Town of Purcellville is Awarded $1,000 for their Community Beautification Project
The Town of Purcellville and the Town Tree and Environment Sustainability Committee will partner with the Purcellville Library, a branch of the Loudoun County Public Library, for Read! Plant! Grow! The $1,000 award is part of the annual Green Grants program, for their application in the Community Beautification category.
The program will kick off with Purcellville Library staff selecting and displaying books about pollinators and pollinator gardening. The library will host a book talk for those who read the books and/or are interested in participating in the community beautification project, and create a display of books about pollinator gardening with information about the program.
In the fall, the Town and library will jointly host a community planting day at the Chapman DeMary Trail. This project will include identifying and removing invasive plants within sections of the trail, creating a new pollinator garden, enhancing the perimeter of the outdoor classroom, enhancing the pollinator meadow, and installing plant and pollinator identification information. Each participant will receive a bag of pollinator-friendly plant seeds to take home to be planted in their own gardens.
Funds received from the Green Grant program will be used to purchase native pollinator plants, including Virginia Bluebells, Mountain Mint, Joe Pye Weed, several varieties of milkweed, and others.
These gardens will benefit pollinators, create beautiful vistas along the path in this protected area, and provide wonderful opportunities for visitors to observe the beauty of pollinating bees, birds, and butterflies that the gardens attract.
With the books about gardening and pollinators highlighted through the library, community plantings, and seed giveaways for residents, the plan is to encourage and foster connections among residents who are interested in planting for pollinators, as well as establish and enhance connections between people and pollinators.
It sounds like this project is really going to keep Virginia beautiful — we can’t wait to share the results!