Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: Protecting pollinator populations is key for phoebes, other birds Bees retrieve pollen from an azalea bush, one of the first plants that blooms in spring, in Jessica Tanner’s yard in Northampton. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS Jessica Tanner cleans out dead stems from her pollinator garden at her home in Northampton. She leaves the stems all winter so insects can live in them throughout the cold months and hatch in the spring. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS Bees retrieve pollen from an Azalea bush, one of the first plants that blooms in spring, in Jessica Tanner’s yard in Northampton. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS