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Pollinator Pathway Gardens: Gaining Local Support

February 22, 2020 by The Inside Press

Pollinator pathway garden in downtown Chappaqua. Prior to this, the area was full of weeds.

Article and Photos by Missy Fabel

Just last year at a meeting of the Earthwatch Institute, a prominent environmental non-profit, scientists declared the bee to be the most important living being on the planet. This notion was shared by Albert Einstein more than a century ago who boldly stated that “if bees disappear, humans would have four years to live.” Yet bees are at risk of extinction. In fact, in some regions of the world, they have disappeared up to 90 percent.

While that news is sobering, local residents and county-wide initiatives are doing their part to keep bees and other pollinators happily buzzing in the communities of Northern Westchester.

Bees, butterflies, birds and even bats are all pollinators that play a vital role in the transfer of pollen from one plant to another, enabling fertilization and the production of fruit and seeds. More than 30% of our food grows as a result of pollinators. Yet, the habitat loss of native plants and widespread use of pesticides and herbicides are causing worldwide decline of pollinators.

The History Behind the First Pollinator Pathway

Sarah Bergman started the very first Pollinator Pathway in Seattle more than a decade ago as part of a social and ecological project to combat the decline in pollinators. In an effort to connect two green spaces more than a mile apart, Ms. Bergman went door to door to the homeowners in-between to create a mile long 12-foot-wide corridor of pollinator friendly gardens, a literal “pathway” to sustain pollinators with pesticide-free habitat and nutrition.

With increasing public awareness of the decline of pollinators, particularly native bees, Bergman’s idea caught on. In 2018, Norwalk, Wilton and Ridgefield together with Hudson to Housatonic Regional Conservation Partnership (H2H) set up the first Pollinator Pathways in Connecticut. Westchester followed their lead and New Castle Pollinator Pathway Coalition (NCPPC) is among the more than 16 municipalities, organizations and hundreds of individuals joining Pollinator Pathways in Westchester.

Pollinator Pathways in New Castle

The New Castle Pollinator Pathway Coalition (NCPPC) is a volunteer effort consisting of individuals and organizations that support pollinators by connecting properties and green spaces to create a more hospitable environment for bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife.

Pollinator Pathway signs have been popping up in New Castle on resident’s mailboxes and downtown near the train station in recent months. These signs mark just some of the properties that are part of the NCCPC.

According to New Castle resident Victoria Alzapiedi, founder of New Castle Healthy Yards and co-chair of NCCPC, more than 130 public and private properties are already on the Pathway and the list is growing. “I’m so excited that there are so many property owners in our community signing on to the New Castle Pollinator Pathway. Not using pesticides and other lawn chemicals and adding native plants–including specific host and nectar plants for each species of butterfly, moth, and bee–will attract these important insects to your yard and provide a haven for them to live and to thrive,” Alzapiedi explained.

Pollinator Friendly Gardens Gain Traction in Other Towns

Garden clubs and other organizations in Pleasantville, Bedford, North Castle and other towns in Westchester are also spreading the word, through education, outreach and the creation of pollinator friendly gardens.

“Our mission includes educating people about ways to help the planet,” says Phina Geiger, president of the Pleasantville Garden Club, whose members planted a demonstration garden next to a playground in Mt. Pleasant this past spring. “Many of the plants we used were ones from our yards, tried and true locally sourced native plants that people may not know about, but can come and see and be inspired to use in their own yards. The Pleasantville Garden club is also partnering with their Parks & Recreation department to promote Pollinator Pathways in other areas of town, she added.

Plans to add native and pollinator friendly plants are also in the works in Armonk. This spring, the North Castle Public Library is adding native trees, shrubs and perennials to its foundation planting as part of the New York Library Association (NYLA) state-wide Sustainable Library Certification Program. “We wanted to enhance the landscaping in front of our library,” says Edie Martimucci, Director of North Castle Public Library, “and using native plants just makes sense from an environmental and sustainability standpoint.”

Tips for Creating a Pollinator Friendly Garden

Whether you live in an apartment with a balcony, a typical suburban home, a large estate or are a commercial business in town, everyone can participate in Pollinator Pathway by avoiding the use of pesticides and choosing native plants. Nature preserves, such as Glazier Arboretum in New Castle, Eugene and Agnes Meyer Preserve in North Castle, town and county parks, schools, typical backyards and front yards, even window boxes can help support pollinators.

“It’s simple, really,” declares Filipine de Hoogland of Westchester Pollinators. “Many people already have native trees and shrubs in their yards with natural pesticide free areas. If we connect our pollinator friendly yards, we can construct pathways. Pathways create safe territory for our pollinators and other wildlife to survive.” She also suggests informing your landscaping company about the steps you are planning to take to create a pollinator friendly yard, so they can help you achieve your goals.

Year-Round Needs for Pollinators

Pollinators need nectar and pollen in all seasons. Native spring flowering trees and shrubs are an important nectar and pollen source early in the season as well as common native plants often considered “weeds,” such as the common violet. Violets provide nectar as well as leafy greens for the recently hatched butterfly larvae of the Great Spangled Fritillary. Consider leaving violets and other wildflowers in your lawn in spring.

Aster and goldenrod are vital sources of both nectar and pollen in the fall. White wood aster naturally colonizes the woodland edges common in suburban landscapes and can easily be encouraged to spread. Leaving some leaf litter in your garden or natural area also helps support pollinators by providing cover for overwintering insects.

Local Pollinator Events On the Horizon

Look for NCPPC and Westchester Pollinator events this spring and summer, including activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day as well as national Pollinator Week, June 22-28. In addition, mark your calendar for The Chappaqua Garden Club’s Mother’s Day weekend plant sale from May 7-10. The sale offers hundreds of native plants including specific pollinator friendly plant combination kits for sun, shade, wet and dry areas, according to Chappaqua Garden Club co-president Melanie Smith. For more information, visit chappaquagardenclub.com

Missy is a native plant landscape designer and consultant, teacher, writer and naturalist in Chappaqua. She is a Steering Committee member of the Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College, a member of the Town of New Castle Conservation Board and co-chair of the NCPPC.

For more information on Pollinator Pathways and how to start one in your town, visit: https://www.pollinator-pathway.org

How to Join the Pollinator Pathway Initiative

Include native plants on your property for all seasons
Avoid using pesticides and herbicides
Consider leaving some bare ground for nesting native bees and leaving some autumn leaves for overwintering eggs and pupae of pollinating insects

If you reside in New Castle, register at: pollinator-pathway.org/new-castle

Why are Pollinators Under Threat?

Habitat loss due to urban development and agriculture
Widespread application of pesticides
Climate change

At Greeley, a Plant Garden Goes Native

April 21, 2018 by The Inside Press

Last spring, the main office courtyard of Horace Greeley High School was transformed into the new Greeley Native Plant Learning Garden (GNPLG). More than a dozen students, faculty and PTA parent volunteers planted more than 3,000 native plants in what used to be a neglected area of turf grass surrounded by a hedge of burning bush, a non-native invasive species.

Native plants are those that occur naturally in a region, having co-evolved over a period of time with other plants, insects and animal species, developing complex interdependent relationships. They instill a sense of place and emotional connection to our environment. Here in the temperate deciduous forests of the Northeast, native species include trees such as sugar maples and oaks, grasses such as little bluestem and purple love grass and herbaceous perennials such as violets, goldenrods and asters.

Unfortunately, many native woodland species, particularly flowers, have been eradicated because of the accidental introduction of non-native invasive species. Traditionally chosen for ornamental planting on our suburban landscape, these species, such as barberry and pachysandra have escaped cultivation, taking over our woodlands and right-of-ways. Oriental bittersweet is just one of the many invasive vines you see along the Saw Mill River Parkway that has over run native trees and shrubs. Ornamental species were chosen precisely because they did not have any natural insect predators or diseases and this has allowed them to outcompete our native plants, upon which a whole host of pollinators and wildlife depend. Non-native plants in general support far fewer native insects and birds than our native ones do. Add an overabundant deer population, which browse on saplings and early spring bloomers, and the situation seems dire.

The good news, however, is that if you plant it, they will come and come indeed they did to GNPLG. By the fall, GNPLG was abuzz with hundreds of pollinators, our native bees, flies and butterflies. Pollinators move pollen from one flower to another flower of the same species, helping plants to produce fertile seeds and fruit and are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat. The pervasive use of pesticide coupled with habitat loss has led to the decline of many pollinators, including our native bumblebees, which are considered threatened in North America. Monarch butterfly populations have been steadily declining and are down for a second year in a row, according to a report by Monarch Joint Venture, an organization of more than 70 academic, business and NGO partners dedicated to conservation of monarch migration. But both were present in abundance at GNPLG, happily nectaring and foraging on orange butterfly weed, smooth aster and goldenrod.

Migrating birds also stopped by GNPLG to feast on the berries of the mature dogwood planted in the courtyard in the late 70’s. When nesting in the spring, these birds rely on caterpillars and insect larvae (think soft, yummy protein) to feed their young. The majority of insect larvae and caterpillars are specialists dependent on native plant species for food. A few holes in your leaves? Not to worry, the birds will find the culprit. According to Doug Tallamy, entomologist and author of Bringing Nature Home, it takes an incredible 6,000-9,000 caterpillars to make just one clutch of chickadees, which is just a tiny bird, weighing less than three pennies in your pocket. No native plants, no caterpillars. No caterpillars, no chickadees. And who doesn’t love a chickadee?

“The garden at Greeley is an important tool in helping students learn about the many benefits of native plants,” says Carol Capobianco, director of The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College. “Native plants provide valuable sources of food and shelter for wildlife and define a local sense of place. And because they are adapted to the local weather conditions, soils, and predators, they require less maintenance and no pesticides or fertilizers. Plus, they are beautiful.”

Not only is the GNPLG a beautiful place for students and faculty to relax on a break, it also offers a wide range of place-based and project-based learning from botany and ecology to photography and art. Students from Greeley’s Students and Teachers for Our Planet (STOP) Committee along with members of the Greeley Garden PTA and the Chappaqua Garden Club plan to manage the garden ensuring its success going forward.

Join STOP, Chappaqua Garden Club and the Greeley Garden PTA for an open house of the GNPLG on May 17, 2018 (rain date May 22) from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. Native plant experts and students will be on hand to answer questions and students from the Greeley Chamber Orchestra will be performing. Come check it out!

Top 5 Things To Consider When Adding Natives to Your Landscape

Reduce Your Lawn: A reduced lawn saves both time and money. Lawns require a tremendous amount of resources including water, pesticides and fertilizers, not to mention weekly mowing. Expand existing garden beds and shrub areas by adding or encouraging low maintenance native groundcovers, such as violets, ferns, goldenrod and asters.

Leave Leaves Alone: Leaves provide a natural source of soil nutrients as they break down, as well as habitat for overwintering beneficial insects and other pollinators. Use a mulching mower to mulch leaves directly in your lawn and let them overwinter in garden beds and under shrubs to build healthy soil. Instruct your landscaper not to use a leaf blower in those areas. Wait until late winter to cut back perennials, allowing birds and insects to take advantage of seed heads and cover.

Green Mulch: Let the plants work for you! Add native groundcovers under shrubs and in perennial beds to act as a living mulch, suppressing weeds and moderating soil temperature. Great deer resistant choices include golden groundsel (Packera aurea) which is evergreen, produces yellow flowers in early spring and grows well in both sun and shade and native grasses such as sedges (Carex spp.) and ferns. Hay-scented fern even grows in full sun!

Oh Deer!: There are many choices of native trees and shrubs that deer typically do not browse that can be substituted for non-native ornamental plants. American holly (Ilex opaca), Blackhaw viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium) and Viburnum nudum ‘Brandywine’ and ‘Winterthur’ are just a few that provide berries for birds and cover in winter.

Succession of Bloom: Choose hardy, deer resistant plants that bloom all season long and plant them in groups of 3s and 5s. Columbine flowers (Aquilegia canadensis) open just as the ruby-throated hummingbird returns in early spring. In summer, orange butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) host monarch caterpillars. Mountain mint (Pycnanthemum spp.) is a pollinator magnet and blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) is covered with bright purple flowers (and butterflies!) in late fall.

New Castle Historical Society to Host Sept. 19 Garden Party Fundraiser

August 19, 2015 by Inside Press

For release from The New Castle Historical Society:

The New Castle Historical Society is hosting its first annual “An Evening in Greeley’s Garden” event at the Horace Greeley House Museum on Saturday, September 19, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The evening will include live music performed by a Civil War Era string band, beer and wine, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. The New Castle Historical Society’s Board of Trustees and volunteers, Westchester based artist Cindy Sacks, Kramer Portraits, and Hilltop Wines have each generously provided silent auction items for the event. General admission tickets for the “An Evening in Greeley’s Garden” begin at $65 and may be purchased by visiting www.newcastlehs.org or by calling 914-238-4666.

“The New Castle Historical Society is extremely excited to offer this first time special event at the Greeley House,” said Cassie Ward, Executive Director of the New Castle Historical Society. “The Garden Party is an opportunity for local residents and their guests to experience our museum and grounds in a new and unique way. The Garden Party will provide guests with the chance to experience the museum’s outdoor space similar to the way Horace Greeley did in the mid-1800s when he established his country home and farm in what is now downtown Chappaqua.”

All proceeds from this event will benefit the New Castle Historical Society, a nonprofit educational organization that seeks to discover, preserve, and share knowledge about the history of the Town of New Castle and about the life of Horace Greeley. Established in 1966, the Historical Society maintains a historic collection of artifacts and documents related to the Town of New Castle, it provides programs and exhibits about the Town’s history, and it preserves Horace Greeley’s second home in Chappaqua. The Historical Society will turn 50 next year and will continue to offer expanded programming and activities to encourage a greater interaction with the history and culture of the local area.

In addition to the “An Evening in Greeley’s Garden,” the Historical Society will host an array of new programs this fall. Some of the new programs include:

– A printing press education program for children under 10 (9/27/15),
– A purse party fundraiser for locals that love their accessories (10/17/15),
– An oral history program at the Chappaqua Library where residents will be encouraged to share their stories from the 1960s (10/7/15),
– A 50th Anniversary Kick-Off Party and Last Man Standing Cash Raffle (11/14/15),
– And a “Gold in Your Attic” Pop-Up Store at the Greeley House, just in time for the holidays (12/5/15).

For more information regarding these programs, please visit www.newcastlehs.org, call 914-238-4666, or email Cassie Ward at director@newcastlehs.org.

The New Castle Historical Society is a non-profit organization that discovers,
collects, preserves and communicates the history of the Town of New Castle.

Rosenthal JCC to Dedicate Butterfly Garden in Memory of Dr. Eric Levy on May 31st

May 26, 2015 by The Inside Press

Garden promotes the Gardening/Nature program of the Early Childhood Center Preschool

On Sunday, May 31, at 4 p.m., the Levy family of Bedford, NY will be dedicating the Dr. Eric Levy Butterfly Garden as a gift to the Rosenthal JCC of Northern Westchester in Pleasantville, NY. Dr. Levy passed away in 2014 and on behalf of his wife Marnie and their two children, Jake and Emily, and their families, they have created and are dedicating this living memorial — a beautiful butterfly garden in his honor and as an act of remembrance.

“Our families have tried very hard to cope and heal from this tragedy. Our hope is that this garden will not only be an enhancement to our existing Gardening Program but also an environment of peace and tranquility for all those who visit it,” said Marnie Levy.

The new garden space is intended to promote a communal expression of Jewish values, identity, and spirituality. It will provide a laboratory for living and learning nature programs. In the Rosenthal JCC preschool classrooms, the children are currently learning about the process of metamorphosis and experiencing the butterfly lifecycle. Every classroom has a butterfly habitat and new books about butterflies. The children will watch the caterpillars eat and grow to 10 times their original size. They will observe the change into a chrysalides and finally emerge as beautiful butterflies to complete the entire cycle of metamorphosis.

The butterflies will be released into the garden on May 31^st at the Dedication Ceremony at 4 p.m.

In addition, the Butterfly Garden is part of a fundraising effort to support the robust Gardening/Farm-to-Table Program at the Rosenthal JCC. A walkway leading to the garden is being created and paving stones are available for purchase in memory or in celebration of a loved one. Pavers are available in varying sizes and prices for the “Let it Grow Butterfly Garden” and can be purchased on-line (www.rosenthaljcc.org/butterflygarden). Each paver can be engraved with a sentiment of one to three lines depending on the size of the paver.

“Eric was a loyal husband, devoted father, brilliant physician, and loving son, brother, uncle and friend. He loved nature and would have been so proud of this garden. Please join us for this meaningful experience and wonderful event.”

To RSVP to the dedication event, please contact Ann Pardes, Director of Early Childhood Education at ann@rosenthaljcc.org or 914-741-0333 x21. Refreshments will be served and families are welcome.

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Pollinator Pathway Gardens: Gaining Local Support