Leicester Library
1136 Main St, Leicester MA 01524
CGLT (Common Ground Land Trust) chose this site for our Pollinator Pathway because of its high-visibility location right on busy Route 9 in Leicester Center. The local Garden Club warned us that nothing will grow in the poor, dry, steep and wind-swept conditions of the front lawn of Leicester Library, and we took on the challenge of designing a Pollinator Pathway garden made up of some of the toughest native plants that would LOVE these harsh conditions where little else thrives! We selected as many plants as possible that provide critical resources for 3 of our native bumble bee species whose populations are crashing! And also plants that support declining pollinators such as native bees, beneficial wasps and lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). We hope our Pollinator Pathway will inspire Route 9 travelers to seek out and incorporate as many of these plants into their own landscapes!
Website: http://www.commongroundlt.org/leicester-library-pollinator-pathway.html
Plant selection from https://gegearlab.weebly.com/plant-list.html
Shrubs:
Northern Bush-honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)
Bearberry/Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)
Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata)
Perennials:
Three-toothed Cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentata)
Pale Beardtongue (Penstemon pallidus)
Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus) - coming soon
Moss Phlox (Phlox subulata)
Birds-foot Violet (Viola pedata)
Woolly Blue Violet (Viola sororia)
Red Columbine/Rock-Bells (Aquilegia canadensis)
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca, virginiana)
Plantain-leaved Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia)
Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta)
Bluets, Quaker Ladies (Houstonia caerulea)
Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea)
Sundial Lupine (Lupinus perennis)
New England Blazing-Star (Liatris novae-angliae)
Dwarf Cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis)
Orange Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Self-heal/Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris var. lanceolata)
Downy Wood-mint (Blephilia ciliata)
Yellow Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) - coming soon
Lance-leaved Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
Showy Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
Lavender Giant-Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Narrow-leaved Mountain-mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)
Broad-leaved Mountain-mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) - coming soon
Spotted Bee-Balm (Monarda punctata)
Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta)
Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)
Small White Aster (Symphyotrichum racemosum)
Flax-leafed Ankle Aster (Ionactis linariifolia)
Purple Wood-Aster (Eurybia spectabilis)
New York Aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii)
Downy Goldenrod (Solidago puberula)
Gray Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)
Grasses:
Purple Love Grass (Eragrostis spectabilis)
Northern Dropseed (Sporolobus heterolepis) - coming in 2027
Also growing on site are non-native White and Red Clover, which we are leaving as placeholders for future native plants, as they support some butterflies and bees.