SPRINGFIELD GARDEN CLUB SPONSORS MCKNIGHT NEIGHBORHOOD ARBOR DAY PLANTING

The Springfield Garden Club is sponsoring an Arbor Day Ceremony on Friday, April 26 at 10 AM at a small park at the intersection of Bay St., Dartmouth St. and Catharine St. in the McKnight Neighborhood of Springfield.

This small city park was adopted by neighborhood resident Elizabeth Stevens 2 years ago. That is when Stevens began transforming the triangular park into a pollinator garden. In 2018 this site was chosen as one of two sites in Massachusetts to participate in a Pollinator Garden project sponsored by the New England Wildflower society.

The Springfield Parks Department, Springfield Forestry Department and local Girl Scouts have also donated time and plants to the project.

The Springfield Garden Club will donate three Spicebushes, a host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly. This butterfly and other pollinators are essential for all of us because one third of all agricultural output depends on pollinators. Butterflies, bees and hummingbirds are important pollinators.

Attendees will celebrate the recent planting of two Serviceberry Trees by the Springfield Forestry Dept. The three Spicebushes will be planted the day of the event.

The public is welcome, in fact encouraged, to attend this event aimed at raising awareness of how we all can help the survival of critical pollinators.

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Organized in 1917 and a member of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts since 1928, The Springfield Garden Club works to create interest in the art of gardening, stimulate the promotion of civic beauty through horticulture and conservation, and encourage the appreciation of the visual art of designing with plant material.