NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Next spring, the sound of buzzing insects will be filling the air at a brand new garden at Roberts Ridge Park.
But it was a different kind of buzz filling the air on a recent Saturday as teams of community volunteers busily planted the first phase of a pollinator garden just off Dolington Road.
During the course of one day, volunteers planted 1,200 native flowers as part of the creation of the garden designed to attract bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, birds, flies, small mammals, and bats.
This was the first phase of a multi-phase garden project that will eventually include a two-acre garden with wood chip pathways and several benches where people can sit, read or just observe the nature around them.
“This pollinator garden will not only be available for beauty but also for educational purposes,” said Newtown Township Supervisor Elen Snyder, who worked with the EAC to bring the first phase of the garden to fruition. “We’re going to have plaques installed with QR codes that will take you to an information site that describes the cycle of life in the plant and insect world and tells all about the individual plants.”
Newtown Township Supervisor Elen Snyder and members of the EAC with some of the volunteers who helped with the planting. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
Volunteers help with the planting. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
Designed by Britney O’Donnell Garden Design, the first phase of the garden – about three-quarters of an acre – includes more than 200 different pollinator-friendly native plant species.
“You’re not going to see a lot of color now, but by next summer this will be in full bloom. It’s going to look like a rainbow,” said Snyder. “A lot will be small plantings that will come to life in the spring when it will become a place of beauty.”
As the new plantings take root, DKC Landscaping is donating its services to water the newly planted garden.
EAC member Charles Feuer, who helped organize volunteers, reported that 85 had signed up to help with the planting, including students from Council Rock North and South. He particularly thanked South chemistry teacher John Easterly for spreading the word at South and recruiting student helpers through student government.
Snyder said the new garden will serve as a blueprint for future gardens throughout the township and for other communities to use.
“We’re going to make everything in Newtown Township closer to nature in every way we can by adding these gardens where we can,” said Snyder.
According to Snyder, there are “deserts right now where there aren’t any bees because there are no flowers for them to land on and collect the pollen and to transfer it to other plants that need it to survive. Everything green that we eat grows in a field and is dependent upon pollinators. We need to create these gardens so the bees can stop there and the cycle of life can continue.”
This diagram shows what the finished Pollinator Garden will look like.
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