For 200 million years - when dinosaurs ruled the earth - one of the most wonderful interactions on earth has developed: animals, mostly insects, but in the tropics also birds and bats, pollinate plants and are rewarded with nectar and pollen. Over the course of millions of years, this system has been refined in many directions: flowers that are attractive to bees shine in blue, yellow or UV (which we humans cannot see), but not in pure red. This is because bees can see UV but not red. Flowers pollinated by hummingbirds or butterflies, on the other hand, are often red.

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Some flowers can only be opened by the physical strength of a bumblebee, others have hidden nectar in a long spur that only butterflies' proboscises can access, and still others offer nectar in such high concentrations that only flies' proboscises can absorb it. Yes, there are even flowers that capture their visitors for a night and then release them covered in pollen, or that trick a male bee into thinking that a female is waiting. The deceived males act as pollen carriers because, in their excitement, they fall for the deception again at the next flower.

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Nevertheless, the usual case of insect pollination is the "trade" of pollen transport for nectar and pollen for consumption or raising larvae. 690 species of bees are involved in the pollination of flowering plants in Austria alone, as well as hundreds of species of butterflies, flies and beetles. They all ensure that flowering plants can reproduce, including many species that are important to us humans, such as apples, pears and all other types of fruit, all berries, but also rapeseed, pumpkins, all herbs and all wild and garden flowers.

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Incidentally, they do this for free if our gardens, fields and meadows have lots of flowers all year round. In sterile meadows and gardens, however, bees and butterflies simply starve. And then the lack of pollination can become a yield problem. The path to a bee and butterfly-friendly garden is actually not difficult at all.