Above: OSPC is inviting the public to learn about some of the pollinator friendly native plants in their gardens. (image cropped from contributed photo)
A week from Sunday, the Open Space Preservation Commission will again hold tours of its pollinator gardens – to celebrate collaboration on gardens promoting native biodiversity.
OSPC will also be “showcasing the science behind these gardens” at the tours.
The June 23rd tours will start at the garden at the Southborough Library at 11:30 am. (That event will also include highlighting alternatives to traditional lawns). Participants will be invited to check out the rain garden at the newly built Heritage Park next door.
At 1:00 pm that afternoon, OSPC will hold another tour over at Beals Preserve.
Here is the OSPC’s announcement:
Native Biodiversity through Pollination Garden Tours: Celebrating Collaboration
The Southborough Open Space Preservation Commission is excited to announce our Native Biodiversity through Pollination Garden Tours: Celebrating Collaboration, on Sunday June 23rd. The Tours start at 11:30 AM at the Native Pollination Preservation Garden at the Southborough Library, 25 Common Street adjacent to the parking lot.
We will start the tour at the Native Pollination Preservation Garden at the Southborough Library with a walk through the garden and a talk describing the plant choices from Dr. Gegear’s Plant List for At-Risk Pollinators and our ecological gardening practices. Then review the resulting increase in biodiversity including documented visits by Bombus vagans an at- risk bumblebee. We have been working with Dr. Gegear since 2015 when he chose Southborough’s Breakneck Hill Conservation Land as his first research site in Massachusetts, and he has added this garden to ahis survey sites.
There will be informational displays showcasing the science behind these gardens and celebrating our amazing collaborations in the past decade resulting in multiple Native Biodiversity Through Pollination Gardens and habitat installations throughout town.
We will also look at the Lawn Alternative Trial Garden at the Library before walking over to the adjacent Heritage Park, the newly created town park with a large rain garden comprised of plants from Dr Gegear’ plants list. Most of the trees and shrubs in the park were also chosen from that plant list.
Then at 1:00 those interested can follow us on a short 1.3-mile drive over to the Southborough Open Land Foundation’s Beals Preserve to visit the Whit Beals Native Biodiversity Through Pollination Garden.
The garden at the Library and Beals Preserve were installed by dedicated volunteers.
After the Garden tour you can visit the Art on The Trails exhibit also at the Beals Preserve.
Updated (6/15/24 7:46 am): As I specified in this story, the event is on the 23rd. But my original headline gave the impression it was this weekend.
