National Pollinator Week

2007 set of postage stamps from USPS recognizing pollinators

June 22-26, 2011 is National Pollinator Week. Congress established it 5 years ago. Farms need pollinators to grow our food and we gardeners need them to further our blooms. A pollinator paradise demonstration garden was created by the Chatham County Center of North Carolina Cooperative at Chatham Mills in Pittsboro, NC. Inspired, the yoga instructors created their own water tower pollinator garden with driftwood sculpture at the back of the building. Visit http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/pollinatorconservation.html to learn how to create a pollinator garden. You will also find a list of the plants and the nurseries used to create this very special spot. Tours of the garden can be scheduled. If you visit on a Saturday morning between 8am and noon, you will have the opportunity to explore the Chatham Mills Farmers Market with its local produce, meats, bakery products,and organically grown flowers.

We are starting our contests. The first two people who send Marcia a picture of a pollinator in their garden will receive a copy of FLOWER Magazine. This is an elegant magazine full of beautiful photos of flower arrangements and a great how-to-do section.
Get your creative juices flowing for new arrangement and entertaining ideas and enter this contest. The pictures will be posted here on the bolg.

ARDITH'S REVIEW OF THE MAGAZINE

A relative newcomer to the magazine scene is one published in Birmingham, Alabama by Peony Publishing. Its Flower magazine, a quarterly. It is only $4.99 per issue or $16.99 a year. It's a good value compared to other floral design or flower lifestyle magazines. It's a bargain. I could not find it anywhere when I moved to NC so I subscribed. This magazine features a how to do, a how to do it that does not require you buy expensive blooms or containers plus it talks about events happening in the East and Southeast. Many, if not most of the advertisers, are based in the South. Prominent figures in horticulture, interior design, are also featured. Recently, Randy Outzs of Wilmington and Blowing Rock, NC was featured. Its great escapist material and makes you feel that you can do it! Go to http://www.flowermag.com/ if you want to get a taste of what Flower offers.