Invitation to garden with a pollinator at Tel Hai
At the Tel Hai Retirement Community in Honey Brook, Pa., I had been promised a pollinator garden. I wasn’t disappointed. Everywhere I looked, butterflies – primarily monarchs and black swallowtails – were dancing among a profusion of flowers, stopping frequently to take a sip. Bees, too, were foraging for nectar.
Shirley Walton, a resident at Tel Hai, had submitted an entry in my Gardening for Pollinators contest.
“The Tel Hai Community Garden has a new facelift this year and has expanded from being a butterfly garden to a pollinator garden,” she wrote. “Knowing how important pollinators are for our fruits and vegetables that are growing in our garden, we have created a haven for them.”
Walton explained that from a list of recommended plants gathered from an internet website, the volunteer team of about 20 resident gardeners selected dill, fennel and butterfly weed specifically as hosts for butterfly larvae. These grow among nectar-producing plants, including zinnias, sunflowers, and echinacea. (In addition to being a host plant for butterfly larvae, butterfly weed also provides nectar for pollinators.) Walton noted that the fennel attracts even more black swallowtails than parsley.
To make the haven complete, the gardeners added a colorful bee and butterfly drinking dish to the garden, along with a small water feature with plants, a solar fountain, and three fish. On his own garden plot, gardener Al Coleman planted a brilliant array of flowers, accessible by a network of mulch-lined paths. In the center, he installed a bird bath with a solar fountain; as I watched, a goldfinch came to take a drink. Cardinals, and hummingbirds also frequent the gardens. Two nesting boxes host bluebirds, which also help with insect control.
It occurs to me that if I had to pick just one word to describe the community garden it would be “invitation.”
There was, of course, the invitation from Walton to come see the place for myself, and a wonderful welcome from the halfdozen gardeners who helped show me around the garden during my visit. There was also the awareness that the garden, with its colorful mix of nectar-bearing flowers, host plants, and water sources is an invitation to pollinators.
More than that, I learned that there is a standing invitation for anyone in the Tel Hai community to come and enjoy the garden, in all ways. Benches dot the garden, and residents are welcome to simply come and sit for a while to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. Walton told me about one resident, in particular, who comes to the garden nearly every day, to just sit in this lovely, vibrant spot that is so full of life.
Residents are also welcome to pick some of the ripe vegetables to take back to their kitchens – tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, green beans, winter squash – or to cut flowers to take home and put in a vase to enjoy. To make this invitation obvious and easy, Coleman has taken the extra welcoming step of setting up a little box, labeled “BAGS,” which he keeps stocked with plastic bags and scissors for visitors to use.
It’s obvious that the volunteer Tel Hai gardeners take immense joy from knowing that they are supporting native pollinator species, and also from knowing how much delight other residents take from their efforts. For more photos from the garden, visit Chester County Roots on Facebook.
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is a delicate plant that keeps to itself and is attractive to many nectar-feeding insects, including monarch butterflies. It is sometimes confused with butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii).
Buddleja does attract butterflies that feed on its nectar, but it is not a host plant, i.e., it provides no food for larvae. It is also invasive, and easily crowds out important native species. If you love this plant and want to continue to grow it, keep it from spreading by removing spent flower spikes before they go to seed.
Pam Baxter is an avid organic gardener who lives in Kimberton. Direct e-mail to pamelacbaxter@gmail.com, or send mail to P.O. Box 80, Kimberton, PA 19442. Share your gardening stories on Facebook at “Chester County Roots.” Pam’s book for children and families: Big Life Lessons from Nature’s Little Secrets is available on Amazon, along with her new companion field journal, Explore Outdoors, at Amazon.com/author/pamelabaxter.