Pollinator Gardens

Taking care of our town's native plants and animals on Cherry Hill's natural lands is a responsibility the Cherry Hill Environmental Board (CHEB) takes seriously.

With the nationwide decline in pollinators, most notably, the Monarch butterfly, CHEB embarked on an initiative to install "pollinator gardens," especially on the township's Open Space lands. Two new pollinator gardens were planted this Spring doubling the existing number of plots dedicated to providing habitat, nectar and pollen for pollinators.

Come visit all four locations; the two new gardens located at Bunker Hill Trail's Green trail head and Carusi Middle School, plus CHEB's first pollinator garden planted in 2016 at the Cleveland entrance of Cherry Valley Trails, and four raised flower beds at the Croft Farm Arts Center.

The flowers, butterflies and bees are fascinating. If you're lucky you'll see a monarch butterfly or its caterpillar.

A key to the success of pollinator gardens is partnering with volunteers who design, plant and regularly maintain them. Kudos to the Horticultural Society of South Jersey for the Croft gardens, Carusi Middle School teacher, Dawn Fichera and her students, Master Gardener Nancy Brown for the Bunker Hill pollinator garden, and Mary Ellen Lane, CHEB member, who manages the Cherry Valley Trail garden and was critical to the establishment of this year's two new gardens.

Together they make up a team of devoted nature stewards driven to care for pollinators and the native plants and blossoms that support them. This is another important step to improve our public lands for nature. For more information please email Earle Seneres, CHEB Liaison .

Submitted by Lew Gorman III, Chair, Cherry Hill Environmental Board
Published in Fall 2018 Community Magazine.