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Plant for Pollinators Challenge
Perfect Time to Participate in Cincinnati Zoo’s Plant for Pollinators Challenge
Celebrate National Pollinator Week by planting a garden
(CINCINNATI – June 22, 2022) – It’s National Pollinator Week, so Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is celebrating the amazing creatures that play a key role in keeping our ecosystem healthy and encouraging people to take our Plant for Pollinators Challenge, sponsored by Simple Truth! See the Top 10 Pollinator Plants chosen by our Horticulture experts.
“We launched the Plant for Pollinators Challenge in 2019 with a goal to increase awareness for pollinators in urban areas,” said Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard. “To date, we have registered 2,500 gardens! Most of those are in our region, but people all over the U.S. are participating. There’s even one registered in Hawaii!”
The Zoo hopes to register 500 more pollinator gardens in 2022 and encourages first-time gardeners to get their hands a little dirty. Planting just a few pots, creating a garden space, or adding pollinator plants to an existing garden all make a big difference for the earth’s littlest friends and most precious neighbors.
“Pollinators like bees, butterflies, and bats, put food on everyone’s table,” said Maynard. “We need to put food on theirs! We need each other to survive.”
Cincinnati Zoo’s own pollinator-friendly gardens recently received National Wildlife Federation Certified Wild Habitat accreditation. The Botanical Garden throughout the entire Zoo itself, the Rockdale Urban Learning Garden that it maintains, and its 600-acre Bowyer Farm in Warren County were all accredited! This means that these spaces provide four basic elements that all wildlife need: food, water, cover, and a place to raise young. The Zoo is also a new official partner with Monarch Joint Venture.
The Zoo will be highlighting insects and pollinators all week and kicked things off with this Facebook Live from its Butterfly Aviary, located in World of the Insect. It will host a Pollinator Carnival this Saturday, June 25, which will include information stations where visitors can register their Pollinator Garden and learn about pollinators and how to participate in citizen science projects.