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Did you know that one out of every three bites of food we eat is the result of pollination by bees? Or that 75% of all flowering plants are pollinated by animals? Pollinator Awareness Week is June 19th through the 25th and Asheville Greenworks’ Pollination Celebration continues in Asheville and Buncombe County with these pollinator-focused learning events and activities. The Pollination Celebration is sponsored by Ingles and Carolina Native Nursery.
All June, 1st – 30th, open from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
“Winged Wonders: Step Into the World of Butterflies”
Presented by NC Arboretum
See the miracle of metamorphosis before your very eyes. On display inside the Baker Exhibit Center Greenhouse, Winged Wonders is an indoor butterfly exhibit featuring a chrysalis-rearing chamber and a walk-through butterfly house where visitors can meet a whole host of local butterfly species, including monarchs, swallowtails and more. Discover hidden fanciful fairy gardens & gnome homes constructed with local, natural materials within plantings of butterfly-attracting plants. Visitors may also enjoy the Arboretum's signature Quilt Garden, which is designed in a butterfly quilt block pattern.
Audience: All Ages
Cost: Arboretum does not charge a per person admission, only a parking fee: $14 for personal vehicles ($7 on Tuesday, June 6)
Location: NC Arboretum, Baker Exhibit Center, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville, NC
Wednesday, June 21st @ 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Book Club Meeting for “Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit” by Andrew Moore
Presented by Botanical Gardens of Asheville
Join BGA staffer Heather Rayburn as she hosts a special book club in celebration of Pollinator Month. Participants should read Andrew Moore’s “Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit,” before the event. The Gardens will have paperback copies of the book available for purchase in our Visitor Center at the end of April (but you don’t have to purchase a copy from us to attend). Refreshments will be served as we discuss the book. We’ll wrap up by going outside to visit the Gardens’ own little Pawpaw patch.
Why this book? Everyone knows about the sexy bee pollinators, but the plant world also benefits from the pollination of other insects, bats, birds, rodents and even lizards. The Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a native understory tree pollinated by carrion flies and other insects attracted to the maroon color of its blossoms, which give off the odor of rotting meat. The tree is also the only food source for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar.
Heather is the creator of www.MonarchLover.org, a website dedicated to promoting the planting of native milkweed to help the endangered Monarch butterfly. She also has a lovely and productive Pawpaw patch in her own urban garden.
Audience: Adults
Cost / Registration: $10 (does not include book), Pre-registration and pre-payment required (call 828-252-5190)
Location: Visitor Center at Botanical Gardens, 151 W.T. Weaver Blvd, Asheville, NC
Thursday, June 22nd @ 10 AM - 12 noon
Garden Stroll and Bee ID Walk
Presented by: U.S. Forest Service and Buncombe County Extension Master Gardeners
Forest Service staff and Buncombe County Extension Master Gardeners will be on hand to point out prominent features of the garden and answer any questions, and a member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will lead a Bee ID Walk. Free milkweed seeds, donated by Sow True Seed, will be available to the first 25 visitors.
Audience: gardeners, pollinator enthusiasts, children, citizen scientists
Cost: Free
Registration: N/A
Location: U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station, 200 W.T. Weaver Boulevard, Asheville NC
Thursday, June 22nd @ 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Pollinator Superheroes
Presented by The West Asheville Library and our friends at the Buncombe County office of the NC Cooperative Extension
Celebrate National Pollinator Week by learning about our native pollinators and their amazing feats!
Learn who they are, what plants they love, and how you can help pollinator superheroes in your backyard! There will be an additional activity for kids to learn about pollinators.
Audience: All ages
Cost / Registration: Free! Limited space, please call 828-250-4750 to reserve your spot
Location: West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC
Friday, June 23rd @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
“Six Legs, Two Antennae: Introduction to Insects” for ECOEXPLORER
Presented by The West Asheville Library & North Carolina Arboretum
Learn how you can be an ecoEXPLORER, earn badges & cool prizes, and become a scientist in the field. Find out what makes an insect an insect and how to identify the major groups. Then check out the ecoEXPLORE hotspot to make and submit some observations. Each participant will receive a free insect magnifying box!
Audience: Kids, Ages 7 – 13
Cost / Registration: FREE! Pick up your free ticket at the library beginning 6/9/17
Location: 942 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC, 28806
Saturday, June 24th @ 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
So you wanna be a Beekeeper?
Presented by Buncombe County Beekeepers Club
This timely program on how to get started in beekeeping will be presented by experienced local beekeepers from Buncombe County Beekeepers Club. Topics will include basic bee biology and terminology, how to acquire bees, beekeeper responsibilities, equipment and investment (cost), producing local honey, benefits of joining a bee club, and more.
The event is sponsored by Organic Growers School (OGS), the premiere provider of practical and affordable organic education in the Southern Appalachians. OGS is building a vibrant food and farming community by boosting the success of organic home growers and farmers in our region.
Audience: Adults
Cost / Registration: Free! Donations suggested. Registration required here.
Location: Lenoir Rhyne University, 2nd Flr Boardroom, 36 Montford Ave., Asheville, NC, 28801
Tuesday, June 27th @ 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Pollinator Friendly Landscape Tour
Presented by New Belgium Brewing
Join New Belgium for an outdoor walk learning how the brewery incorporated pollinator friendly plants into the design of the landscape. We’ll identify various plant species and be on the lookout for butterflies, bees, beetles and other pollinators. Please meet at the Liquid Center.
Audience: All ages
Cost: Free, but please stay and enjoy a beer after the tour! New Belgium will donate all tips from our tasting room on June 27th to Bee City USA
Registration: Required and space is limited to 25. Please RSVP here!
Location: New Belgium Liquid Center: 21 Craven Street, Asheville, NC 28806
Tuesday, June 27th @ 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (Doors open at 6:30)
“Flight of the Butterflies” Documentary Film
Presented by The Collider and Oskar Blues Brewery
It’s a natural history epic. It’s a compelling detective story. It’s a scientific adventure at its best. It took Dr. Fred Urquhart almost 40 years to discover the monarch butterflies’ secret hideaway and prove the most incredible migration on Earth. Following the year-long annual migration cycle of the butterflies, the award-winning production team filmed hundreds of millions of monarchs in their remote overwintering sanctuaries in Mexico in 2011, again in 2012, and also along their migratory routes from Canada, across the U.S. and into Mexico. The movie will be followed by a facilitated conversation with Environmental Educator, Kim Bailey. Kim first visited the monarch overwintering sanctuaries in Mexico in 2002 and has since co-led several trips to the area. After 14 years coordinating a statewide environmental education program for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, she fulfilled her longtime dream of launching Milkweed Meadows Farm in Fruitland, NC. She now enjoys growing milkweed, wildflowers, fruits, and vegetables; producing open-pollinated seeds for Sow True Seed; keeping bees and raising butterflies. Kim also works for the Captain Planet Foundation as their Curriculum Editor.
Audience: All ages
Cost: Free!
Location: The Collider, 1 Haywood St, Asheville, NC, 28801
Find out more about these events and others at http://www.ashevillegreenworks.org/pollination-celebration.html