Girls Create A Buzz With New Pollinator Garden At Washington Crossing

UPPER MAKEFIELD, PA — Two eighth-grade girls from Newtown on Sunday officially cut the ribbon on a new pollinator garden at Washington Crossing Historic Park across from the post office.

The new Eliza Taylor Pollinator Garden was designed and built by Troop 226 Girl Scouts Anna von Hohen and Chloe Radbill as their silver award project. The Silver Award is one of the highest awards in Girl Scouting.

The girls spent 60 hours each planning, building and fundraising for the project, which is now taking root with locally-native perennial plants that are all pollinator-friendly and donated by local garden centers and businesses.

The girls have named their garden after Eliza Taylor, wife of Mahlon Taylor, whose family owned the area of the park known as Taylorsville. Most of the historic houses in the park were built by the Taylor family and the white house near the garden is known as the Eliza Taylor house.

The girls working on the garden project.

On May 26 opening, the girls celebrated the garden's grand opening with a talk about pollinators, perennials, and the importance of native pollinator gardens. They also talked about the process of building the garden and earning their award.

"I'm really proud that we had the opportunity to add something to the park that will be around for many years to come, will help the environment, and will also help educate people about the importance of pollinators," said Anna. "Pollinators play a really important role that people can take for granted and their population is declining, which is why our garden is so important. Also, by earning the Silver Award, I learned a lot of different skills that I can use, even after I graduate."

Each of the girls put in 60 hours of work into the project, which they designed and secured approvals for from the park. All plants and garden materials were donated by local businesses including Marrazzo's Manor Lane Garden Center in Newtown, Kings Indian Head Farm in Newtown, Seasons Garden Center in Washington Crossing, Gasper Landscape in Richboro, Delaware Quarries in Langhorne, and Shady Brook Farm in Yardley.

The girls also added a window box to the garden and replaced a damaged owl house on the side of the barn with a brand new one that they helped to build.

"I hope everyone enjoys the new pollinator garden and visits often," said Chloe. "This Silver Award Project took a lot of work and we are excited to share it with the community. Watch out for the bees."

Both girls have been in Girl Scouts since they were Daisies in first grade and are now Cadettes. Anna attends PA Virtual Charter School and Chloe attends Newtown Middle School. In addition to scouting, Anna takes dance lessons at Dance Action and fencing at the Bucks County Academy of Fencing. Chloe also takes dance at Dance Action.