"Next Monday [6/17/24] is the start of National Pollinator Awareness Week, and one Colorado advocacy group is hosting a flower planting drive to rewild Colorado’s meadows, gardens, and just maybe, its children too.
Created by constitutional amendment in 1992, Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) is a state-funded independent board that invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces.
This year, GOCO’s offshoot Generation Wild is distributing over 100,000 free packets of wildflower seeds to collection points at museums, Denver Parks and Rec. offices, and libraries all over the state to encourage kids and families to plant the seeds in their backyards.
The Save the Bees! initiative aims to make the state more beautiful, more ecologically diverse, and more friendly to pollinators.
According to a new report from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, 20% of Colorado’s bumblebees are now at risk of extinction. Even in a small area like a backyard, planting wildflowers can make a positive impact on the local ecosystem and provide native bees with a healthy place to live.
“The Western Bumblebee population has declined in Colorado by 72%, and we’re calling on kids across Colorado to ‘bee’ the change,” said GOCO Executive Director Jackie Miller.
Named after Generation Wild’s official mascot “Wilder,” the Wilderflower Seed Mix was developed in partnership with Applewood Seed Co. and packets are now available for pickup at designated partner sites including more than 80 Little Free Library boxes.
By distributing 100,000 Wilderflower packets, Generation Wild is providing more than 56 million seeds for planting in every nook and cranny of the state. All seeds are regionally-native to Colorado, which is important for sustaining the living landscape of bees, birds, and other animals.
Additionally, by using flower species adapted to the Mile High climate, landscapers and gardeners need to use less water than if they were tending non-native plants.
“Applewood Seed Co. was excited to jump in and help Generation Wild identify a seed mix that is native to the Colorado region and the American West, containing a diversity of flower species to attract and support Colorado’s pollinator populations,” stated Norm Poppe, CEO of Applewood Seed Co. “We hope efforts like this continue to educate the public on pollinator conservation and the need to protect our native bees and butterflies.”
Concluding her statement Miller firmly stated that children grow up better outside, and if you or a parent you know agree with her, all the information on how to participate in Save the Bees! can be found here on their website, including a map showing all the local pickup points for the Wilderflower Seed Packets."
-via Good News Network, June 13, 2024
477 notes
·
View notes
there is a special place in hell for cat owners who allow their cats to free-roam a residential neighborhood because it's ~natural~.
The amount of devastation and heartbreak I have seen from loved ones whose cats accidentally got out makes me like twice as mad too because I cannot. I cannot fathom the cruelty and selfishness required to ignore what we know to be best practice for cat husbandry because your feefees get uncomfies when people tell you it's animal abuse to wilfully, knowingly cut your cat's expected lifespan from 15-20 years to 2-3.
KEEP. YOUR. FUCKING. CATS. INSIDE.
316 notes
·
View notes
Geranium
Did you know that geraniums attract pollinators?
Bloom from spring to fall, and are easy to grow? They come from South Africa, so they are adapted to going without water for periods of time, making them easy and rewarding flowers to add to your garden to attract and feed the pollinators we so desperately need! #savethebees
Follow if you're a nature lover 🌸
Original photograph taken by me
26 notes
·
View notes
*sports annoumcer voice* WELCOME TO THIS YEARS
MILKWEED PLANTING MARATHON!
*Sparks and pyrotechnics*
HERE WE HAVE A YOUNG CONTESTANT, A PUNK TRYING TO PLANT MILKWEED!
THIS KID MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE OF BUYING MILKWEED FROM A LOCAL GROWER,
BUT!
THEY MADE THE MISTAKE OF BUYING A NON-NATIVE SPECIES! (OHH NO!!!)
NOW THiS ABSOLUTE NERD HAS HAD TO GO AND BUY FROM THE CORRECT BOOTH AND GET THE NATIVE BUTTERFLY MILKWEED (A classic)
UNFORTUNATELY FOR OUR YOUNG CONTESTANT THEY GOT A DEAL FOR THE NON NATIVE MILKWEED AND BOUGHT 4 PLANTS (OW!!)
LEAVING THEM WITH ONLY ENOUGH MONEY FOR 2 NATIVE BUTTERFLY MILKWEED (WHAT WILL THE MONARCHS DO NOW?!?!?)
LUCKILY THIS CONTESTANT LEARNED SOME VALUABLE ADVICE FROM A MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE SENIOR CONTESTANT!
If You Cut The Non Native One Down in AUGUST!! The MONARCHS Won't LAY THEIR EGGS ON THE PLANT! Preserving THEIR MIGRATORY PATTERN!! (OOOHHH!!!!!)
THIS ROOKIE LEARNED A VALUABLE PIECE OF INFORMATION TOO!! NON NATIVE MILKWEEDS ARE LIKE FAST FOOD FOR BUTTERFLIES! THEY CAN STAY A LITTLE AND HELP SUSTAIN THEM ON THEIR JOURNEY, BUT TOO MUCH DEPENDENCE ON THEM, LIKE LATER IN THE SEASON, WILL LEAD TO PROBLEMS!
Thats All TODAY ON
MILKWEED PLANTING MARATHON!!!
14 notes
·
View notes
Rosehall 4: pollinator paradise
Rupturing, rapturous, and free. I imagine that the sunspots on Rosehall grounds, shrugged in at the base of the mountains, receive little wind. As such it's a haven for the bees, butterflies, larvae, beetles, and all kinds of life that Elain and their littles explore while Dada carries the youngest behind them.
Can't help but chuckle at the phrasing that 'Elain loves flowers', and perhaps it's intentionally a bit trivializing. If 'Elain loves flowers' and it's meant with meat...she is vested in nurturing thriving, living ecosystems: reciprocal, cycling, and sacred. Can't condescend that...
7 notes
·
View notes