Pepperell Community Gardens
45 Main St, Pepperell, MA 01463, USA
In the spring of 2026, when Pepperell’s Climate Change Committee was developing the town’s first Community Garden, they asked the Invasive & Native Plant Advisory Committee (INPAC) to plant a pollinator garden in the midst of the vegetable plots. With a small grant from the Pepperell Cultural Council, and the work of many volunteers, including INPAC and Climate Change Committee members, and summer camp children the garden was planted in May, 2026. The pollinator garden was designed by INPAC member Jenn Coviello to inform visitors about how to create a more sustainable yard. It features 100% New England native plants, including plants that serve as alternatives to traditional lawns, a “bug snug” woody retreat and oak leaf mulch for overwintering insects, an insect watering station, educational signage, and a path intersecting the space to welcome visitors. Many of the plants were winter-sown in milk jugs by INPAC. Two more smaller specialized pollinator beds were added nearby in July – a Hummingbird garden, featuring about 70% native plants with tubular blossoms, and a Moon garden, with light colored, fragrant blossoms to support our night pollinators.
Pollinator garden
Lawn alternatives
Pussytoes - Antennaria neglecta
Wild Strawberry – Fragaria virginiana
Violet – Viola sororia
Bluet – Houstonia caerulea
Self-heal – Prunella vulgaris
Shrubs & trees
Serviceberry – Amelanchier laevis
Lowbush Blueberry – Vaccinium angustifolium
Bearberry - arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Perennials & Annuals
Red Columbine – Aquilegia canadensis
Spotted Bee Balm – Monarda punctata
Red Bee Balm – Monarda didyma
Purple Bee Balm – Monarda fistulosa
Blue Vervain – Verbena hastata
Black eyed Susan – Rudbeckia hirta
Slender leaved Mountain Mint – Pycnanthemum verticillata
Broad Leaved Mountain Mint – Pycnanthemum muticum
Cutleaf coneflower – Rudbeckia laciniata
Purple Coneflower – Echinacea purpurea
Butterflyweed – Asclepias tuberosa
Smooth Blue Aster – Sympyhotrichum laeve
New England Aster – Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
Health Aster - Sympyhotrichum eicoides
Blue-eyed grass - Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Yarrow - Achillea millefolium
Golden Alexander – Zizia aureaf
Lanceleaf coreopsis – Coreopsis lanceolata
Running Groundsel – Packera obovata
Partridge Pea – Chamaecrista fasciculata
Great Blue Lobelia – Lobelia silphilitica
Gray Goldenrod - Solidago nemoralis
Pearly Everlasting - Anaphalis margaritacea
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Hummingbird Garden
Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens
Red Bee Balm, Monarda didyma
Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis
Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium maculatum
Wild Bee Balm, Monarda fistulosa
Anise hyssop, Agastache foeniculum
Butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa
Borage, Borage officinalis
Late Figwort, Scrophularia marilandica
Blue Vervain, Verbena hastata
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Moon Garden
Summersweet, Clethra alnifolia
Solomon Seal, Polygonatum biflorum
Obedient Plant, Physostegia virginiana
Virgin's Bower, Clematis Virginiana
Garden Phlox, Phlox paniculata
Black Cohosh, Actaea racemosa
Broad-leaved Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum muticum
Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis
Foxglove beardtongue, Penstemon digitalis
White Heath Aster, Symphyotrichum ericoides
Nicotiana