Well .... Good-bye, Dolly
Please join us in bidding adieu, farewell and bon voyage to Dolly Warden, co-founder of Pollinator Project Rogue Valley. Dolly will be moving to Seattle to be closer to her family.
Dolly's legacy is greater than helping to create Pollinator Project Rogue Valley - she is also both the reason and inspiration for the five Bee City USA's here in the Valley: Talent, Ashland, Phoenix, Gold Hill, and Medford. Dolly visioned that Talent would be the second Bee City USA in the country, behind Asheville, NC -- and it happened! The other cities soon followed, along with Southern Oregon University as the first Bee Campus USA. There are now more than 115 Bee City USAs, and just over 100 Bee Campus USAs in the country.
Dolly changed the world for the better in many other places and areas of concern, from social work, to immigration, to sex trafficking. Dolly is probably one of the few who can claim residency in every state that begins with an O, plus a few others along the way.
Pollinator Project Rogue Valley will miss Dolly, and we extend our heart-felt gratitude to Dolly for all that she has done for pollinators and people here in the Rogue Valley. But we are pleased that Dolly will remain with us as an Advisory Committee member.
As one of our parting gifts, we presented Dolly with a resolution - see photos below.
Farewell, Dolly -- with much love and many blessings.
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Seeds for the Future!
Our first Seedy Saturday was both fun and successful!
Thanks to Laura Jessup, Cindy Harper, Anna Cassilly, and Kristina Lefever, and Patrice Hanlon (not pictured), we seeded in rabbitbrush, penstemon, and coyote mint, to name a few. Most of the seeds came from the plants growing at our office garden. These pots will sit outside all winter long to stratify (go through cold temperatures), and hopefully germinate and sprout in the early spring. Our goal is to have these plants available to donate or sell at low-cost to people affected by the fire to help jumpstart their pollinator gardens.
See a few photos from our first seeding party below. We will continue having seeding parties, following Covid protocols, of course. Let us know if you would like to help!
To learn more about the native plants at our office garden, click here to visit the Our Gardens page on our website to watch videos and find the plant list with both scientific and common names. Better yet, come by and take a self-guided tour!
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Growing Pollinator Gardens
Saturday, November 6, 2pm - 3pm
Medford Library via Zoom
Join Kristina Lefever as she shares some of the essentials for growing great pollinator gardens.
Who are our pollinators, and why are they important?
What challenges are they facing, and what can we do to reverse their population declines?
Kristina's presentation will answer these questions in the hopes that others will
‘bee’ inspired to become pollinator champions, and begin looking at landscapes
with this question in mind: “Would a (native) bee like to live here?”
Click here to visit the Facebook event, or here, to register for this free event.
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State of the Western Monarch
We recently hosted a fun and informative conversation with Robert Coffan, co-founder of Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates. The topic was "what is happening with the Monarch and how can we help?"
If you missed our Facebook event where we streamed our conversation, here's the link to the video!
Thanks Robert, and SOMA, for all you do to help save Monarchs and other pollinators by planting Milkweed and other pollinator plants, and for sharing your knowledge and love for these beautiful butterflies.
Stay tuned for an update after the Thanksgiving Count.
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A Fall Garden, Naturally
Fall is a season of change. The flowers are mostly gone, the plants are dying back,
the pollinators are slowly disappearing, and, oh yeah, there are lots of leaves!
Each fall, we write to encourage everyone to leave your leaves as much as possible, either where they fall, or raked into corners and along the fence lines, or tucked around bushes and plants. For areas that have burned, it is even more important, as the leaves will help return nutrients and life to the soil - see photo below of a tree in Talent with the leaves we hope will remain. (Does it go without saying that there should be no leaf blowing in the burned areas?!)
Kristina Lefever wrote about leaving the leaves three years ago, and we thought we'd share again. Click here for Remember to Leave the Leaves.
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Pollinators' Pick
Dr. Doug Tallamy is one of our heroes. Not only is he a Professor of Entomology at the University of Delaware, he is a prolific spokesperson for native ecosystems. We recommend his article Giving Ecological Purpose to Your Landscape about the importance of native plants, and why we need to be planting the next National Park System in our own yards. If you want more Dr. Tallamy, just do an internet search on his name --- and get started learning!
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Please Support Our Work!
We will continue our work to inspire, educate, and advocate for the pollinators
and beneficial insects who pollinate the nutritious food crops we enjoy every day, and the trees, shrubs, and flowers that beautify our Valley in so many ways.
We are grateful for your encouragement and support, and invite you to
make a financial contribution - $3 or $3,000, it helps us get the work done. Thank you!
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PPRV Seeks Volunteers!
Volunteer with us!
Come help us with all the good things we are doing! Help us spread the word
about pollinators, plants, gardens, (no) pesticides, and more!
We invite you to bee involved!
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Questions or Comments? Please contact us at
pollinator@pollinatorprojectroguevalley.org
Keep up to date with all things Pollinator on our Facebook page:
Pollinator Project Rogue Valley
Thank you, Beyond Toxics, for sharing your office with us!
Office Hours: noon - 5 pm, Tuesday - Friday
and by appointment
312 N. Main St., Suite B, Phoenix
Mail: PO Box 242, Phoenix, OR 97535
458-214-0508
Visit our website.
Click here for archived editions of The Pollinator Times.
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11/5/20
