Last year, Mountain Lake PBS planted our very own Pollination Station on the lawn of 1 Sesame Street—our home base in Plattsburgh, NY.
In partnership with AdkAction, families and friends from across the North Country came together to help us plant a variety of pollinator-friendly plants in three honeycomb shaped garden beds. From Blue Lobelia to Mountain Mint, these native plants provide food in the summer and shelter during winter for butterflies, birds, and bees.
After our first season of watering, weeding, and fending off some persistent bunnies, we are proud to say the garden was thriving! Now, as springtime moves quickly into summer, we are looking forward to another year full of blooms and butterflies.
Check back in for updates on the Pollination Station with our Learn & Play blog and on social media. And in the meantime, keep scrolling to learn more about what pollinator gardens are, how you can start your very own, and activities to encourage a passion for gardening and environmental stewardship in your family.
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What Is a Pollinator Garden?
A pollinator garden features flowers that provide nectar or pollen to a variety of pollinating insects, like bees, butterflies and moths. Native flowering plants – ones that come from the geographic area a garden is in – are best, and pesticides and other chemicals should be avoided when caring for them. In the Adirondacks this could include bee balm, milkweed, white turtlehead, mountain mint, and phlox. These gardens are beautiful and can help attract birds and other wildlife too!
Interested in starting your own pollinator garden but don’t know how? Sign up below to receive a free packet of wildflower seeds from the Adirondack Pollinator Project, courtesy of AdkAction!
The Adirondack Pollinator Project
The Adirondack Pollinator Project helps promote the health of pollinators in our ecosystem, provides resources to become a pollinator advocate, and helps communities plant more local wildflowers to help supply pollinators with the food sources they need to survive and thrive. AdkAction partners with The Wild Center and Paul Smiths College to support ongoing activities of the Adirondack Pollinator Project.
As part of the project’s Pollinator Garden Assistance Program, AdkAction uses their Mobile Pollinator Garden Trailer to plant community-scale pollinator gardens around the Adirondacks—including the one at Mountain Lake PBS! Schools, libraries, hospitals, municipal parks, and other community sites are eligible to apply to receive a garden.
Activities, Books & More
Catch Ya Later, Pollinator!
Grades PreK-3
Together with your child, play a game to model and observe how animals transfer pollen as they move from one plant to another. Your child will find out that animals and plants depend on other living things to meet some of their needs.
Gardening With Kids: How It Affects Your Child’s Brain, Body and Soul
Grades PreK-3
Planting a garden can affect not only your child’s body but also their brain and soul.
Flight of the Pollinators | Wild Kratts
Grades K-2
Join Chris and Martin as they explore the process of pollination and learn the important partnership between plants and animals. Watch these video clips to see how the Kratt brothers uncover the amazing delivery system of plants and their animal partners.
Best Gardening Books for Kids
Grades PreK-6
Inch by inch, row by row, learn to make your garden grow! Browse through these seed-filled reads and explore the outdoors through books.
Reclaiming Habitat for Honeybees
Grades 6-8
Explore the role of pollinators in the ecosystems they are a part of. In this interactive lesson, develop a written response to one of three questions about the importance of honeybees. Gather evidence from reading assignments and video segments about Coal Country BeeWorks’ efforts to reclaim surface mining sites.
Urban Habitat: Biodiversity in Our Cities: Video | Nature Works Everywhere
Grades 3-12
In this video, designed to accompany the Habitats and Pollinators Garden Activity Guide, students learn that a garden is a mini-urban ecosystem that can support the health of the entire urban environment.
For more information on pollinators, and how to bee engaged with local conservation efforts, visit our What’s the Buzz on World Bee Day post!