History of the pollinator garden project
The Pollinator Project at White Memorial Conservation Foundation. The Pollinator Garden Project was a conservation initiative created by LGC members in the late 1990’s at the White Memorial Conservation Center next to Ongley Pond. Over the years of the garden's development, it became apparent that the garden attracted many other pollinators besides butterflies and the garden is now called the Pollinator Project. The objective is to demonstrate to visitors the number and variety of beneficial pollinators that can be attracted to a garden with the right mix of plants. Native plant species included perennials, bulbs and shrubs such as Joe Pye weed, nepeta, nodding onion, milkweed, viburnum and spirea. Members have maintained the area by watering and weeding the garden throughout the growing season.
Rain Garden and Pollinator Garden: Maybe it is the expansive field that comes down from the horizon, stopping at the road just before the garden, and the coolness that comes off the lake, meeting together and creating a space of serenity and still beauty.
This is where we are creating our rain garden and pollinator garden, and every day we work there, something incredible happens - a bobolink building a nest high in the trees, bluebirds swooping for bugs, field swallows flitting around us as if to say - Yes, come and plant here and create something beautiful.
May 20, 2020 we had the great fortune to have the White Memorial team scrape and prepare the soil for the expanded Pollinator Garden, after three hours of work and using a new machine. The soil is so rich, and the wild cherry trees sing from their new vantage point, raised high in the garden space. We are ready for planting! Enjoy images below - click to enlarge and view captions.
This is where we are creating our rain garden and pollinator garden, and every day we work there, something incredible happens - a bobolink building a nest high in the trees, bluebirds swooping for bugs, field swallows flitting around us as if to say - Yes, come and plant here and create something beautiful.
May 20, 2020 we had the great fortune to have the White Memorial team scrape and prepare the soil for the expanded Pollinator Garden, after three hours of work and using a new machine. The soil is so rich, and the wild cherry trees sing from their new vantage point, raised high in the garden space. We are ready for planting! Enjoy images below - click to enlarge and view captions.
The Rain Garden was created on May 6, 2020. Here is the story. We established our rain garden at White Memorial Conservation Center by scraping off the top 6 inches of top soil and putting it to one side. We then scraped off the subsoil, using it to create a low berm around the perimeter of the rain garden footprint. It was our great fortune to discover large rocks in the digging, which we embedded within the berm, placing the largest rock in the center of the garden. The final step was returning the first layer of top soil back into the garden site. We are ready for planting!!
In our case, we put out a call for plants from our members and received an incredibly generous response. Plants were delivered to our site and left by the side of the garden. When we arrived for planting, we were astonished by both the diversity and amount of plant material. Thank you generous LGC members!
Because of coronavirus and social distancing, we were a small team of 5 people, working in two shifts in one day, and the work went easily and quickly. We were hoping for a rain event that same evening which would help establish the new planting. The rain event did not happen and a couple of us hand watered the next day. Since then we have had both a rain and snow event and the rain garden is doing its job - holding, draining and percolating rain water deep into the earth’s soil - an easy way to conserve and utilize nature’s bounty. See the setting up and the planting of the garden below. Click to enlarge images and view captions.
In our case, we put out a call for plants from our members and received an incredibly generous response. Plants were delivered to our site and left by the side of the garden. When we arrived for planting, we were astonished by both the diversity and amount of plant material. Thank you generous LGC members!
Because of coronavirus and social distancing, we were a small team of 5 people, working in two shifts in one day, and the work went easily and quickly. We were hoping for a rain event that same evening which would help establish the new planting. The rain event did not happen and a couple of us hand watered the next day. Since then we have had both a rain and snow event and the rain garden is doing its job - holding, draining and percolating rain water deep into the earth’s soil - an easy way to conserve and utilize nature’s bounty. See the setting up and the planting of the garden below. Click to enlarge images and view captions.
October 27, 2019. This was the Conservation Committees first site visit to our ‘Big Pollinator Garden’ enlargement program at White Memorial Conservation Center, which we will be creating and planting over the next two years. How foolish to think that a little rain would deter serious New England gardeners!
The garden area is about 235 feet by 180 feet. The site already has a bird nesting box, a bat house and a wooded nest for the resident snake. The conservation program is to work with the existing native plantings including the trees and shrubs, adding to what is already there, enhancing the pollinator population, and planting swaths of buckwheat and white clover. Drone photos were taken of the site in order to use for detailed planting layouts and design. Click to enlarge images and read captions.
The garden area is about 235 feet by 180 feet. The site already has a bird nesting box, a bat house and a wooded nest for the resident snake. The conservation program is to work with the existing native plantings including the trees and shrubs, adding to what is already there, enhancing the pollinator population, and planting swaths of buckwheat and white clover. Drone photos were taken of the site in order to use for detailed planting layouts and design. Click to enlarge images and read captions.
Pollinator Garden Program - The Conservation Committee (Frank Fontana, Ellen Oneglia and Tonja Curry) planted seven shrubs on April 30, 2019 to create the beginning of a hedgerow. They include two corpus red twig dogwoods, two physocarpus ninebark, two viburnum popcorn and one corpus yellow twig.
The garden will be expanded during the summer of 2020 by planting native species beneath the existing line of eight wild black cherry trees. This will create a habitat that provides food and cover for small animals. A Litchfield High School student working on her environmental project will be assisting members to prepare the soil and begin the planting. Members will maintain social distancing while working on the project with an anticipated completion date of mid to late summer.
In the Fall of 2020, seven cedar trees will be planted in a group as a future nesting site for owls. After a few years, once the trees have matured and grown taller, the tops will be cut allowing the branches to intermingle and grow into each other encouraging owls to build their nests. Click images below for a larger view.
The garden will be expanded during the summer of 2020 by planting native species beneath the existing line of eight wild black cherry trees. This will create a habitat that provides food and cover for small animals. A Litchfield High School student working on her environmental project will be assisting members to prepare the soil and begin the planting. Members will maintain social distancing while working on the project with an anticipated completion date of mid to late summer.
In the Fall of 2020, seven cedar trees will be planted in a group as a future nesting site for owls. After a few years, once the trees have matured and grown taller, the tops will be cut allowing the branches to intermingle and grow into each other encouraging owls to build their nests. Click images below for a larger view.
On June 11, 2018 a team of LGC members (Sara Gault, Marie Kennedy, Tonja Curry, Anna Heys, Polly Brooks, Martha Phillips, and Ellen Oneglia) weeded and added new plants. Click images above for larger view and caption.
Below is the team who cleaned up the White Memorial Pollinator Garden on April 30th, 2018. Click or hover to see team names!
Below is what the garden looked like in the Summer of 2017. Click images for larger view.
June of 2016 - working in the garden. On the left - Margy Miner and Anna Heys. On the right - Sara Gault and Barbara MacDonald. Click images to enlarge.
Setting up the garden - and now take a look!
