New Pollinator Garden brings nature to King-Bruwaert campus

There’s excitement watching the progress of a new Pollinator Garden that’s been attracting butterflies, bees, moths, hummingbirds, dragonflies and other insects to a new planting area on the 35-acre King-Bruwaert House (KBH)campus in Burr Ridge. Thanks to the efforts of Woods of KBH resident Joan Holland, the garden was started in spring with the help and support of Senior Director of Buildings and Grounds, Paul Stech, who manages the senior Life Plan Community’s private property. Holland is a member of the Woods Landscape Committee, joining with Emily (Emmy) King to oversee and plan landscape projects to improve the campus and the environment.

“This is one of several major projects that we have initiated in the past few years,” Holland said.

The Pollinator Garden is designed to include plants identified to provide food and shelter to pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds that support our local ecosystem. Each year, pollinators face a significant decline in their populations due to habitat and climate changes, plus the increasing use of pesticides. Habitat loss, in particular, which includes the destruction or modification of natural areas, has dramatically reduced the availability of food and nesting sites for pollinators in Illinois and throughout the country.

The KBH Pollinator Garden is located on a large hillside plat located close to an existing vegetable garden that’s been cultivated annually by another group of Woods residents. Companion-planting of these gardens helps to keep the flowers and crops healthy and encourages a greater yield of blooms and vegetables.

Holland joins with other avid gardeners in researching and monitoring environmental changes that impact wildlife. She believes Pollinator Gardens can be greatly effective in offering food sources for pollinators and provide them with a safe place to rest and reproduce.

Nate Tameling of Mariani Landscaping was hired to rototill the Pollinator Garden bed and spread the seeds that Holland acquired during winter. With regular watering, the seeds germinated quickly. Blooming plants include cosmos, marigolds, zinnias, cone flowers, rudbeckia, some sunflowers, and many annuals and perennials that have reseeding potential for the future.

Holland expects to plant additional seeds this fall, including more native species and less invasive types of milkweed. Milkweed is the most important plant to support Monarch butterflies, as well as other insects.

Holland has been happy with the steady progress of the Pollinator Garden, though she did encounter a few aggressive rabbits that devoured healthy seedlings down to the root during early planting stages.

“This garden is a work in progress,” she said. “It’s an experiment as we start the plants and learn from our experience.”

Holland has observed butterflies and insects visiting the Pollinator Garden and she’s pleased that KBH shares her Committee’s enthusiasm for a project that’s restoring the natural habitat of some endangered and at-risk species.

“KBH has this exceptional property with many native plants and trees here,” she said. “This is a true arboretum campus and maintaining it is a huge responsibility. We want to see it flourish properly not only now… but for future generations.”