Celebrate Pollinator Week 7-15 November 2026

Unlike animals, plants can’t travel around to meet potential partners. Some plants solve this problem with water or wind, but over 75% of the world’s flowering plants rely on insect pollinators to reproduce, including 87 of 115 important food and medicinal plants we rely on.

Australian Pollinator Week aims to spotlight Australia's important and unique pollinators. A chance for all of us to learn more about the diversity of our pollinators and take steps to protect them.

In Australia, honeybees have fared better than they have overseas, but little is known about our other native pollinators. For example, Germany has documented a reduction in insect biomass of 75% in a study that ran for 27 years, but in Australia there is insufficient data and a scarcity of research, so we are unable to conclusively determine what kind of state our pollinators are in. Although there are still significant gaps in our knowledge, supporting pollinators and contributing to research are practical ways we can all help.

We can all help support pollinators in our backyards by filling our gardens by planting a diversity of plants that support our pollinators. We can also help support researchers and scientists by taking part in citizen science and participating in the Australian Pollinator Count. It's the census for Australian pollinators.  After reviewing the learner guide designed to help you identify different pollinators, after that you just need to spend two minutes observing some flowers and record and register your results. You can find out more information and submit your counts at http://www.australianpollinatorweek.org.au/count

If you want to support the pollinators that visit your garden and attract a wider variety of pollinators to your garden we have a couple simple tips:

1. Planting pollinator-friendly plants in swathes or large patches will help attract specialist pollinators, instead of scattering and mixing. Clusters of the same plant help pollinators move more efficiently from flower to flower.
2. Leave a messy corner. Hollow logs, thick slabs of bark, piles of stones, hollow stems from reeds or pithy plants are all spaces that many different solitary bees, pollinating wasps and beetles may use for shelter and nesting.
3. Leave an area without mulch for ground nesting bees like blue banded bees.
4. Diversity in plant selection. Australia has a lot of specialist pollinators that rely on specific plants; the more diversity you can fit into your space, the more diversity of pollinators you will attract. We've listed a few of our favourites below, be sure to check them out next time you're at your local ASQ Garden & Landscape.

• Buzz Pollinated Plants - Tetratheca, Hibbertia, Dianella (pictured above), Arthropodium, Bush tomato.
• Myrtle family – Tea trees (Leptospermum) and Eucalyptus
• Protea family – Banksia, Grevillea, and Hakea
• Pea family –  Egg & bacon pea (Pultenea) and, Hardenbergia, and wattles
• Daisy family – Cut-leaf daisy, sunrays, everlastings, paper daisies, daisy bushes, and rice flowers.
• Other Favourites – Fan flower, Bursaria, Boobialla, Blue bells (Wahlenbergia), Mint bushes, Emu bushes, Correa, Salvia, and most culinary herbs.

Bee Image source: Wheen Bee Foundation. Blue-banded bee, Amegilla cingulata by Kit Prendergast and Male banded Amegilla, blue banded bee by Sputnik.