Pollinator Garden

A Garden is like a Window. It was 1990, in my little backyard garden, that I spied a little bird, who uncharacteristically walked along the ground instead of hopping like most little birds, ie. sparrows, or remaining up in the branches of the trees. It was a lovely little bird, with a brightly striped cap and streaks on the breast and a pair of spectacles about the eyes. Being completely mesmerized, I went off to Barnes and Nobles, then just a few blocks away, and picked up a copy of Peterson’s Field Guide to Eastern Birds. (Note this was before the internet.). And at that moment I had unwittingly become a birder; identifying my first warbler and my first bird on a long list.

So why am I sharing this little anecdote? Because it was the little garden that I had been working on at the time that brought to me this little jewel. And gardens have continued to reward me with the same majesty and wonders of the natural world as if I were in the middle of a great rain forest.

A very special window a garden is, and our Pollinator Garden here at the Y, is no exception; where on any sunny summer day you can find several species of bees, and butterflies amidst many varieties of flowers. But if you’re really lucky you will also see a caterpillar or two. And if you hang out a bit more you may even witness one of nature’s greatest mysteries, metamorphosis. Over the past few years we have successfully released dozens of mature monarchs who have since took off from our watch to continue their long and arduous journey south. And it all happened because a new habitat had come into being; this “little” garden in the middle of a parking lot.

The garden is a multiyear project. While we continue to create new beds and sow new seeds we ask that you consider volunteering, so that we have the power in numbers to restore our YMCA property to a environmentally friendly, co-habitat with our ecosystem.   

Joy K. - Lead Volunteer for the Pollinator Garden

VOLUNTEER  

If you are interested in volunteering in our pollinator garden email steve.butler@srymca.org.