Pollinator Garden

at Skidaway Island's Sparrow Field

National Garden Club 2017
Deep South Region 2019-2020
Garden Club of Georgia
2017-2018-2019-2020-2021
Deep South Region 2017-2018
Deep South Region 2021
The Sparrow Field Pollinator Garden, formerly a sod farm of the Landings Golf Club, is funded by Skidaway Audubon as a wildlife sanctuary.  It is a feeding and nesting habitat for birds and a floral magnet for butterflies, solitary bees, wasps, flower/hover flies, other wildlife species – and the migrating monarchs.  In 2008, members of the Landings Garden Club assisted in the selection and planting of native “pollinator friendly” plants for the 150-yard berm. Landings Garden Club volunteers have increased the number and variety of plants on the berm, 70% of them native, attracting an ever-increasing number of pollinators. There are over 200 milkweed plants from 3 Georgia native species to help the breeding monarch butterflies. 
The garden features signs that highlight the variety of insects, plants and wildlife that can be found in this garden.  The Pollinator Berm has been a citizen scientist laboratory since 2011, where volunteers work with doctoral students on Project Monarch Health, a program at the Odom School of Ecology at the University of Georgia.  In 2013 the Chatham County Extension Service certified the site for Master Gardner Extension Volunteers to earn required volunteer hours. In 2016, volunteers participated in a Monarch Larva Monitoring Project through the University of Minnesota, providing weekly counts of eggs and larvae on the various species of milkweed. Every August we participate in the Great Georgia Pollinator count.  Sparrow Field is also the home of 2 monitored bluebird houses along the David Scott Bluebird Trail, the largest bluebird trail in the South.
The project is funded by a number of the local community organizations: Skidaway Audubon is the primary budgeting source with additional funds provided through grants from The Landings Garden Club, Landings LandLovers, and its associated Coastal Georgia Living committee. Recent years have seen our volunteers add to the garden by building trellises to accommodate plant vines, a gazebo and bench to provide a place for visitors to rest and enjoy the activity of pollinators on over 100 species of plants.  Arbor Day in 2019 was honored with the planting of two oak trees at the Pollinator Garden to provide shade and beauty.  A pond was hand built by volunteers in 2021.  It was immediately found by a number of frogs and dragonflies. In 2022 new bird houses were added and several citrus trees were planted.
In 2020 an idea was ‘hatched’ to expand the pollinator garden to new areas on Skidaway.  This new project created 15 new gardens along the golf courses and The Landings Association paths and parks.  These new gardens have been called Naturescape gardens and have the objective to further help our pollinators by planting 90% native plants.  Find more information at Skidaway Audubon.
 

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