They’re building hotels in parkland!
A group of volunteers made a boarding house for bees and other pollinating insects in Owl’s Head Park on May 16. Airfare is no problem for the plant-loving travellers, but giving them a place to stay and lay eggs in the buzzing neighborhood will boost the park’s pollinator population and help the local flora thrive, one gardener said.
“The pollinators carry pollen from one part of the plant to the next, which helps them to blossom — so of course, we really need them to make that happen,” said Susan Francis.
But don’t expect a massive honeycomb to appear in the park, another gardener said.
“A lot of bees are solitary,” he said. “They don’t live in colonies — they just lay an egg,” said gardener Jimmy Johnson.
The development isn’t just a boon for bees — it helps educate locals about the 30 or so species of nature’s busiest insect that are native to the area, Johnson said.
“The bee hotel is as important for the bees that will populate as it is for education of community at large,” he said.
The event taught kids to get down and dirty for their neighborhood park, one parent said.
“It was a great opportunity for my son to learn something about his environment and community,” said Delmy McCluskey, who brought her son John.
Volunteers plan to create more housing for the newcomers they hope to draw to the rapidly drone-trifying neighborhood, Francis said.
“We’re starting out small but hoping to expand it more to hit the back corridor, which is just weeds right now,” she said.
Volunteers will plant shrubs and flowers near the pollinator hotel from 10:30 am to noon on May 30. For more information call Owl’s Head Park area manager Dave Matthews at (718) 748–9522.