Love berries, apples, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and melons? Support pollinators! According to the website WisconsinPollinators.com, “Approximately three-quarters of the world’s major food crops require or benefit from animal pollination.”
Students in the Friends of Silverwood Park/Edgerton School District summer school class for middle schoolers learned about, planted and nurtured various fruits and vegetables at Silverwood Park. They took gardening a step further and created a native pollinator garden to support pollinators, especially native bees and butterflies.
Barb Gausman, the class teacher, reached out to Agrecol, a native seed and plant nursery, for suggestions for native plants for the garden area. Agrecol donated 64 plugs for assorted pollinator friendly plants, provided advice, and a native planting sign for the project.
Students researched each of the native plants, noting their benefits, bloom time, color, height, and spacing needs. Nancy Moskul, a Master Gardener volunteer, guided the students in creating a paper layout for planting, with consideration for each plant’s growing needs.
Students used the layout as a guide to plant the garden. Throughout the summer, they watered and weeded as the plants developed.
To support their project, Ruth Flescher, a Master Gardener volunteer, enlightened the students with information about native bees and ways that gardeners can aid bee survival, including cultivating flowering plants, providing nesting sites, and avoiding pesticide use. Students included all in their native garden!
In addition to helping native bees as pollinators, students learned about another popular pollinator, the monarch butterfly. Karen Albrecht, named the Butterfly Lady, shared her passion for supporting and monitoring the monarch, including information about their lifecycle and migration patterns. Karen has a registered Monarch Watchstation and tags/reports monarchs she encounters.
With donations of milkweed and financial support from Gifts for Kids, students were able to plant additional milkweed and register the garden with Monarch Watchstation by Monarch Watch. During this migration season (August/September), students will have the opportunity to help with tagging monarchs from Silverwood and register them worldwide.
Success! Pollinators have visited the youth native pollinator gardens already. Here a monarch caterpillar feasts on a swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) plant!
Students in the Friends of Silverwood Park/Edgerton School District summer school class for middle schoolers learned about, planted and nurtured various fruits and vegetables at Silverwood Park. They took gardening a step further and created a native pollinator garden to support pollinators, especially native bees and butterflies.
By Barb Gaussman
