Pollinator Pathways
by contributing writer, photographer, and gardener Diana Fiske
Mélie Spofford wrote a wonderful article in the May Fog Horn about the importance of adding perennial plants to your garden that are especially beneficial to pollinators. She included a helpful list of flowering plants, shrubs and trees.
I was one of four speakers at the HL Ferguson Museum’s presentation over Memorial Day weekend about Fishers Island native and invasive plants, along with Terry McNamara, Adam Mitchell, and Dianne Crary (stay tuned for the recording on the Museum’s website).
I introduced the Fishers Island Pollinator Pathway to the group assembled. I talked about our experience replacing part of the expansive lawn on our new property with seven new native and pollinator flowering plant borders (…so far!). We started with one little garden, adding two more beds each year – using the cardboard and mulch method of killing the grass over the winter months so the border was ready for new plants in spring.
The Pollinator Pathway comprises public and private pesticide-free corridors of native plants that provide nutrition and habitat for pollinating insects and birds. Even the smallest spaces, like container gardens, flower boxes and curb strips (like we have along the FI Recreation Path, thanks to the ongoing planting by Courtney Allen) can be part of the Pathway. Our island is now officially listed on the national website www.pollinatorpathway.org, along with multiple other towns in 17 states (74 in CT alone).
The three basic principles of creating a healthy pollinator habitat in your own yard are:
- Identify and remove invasive plants
- Avoid use of chemical herbicides and pesticides
- Plant some native trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses
We already have native plantings all over Fishers, so our “pathway” is well underway – at Ferry Park, the Conservancy’s John Thatcher Native Garden and grassland restoration project at the Parade Grounds, the Museum’s Native Nursery on Bell Hill Avenue, the little pollinator garden outside the Post Office, the Community Garden, and in many spots along the Recreation Path up Island. The new little gardens we have created on our own property also count and are listed at the site. People are already contacting me to see how they can add their property to our FI Pathway.
Join the movement! Start now! Add 2 or 3 native plants to your property this summer/fall, and then add more next year. Note: I ran a native seed starting workshop in January last year with 13 participants, many of whom are on the way to growing their own FREE native flowering perennials (I collected the seed from my own garden plants for this purpose). I hope to do this again in January 2025 and can share the simple method with anyone interested. Many of my seedlings will be for sale at the Union Chapel’s Fall Fair (October 12th).
Have fun and help the environment as you go.
- Visit www.pollinatorpathway.org for lots of resources. See our Island’s page under NY.
- Post your photos on Facebook at “FI Pollinator Pathway.”
- Contact me at fipollinators@gmail.com for more info, or to be added to our email list.
Don’t miss the Museum’s upcoming talk on Thursday, July 11, at 4:00pm, “Using Keystone Plants to Bring Pollinators to Your Yard.” Suzanne Thompson and Petie Reid (involved in their own towns’ Pollinator Pathways and Nix the Knotweed efforts) are returning to FI to help us plan, plant, and expand our gardens more ecologically.
