plantings and shrubs I decided to leave a nice rectangle of yard grow in clover bloom.

It won’t last for long but it will give the animals some help as they progress from one stage in early summer until a more developed summer bloom. The National Wildlife Federation is sponsoring an “Adopt a Monarch Butterfly” program to help all of our pollinators but especially Monarchs. You can learn about the project by contacting the NWF at www.NWF.org/ .

It is very important that we know how important a role that the pollinators play in the future of our whole planet and the foods that we depend upon for daily consumption and survival.

In the meantime we tried our hand at fishing up at Lake Erie near the Ohio/PA borders.

The water was tumultuous, fishing was slow and we had half the crew sea sick.

I can knock on wood that I have never had the malady but from what I can see it is not a pleasant experience.

One young fellow visiting from Bloomsburg, Pa., asked me if we could arrange for the US Coast Guard to air lift him off the boat and back to solid land.

When we realized how bad he felt we cut our trip short and headed back to port with about 10 nice walleyes and three sick anglers!

Strangely as soon as they hit the solid pavement they rallied remarkably well and wanted to head for breakfast…geez! Until we meet again keep your sea legs flexible and your honey bees happy!

Jay E. Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.