Bee Ready for Yellow Stripes on the Empire State Building

by  • 

Hooray for Bees, Butterflies And Other Pollinators That Help Grow Food

Celebrate Bees during Pollinator Week!

It’s National Pollinator Week, and the Empire State Building will be lit in yellow stripes on the 22nd to celebrate! How will you honor the bees, butterflies and moths that make growing food possible?

Why not care for the school garden this summer?!?! The flower-filled strip along Denton Place is our pollinator-supporting garden. A variety of native perennials are placed here to provide food (nectar) or shelter (host for larva) and attract beneficial insects. There’s rudbeckia, primrose, milkweed (especially for the Monarch butterflies, which migrate through Brooklyn in Fall) as well as asters, bee balm, trumpet honeysuckle, blue indigo and many more.

Black swallowtail

Will you help water them this summer? You’ll support the school garden as well as the pollinators! 

Local families are needed to harvest and maintain the garden on summer weekends and during the last three weeks of August. It’s easy: When you come to harvest, check the irrigation timer to make sure it is working, water the two large planters on Denton place and report any problems (such as damage to plants) to garden@ps372pta.org. (Most beds get water from the automated irrigation system or the rain). The summer watering schedule is organized with a Signup.com tool. How To Volunteer: You’ll need a key for the gate and a quick demo on how to use the rain barrels. To get both, come to the garden (corner of 1st and Denton Pl, near the gym) after pickup or drop off during these days: 

  • Tuesday 6.20, 8:25AM after drop off (hosted by Ian)
  • Wed 6.21  8:25AM after drop off (hosted by committee)
  • Tuesday 6.20, 245PM after pickup (hosted by Ian)
  • Wed 6.21 245PM after pickup (hosted by Lindsay)  
  • Fri 6.23 825AM after drop off (hosted by Denise)  

Just show up! You can send an RSVP to garden@ps372pta.org so the group has your contact info, but it is not necessary to commit ahead of time. Come when you can, or request a time before the 28th and we’ll try to accommodate you. Thanks! -Denise Maher, Chair,  School Garden Committee, PTA of PS 372 

Join the online discussion about the garden at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/372garden