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By Heidi Wendel Nelsonville, the Putnam County village next to Cold Spring, is called the “Hikers Hamlet” for its walkable access to the trails of the northern Hudson Highlands, as well as its own woodland preserve at the foot of the northern Highlands. But like everyplace else in the Hudson Valley, invasive plants are a problem in the village. As part of a plan to tackle invasives and create pollinator habitat, in fall 2019, residents got together to remove a longstanding field of Mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris) and replace it with a pollinator garden on a village parcel of about an eighth of an acre, a block from the village hall. The village volunteers followed these simple steps to remove the densely packed patch of 3-foot tall mugwort and replace it with a colorful, vibrant garden the butterflies love: Step1: We pulled out all of the mugwort to remove the roots while avoiding extensive shoveling/disturbance of the soil. Step 2: We laid down cardboard over the entire area, in overlapping sheets. Volunteers purchased rolls of corrugated cardboard to avoid using cardboard with print on it. Re-using delivery boxes sounds good, but unfortunately the vast majority of delivery boxes have print on them that is toxic. An added advantage to corrugated cardboard rolls, in addition to being print-free, is that they are very easy to roll out, particularly with the corrugated side upwards, which holds the dirt layer very well. Step 3: We spread about 10 cubic yards of compost over the cardboard. Step 5: Next volunteers planted deer-resistant anchoring shrubs, including low-bush blueberry and nine-bark; as well as perennials favored by pollinators, such as butterfly weed, bee-balm, lance-leaf coreopsis (tickseed), goldenrod, native sunflowers, blue mistflower, echinacea, among others. Step 6: To prevent mugwort from migrating back to the garden from a neighboring, privately-owned property, volunteers dug a narrow trench between the village garden and the neighboring mugwort patch. The trench is about two inches wide and four inches deep, and was filled with rocks and pieces of brick – anything that would prevent the mugwort roots from breaking through. In its first spring/summer, the garden had to be watered daily and weeded twice a week for two months. After about two months, the mugwort that had popped back up in the garden (through the cardboard, compost and chips) was almost gone. After all the sweat and effort the volunteers put in, the garden has been a major attraction in Nelsonville. Residents and tourists alike love it -- both of the human and animal varieties. Numerous monarch caterpillars can be found hatching from eggs on the butterfly weed and resident and migrating birds stop off to eat the seeds and the insects that make their home on the plants. It’s a big success that village residents hope to replicate elsewhere. Heidi Wendel lives in Nelsonville NY and loves hiking with her family. In her own yard, she replaced both the front and back lawns with native plant gardens and has been rewarded by such lovely sights as indigo buntings, bluebirds and grosbeaks; as well as many different kinds of butterflies, moths, bees and other insects.

As the O’Hara Nature Center (ONC) has grown and developed from 2012 to its present state, the grounds and gardens offer sustainable ways to demonstrate what is possible around creating mini bio-intensive ecosystems. These systems support a diverse array of native flora and pollinating fauna in a dense suburban area in Southern Westchester, New York, that suffers from heavy and constant deer pressure. In 2020, the ONC was selected to be a part of a yearlong study by Cornell Waste Management Institute to collect data on the native flora from the eleven educational gardens, as well as the pollinators that relied on these plants as a food source. Once I collected the pollinator data, I uploaded it onto the citizen science platform iNaturalist. Then, Cornell Waste Management Institute shared it with the New York State Department of Transportation, who took the collected data to develop topsoil seed mixtures for roadside pollinating strips throughout New York State. A link to a presentation on the final research work can be found here: (https://bit.ly/3zK9u9g). Through this research, we discovered that over 150 pollinators rely on the native plants in the gardens located at the ONC that cover less than an acre of property! From these 150 identified pollinators, a “vulnerable species,” the Northern Golden Bumblebee (Bombus fervidus) was identified. These positive findings demonstrate the impact native plants play on supporting, and possibly rehabilitating, land that was once underused. These areas can help maintain a robust and diverse community of plant and animal life. The current work at the ONC (2021 – present) examines how best practices and management systems inform educational programming with the Irvington School District. A one-year pilot program is underway with the Irvington Middle and High School Vocational Independence Program (VIP). Three times a week, students and their classroom teachers, along with the ONC staff, work on skills and concepts in horticulture, as well as landscape management on the grounds and in the ONC gardens. These skills are developed into a yearlong program that focuses on management, development, and sustainable solutions in landscape management. This program promotes independence for students who represent a diverse array of learners with a diverse set of abilities. They are enabled to develop personal and life skills that focus on their strengths. This important work is all centered on the ONC’s mission of sustainability and community-driven experiences. To follow along with our programming and events, please visit the Irvington Woods Website: https://www.theirvingtonwoods.org/.

A new source for seeds and plants native to the Ecoregion 59, the Northeastern Coastal Zone, produced on local farms from seed wild-collected by botanists across the ecoregion. Order seeds for your garden or for larger restoration projects from Eco59.com. Please ask your local nursery to stock Ecotype Project plants now available from Planter’s Choice wholesale supplier. Pollinator enthusiasts, regenerative gardeners, and conservationists can now find a source of locally grown, native, wildflower seeds: a much-awaited contribution to our northeastern ecosystem. It is a good season for it: early winter holidays are the perfect time for sowing native wildflowers. Eco59: a farmer-led seed collective has launched its first season of sales. Catalyzed by the work of the Pollinator Pathways and CT NOFA’s Ecotype Project, a group of farmers have been working together, learning to grow a new crop: seeds of regionally appropriate wildflowers, called ecotypes, for pollinator habitat restoration. The new seed company seeks to build a “triple bottom line”: seed that is good for the pollinators and the planet, profitable for farmers, and adds to the beauty of our landscape. Profit from the sales of Eco59 goes to fund conservation work across our ecoregion. Dina Brewster, farmer at The Hickories and a member of the Eco59 seed collective notes, “An important part of the Eco59 mission is to heal a broken landscape. The systematic displacement of people, the destruction of the environment, and the consequent loss of abundance around us is a direct result of not honoring the relationship that indigenous people of this area had with land. I view our work, growing ecotypic seed to restore native plants in the northeast, as a reminder of all that has been lost and all that we must work to restore.” After three years of tending their crops of perennial wildflowers, Eco59 farmers have now harvested, cleaned, tested, and packaged their seeds for sale to “re-wild” the landscape of ecoregion 59, a broad swath of the New England corridor championed by the Pollinator Pathway, the Massachusetts Pollinator Network and other like-minded groups. Rewilding is a term used extensively by Heather McCargo at Maine’s Wild Seed Project, another organization whose goal is to inspire people to take action in increasing the presence of native plants grown from wild seed. McCargo’s work, in addition to the writing of Doug Tallamy and John Marzluff, motivates the farmers in this collective. “Having a pesticide free corridor of native plants that provide nutrition and habitat for pollinators helps them to disperse into new areas and will improve the overall health of the farm and local ecosystem,”says Patrick Horan of Waldingfield Farm in Washington, Connecticut. Planters Choice, a Connecticut based major grower has joined the action. They have partnered with CT NOFA to procure the seeds from the Eco59 Collective and can provide standard eco-region plugs in bulk to local nurseries. More recently, Urbanscapes Native Plant Nursery, in Newhallville, New Haven CT, announced that they will be installing the first of three founder plots with White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata) using seeds from the Ecotype project. To revitalize this section of New Haven, the nursery educates local youth in native plant propagation and their founder plot will provide a great resource for producing and sharing ecotypic seed with their neighborhood supporters and the work they lead with the Pollinator Pathway of New Haven. Your Role: Please help grow the demand so that more growers like Planters Choice invest in ecotypic seeds. Shop at urban and suburban ecotype plant sales, and most importantly, spread the word and ask your local nursery to stock ecotype plants. The nurseries can contact Planter’s Choice or they can educate their growers on how to order ecotype seeds. This will help propel eco59, native wild flowers, to commercial viability. You can shop for seed, gifts, and read about the participating farmers on the Eco59 website. Each seed packet details where the original ecotype was collected (city and state) and which farm and farmer grew it. “Know your farmer; know your seed; know your land. We promote transparency in seed packaging and in growing practices: something we encourage gardeners and conservationists to be asking about more often through our educational outreach,” says Sefra Alexandra, CT NOFA’s Ecotype Project leader. Early winter is the perfect time to winter sow native seed - instructions for growing are inside each order as well as on the Eco59 website. In addition to the seed packets, the farmers are producing “seed bombs,” a dozen quail-egg sized balls made of clay and soil infused with a pinch of wildflower seed, for sowing “here, there, and everywhere.” Customers interested in larger quantities of seed for larger scale restoration projects should contact the seed company directly through the website: eco59.com.

As we learn more about the critical relationships between plants, insects, and birds, the best advice we are getting about fall leaf clean-up is … don’t! In the old days, suburbanites taking care of their lawns raked (yes, raked!) fall leaves into giant piles to be burned. The familiar scent of burning leaves was everywhere – and we released tons of carbon sequestered in those leaves into the atmosphere. So anti-burning ordinances were passed, and we started using gas leaf blowers to form the leaf piles, or bagging leaves for municipal workers to collect – all at taxpayer expense. Municipalities started spending millions to ship leaves out of the county. Enterprising souls then turned our leaves into compost to sell back to us. Not a good deal for us. Since that routine makes neither economic nor ecological sense, we started hearing campaigns urging us to use mulching mowers. The idea was to chop leaves into tiny pieces and leave them on the lawn to enrich the soil. That method is a big improvement, and it definitely works — it’s great for lawn health and municipal budgets. But we have learned that chopping up leaves has an unanticipated cost. Native bees burrow into the ground under leaf litter to survive the winter. Eggs and larvae of butterflies, moths, fireflies, and many other insects hang on to leaves, or hide under them, until warm weather returns. If we chop up or remove leaves to clear the ground in our yards, we are unintentionally destroying insects that baby birds need for food in the spring, as well as insects we need and enjoy. The best use of fall leaves – and the best place for them – is under the trees that dropped them. Trees and all other forest plants evolved growing with a thick layer of leaves in the winter. Dead leaves nourish the soil and everything that lives in it. Leaf litter on your shrub and flower beds protects the roots of your plants and protects early buds from freezing and loss of moisture. Of course, you’ll want to blow (or better, rake!) leaves off of driveways and paths, and either mulch or clear leaves that fall on lawn. But the best place to put them is in your shrub and flower beds and under your trees. A loose, 6-inch deep layer of leaves will not hurt your shrubs and perennials – quite the opposite. If there are still too many leaves, create a leaf pile in an out-of-the-way area, or add leaves to a compost bin. In spring, once the weather is warm and insects have had a chance to emerge, you can mulch the remaining leaves and return them to the lawn or flower beds, or even put them out for removal with spring clean-up. Pro tip: Less lawn and more garden makes leaf clean-up a cinch! If your trees are surrounded by garden beds rather than lawn, nature does the work for you! Cathy Ludden is a local expert and advocate for native plants; and Board Member, Greenburgh Nature Center.

By Mary Gaudet-Wilson Recently a Pollinator Pathway member asked the Steering Committee about the safety of an “organic” herbicide called Eco-Might, which seemed too good to be true. A bit of research revealed that to be the case, and it made us aware of a specific issue which serves to heighten concerns about the approval process for pesticides in this country. All ingredients as listed on the Eco-Might label, peppermint oil, potassium sorbate and sodium chloride, are indeed on the list of organic compounds. However, testing results as confirmed by the USEPA Region 9, found this product to contain hazardous chemicals including glyphosate, bifenthrin and permethrin. Although EPA issued an Advisory Letter informing the company of possible liability for non-compliance, this letter never went to other regional EPA offices so our Connecticut DEEP had no knowledge of this violation until we informed them. Other loopholes in the system: 1) Products composed solely of organic compounds do not have to be approved before being put on the market. This greatly increases the risk that adulterated products can easily be distributed to the marketplace. 2) All new products are evaluated by data submitted by the manufacturer. Without an independent assessment, how can the consumer know that health and safety concerns have been adequately addressed? 3) Inert ingredients (things like stabilizers, surfactants, fragrances, etc.) do not have to be listed on the label. Studies have shown that at least one inert ingredient kills bumblebees. EPA’s operations have come under scrutiny from various environmental organizations and the news media with recent reports of undue influence from the pesticide industry and an agency which does incomplete or inaccurate risk assessments of new products before approval. Although some court decisions and a few state legislative actions have put appropriate controls or bans on some products, this is a lengthy and expensive process. In addition to the protection of human health, pesticides represent a risk to pollinators, beneficial insects, wildlife, soil bacteria, native plants, our pets, and especially our children. Contamination of water resources is also a huge concern. Infiltration and run-off threaten wells and streams, some of which eventually find their way to Long Island Sound. In summary, the Eco-Might situation demonstrates a break down in systems designed to protect the environment and us. If we cannot trust the labels on pesticides, we can refrain from buying them! We can learn about other ways to control pests in our yards and gardens which are safer and promote sustainability. There is much information on the Protect Our Pollinators website (Propollinators.com), the Pollinator Pathways website (Pollinator-pathways.org), and Protect Our Pollinators’ book “Earth-Friendly Gardening.” ,,breakdown

By Elizabeth Craig, Wilton, CT Pollinator Pathway Goldenrods (Solidago spp.) and asters (Symphyotrichum spp.) are the two most important late-season sources of pollen and nectar for bees that are provisioning their nests for winter and for monarch butterflies fueling up along the fall migration. Goldenrod supports specialist bees and attracts butterflies, moths, beetles, and solitary (non-stinging) wasps. Solidago seeds are a good winter food source for birds. Every pollinator garden should have a major section planted in goldenrod. There are some 26 species of goldenrod in the Northeast, and it can be difficult to distinguish between them. Different species have adapted to a wide variety of sites, from sunny fields and meadows to shady woodland edges, to bogs and salty coastal areas. When choosing goldenrods for your garden, choose those adapted to conditions at your site. Easy to grow, goldenrod is deer resistant, tolerant of drought and poor soils, has few diseases and ‘insect problems,’ and is widely used for cut flower arrangements. Goldenrods do not cause hay fever, common ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia, which often grows in the wild near goldenrod, is the source of fall hay fever. Goldenrods have sometimes been considered too wild, aggressive, and unruly to use in the garden due to their effective spreading by root and seed. Consider the clump-forming types of solidago, which will not spread as readily, for more managed garden beds and borders. Full-sun to part shade, clump-forming species: Showy goldenrod, Solidago speciosa Seaside goldenrod, Solidago sempervirens Anise-scented goldenrod, Solidago odora Gray goldenrod, Solidago nemoralis In wilder areas and large fields use Canada goldenrod Solidago canadensis or tall goldenrod S. altissimo. Larger, taller plants that spread readily can provide more floral resources, more pollen, and nectar for pollinators. Full-sun, rhizomatous (spreads by roots) species: Rough-stem goldenrod, Solidago rugosa Tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima Canada goldenrod Solidago canadensis Goldenrods are the perfect plant to use in a lawn-to-meadow conversion, they flourish in areas that are occasionally mowed. For the best pollinator show in your late-summer-to-fall garden, with a great abundance and diversity of pollinators and brilliant color, plant the glorious perennial wildflower, goldenrod.

Mary Wilson Pollinator Pathway Steering Committee Protect Our Pollinators founding member Bayer (Monsanto) recently announced that it will withdraw Roundup (active ingredient glyphosate) from the U.S. market for residential usage beginning in 2023. While this is hailed as a step in the right direction, it is important to know that this move comes only after significant and costly lawsuits from individuals who have claimed (decisions have been upheld by the Supreme Court) to have been harmed by this noxious weed killer. In fact, Bayer said that “this move is being made exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns.” And it should be noted that the EPA has continued to uphold the registration of Roundup despite scientific evidence that shows it to be a probable carcinogen as well being a contaminant in our food supply and waterways. This leaves us with several questions and concerns: 1) Other uses not covered by this new policy include golf courses (both private and municipal) and all other state and municipal properties, as well as agricultural uses. 2) While Roundup by name is being withdrawn, Bayer has other products which contain glyphosate, e.g. Rodeo. The fate of this product is unclear. 3) There is still the issue of inerts in any possible new formulations. As we know, an unnamed inert ingredient in Roundup has shown to be toxic to bumblebees. Since companies are not required to list inerts by name, we can imagine this “secret” chemical showing up in any new formulations. 4) The biggest user of Roundup is agriculture which will still be allowed to spread glyphosate on crops (mostly genetically engineered) like corn, soybeans, and cotton. 5) Significant risks still exist for farm workers who handle glyphosate and for anyone who eats food that is grown by our chemical-intensive agriculture system. So what are the take-home messages from this announcement? a) We cannot expect the federal government to protect the safety and health of the public from harmful pesticides. EPA does not take a precautionary or preventative stance, instead, it waits for a bad outcome before modifying any regulations. We cannot assume that if something is approved, it must be “okay”. b) The courts have usually ruled in favor of the public, but it is a long and arduous process to prove a pesticide is harmful. Although this route may be indicated, it is unfortunate that we should have to target one noxious chemical after another. c) A more effective approach would be to eliminate pre-emption (the government’s right to restrict municipalities from enforcing more stringent limitations on pesticides than the state does). d) The real solution to this problem is moving our communities to organic land management. This is what will sustain the soil (the earth) and provide for long-term healthy ecosystems and associated wildlife populations. Pesticides have failed us. Let’s get off that merry-go-round! Mary Wilson Pollinator Pathway Steering Committee Protect Our Pollinators founding member

Tracy Zarrillo, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven You may not have heard of iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/), the crowd-sourcing citizen science biodiversity portal launched in 2008, but researchers interested in learning more about species distribution and status check this database regularly for new and important field observations. Just recently, three people in three different counties in Connecticut uploaded photos to iNaturalist of unusual bumble bees they had never seen before. Little did they realize that they were witnessing a species of bumble bee first-hand that had not been seen in Connecticut since 1919, Bombus auricomus, the Black and Gold Bumble Bee! This species had been extremely rare in Connecticut, with only three historical female records (two from 1919 and one from 1905), but now with three photos on i-Naturalist in 2021. The 1905 specimen was netted from Lilac (Syringa sp.), but the 2021 observations were all visiting Beebalm (Monarda spp.). The most recent photos were from Milford, in a pollinator garden at the Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford Point; Portland, in a suburban flower garden largely composed of various Monarda spp. and Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum); and Vernon, in a wildflower meadow at the Belding Wildlife Management Area. This species is also rare throughout the Northeast and tends to be very localized. There are a few possible reasons for this species’ rarity. The first is that their colonies are very small, with only about 35 workers typically produced throughout the entire season (McFarland et al. 2015). The low numbers of individuals reduce the probability of detection. Another is that it may prefer large, open hayfields with minimal management (they nest on the surface of the ground). Although Connecticut is home to many farms and fields, farming practices may disrupt nest development, and abandoned fields from early in the 20th century have grown into forests. Another theory is that it is a “boom or bust” species, which is a natural pattern that happens in the insect world. Some years are good years for certain insects for unknown reasons, and their populations skyrocket. The Black and Gold Bumble Bee prefers flowers such as Bee balm (Monarda), Nightshades (Solanum), Clover (Trifolium), St. John’s Wort (Hypericum), and Boneset (Eupatorium) (McFarland et al. 2015). Queens, workers, and males may be on the wing until October in Connecticut, so be on the lookout in your pollinator habitats! If seen, please take a photo and upload it to iNaturalist (please join the Pollinator Pathway iNaturalist project—go to projects and type in Pollinator Pathway) that way we can further document its presence in Connecticut. If this is a “boom year” let’s try to get as many records as possible! More eyes on the ground….or on the flowers! Watch Tracy Zarrillo's interview on WSHU Public Radio - Rare Bumblebee Spotted In Connecticut For The First Time In 100 Years

Sandra Diamond Fox Aug. 1, 2021 Sandi is editor of The Litchfield County Times and The New Milford Spectrum. KENT — Every other Friday afternoon throughout the summer, Kent Land Trust intern Whitney Troy has been standing at a table at the Kent Farmers Market, educating people against using chemicals on their property and on the importance of native plants. Troy, 30, said she hopes to encourage residents to establish pollinator pathways — pesticide-free corridors of native plants that provide nutrition and habitat for pollinators. Residents can become part of this initiative by taking several steps, including planting pollinator-friendly trees, providing a source of clean water, mowing higher and less often, and leaving dead wood and dirt patches for nesting bees. To date, through Troy’s efforts and in partnership with the Kent Garden Club and Kent Conservation Commission, 14 residents have gotten on board. “They have registered their properties to get on the map of New England showing where landowners have made pollinator-friendly habitat,” said Connie Manes, executive director of the Kent Land Trust. “The vision of the pollinator pathway is to promote linkages all across new England.” “The biggest motto is trying your best,” said Troy, a student at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. “Even just using less pesticides is good.” A pollinator pathway creates a continuous landscape for pollinators to migrate. “The way we landscape now, land is so fragmented for pollinators,” she said. “If one person doesn’t use any chemicals on his or her lawn and you have a nice native garden for pollinators or a meadow, but if that person’s neighbor is using a bunch of pesticides, those pollinators are going to be stuck in that one area — that one landscape. That’s not good because it decreases the diversity — not only of the plants that are also in the habitat, but that will lead to the decrease of diversity of pollinators.” Upon hearing the word “bees,” Troy said many people get anxious about the possibility of being stung. To that concern, Troy said not to worry. “There are 4,000 different types of native bees in the United States,” she said. “A lot of these bees are solitary and don’t have social nests, so they’re not likely to sting you because they aren’t really worried about protecting their nest.” And pollinators are not just bees. They can also include beetles, butterflies, hummingbirds and some mammals such as bats. Humans need pollinators in order to survive, according to Troy. “Most of our food is from flowering plants that rely on pollinators to survive, and they are declining at a vast rate due to our use of pesticides, herbicides and chemicals,” she said. Additionally, invasive plants, which take over many gardens, don’t provide bees with the nutritional benefits they need. They are also really aggressive and take away the diversity of the environment, according to Troy. Establishing pollinator pathways The Pollinator Pathway NE Project began in 2017 in Wilton. Pathways have since been created in more than 200 towns throughout the United States. Troy has been busy in town establishing pollinator pathways on her own and with help from others. The Kent Land Trust has a pollinator garden, for which Troy said she’s hoping to add more plants. Additionally, at the Kent Community Garden, which is run by the Kent Center School, Troy made a perennial bed against a shed and is placing plants in there as well. At the East Kent Hamlet Nature Preserve, a former Girl Scout camp that’s now owned by the Kent Land Trust, Troy is helping restore a pollinator meadow. She has placed black plastic to smother invasive plants and open up an area for native species, which are plants that are nourishing to native insects and birds. For more information on establishing a pollinator pathway, visit pollinator-pathway.org. sfox@milfordmirror.com. This article is from the August, 1, 2021 NewsTimes.

By Karalyn Lamb Fun and practical information about bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators for everyone - from families to teachers and budding citizen scientists! All resources available in Spanish Did you know that bumblebees have smelly feet? Or that Monarch butterflies taste yucky to birds? Find these and more fun facts about pollinators on the Westchester Land Trust Pollinator Pop-Up page! The Pollinator Pop-Up offers fun and practical information about bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators for families, gardeners, teachers, and budding citizen scientists.#pollinatorpopup You can find: Simple ways to attract bees and butterflies to your yard or window box. Fun facts, bookmarks, and ID guides for kids of all ages. Guide to iNaturalist and SEEK, free nature apps to help you explore the outside world. ¿Sabía que los abejones huelen con las patas? ¿O que las mariposas Monarcas no son apetitosas para los pájaros? Encuentre estos y otros datos divertidos sobre los polinizadores en la página de internet ¡Westchester Land Trust Pollinator Pop-Up! El Pollinator Pop-Up proporciona información divertida y práctica sobre abejas, mariposas, colibrís y otros polonizadores, para familias, jardineros, maestros y ciudadanos colaboradores. #pollinatorpopup Puedes encontrar: Pasos sencillos de atraer abejas y mariposas a su jardin o jardinera. Datos divertidos, marcadores y guias de identificacion para todas las edades. Guia de iNaturalist y SEEK, aplicaciones libres de costo para asistirlo a explorar la naturaleza que le rodea.

Greenwich Pollinator Pathway is installing a gorgeous mural to celebrate the power of native pollinator plants to enhance biodiversity and create life-restoring habitats for our pollinator insects, birds and local wildlife. Artist Nelson Rivas has begun to transform a shabby concrete wall on the Post Road in Greenwich into a field of native floral profusion. See the map below for the exact location. The mural is the brainchild of Myra Klockenbrink, co-chair of the Greenwich Pollinator Pathway. "I want everyone to feel they are a part of this project," says Myra. "That's what art is supposed to do — bring people together.” "The Pollinator Pathway is the point where conservation, preservation, biodiversity, resource conservation, carbon sequestration and growing and restoring habitat all come together within the human landscape," Myra says, adding, "This is the power of the Pollinator Pathway model and it is what the mural being installed — on the Post Road no less — signifies." The Post Road Pollinator Pathway Mural project has raised $25,000 to pay for the project, including a generous grant from Sustainable CT. The project is expected to be completed by the end of summer. You can follow the progress of this amazing effort by clicking here. And you can hear mural visionary Myra Klockenbrink discuss the project in this short interview. We will be following the progress of the the emerging mural so look for updates here. You can also drive by and watch as it unfolds. And in the meantime check out the Post Road Pollinator Pathway Mural on Instagram.

by Mary Wilson Pollinator-friendly gardening and lawn practices are the focus of the newly published 40-page booklet entitled “Earth-Friendly Gardening – One Yard at a Time.” It's yours free to download by clicking on the image at right. This guide came about when its authors realized the dilemma faced by homeowners who want to maintain their yards without using pesticides but are faced with some difficult choices. The book offers some alternative solutions to common problems as well as background information on subjects relating to pollinators and their habitats. Guide topics include managing soil health, caring for fruit trees, conifers, and roses, rethinking lawn care and fall clean-up, maintaining an organic vegetable garden, selecting deer resistant plants, choosing native perennials, and removing invasive species. Full-color photographs accompanying each article will help readers identify the various plants, flowers, shrubs, trees, beneficial insects and garden pests as they are discussed. This informative and readable guide was written by members of Protect Our Pollinators (POP), a Newtown-based group that advocates for sustainable practices to benefit native bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Any organization or group who wishes to use the full pdf on line is welcome to do so. Anyone who would like a hard copy of the guide can order one for a suggested donation of $20 each. The guide will be mailed to your home, postage paid. Checks can be mailed to Mary Wilson, 12 Whippoorwill Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470. A reduced rate is available to any group that wishes to sell these guides at an event. Proceeds from the guides will be used for future educational and advocacy purposes to benefit pollinators.