Soil and Spirit: Coming together to create a new pollinator garden
By Jean Golicz, Master Gardener and Board of Trustee member
Posted on
The new pollinator garden is near completion. Approximately fifty plants were added to the area between Seascape and the gazebo. Thirty five plants were purchased with a grant from the Connecticut Master Gardener Association. Additional plants were donated by the members of the Mercy Center Garden Team and neighbors from across the street. Additionally, milkweed seeds were donated by the UCONN Middlesex extension office. These seeds were then packaged by UCONN Master Gardeners and distributed to participants at the Robin Kimmerer Retreat in April. The author of Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer led retreatants in a meditative experience which focused on honoring and returning the gifts of the earth. Last week, milkweed plants that were grown by the Mercy Center staff were added to the garden. Along with existing plants, the total reaches one hundred pollinator friendly plants that could potentially host up to thirty Monarch Butterflies as part of the Mercy Ecology Monarch Project. Counting all of these helpers, it is safe to say that approximately ninety people contributed to this garden which was designed by Bob Bartosiak, a Master gardener who has volunteered at Mercy Center for the past five years.
Ninety people at various times and from different places contributed to a garden that is close to 700 square feet. According to many event planners, when calculating the number of people you could accommodate in a room, you should allow 8 square feet per chair. So after doing the math, I realized we could seat 87.5 people in the new pollinator garden. To avoid counting anyone as .5 of a person, we will round up. This allows for a seating of 88 individuals. My original estimate of 90 participants most likely counted several people twice because they are volunteers who also attended the retreat. Amazingly enough, we now have room for everyone in the pollinator garden. So the next time you gaze at the phlox, lavender, astilbe and all the other wonderful new plants, imagine the ninety souls who touched the soil, their spirits rising, falling, and settling in amongst the blooms. And there we have it...spirit and soil...the convergence of which plays host to a myriad of new creatures. There are three wrens living in the bird house, multiple pollinators humming above the plants, and earthworms squiggling below. And all God’s creatures said Amen!