Happy Spring!
The buzzing bees are busy, azaleas and bunches of countless flowers are blooming. March 20, 2022, was the official start of spring. And we look forward to the joys but dread the tearful irritants it brings.
I’m talking about the dreaded pollen, the age-old spring and summer trigger for sneezing, watery eyes, congestion, and other respiratory allergies.
Some people think pollen is this can-do-without yellowish eye and nose pollutant that blankets our cars, porches, and windows every spring and summer. That’s true, but there is so much more to this vital creation of mother nature.
During the height of the pollen moving and grooving season, it’s all about the three Ps: the pollenizer, pollinator, and pollination.
Pollenizers are plants, the source of the pollen.
Pollinators are insects or agents that pollinate.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from one plant area to another (the same plant or another plant), resulting in fertilization. But not all plants: flowers, trees, shrubs, and grasses produce pollen.
The stuff of pollen is fine powder or spores. This powder is a nuisance, but we really can’t do without this yellow dust that makes us sneeze, our eyes itch and swell, and our noses run like a faucet.
Pollen is the fertilization agent for plants. Yes, pollen is responsible for allergy symptoms—no hurrahs for this. But the survival of seeds, many plants, and fruits depends on pollen.
Hopefully, knowing why we need this icky stuff makes you feel a little bit better about the yellow stuff.
Pollen comes in many colors: red, purple, blue, brown, and white. Certain pollen attracts certain pollinators. Most of the pollen we see is yellow. But why is this the case? The answer is because bees and many other insect pollinators can’t see the color red; therefore, the plants produce yellow pollen to attract them. But it’s not uncommon for bees to forage red plants since they are attracted to the red flowers’ ultraviolet markings. Birds and butterflies favor red pollen. Leave it to mother nature to work out any bumps in the pollination world.
Although some flowering plants pollinate using their own pollen, few are self-pollinators and therefore need pollinators like bees and wasps to transfer the pollen. Other pollinating insects include flies and animals like hummingbirds, bats, and other mammals.
Mother Nature knows her business and is savvy in pollination. Bugs, ants, and beetles pollinate low to ground plants. Animals such as insects and mammals pollinate a large percentage of flowering plants. Wind current transfer flowering plants’ pollen that isn’t pollinated via animals or insects.
Which pollination method, animals or wind, is the cause for most allergic reactions?
The wind-driven pollen of elms, oaks, maple trees, ragweed, and grasses trigger most allergic reactions opposed to flowering plants.
Pollination occurs day and night. White and other light-colored plants easily spotted at night attract nightwalkers and flyers like moths.
The dreaded pollen is a pest but while it’s doing its thing, let’s not permit it to ruin our beautiful spring!
Stay safe.