We're celebrating Pollinator Week June 17-23

Save the date for our Bird Harbor unveiling and Pollinator Celebration June 22 at Great Embankment Park
We’ve been working to support native pollinators, and we’ll be celebrating our first-ever Pollinator Week June 17 - 23! In 2022 we partnered with community group Color Pittsford Green (CPG) to create a Bird Harbor – an area of native plantings for food and shelter – at Great Embankment Park. In September of 2023, in continued collaboration with CPG, we launched the Pittsford Pollinator Pathway Challenge, a community-wide initiative to provide pollinator corridors of critical healthy habitat and food sources for butterflies, moths, bees and other pollinating insects and wildlife. Now, we’re joining with Color Pittsford Green to dedicate an entire week to the celebration of our pollinator pals! From garden tours to pollinator activities, to a special ribbon cutting ceremony at Bird Harbor, it will be a week to remember! 

Pollinator Week will take place from Monday, June 17 through Sunday, June 23.  Be sure to mark your calendar for our Pollinator Celebration on Saturday, June 22 at 10:00am at Bird Harbor in Great Embankment Park – we’ll unveil some pollinator tips and have some giveaways and kids activities. We've got activities and handy tips to help pollinators thrive - see below!

Monday, June 17: Seniors Lunch and Pollinator Garden Tour, noon; reservation deadline is June 6. Our seniors will kick things off with a special lunchtime talk at the Spiegel Pittsford Community Center by Community Center gardener Jane McConnochie. Participants will learn the stories of three pollinators and the plants they need, all of which can be found in our Community Center pollinator garden and get tips about how to participate in our Pittsford Pollinator Pathway Challenge. After lunch (weather permitting), those interested can take a tour of the Spiegel Pittsford Community Center’s Pollinator Garden. For information and reservations, contact the Seniors Office at 248-6235 by June 6. 

Saturday, June 22: Pollinator Celebration and Bird Harbor Ribbon Cutting at Great Embankment Park, 10:00am. We’ll unveil some pollinator tips and have some fun and educational giveaways, including kids pollinator activity sheets. Color Pittsford Green volunteers will offer face painting and free seedlings! 

Sunday, June 23: Community Center Pollinator Garden Tour, 9:30 – 10:30am. Get an insider’s tour of the Spiegel Pittsford Community Center gardens, a prime stop on the Pittsford Pollinator Pathway! The tour will be led by our Community Center gardener Jane McConnochie and features information about several ecologically important perennials and shrubs. Jane will be glad to answer any questions you have and will share tips to help you meet the Pittsford Pollinator Pathway Challenge in your garden! Register for the garden tour through the Town of Pittsford’s Recreation page.

Here's a pollinator-friendly gardening tip to get you started: you don’t need a full sun garden to help pollinators!  Many shade loving plants provide food and shelter to these very important insects. If you have an area that doesn’t get full sun, consider shade loving natives like ferns, Virginia Bluebells, Jacob’s Ladder, Woodland Phlox, Mayapple, Zigzag Golden Rod, White Wood Aster, violets and Green and Gold. These plants vary in bloom time, color and height, ensuring varied beauty for you and food for pollinators – all season long.  And don’t forget about groundcover plants. Bloodroot, Mayapple, and wild ginger make amazing groundcovers for shady parts of your yard. Keep in mind many native woodland plants hide their delicate but delightful blooms.  To really appreciate their flowers, you have to get an ant’s eye view – a perfect excuse to lie down in the shade on a hot day!

Be sure to follow the Town of Pittsford Facebook page for daily tips on the planting and maintaining of pollinator gardens. And if you haven’t taken the Town’s Pollinator Pathway Challenge yet, there’s no better time to do so! Download the form online, fill it out, and bring to the Spiegel Pittsford Community Center when completed. You will be given a sturdy, wooden Pittsford Pollinator Pathway sign to display in your yard!