The hummingbirds that visit us at the very full onset of blossoms of some of the hedges of flowering and widening forsythia are gone.

A variety of bees (I think) crawl over everything in the garden, exploring each and every plant within each bed without interfering with other types of wildlife bearing the same responsibilities.

Even birds and dragonflies come by to inspect the beds of flora and fauna. Some types are unfamiliar to me. But that’s OK: We have our jobs, they have theirs.

Articles in print and other media describe the lack of the various forms of flying pollinators that a number of communities in southern Maine have experienced over the last three or four years. So I had the chance to thank Mother Nature for her gift of these miniature minders while other locales seemed to be deprived of their services.

When I occasionally drive through neighborhoods in the Portland area that have had wild lots that were undeveloped until recent years and were developed with structures instead of gardens, I’m not sure that we’re not our own worst enemies by not thinking of urging developers of future homesteading areas to plan on building with spaces with oxygen-producing hedges and shrubs in lieu of fences.

Maybe then, birds and bees may make a needed comeback in regions of our beautiful state and help us to restock bees and birds, which, if we watch them and don’t whack at them, just may help us bring back our gardens back in expanding neighborhoods.

Chris Bove

Westbrook