Typically you hear the phrase “bug hotel” and a chill runs down your spine. Bug hotel sounds like just another way to say roach hotel… and that’s not something to celebrate. Yet, we have two new ones and we are really excited and so are our insect neighbors. These Bug Hotels are fun, upcycled structures that are specifically designed to give pollinating insects places to nest, lay eggs, and thrive.
When we think of pollinating insects, we think of honeybees, which nest in a beehive of thousands of individuals, but most of the pollinators that we have at Imago are native bees who use natural materials to make small nests.
The Bug Hotel is in essence, a place where all those natural materials can exist in one space. A bug hotel consists of logs with different sized holes, hollow stems, loose rock, and dried grasses – all of which can be used by different pollinators to make their homes and lay eggs.
Eagle Scout, Alex Brigger designed and installed the two Bug Hotels at Imago using stacked pallets as the main structure. Each pallet “floor” is filled with the materials that insects can use for their homes. You should come and check them out – one is in our pollinator garden and the other is in our prairie.
We are putting out the “Vacancy” sign to our local pollinators and we are looking forward to welcoming several new insect guests to Imago.
