Ever dream of waking up to a beautiful garden full of roses and peonies every morning, but you just don’t have a green thumb? Or do you want to be more sustainable in your gardening practices? Well, the Overton Park Conservancy can help with its Pollinator Paradise workshop this Saturday.
The workshop is designed to help beginner gardeners learn more about the art of gardening and how to properly care for their plants. Importantly, this event stresses the need for native plants to be cultivated to help preserve our native wildlife and pollinators, instead of using generic plants that are often sold at many stores. “Eighty percent of food in this country is dependent upon pollination,” says Mary Wilder, former Overton Park Conservancy board member and Master Gardener. “We could starve to death if you didn’t have a bee, a butterfly, a beetle, or a bat because the plants wouldn’t get pollinated. They wouldn’t be able to make their fruit or grow up to be whatever plant they’re supposed to be.
“If we can educate folks to garden more naturally with the locally sourced plants, then we are helping in the long run the whole bigger [eco]system. So that’s part of why it’s significant,” Wilder adds.
And if you are unsure about where to purchase your domestic plants or which plants will survive in Memphis weather, there will be plants for sale to help give you a head start on improving your garden. If you are interested in attending, the workshop will be held this Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and it is pay-what-you-can, with a recommended donation of $5. To register, visit overtonpark.org/event/workshop-pollinator-paradise.
Happy Gardening!
Pollinator Paradise: Cultivating a Wildlife-Friendly Backyard, Abe Goodman Golf Clubhouse, 2080 Poplar Ave., Saturday, April 5, 10:30-11:30 a.m., $5/recommended donation.
