This message has kind of gotten hijacked from the original post to an argument over the risks/benefits of genetic engineering. Certainly genetically engineered crops are being developed to produce a marketable result (GM seeds) and side effects may not be of the utmost concern. However, an underlying theme of developing these crops is to reduce the potential side effects of other pesticides by reducing their use and substituting pesticides that are safer, non-toxic or less toxic to non-target species, and have a reduced potential to cause damage to non-target species or areas. There is the potential for Bt crops to kill Monarch caterpillers, however it is still probably less toxic than the alternatives. Bt crops do not produce a bug free field. Many species of insects are immune to Bt. Caterpillars are generally not immune to it. Insects that are not eating the corn are not a target of the Bt corn, and Monarchs do not eat the corn. The risk lies in the movement of corn pollen carrying the Bt to the Monarch's food source. Still, the bloom period for corn will run a couple weeks in the summer. The rest of the growing season, it is not shedding any Bt material. Thus, there is risk to non-target Monarch larvae for a couple weeks. Adults would not be harmed, just larvae during this period. Without Bt corn, the control of insect pests in the crop would generally require sprays or soil treatments that would kill a much broader spectrum of insects, including all adult Monarchs that might be in the field. Thus while the use of Bt crops might not be totally safe for non-target species, it is still probably much safer than the alternatives, and it is more effective on the target pests. Seems like a winning solution here--and with time it can still be improved. But if the early steps aren't profitable for the developers, they will never move on to develop even safer products down the road. With herbicide resistant crops, the plants are producing and carrying no pesticides. What the genes do is allow farmers to spray the crop with broad spectrum, low toxicity herbicides and the plant has the ability to deactivate the herbicide quickly so it suffers no damage. There are valid concerns with these technologies, however we need to explore them as they offer the potential to reduce the use of toxic pesticides and non-target damage dramatically compared to conventional technologies. When it comes to the potential for the bunny cottonwoods to spread by seed or cross into other poplars growing wild, Monsanto had techniques to render their genetically modified crop seeds sterile so they could not transfer into other plants, however that was killed with the help of those claiming that potential outcrossing was a terrible risk. Sometimes I think the anti-GM people are less interested in controlling the risks of GM technology than they are in finding issues to generate memberships and donations to feather their nests and perpetuate the discord.

Sunflowers will attract bees during the period they are in bloom, but they tend to bloom over a short period. They will also attract birds as the seeds begin to ripen, which can be a mixed blessing. As already stated, sunflowers have a large aggressive root system, so they will compete with other plants nearby. They also can cast a lot of shade, so they should be planted on the North side of shorter vegetation. Catnip & milkweed have been suggested to attract pollinators, and they will... but both are very invasive perennials, and if grown, they should be given a dedicated space outside the vegetable garden. Cosmos is a very good bee plant; it blooms quickly & continuously, has a less competitive root system, and the lacy foliage allows some light to penetrate. Basil is good too, and has a long blooming period if the old flowers are removed... but it will bloom late. There is a flowering mallow that is one of my favorite bee plants, Malva sylvestris "Zebrina". It is a self-seeding annual that blooms early, and continues until frost. It is a very heavy pollen producer; I've seen several species of bees working the flowers at one time. I've allowed it to naturalize in my garden, so it is a welcome "weed" which replaces the wild mallow that was already growing there. Great advice by Aniajs, especially regarding diversity of flowering plants, and overlapping bloom periods. Cucumbers & squash will attract bees on their own, since they are good pollen sources & bloom over a long period... but you might want to consider plants which bloom earlier, to draw them in. I realize it won't help you much this year, but it is a worthwhile exercise to drive around your neighborhood each week, and note what is in bloom... both wild & cultivated. I don't know the size of your lot, but don't overlook trees... box elder & birch are some of the first places where I see bees active in Spring.

I appreciate the comments and concerns about maintenance, and the following is NOT a rant, but rather my attempt at clarifying the specifics of this site. These are things I've thought and talked about with the caretaker. I first approached him about this back in early Summer. Being recognized as a historic site by the state of NJ, they do get quite a few hands working on keeping things up. Volunteers from Rutgers University have been coming by this Autumn to clean, prime, and repaint the fence. The small water feature was donated by a church member, and installed by the caretaker. All the plants you see in there already were donated -- and in many cases planted -- by church members. They get together for leaf raking and shredding in Autumn. Brian, the caretaker, has shared with me his desire to create something really beautiful, but he's limited by cost. He's been expanding beds, but doesn't have much more than divisions of church members' plants to fill them. Since he lives on-site, this is effectively his back yard, and I saw him out there almost daily during the growing season -- he also maintains a small veggie garden for the church which I didn't photograph. [The church is across the street from my job, and down the street from the Starbucks from where I collect used coffee grounds daily.] I told him that a few old roses could make good "anchor shrubs" around which he can continue to spread the companion plants he already has in abundance. This is not an empty stretch of land that some people "say" they'd like improved but don't do anything about it -- and this is why I took interest in it. When I was in Buffalo, I was approached by my "block club" about helping to put together a proposal for a city grant to buy plants for the empty space at the end of the street. We did get a few volunteers for helping to put it together, but I did much of the work by myself. As my free time started to shrink from classes and a busier work schedule, "maintenance" became me going down there once a week to pull weeds and pick up garbage. Once things were planted, the attitudes I kept hearing from non-participating neighbors about how "the college kids will ruin it" morphed into "no one will take care of it" -- and it was the latter which became true. So in essence, I lived on a block full of people complaining about how the neighborhood looked crappy and no one was doing anything about it, yet they themselves were reticent to make the first step -- or even keep things going after others got things started for them. I lived there for three years, and became well aware -- as they knew I am a "downstater" myself -- of that "blame everyone else" attitude for their deep-seated Rust Belt woes. What I at first thought would be an example of the "Stone Soup" story coming to life and igniting a desire for further improvement became an example of how throwing some money at something isn't enough to make a change -- you need people willing to keep it going. But this isn't what I find at this location. Instead, I find someone with the desire, energy, and know-how to make something beautiful here, but is limited by funds. Yes, there are plenty of roses I can't grow in my yard which I'd like to see in this garden, but this isn't going to be "my garden". I'd like to see them there because they'd be appropriate there, and the caretaker agrees. As for tree maintenance, as far as I can tell none is performed, other than raking leaves. I will speak to Brian in more detail about having roses up in them, but he has already expressed interest when I asked if he'd want that. In the meantime, I don't have any roses on-hand right now that will be planted there. I do have an order for Spring, but that's it. I also have my own "inventory" from which I can propagate, as well as whatever I can propagate from the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, and whatever I can get donated. If it turns out I have too much, any "leftovers" will go back to the HRF. So, in the end, this will be about me saying to Brian "Hey, I have this, and I think it'd work over there....want it? Oh, and what about putting this one over here...it'll get this big eventually, so you'll need that much space." He's really the designer. I'm just sharing my rose info with -- and trying to "make plants happen" for -- him. :-) ~Christopher

A couple of people mentioned Apple Blossom. I inherited a bush of what an expert (Anne Belovich, who wrote the book on Ramblers) tells me is Dawson's Apple Blossom, 1890. It has clusters of teenie pink blooms - pics below. It does send out long, very thin canes, which climb all over my flowering crab apple tree, and I used it on a round trellis to cover a huge tree stump. However, it is more lacy, and less of a "house eater" than some other roses. Blooms once in the Spring. Survived at least 25 years in our garden with no care whatever (when the house was a rental, before we moved in). Lovely to see it each Spring. Pics below.