On Tuesday, August 6, the library and Waterbury Recreation hosted a garden party to celebrate the finale of a project that began at the library. They called it “Mud Pies and Butterflies” and children made mud pies and released butterflies. Volunteer Kirsten Booth oversaw a project that incubated monarch butterflies on milkweed in a container on bookshelves near the youth services desk in the library. Children who visited this summer observed the process of metamorphosis that led to the release of the butterflies in the garden.
The Pollinator Garden
At the back of all these gardens is a wilder pollinator garden, created in partnership with Weybridge-based nonprofit Bee the Change, whose goal is to restore pollinator habitat. The organization has a goal of creating an acre of habitat in each of Vermont’s 252 cities and towns, and Waterbury is one of its latest additions.
The process began in April 2022 with a request from Bee the Change. Mike Kiernan, founder of Bee the Change and local beekeeper, thought the location near the established Books in Bloom garden was ideal and credits that garden with “already telling the story.” The soil was good, there were already trees, shrubs, berry bushes and other plants in the area and the Select Board gave its approval.
Before a pollinator garden is established, Kiernan explained, a survey is conducted to determine pollinator presence. “Within 15 minutes, there were 31 unique pollinator encounters,” he said of the site at the Waterbury library. Now that the garden is established and growing, the situation has improved. “Already this year, we’re seeing 31 pollinators per minute,” he noted. In some cities with longer-standing gardens, surveys find over 300 pollinator encounters within 15 minutes, he said.
In addition to Waterbury, other nearby communities have partnered with Bee the Change to create pollinator gardens, including Waitsfield, Warren, Moretown and Bolton. Kiernan estimates that his organization has worked with 50 to 60 towns and that they have also created pollinator gardens at about 30 solar farms across the state.
To get things started, Bee the Change provided the seeds and the expertise. They also put up signs explaining the process of pollination and the concept of mutualism. In this case, for example, plants can’t move, but they can spread when ants move seeds and bees move pollen.
The fruits of their labor can now be found in the back of the nursery, but the beginning was not easy. Waterbury’s pollinator garden had a few problems at first because of some very stubborn, established weeds. The fire department performed a slash-and-burn approach, but Kiernan said they were fooled by appearances. Invasive grasses were still plentiful in the seedbed, which had to be plowed before planting. Kiernan explained that annual plants often cannot compete against the weeds.
The garden is slowly taking shape, and volunteers have been planting more perennials this week. Kiernan is excited about the location. “It’s a great spot,” he notes. “The soil is great, and I think it’s a great opportunity to create habitat for the pollinators.”
Sponsored by Vermont Public, Barr Hill Gin, Encore Renewable Energy, Green Mountain Power, American Meadows and the Pomerleau Foundation, the Waterbury Pollinator Garden is dedicated to the memory of Jessica Anne Pomerleau-Halnon, daughter of Dee and Ernie Pomerleau, president of Pomerleau Real Estate. Jessica died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 36. Another special Waterbury project is also dedicated to her memory – the Floral mural installed on the exterior of the Village Market building in 2023 in downtown Waterbury owned by Pomerleau Real Estate.
Finally, the idea of mutualism can be applied to both humans and insects. Be the change calls on individuals and businesses to consider the ecological footprint of their office or home and compare it with a habitat for pollinators.
