Pollinator Pathway

This sunny, highly visible garden is at 34 Quaker Meetinghouse near Peter's Pond, between the parking lot and the Town Recreation Offices.   The Sandwich Garden Club carefully researched Cape Cod native plants that would thrive in this location and support many native pollinators by providing host plants for their benefit and a long season of interest to all who visit.

The Orleans Conservation Trust staff and volunteers transitioned a prominent area around their building on Rt. 28 to all native plants in the Spring of 2023.  As a founding member of the PPCC, the OCT wanted to highlight to visitors how a native plant garden can be established by using different planting approaches.  The main bed was planted with 1-gallon perennials, while another area was seeded and a third area was planted with many native plant "plugs" or small plants.

The garden beds in the Orleans Green adjacent to the Snow Library, have traditionally been planted with Rhododendrons - both native and non-native.  In the past two years, the Nauset Garden Club and Orleans Improvement Association, working with Town staff, are transitioning this highly visible garden into a native plant garden with much greater diversity and seasonal interest. Including more native Rhododendrons and Azaleas.

This project was a joint effort of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod and the town of Harwich Port.  The efforts lead to replanting the sandy area under the boardwalk with appropriate native plant materials that thrive in the conditions of this approach from the parking lot to the marina.

Three traffic islands were redesigned with native, drought-tolerant plants, and were funded, installed and maintained by the Wellfleet Garden Club.  As noted in the 3rd photo, the pollinators have found the busy, but attractive location is to their liking.

Meadow on Main – Mayo House, Chatham Conservation Foundation Office in Chatham, MA showcasing Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

The Herb Garden is just outside the 1790 Wicks House on Museum on the Green. It contains many medicinal herbs that were used by the original owner Dr. Francis Wicks.

Thompsons’s Field, a Town of Harwich property with a wildflower garden built and maintained by the Garden Club of Harwich features Golden Yarrow (Eriophyllum confertiflorum), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Tickseed (Coreopsis) and Beardtongue ‘Husker Red’ (Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’).

Pollinator garden at the headquarters of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Dennis MA featuring Monarch butterflies feasting on Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) flanked by Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). The garden also features Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and Goldenrod (Solidago).

The Mass Audubon Society’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellfleet MA features a pollinator garden with Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis), New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveborecensis), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) and Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) supporting wasps, bees and moths.

A pollinator pathway at Theresa’s Way in Orleans, MA sponsored by the Orleans Improvement Association is under development.

Trillium luteum, Podophyllum peltatum and Iris cristata blooming at the Lyn Peabody Wildflower Gardens, maintained by the Nauset Garden Club at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, Brewster, MA

The Memorial Park Garden maintained by the Falmouth Garden Club contains many pollinator friendly native perennials, shrubs & trees. A few of the perennials are Bee balm, Geranium, King Solomon's seal and Pink turtlehead. Some of the shrubs include Oakleaf hydrangea, Mapleleaf viburnum and Azalea. Native trees include American holly, Dogwood, River birch and Franklin alatamaha.

A garden at the Museum on the Greens maintained by the Falmouth Garden Club.