Pollinator Pathway

In 2022 and 2023 PPLC helped to: revitalize the Copley Rock Garden at Oxbow Park in Morrisville and created the educational garden at the Rail Trail Kiosk. Maintained a plot at the Oxbow’s Community Garden for overflow plantings of keystone perennials through 2024, weathering the second of two floods.

Tabling events in 2023 were Morrisville’s Roctoberfest (October) and the VT Pumpkin Chucking Festival (September)in Stowe.

In 2024 we helped the LCCD plant riparian buffer zones along the Lamoille River at10 Bends community in Hyde Park, Valley Dream Farm in Cambridge, Lake Eden, and at Morrisville’s Oxbow Park. Additionally, native plant garden tours were conducted in Waterbury and Hyde Park. 

An ongoing speaker and workshop series open to the public has covered themes such as:

· Neonicotinoids and the Pollinator Protection Bill H. 706.

· Springtime natives and ephemerals.

· Plants for rain garden bioretention.

· Pollinator Garden Preparation: Solarizing demonstration.

· Converting lawn to Wildflowers, wildflower maintenance, and Wildflower Garden in a Pot

This plot contains asters, common daisies (Bellis perennis), foxglove (digitalis purpurea), cone flower (Echinacea), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), low-bush blueberry, and comfrey.

The Community Garden plot holds native species we are saving for future joint projects by PPLC and MACC (Morrisville Alliance for Culture and Commerce). These include the Copley Rock garden at the entrance to the Oxbow and the Kiosk Garden where V-Trans and the Rail Trail come together beside the river.

Condolences go out to all the gardens destroyed during the recent flooding.

The Copley Rock garden, lovingly planted by MACC and PPLC members in 2023 and then partly destroyed by flooding, has been rehabilitated.

The nearby Kiosk garden is located just outside Oxbow Park, where the V-Trans and Rail Trails meet in a 30' zone overlooking the Lamoille River.  In 2023 MACC members did an inventory of native plants in early spring and launched a pruning party to shape what will be an educational garden and resting spot for trail hikers and shoppers at surrounding businesses.  Fruit trees and berry bushes planted by MACC members in 2023 are flanked by a colorful collection of birdfeeders.  The kiosk now provides seating and educational signage.  Look for PPLC's brochure at the Kiosk.

Elsa French Park in Hyde Park erupts in a wildflower mix rich with poppies, bachelor's buttons, and other annuals underplanted in 2022 with perennials planted by Bee The Change and the Hyde Park Energy Committee.  Keep an eye out for a cozy bench at the end of the winding mulch path.