Shari Guarino, Director of the Southington Pollinator Pathway was the guest speaker at the regular, weekly meeting of the Rotary Club at the Back Nine Tavern on February 16, 2022. Making use of materials from Pollinator-Pathway.org, Guarino discussed why there is an urgent need to help pollinators, why insects are in trouble and how it affects the entire food web, which includes loss of bird populations as well.
Guarino also talked about what people can do to help.
Highlights from Guarino’s talk:
Insects are crucial to the food web. They need native plants because…
- Insects evolved alongside native plants
- Some insects are specialized to specific native plants
Native plants are tough…
- Once established, they do not need water
- They do not need fertilizer
Oaks trees are a powerhouse, a keystone species…
- 500 species of caterpillars feed on oak leaves
- Plant oaks!
Southington Pollinator Pathway has been planting trees and shrubs along the trail, said Guarino. “We planted a lot of blueberries.” In fact, Guarino said they made an effort to plant shrubs that were not just good for pollinators but were food for birds. There are five plantings we’ve put in, and all the shrubs and trees are native, she said.
It’s an effort the Rotary Club will now actively participate in, according to Rotary member Christie Kurriger, who is also a master gardener. “We will plant some native plants along the linear trail,” she said. Most likely the Rotary will use Earth Day as the marker to start planting. Kuriger hoped the public would begin to plant more native plants and to not use pesticides. “We want people to understand the value of native plants,” she said.
If you are interested in learning more about native plants and the Southington Pollinator Pathway click here and check out our Facebook group, Southington Loves Nature.
2020 Update
We sponsored the Pollinator Pathway program in Southington spearheaded by our Treasurer, Shari Guarino. The idea behind this movement is to provide pollinator habitat for bees and butterflies, by planting native trees and shrubs, to provide a food source for these threatened creatures. It was decided that the Rail Trail was a ready made corridor through town and the plantings would help beautify the trail as well.
Plans for the kick-off event in April were cancelled due to Covid and the drought during the summer almost curtailed planting altogether.
On June 5th we made our first planting, with masks and social distancing, at the Milldale Depot area of the trail. We had many volunteers to help. We planted 6 chokecherry shrubs and 3 grey birch trees. A white dogwood tree was later planted by the Picone family in memory of Neil Picone. A team of very dedicated volunteers watered these native plants every single day, all summer long . Thank you all, watering crew!
Also in June, the Orchard Valley Garden Club made a planting on the trail near the “butterfly benches” of 3 New Jersey Tea shrubs.
We made another planting October 3rd at the intersection of Curtiss Street and the trail. We planted redbud trees and blueberry bushes. Some plants were donated by Jennifer Guarino Kahn in memory of Sadie Manware.
On October 4th Shari was able to plant four blueberry bushes north of Mill Street on the trail, in front of a small pavilion there. These are Tophat, lowbush blueberries.
We planted 6 highbush blueberries (Elliott) and 2 redbud trees near the Lazy Lane parking area on October 10th. The redbud trees and blueberry bushes were on clearance sale. We were leery of buying expensive plants after the very dry season we had, so we bought what was affordable instead of risking our funds.
Our total now is five trailside plantings. Considering how awful the drought was it was amazing that we got this done!
A lot of volunteers made this a successful first year as well as financial support from the Southington Land Trust, The Art for a Cause Pollinator Garden, The Orchard Valley Garden Club, Constellation Energy, and The Main Street Community Foundation. Also thanks to HQ Dumpsters & Recycling for their donation of mulch for all the plantings.
Southington encouraging creation of pollinator pathways
August 23, 2019 06:46PM | By Jesse Buchanan, Record-Journal staff
SOUTHINGTON — Town leaders are looking for residents and businesses to join them in creating pollinator pathways – yards and other areas free of pesticides that have plants for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds…. READ MORE or Download Article
Helping bees and other native insects survive
August 23, 2019 06:46PM | By Joy VanderLek, The Citizen
Insect apocalypse. Bee colony collapse. Monarch butterflies decimated. Migratory birds and flyways in decline.
These headlines are positively frightening. It’s like one of those scary, end-of-the-world movies. Only it’s not. We see and hear about these concerns just about everyday. READ MORE | Download Article
People Across Connecticut are Creating a Pollinator Pathway for Bees and Butterflies
Theresa Sullivan Barger Aug 20, 2019