Beginning at noon on Saturday, August 22, a whole hive of pollinator people will be at the Pollinator Gardens at 623 West Liberty, in Medina. Free for the whole family, come and visit with and learn from THE POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP and view their MONARCH WATCH GARDEN. Experts are on hand to answer questions about everything MONARCH, and any pollinator for that matter.
Then chat with Ashley Kulhanek, Medina County Extension Specialist and her Master Gardeners about the phenology garden they have, which is just one of many in the state, measuring bloom times and more for Ohio Gardeners. Find out more about Medina’s Master Gardener Program at the same time, and get started for next season.
Then meet Randy Ferguson from Ernst Seeds, who supplied us with the POLLINATOR MEADOW SEED MIX you’ll see in full bloom. The meadow is spectacular, and Randy will have catalogs and handouts so you can get your meadow going this fall. At the same time meet Denise Ellsworth from OSU Wooster, who is the OSU Pollination Specialist, who can fill you in on the meadow and more about Ohio’s pollinators.
Also on hand will be Michelle Colopy, the Program Director for The Pollinator Stewardship group who work to protect pollinators of all kinds from pesticides, and at the same time have received several grants to produce more forage in Ohio for them. Find out what you can do to help.
The Ohio State Apiary Inspector from Reynoldsburg will be on hand to answer any questions on honey bees, along with representatives of the Ohio State Beekeeper’s Association sharing their information on beekeeping in Ohio and the educational programs they are involved in.
And the Medina County Beekeepers will be in their live-honey-bee-demo tent, demonstrating the fine art of how to safely and easily handle honey bees. Watch up close and personal for a taste, smell and sound of honey bees, our most important pollinator.
Finally, across the street in our CANDLE STORE do a honey tasting of several varieties of honey, some exotic honey sauces and get a honey ice cream sample of Lavender Queen-Bee honey.
All of this is free, beginning at noon and running until 2 PM or so. Look for the honey bee balloons in our parking lot and follow them to the gardens behind our office building on the North side of West Liberty Street.
