By Debbie Roos
Pittsboro, NC – If you want to attract more pollinators to your farm or garden, or if you just want to expand your perennial garden and provide resources for pollinators and other wildlife, then Chatham County Cooperative Extension has a workshop just for you! Learn how to create a pollinator paradise like the one found at the Extension’s Pollinator Paradise Garden at Chatham Mills in Pittsboro.
The Chatham County Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension will offer their very popular pollinator conservation workshop and garden tour as part of its Enhancing Sustainability Series on three dates this spring:
- Wednesday May 18 from 1 – 5 pm
- Saturday May 21 from 1 – 5 pm
- Monday June 6 from 9 am – 1 pm
This is the same workshop offered on three different dates to accommodate participants’ schedules. Based on feedback from past workshops, I lengthened the workshop and decreased the class size. Class size is now limited to 20 people, so the tour is not too crowded. I added an additional workshop to accommodate demand for a total of three spring workshops.
Chatham County Agricultural Extension Agent Debbie Roos will give an overview of North Carolina pollinators and discuss the role of native bees and managed bees in crop pollination. Participants will learn about the principles of planting a pollinator garden and protecting pollinators and how to select trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, herbs, vines, and grasses to attract a diversity of pollinators. Debbie will emphasize native plants but also include a few other plants that provide good resources. The workshop will start in the auditorium of the Agriculture Building in Pittsboro and conclude with a tour of Cooperative Extension’s demonstration pollinator garden at Chatham Mills, about half a mile from the Agriculture Building. The garden is comprised of ~180 different species, 85% of which are native to the piedmont of North Carolina.
Participants will receive several native perennial milkweed plants (Asclepias tuberosa and Asclepias incarnata) grown by local nursery Mellow Marsh Farm to take home to plant for pollinators! These species are great for both bees and monarch butterflies.
Click here to take a virtual tour of the pollinator garden to see how it progresses through the seasons.
Advance registration is required for these workshops. Click here to download a registration form on the Growing Small Farms website. Space is limited and workshops often fill up so register early.