10 August, 2015
GardenerNews.com
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge By Jeannie Geremia Garden Club of New Jersey Great news for all of you gardeners out there who feel overwhelmed and disheartened by the escalating loss of our pollinators. A nationwide call to action has been mounted and we can unite to create corridors of pollen and nectar-laden landscapes to help revive the health of bees, butterflies, birds, bats and amphibians. The National Pollinator Garden Network “is an unprecedented collaboration of national, regional, and the garden industry members” who convened in the fall of 2014 to strategize on efforts to restore our plummeting pollinator population. The founding partners involved are a “blue book” list of gardening and wildlife organizations including: The Garden Club of New Jersey, Inc.’s parent organization, National Garden Clubs, Inc.; National Wildlife Federation; Pollinator Partnership; Kids Gardening; Home Garden Seed Association; American Hort; National Garden Bureau, Inc.; American Public Gardens Association; Monarch Watch; National Recreation and Park Association; The Xerces Society; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center; Captain Planet Foundation; North American Butterfly Association; Wildlife Habitat Council; National Environmental Education Foundation; Society of American Florists; American Horticultural Society; Wild Ones; America in Bloom; Association of Zoos & Aquariums; and Direct Gardening Association. Pollinator resources include the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Smithsonian Gardens and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. What you can do to be part of the solution is simple and I’m sure your gardens qualify already, so let’s stand up and be counted so we, by example, can encourage our friends, family and communities to come onboard. First step will be to check out the
challenge by going on the National Pollinator Garden Network website. You will be directed to the Pollinator Partnership website, www. pollinatorpartnership.org, and can register your garden so it can be added to the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge. It’s so heartening to see the map of the United States, enter your garden location and be able to click on your community and see your garden listed as part of this great challenge. The steps involved include: using plants that provide nectar and pollen, providing a water source, choosing a sunny location (if possible) with wind breaks, starting with a manageable size (containers or window boxes will suffice), providing nearby nesting sites (bird houses, bee houses, bare ground or debris), providing a diversity of plants, helping monarchs by planting milkweeds (bees and other butterflies will benefit, too), planting early-spring to late-fall nectar and host plants, and using an “Integrated Pest Management” program, thereby limiting the impact of pesticides on pollinators. The GCNJ Backyard Wildlife Habitat Project is encouraging garden club members, and the public to take this Million Pollinator Garden Challenge further by going to the National Wildlife Federation website, www. nwf.org, and clicking on: Take the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, then clicking on Certified Wildlife Habitat and certifying your garden, yard, public garden, community garden or school garden as a “Certified Wildlife Habitat” site. You can purchase any one of several different styles of signs that proudly show your commitment to wildlife habitats to your neighbors and community. I just did that for the Raritan Township Community Garden, and my own home garden (the map shows the site/s as “Garden Club of New Jersey”). Certification also includes a personalized certificate, subscription to National Wildlife magazine and a full year’s membership to the National Wildlife Federation, plus a discount
on NWF merchandise. Certifying your garden/s also counts towards the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge. The Garden Club of New Jersey’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat Project will also give each person, garden club or gardening organization that reaches out to us as having signed their garden on as a “certified wildlife habitat” a certificate from us as a token of our appreciation. I’m sure many of you are “way ahead” and already have this precious certification. If so, please reach out to me at: jeannieg42@earthlink.net and I will see that you receive your GCNJ certificate. Meanwhile, we’re still two steps from having our beautiful Black Swallowtail Butterfly designated as New Jersey’s official state butterfly. Please continue to reach out to your local Assemblymen and Assemblywomen and ask them to support Assembly Bill A2913 and sister Senate Bill S939, by signing on as a sponsor/co-sponsor and asking Assembly Speaker Prieto to post these identical bills for a vote in the Assembly. Please come see our educational exhibit – GCNJ Butterflies & BeeGAP and GCNJ Backyard Wildlife Habitat, in the Conservatory at the New Jersey State Fair running from July 31 through August 9, celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the New Jersey State Fair, Sussex Farm & Horse Show Fair in Augusta, N.J. I will be speaking at the show on Thursday, August 6 at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the Greenhouse. Enjoy! Editor’s Note: Jeannie Geremia is the Community Gardens Chair, the Butterflies & BeeGAP Chair, and the Backyard Wildlife Habitat Chair for the Garden Club of New Jersey, Inc., and is a National Garden Clubs, Inc., Accredited Flower Show Judge for the GCNJ. Jeannie is the GCNJ 2016 Flower Show Chair and can be reached by emailing: jeannieg42@ earthlink.net Garden Club of New Jersey website is: www. gardenclubofnewjersey. com and phone number is: 732-249-0947.