By Connie Koval

In 2015, discussions began with Brookhaven College (where we hold the majority of our classes for new chapter trainees) about their sustainability projects and how NTMN could support the natural sciences with public education and create an accessible native plant garden on campus.

The result was the establishment of a pollinator garden with native plants, nectar-producing flowers including milkweed that will attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators such as the Monarch butterfly whose annual migratory path cuts through North Texas.

So far NTMN volunteers have:
– Provided input for development, creation and maintenance of garden, activities including weeding, applying mulch & bedding material
– Suggested resources for native plant procurement and assisted in collection and propagation for Spring and Fall installations
– Assisted with preparation of beds, planting, and maintenance of native plants, sowing seeds, fertilization, signage
– Provided volunteers at educational outreach events in the garden with the Pollinator Nature Discovery Trunk

Please join volunteers on any Monday afternoon between 1 pm – 3 pm, or see the calendar and announcements for other opportunities to maintain this garden. Be sure to report your hours on VMS.

There are many other activities on the wish list still in planning stages such as, to create and place bee boxes, dust bath, toad huts, brush pile, logs with loose bark, and rocks. Another wish is for a water feature as a campus project to create a spot good for fireflies, dragonflies, and damselflies (not mosquitos).

If you want to be involved, please contact Connie Koval at cc.koval@sbcglobal.net.