Pollinator Project
About the Project
The Blomidon Naturalists Society has joined the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway Project, to create pollinator friendly gardens across the country. The Blomidon Naturalists Society is working to support biodiversity, pollinators and native plants in the Kings County Area. Our focus is on planting public pollinator gardens with educational signage, but we also encourage wildlife habitat support and sustainable practices in the home garden. Our public demonstration gardens, along with a wealth of information offered below on this web page, will promote and support local towns, institutions, businesses and individuals to do more to support pollinators in their outdoor areas.
Our Gardens
We currently have 8 public pollinator gardens for educational purpose in the Annapolis Valley.
Wolfville: Clock Park (Elm.Ave/Main St.); RCMP garden (Gaspereau Ave/Main St.); Rail Trail garden and re-wilding zone (on trail behind Acadia Athletics complex).
New Minas: Lockhart and Ryan Memorial Park (9443 Commercial St.)
Port Williams: Port Williams Community Park, (H.358, Port Williams); Prescott House Museum (1633 Starr’s Point Road).
Kentville: Miner’s Marsh entrance, Valley Community Learning Association’s Community Hub (118 Oakdene Ave).
Why We Need pollinators
Pollinators of all sorts – bees, butterflies, beetles, birds, bats – are responsible for sustaining our ecosystems and their biodiversity, and, necessary for us, pollinating our food. 90% of flowering plants need animal pollination, and about 1/3 of the food we eat requires pollination, specifically nutrient-rich foods like fruits, seeds, vegetables and more. Native bees, it has been found in numerous studies, are in many cases more effective pollinators than honeybees at transferring pollen, both in terms of pollinating the wild plants in our landscape, but also our food crops. However, declining habitat, pests and diseases, pesticides, climate change, invasive species and other factors are causing a serious loss of pollinators, especially native pollinators like many bee species and butterflies. Given the decline of pollinators, and the ensuring grave implications for the future of our food systems and ecosystems, planting pollinator gardens is an important, empowering, and beautiful task.
“Restoring habitat where we live and work, and to a lesser extent where
we farm and graze, will go a long way toward building biological
corridors that connect preserved habitat fragments with one another.”
Douglas W. Tallamy, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard
