Cultura Garden Club spotlights pollinators

Bees, butterflies and plenty of garden talk filled the room as Cultura Garden Club members gathered at North Highlands Church of Christ in Russellville for the club’s April meeting.

As a member of the club, I always enjoy meetings that mix gardening, learning and fellowship, and this month’s focus on pollinators brought all three together.

Barbara Sage, program chair, led the meeting’s program on bees, butterflies and the important role pollinators play in gardens and food production. Members joined in a show-and-tell exhibit by bringing items featuring bees, butterflies and flowers.

The display included a white butterfly-shaped basket, a stitched table runner decorated with colorful butterflies and flowers, picture frames featuring bees and butterflies, a zinnia garden picture, and Bible verses.

Donna Lowery presented information on attracting and keeping pollinators in home gardens. She explained how gardeners can attract bees and butterflies by choosing nectar-rich, pollinatorfriendly plants.

Bees and butterflies help pollinate many of the plants that produce the food we eat. Bees serve as some of the most prolific pollinators, while butterflies help with cross-fertilization and healthy gardens.

Lowery encouraged members to plant flowers that bloom across the seasons, so pollinators can find a steady food source.

She recommended asters, black-eyed Susans, coneflowers and milkweed as strong choices for attracting bees and butterflies.

She highlighted salvia, which offers many varieties in colors ranging from deep purple to bright blue, pink, and red.

Lavender provides fragrant, nectar-rich flowers, while bee balm adds bright color and attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Lowery and her sister, Ree Shannon, shared fun facts about bees and butterflies.

Members learned that bees perform the “waggle dance” in a figure-eight motion to show the direction and distance of a food source.

More than 20,000 bee species exist, and they may live socially or alone.

Butterflies include more than 165,000 species and usually live alone. Some migrating monarch butterflies can live up to nine months, while most adult butterflies live only two to four weeks.

Butterflies also move their wings in a figure-eight motion rather than straight up and down.

Lowery and Shannon gave each member a hand-painted rock decorated with colorful bees and butterflies. They displayed aprons featuring pollinator designs that several members purchased.

Before the business session, President Cheri McCain shared highlights from a recent trip she took with her grandson to George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

McCain said Mount Vernon is preparing commemorative events, exhibitions and public programs for the 250th anniversary of American independence. She said touring the historic home and seeing its wallpaper stood out as one of the highlights of the trip. She and her grandson explored the grounds and found a plaque marking one poplar tree as 315 years old.

McCain reported the club’s spring fundraiser sold 255 plants. Members will distribute McGee Farm plants April 30 at North Highlands Church of Christ in Russellville beginning at 3 p.m.

McCain reviewed plans for preparing downtown flowerpots and purchasing new plants. Incoming garden club President Debra Spillers will meet with the horticulture committee to set workdays and times.

Members voted to support the chamber of commerce’s 45th annual Watermelon Festival with a $150 Harmony Sponsorship.

McCain reminded members the Spring district meeting will take place at The Sherrod in Courtland.

The Garden Clubs of Alabama Inc. Convention will follow April 26-29 at the Gardendale Civic Center in Birmingham.

Patricia Cox, Melissa Cox and Darlene Hester served as hostesses for the April meeting. They prepared chicken salad croissants, fruit, cheese, crackers, vegetables, cupcakes and punch.

Members thanked Ann Marie Bucholtz and McCain for helping Patricia Cox serve. Cox’s aunt, Darlene, missed the meeting while recovering in rehab.

At 93, Darlene remains a devoted member of Cultura Garden Club. She sold 13 plants and raised approximately $260 for this year’s spring flower fundraiser. To honor her dedication and wish her a speedy recovery, the club presented her with a flower bud vase.

We closed the meeting by reading the Collect of the Garden Club of Alabama, Inc.