As one visitor remarked, the Pollinatarium has continued to evolve. For the first time, we were on the 2015 CU Garden Walk for sustainable gardening. We made cedar planting boxes for the south side of the building, where we can’t dig because of the buried power lines. We also put a hexagonal flowerbed box under our bee sculpture to give our “bee girl” her own flower patch. We had awesome help from the Master Gardeners getting our yard and plantings ready. All the hard work paid off and we had over 600 visitors that day. One gardener gave us a “10” for our plantings in the pots and beds as well as the inside displays. So, moving forward, donations of seeds will always be welcome so we can start plants and pass them along to increase the habitat available for bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
In 2016, we increased the number of classes and groups visiting the Pollinatarium as well as the number of presentations we did for classes and the public at their locations. We collaborated with the College of ACES to be part of their Summer Academies and taught honey bee biology and beekeeping for their 4H program for middle school through high school students. Planting for pollinators and native bees was the topic of many of the presentations this year.
With all new supplies for beekeeping and gardening in the building, we were beginning to look even more like Grandma’s attic. Our biggest need was a storage/workshed building to store those supplies. A big thank you to May Berenbaum for supplying the funds needed to buy and place a new wooden cabin next to the Pollinatarium building.
