Spring sprang onto the scene weeks ago - buried beneath the winter's largest snowfall - but it is only as April segues into May that we appreciate what the season means to us in the Northern Hemisphere.

This is when a chilly day and night are easily shrugged off, knowing that months of sunny days and balmy nights are in store. It is a time when there is hustle and bustle in the gardens, preparing soil for seeds and seedlings, raking away the last of the leafy debris, and assessing the best means of revitalizing fatigued lawns.

Trees and shrubs are in bloom - as any allergy sufferer knows - and our hearts are lightened by swathes of daffodils and the advent of still more color to our landscape.

As we engage in sprucing up our backyards, we may want to consider how to balance our vision of beauty with nature's own vision. Our future is actually at the mercy of some very small inhabitants of the natural world - butterflies, bees, beetles, wasps, moths, and other insects that flit from one plant to another, season to season. What we do, or do not do, can have a long-lasting impact on not only our personal spaces, but the larger picture of commercial agriculture. Food production relies on these pollinators. According to a 2016 article from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "More than three-quarters of the world's food crops rely at least in part on pollination by insects and other animals."

For at least a decade now, backyard and commercial beekeepers have struggled to determine why colonies of bees have been dying in numbers that greatly affect pollination. Most recent research indicates that systemic pesticides in the neonicotinoids class are partly at fault. Homeowners need to be aware that pesticides applied to lawns and flowers have the potential to decimate pollinators; and that it is possible to introduce this disaster to the backyard innocently. Plants purchased at large box stores may have been raised in an environment in which neonicotinoids were used. Label checking, and asking questions, as we have become used to doing with foods, is a necessity when buying shrubs and other plants for home use.

Be aware that over-the-counter herbicides will put unwanted weeds to rest - as well as butterflies, including the endangered monarch butterfly.

Among the conservation-minded in town, we are fortunate to have the Protect Our Pollinators (POP) organization, made up of individuals eager to educate residents as to best practices for not only attracting pollinators, but preventing unintended harm. Safe methods for pest control, the best plants to attract pollinators throughout the growing season, and resources for learning more are found at the propollinators.org website.

This is the season when we have control over what goes in and on our gardens. We can make the choice to support a healthy environment or close our eyes to fact - and hope that when we open them, there is still a vibrant natural world to appreciate.