Franklin County Master Gardeners Association

Congratulations to the Franklin County Master Gardeners Association for their $500 Green Grants award in the Community Beautification category!

The Franklin County Master Gardeners Association is a 501c3 non-profit organization that has existed since 1994.  Their mission is one of sharing knowledge and enhancing the environment through sustainable landscape practices.  They use horticulture and landscaping to promote community development, improve nutrition and food security, and provide positive educational experiences for youth in horticulture. The two pollinator gardens that are the focus of this grant award are located at the 4-H center in Franklin County and are maintained by Franklin County Master Gardeners.

One pollinator garden is at the Welcome Center and the other is by the Discovery Center. Both gardens are used for educational purposes when youth are at camp from June to July every summer. Their goal is to make both gardens a place where there is a consistent and coordinated message about the importance of pollinators. Materials developed by the National Association of Pollinator Partnership will be provided to teachers at the 4H camp.

The funds provided by the Green Grants award will enable them to purchase and plant native Virginia pollinator plants in both gardens to support pollinators and to provide specific, educational signage about the gardens.  The gardens will demonstrate that plants should be diverse, not just in bloom time but also in color, size and shape of flower and plant size. Butterflies and hummingbirds prefer red and orange flowers with longer tubular openings. Bees like blue, violet, yellow and white flowers, and strongly prefer the Aster family, such as Golden Alexander, Cone Flowers, Brown Eyed Susans, Sunflowers, Asters, and Goldenrod.

Franklin County Master Gardeners are dedicated to educating the public about horticulture and environmentally responsible landscape practices. The 4-H pollinator gardens are designed to provide a pollinator habitat that supports and protects life. Like habitats for any living creatures, the pollinator gardens provide food and water, safe nesting sites to raise young, plus materials for building nests, and undisturbed areas for overwintering. They will use Native plants that have co-evolved alongside native bees and other pollinators and purchase our plants from a trusted source where we know the plants have been raised without pesticides, especially the systemic ones, that are toxic to bees and butterflies.

The efforts of this Green Grant award will surely demonstrate results in Community Beautification, not only for the the children and others who visit and learn about the gardens, but for the bees and other pollinators too!