By Mai Mai Margules

May was a banner month for new pollinator plantings in Tarrytown!

On May 15, TEAC volunteers and the Tarrytown Parks Department installed a beautiful 360 square foot native plant garden along the front walkway of Sarah Michaels Park. This garden will create life sustaining habitat for our bees, butterflies and birds while providing visual beauty to park visitors and passers by. Sarah Michaels, a park that previously did not have a single flower, will now have many. Our Village took the lead role in bringing this project to life. The Recreation Committee and Board of Trustees enthusiastically endorsed our garden proposal and provided full funding of the project. The Parks Department thoroughly prepared the new garden site with organic compost prior to planting and will water the garden this summer with their water truck. We offer a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has made this garden come to life with their vision, hard work and diligence. Take a look at the transformation!

As the new plantings mature and bloom, pollinators will arrive to feed on the nectar and pollen of such plants as rose milkweed, purple coneflowers, anise hyssop, poppy mallow, bee balm, rudbeckias, phlox and others. Others will lay their eggs on host plants such as milkweed, asters and goldenrod which will feed caterpillars and enable a new generation of butterflies to flourish. Natives grassses, such as little bluestem and pink muhly grass, provide shelter and nesting materials for native bees, birds and butterflies as well as add structure to the garden.