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ASHEVILLE GREENWORKS
  • Pollination Celebration
  • Hard 2 Recycle
  • Upcoming Events
  • Get Involved
    • Internships
    • Sponsorship
    • Volunteer
    • Wish List
    • Youth Environmental Leadership Program >
      • YELP Staff & Alumni
      • How to Apply
  • Donate
  • Programs
    • Bee City USA Asheville >
      • Native Pollinator Plants and Nurseries
      • Pollinator Garden Certification
      • Pollinator Gardens & Meadows Project
    • Education
    • Urban Forestry >
      • Cool Green Asheville
      • Food Tree Project
      • RRI
      • Tree Nursery
      • Treasured Trees >
        • Treasured Trees Calendar
    • Rivers and Roads >
      • Adopt-a-Street
      • Clean Streams Day
      • Cleanup Supply Stations
      • Trash Trout
    • Waste Reduction >
      • Asheville Bag Monster
      • Composting Information
      • Flip Your Lid
      • Plastics Reduction Task Force
      • Recycling Information
  • About
    • Job Openings
    • History
    • Staff/ Contact
  • Newsletter
  • Blog Roll
    • Latest News
    • Mind Your Plastic May
    • Protect our Pollinators
    • Voice for the Trees
  • ThankYou

Protect Our Pollinators

The Monarchs Are Coming! The Monarchs Are Coming! Hopefully

4/19/2022

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PictureMonarch egg discovered on milkweed sprout in Phyllis Stiles' yard.


Here in Western North Carolina, there are journal entries from the turn of the century describing how monarch butterflies blacked out the sky during their fall migration to Mexico. But this spring and summer, consider yourself lucky if you see a monarch butterfly or two. If you’re incredibly lucky, a monarch butterfly will lay eggs on your milkweed. Monarch populations east of the Rockies are down at least 80% since the 1980s. Even worse, monarch populations west of the Rockies are down 99%. 
 
Planting milkweed for them to lay their eggs on and not using pesticides is more vital than ever to bringing them back.
 
In the fall, a single young insect that weighs the equivalent of a raisin may fly south all the way from Ontario, Canada, to the high oyamel fir forests of central Mexico—3000 miles! That astounding feat continues to be one of the world’s great wonders. In Mexico, those same “super” butterflies will rest in a state of diapause through the winter, mate around Valentines’ Day, and then remarkably migrate northward through Texas to the Midwest and eastern United States, laying their eggs on young milkweed along the way.  It will take three-four generations to reach Canada.
 
They are being spotted in Asheville right now, which means they almost certainly overwintered in Mexico, 2000 miles away from Asheville.  Hopefully you planted your milkweed (their only host plants for their caterpillars) last fall or winter and it is coming out of the ground right now ready for the hundreds of pearly white eggs the females will lay.
 
Monarch Joint Venture explains the fall migration well here.

PictureMonarch caterpillar.
We are in luck! Throughout the spring, our local plant nurseries and retailers are selling several species of milkweed that is native to our area. The Asheville GreenWorks Bee City USA recommended species list provides a list of pollinator-safe native plants suppliers. The Montreat Native Plant Sale is April 23rd and the Botanical Garden of Asheville is having its spring plant sale on April 29-30.
 
Milkweeds are a perfect example of the importance of choosing the right plant for the right place. If you have a sunny and especially dry location, butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) grows a long taproot and is quite drought tolerant once established. If you have a sunny but soggy spot, swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is tolerant of having “wet feet.” If you have a sunny area with soil of moderate moisture, take your pick!  If you have a larger sunny area, you may want to plant common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). This species spreads by horizontal underground rhizomes. Be prepared for it to move around and also form large colonies in a short amount of time. For this reason, it is typically recommended for more naturalized plantings or pocket meadows instead of smaller or more formal gardens.  If you have a shadier site, poke milkweed (Asclepias exaltata) will not only survive, but thrive and even bloom in partial shade. If your milkweed gets tall and leggy, consider trimming it back in early July to regrow in time for monarchs’ fall migration.
 
There are two nonnative/tropical (annual) species generally available to gardeners, Mexican Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) and Balloon Milkweed (Gomphocarpus physocarpus, formerly known as Asclepias physocarpa). Though widely available, attractive, long-blooming, fast-growing, and easily propagated, it is best not to plant  these non-natives in WNC for several reasons.  In warmer regions where they don’t die back in winter, a build-up of a debilitating protozoan parasite (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha or OE) that infects monarchs can occur. While tropical milkweeds should eventually die back during western North Carolina winters, another concern is their presence in fall could cause migrating monarchs to break diapause (a temporary non-reproductive state) and lay eggs instead of completing their migration to Mexico.  Reseeding is also a concern.
 
When you plant, mark your milkweed! Milkweed is notorious for emerging in late spring (usually late April), just when you plant over it because you’ve given up. Leaving its stems and labeling the spot will remind you to be patient.

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Male monarch at Homestead Gardens by Phyllis Stiles.
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Pollinators Love Leaves!

1/19/2022

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By previous environmental educators at Asheville GreenWorks and edited by Livia Charles 
Enjoy Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons as you ponder and learn about how you can support our beautiful natural world throughout every season. 

​For many, a leaf-strewn yard is a nuisance, a mess to be cleaned up and hauled away. Leaves are seen as a detriment to the idyllic American lawn. If you’re an organic gardener, you may look at fall leaves in a different light—you might see free, nutrient-rich mulch, and a perfect carbon source to accompany the nitrogenous kitchen scraps in your compost pile. If you’re an entomologist or a pollinator advocate, leaves look like something different entirely. Let’s take a look at how leaving the leaves can support pollinators. 


If you’ve ever strolled through a deciduous forest in the colder months you’ve probably noticed that, unlike the average lawn, no one rakes up the leaves. Instead, these fallen former solar panels accumulate on the forest floor and persist for many months to come. The leaves not only reintroduce carbon and other nutrients into the soil as they decompose, they also harbor their own little living world. For the smaller critters of the forest, the layer of leaves, also known as duff, can provide shelter from the elements, much-needed microclimates, camouflage, and even a crunchy, carbon-rich snack.
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The majority of butterfly and moth species in temperate climates seek refuge among fallen leaves during the winter months, capitalizing on the many benefits previously mentioned. Different species of lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) can be found overwintering in any one of the four distinct life stages these creatures occupy: egg, caterpillar, pupa, or adult. Take the red-banded hairstreak, for example—these delicate beauties lay their eggs on the underside of fallen oak leaves. When the caterpillars emerge they munch on these leaves to their hearts’ content and gear up for a harsh winter made livable thanks to their detritus home.
​Lepidopterans are not the only pollinators that appreciate a leafy winter abode. Bumblebee queens burrow into the ground and rely on a layer of duff above them to keep out the elements. Unlike honeybees, these bumblebee queens will be the sole survivors of their colony, and the existence of next year’s colony is entirely dependent on her ability to make it through the winter. Seems an awful shame to rip the royal roof off of a queen’s house only to be tossed in a bag and hauled away.​

Spiders, worms, nematodes, snails, and other invertebrates also occupy this under-appreciated microcosm. However, the role of fallen leaves extends even further. Leaf litter provides a crucial food source for birds that need larvae to feed their young. Even herbaceous perennial plants, waiting out the winter underground, benefit from the insulation the leaves provide their root systems. Like any other facet of an ecosystem, when the leaves are taken away, the effects radiate outwards impacting far more than just the critters that call them home.
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​​Considering that pollinators are responsible for one in three bites of food we eat and pollinate nearly 90% of flowering plants, we need to do everything we can to protect them—leaving some leaf litter is an integral part of that process. So next time you feel inclined to get rid of those ‘pesky’ leaves, think about the butterflies, the moths, the bumblebees, and everything they do for us.

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It’s August—Time for a Safari!

8/5/2021

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PictureEastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly by Martha Baskin
by Phyllis Stiles, Founder & Director Emerita of Bee City USA

Binoculars? Check. 
Camera? Check. 
Sunhat? Check. 
Sunscreen? Check. 
Water? Check. 
Hiking boots? Check. 
We were ready for our safari.

It was early August and summer was heating up. Our expedition would parallel a river, lush with radiant flora and active fauna. Being well equipped was crucial to enjoying and capturing the experience. We hoped to see some tigers, herds of furry feeders, and maybe even a zebra.

Would it be dangerous? Not really. How close could we get to the animals?  If we approached slowly and quietly, within inches. The excitement was palpable as we closed the truck doors to enter the jungle rich in a diversity of native flowers—Wingstem, Monarda, Goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed, Great Blue Lobelia, Southern Sneezeweed, False Sunflower, Common Boneset, Fleabane, Black-eyed Susan, Clethra, Jewelweed, Ironweed…. About that same time, we saw luscious blackberries ready for the picking. We were entering the Wilma Dykeman Greenway along Asheville’s French Broad River next to New Belgium Brewing. With any luck we would see Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, a Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly, and herds of hungry bees. 

Within minutes, my companions, Florrie Funk and Martha Baskin, were snapping their cameras. There it was, a Tiger Swallowtail nectaring, with proboscis fully extended, on a Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum) flower. Was it an Eastern (Papilio glaucus) or an Appalachian (Papilio appalachiensis)? The Eastern Tiger tends to be a slightly smaller, and has thicker vertical black stripes, more blue on its hindwing (lower wing), and a spotted yellow band on its forewing’s (upper wing’s) underside, compared with a solid broad band on the Appalachian Tiger. So ours must be an Eastern. Was it male or female?  It’s harder to tell on the ventral (under) side of the wings, but the bluish area on the ventral hindwing has one row of orange spots—she must be a lady! 

PictureAmerican Bumble Bee on New York Ironweed by Phyllis Stiles
But it was the buzzing herds of bumble bees that would dominate our safari. There are only 48 species of bumble bees native to the United States. We identified our specimens by the color of their abdomens’ individual segments and the black and yellow patterns on their thoraxes.​

Seduced by the New York Ironweed’s (Vernonia noveboracensis’) dense flower clusters, a majestic American Bumble Bee (Bombus pennsylvanicus) was methodically working her way around the individual florets, following the nectar guides to the carbohydrate hidden deep inside. The band of yellow located only at the top of this bee’s thorax and the three yellow bands at the top of the abdomen convinced us this bee was the American bumble.
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Flowers learned long ago to bury their treasure, forcing visitors to pick up pollen from their anthers along the way. By the looks of this lady’s pollen baskets, the technique is working!  Male bees don’t have pollen carrying hairs since they don’t care for the young.​

PictureCommon Eastern Bumble Bee by Florrie Funk
The common Eastern Bumble Bees (Bombus impatiens) were feasting nearby on the invasive exotic Porcelain Berry Vine. By the look of our model’s empty pollen baskets on her back legs, either she was all about the Porcelain Berry flowers’ sweet nectar, not its pollen, or “she” was a “he” with no need or means to gather pollen.  Sadly, the pollinators are helping invasive species like Porcelain Berry and Japanese Knotweed thrive, and often outcompete our native plants. While bumble bees, like most generalist bees, can gather pollen and nectar from a wide variety of flowers, the specialist bees that comprise more than 25% of the world’s 20,000 bee species, don’t have that luxury.  They have co-evolved with a limited number of native plant species to feed their young the pollen exclusively from that select group of plants.

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The Partridge Peas (Chamaecrista fasciculata) were in full bloom, and the bumble bees knew it! We watched in awe as the bees latched their front legs to the annual flowers’ petals and inserted their proboscis into its center, just like an elephant guzzling water with its long trunk. If you turn up your volume and listen closely, you can hear the bees “buzz pollinating” the partridge pea, causing it to release its pollen.

Bumble bee buzz pollinating Partridge Pea by Phyllis Stiles
Herds of bumble bees covered the Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) in full bloom!
Bumble bees on Clethra by Florrie Funk
PictureFurrow Sweat Bee by Florrie Funk
The other bee herd we saw on our safari was the ever-colorful sweat bees—the ones that sometimes land on our arms to gather our salty sweat. With legs covered in yellow pollen from a New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae) and sporting that tell-tale black and white striped abdomen, this Furrow sweat bee (in the Halictus genus) seemed to be so cool, she had to wear shades. Try as we might, we were unable to really determine this gorgeous Furrow bee’s species.

​Florrie got really excited when she filmed a Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee (
Agapostemon viriscens) furiously collecting pollen from a False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) with her front legs and transferring it to her back legs to provision her nest for her young. These bees are known for banding together in communities of individual ground nests and sharing their guard bees.

Bicolored Agapostemon Sweat Bee by Florrie Funk
PictureGreen metallic sweat bee by Florrie Funk
Green Metallic Sweat Bees were slurping nectar from the orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) all along the greenway. Although hummingbirds frequent Jewelweed too, we weren’t lucky enough to see them on this safari. Jewelweed is especially at home near rivers and streams since it can tolerate flooding. When its seed pods ripen, they explode, giving the plant its nickname, Touch-Me-Not.

PictureSand Wasp on Common Boneset by Phyllis Stiles
We were really excited to see the bees’ ancestors, the wasps, nectaring on Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and Goldenrod. They tend to hover around 18 inches off the ground when not burrowed in their solitary sandy nests and don’t sting people like social wasps do. Sand wasps feed house flies, deer flies, mosquitoes and brown marmorated stink bugs to their young! A single, developing sand wasp larva may eat two dozen flies.

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Sadly, we never saw the elusive Zebra Swallowtail (Protographium marcellus).  There must not be any Pawpaw trees, its caterpillar host plant, nearby.  But that just means we’ll have to plan another safari soon!

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Bee Watch—Catch The Drama In Your Backyard!

5/12/2021

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Written by Phyllis Stiles
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​A mama mason bee often enters her nest head first, flips at the end of the cavity (like a swimmer at the end of the pool) to unload her pollen from her belly, and then exits the nest cavity head first. When she's supplied enough pollen to feed one baby, she will lay an egg on top of it, and close the cell with clay. The next spring, her offspring will emerge to repeat the process. Video:  Phyllis Stiles

​When my calendar said March 20, I knew it was the Spring Equinox. But plants and animals, especially pollinators, would feel it in their bones--if they had any bones. As days grow longer and our collective cells experience the sun’s warmth, the sap rises in trees, herbaceous plants find their stems lengthening, leaves form, blossoms unfurl, and seeds sequestered in the dark send out root hairs and reach to the sky with new life.


Like a finely tuned orchestra with each instrument playing its part, species fulfill their destinies. Thanks to dedicated scientists like Jarrod Fowler and Sam Droege and many others, we are learning much more about the bee mothers who won’t collect just any old pollen for their offspring. (On the other hand, they’ll take nectar wherever they can get it.) These pollen specialists make up about one quarter of the world’s 20,000 species of bees. Flower pollen is a bee’s only source of protein. Without it their larvae will not develop into healthy adults.
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Leafcutter bee (mimicking a carpenter bee) on native Blue False Indigo by Marie Henderson
As you wander through your yard or the woods this spring and summer, maybe you can pick out some of the very special bees collecting pollen for their young. Be on the lookout for an unusual black bee about the size of a honey bee when  you see flowers on plants in the coreopsis, sunflower, rudbeckia or goldenrod genera. If you’re lucky, you could see the carpenter-mimic leafcutter bee, Megachile xylocopoides. You’ll know her identity if she transports pollen under her belly rather than on her hind legs, where most bees transport pollen. Her name describes her nesting technique: leafcutter bees chew round disks from leaves to plaster the walls of individual cells for their offspring in small linear cavities. Some of them even wallpaper nests using flower petals. Imagine being a baby wrapped in flower petals!
Redbud trees and blueberry bushes bloom early in the spring which makes Southeastern blueberry bees happy. They are often mistaken for bumble bees, but if you see a mother collecting pollen from redbud or blueberry flowers and, if her pollen is loosely spread around her back legs rather than neatly balled up like pollen on a honey or bumble bee’s back leg, you have probably seen a Southeastern blueberry bee (Habropoda laboriosa). 

Smaller than bumble bees, Osmia virga bees also specialize on blueberry flowers and conveniently clue us in with their blue-green color and no striping on their rounded abdomen. Like leafcutter bees, Osmia bees transport pollen under their bellies. Because these mamas build cells for their young out of clay, they are known as mason bees.
​If you haven’t guessed by now, I may be passionate about bees but not nearly as much as passionflower bees (Anthemurgus passiflorae) love passionflower pollen. Small black passionflower bees are extremely particular about what they feed their babies, only collecting pollen from a single passion flower species, Passiflora lutea, a vine which makes small yellow flowers in our Western North Carolina summer. They are called mining bees because, like 70% of bee species, they excavate tunnels in the ground to raise their young. If you see larger bees on purple passion flowers, they are likely carpenter bees which are favored for pollinating passion fruit fields in Mexico.
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Passionflower bee gathering pollen on Passiflora lutea vine by Kim Bailey
I was taught that you are the company you keep. These specialist bees have really taken that maxim to heart by keeping company with the flowers that will make their babies thrive. Sadly, due to pesticides, climate change, and habitat loss—including the special native plants they rely on to raise the next generation, nearly 60% of pollen specialist bees are considered rare and declining. ​
Asheville GreenWorks’ Bee City USA program is encouraging everyone to choose pesticide-free native plants for their landscapes to sustain as many bee species and other pollinators as possible in our mountains. At more than 500 species, we are proud that North Carolina has the most bee diversity of any Southern state! If you plant their preferred species, they will come, and you need not worry about any of these solitary bees stinging you. They don’t have large nests to defend like honey and bumble bees.

Visit Asheville GreenWorks’ website to download newly updated lists of pollinator-friendly native perennials, shrubs, trees, vines, and grasses along with a list of local sources for each plant. Not only do we live in a botanical garden of Eden, we are lucky to have many nurseries growing and selling native plants without pesticides that would harm pollinators. Join Asheville GreenWorks’ E-News list and like our Facebook page to receive announcements of native plant sales around the region as well as opportunities to plant and certify pollinator gardens.

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Phyllis Stiles is an Asheville GreenWorks board member and founder and director emerita of the national Bee City USA® program.  Bee City USA merged with the Xerces Society for invertebrate Conservation in 2018. Asheville GreenWorks  leads the Bee City USA-Asheville affiliate.
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The Fall Garden: Alternatives to Pesticides

11/13/2020

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By Jillian Wolf, Legacy Landscapes, Bee City USA - Asheville Leadership Committee

As colder weather and our first hard frosts open up the landscape to bare bones, it’s the perfect time to prepare for next year’s growing season.
Save those leaves!


Prepping for next season begins with supporting our pollinators and other beneficial insects through winter. If we work too hard at cleaning up, they will suffer. Manicured lawns and pristine beds that must be artificially maintained create an artificial environment in which “the good guys” fail to thrive, in particular, the native bees critical to our ecology. It’s a look that we’ve grown to revere, but that is changing. Natural “habitats” are trending!

You can begin by leaving anything alone that is still flowering. Changing weather can be challenging for some species, and fall flowers provide needed nutrition. It’s also important to leave plenty of spent plants standing, as stem-nesting bees need them to continue their life cycle. Stems, branches, canes and reeds provide a variety of accommodations, which is why it’s best to cut your “winter garden” down in late spring. If you must cut now, bundle! Nesting material can be gathered and tied together to hang on a fence or hide in a bush, preferably where there is some weather protection – or just loosely pile it up somewhere safe. For bees and beetles seeking luxury housing, leave downed trees where they fall or incorporate dead logs in the landscape. Ground nesting bees need support as they are some of the first pollinators to spread their magic in the garden each spring. A grassy area kept very short or bare spots in the garden are ideal, especially if they are south-facing. 

Recognizing that many of us do love our lawns (for aesthetics or recreation), can we talk about leaves as they turn color and cover our yards? Lawns, of course, will die if the leaves are not raked away, our first clue that leaves are amazing weed blockers! They also provide critical insect habitat. Leaves provide insulation for butterflies and moths (many butterfly chrysalids and moth cocoons look just like leaves!), and in the compost pile they add to a safe haven for hibernating bee queens and other beneficials like earthworms (and redworms, the kings of composting). And oh that compost! Everything from growing your favorite native to sequestering carbon in the fight against climate change starts with the soil. We have our job cut out for us here in Western North Carolina, largely dealing with dense red clay that’s either cracking dry or rotting wet. Fortunately, amendments and weed control go hand in hand, and this is where your leaves come in really handy.

Want to reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides? (Remember, organic controls can kill good guys too!) Fall preparation in the garden requires a bit of forethought but soon moves into second-nature status with practice. In addition to collecting leaves (yours, or your neighbors if you don’t have any), you’ll want to save cardboard. It’s plentiful at recycling centers and in retail dumpsters, but saving your own saves time. Cardboard is useful for covering large areas like a vegetable garden, or your lawn if you’re wanting to extend your beds. For grass, if you dig up and flip the turf first, it will hinder regrowth and provide green mulch for beneficial excavators. Newspapers are also a great way to go. If you are preparing landscaped areas, you can work with ¼” thick stacks of newspaper around established plants.

If weed blocking is your focus, start with those treasured leaves. Whole leaves will mat down in layers to prevent the emergence of weeds and can last through up to two seasons depending on how thick you lay them down. Cover the leaves with cardboard and then compost or mulch. Compost is preferred as it feeds the soil better and is light enough to allow insect activity. If your goal is to create healthy soil as quickly as possible, you can lay the cardboard down first with leaf mulch (chopped up leaves) on top. Leaf mulch breaks down over winter to amend the soil in a single season, blocking weeds during that time. Don’t worry about whether or not leaves are acidic. It’s all good.

A note about man-made bee houses and hotels: they are great educational tools because they allow us to observe nesting bees; however, sometimes they do more harm than good. If made of unsuitable materials and sold with no word about or access for cleaning them, they can harbor pests, disease, mold, and fungus. They also tend to unnaturally aggregate multiple species, at the very least creating a juicy target for predators. Constructed appropriately, they can be useful in gardens too small to otherwise provide habitat.

Gardening in partnership with your garden ecology supports the environment we all depend upon. Pollinators are as critical to maintaining wild areas as they are for pollinating our food (1/3 of everything we eat!). Other beneficial insects prey upon garden pests we’re in the habit of treating with pesticides. The “lasagna method” of weed control described here not only keeps weeds at bay, conserves water and feeds the soil, it attracts the good guys. Nature isn’t as messy as we make it out to be. In our pursuit of a garden aesthetic handed down to us by European royals in the 1700’s, we’ve forgotten to smell anything but the roses. Times have changed and celebrating nature is now not just desirable, but critically important. To help your neighbors understand why you’re going wild in your garden, consider applying for the Pollinator Garden Certification from Asheville GreenWorks’ Bee City USA program. It’s easy! It includes a metal yard sign that not only explains your motives but educates people who are unaware of how important pollinators are.

Fall is the perfect time to plant perennials, shrubs and trees. Recommended species lists and the local nurseries that sell them are available on the Asheville GreenWorks website along with many other useful resources. Get to know more about our native plants and how to utilize them, plant plenty of native flowers, and enjoy!

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Now is the perfect time to create the vegetable beds you'll be working next year. Making use of donated materials in this vacant lot will subdue invasives, prep the beds and provide overwintering opportunities for pollinators.
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This Sorghum grass is among a number of bird feeder volunteers that will provide seed for birds and a great home for stem nesting pollinators.
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American aster is a late-flowering native, providing pollen through early fall. It's a great perennial for use in naturalized areas of your garden, or tucked in among more formal plantings.
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Caterpillars, Chrysalis, and Butterflies, Oh My!

11/2/2020

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Pollination Education with FEAST at Vance Elementary School
By Jordan Diamond, FEAST Garden Coordinator

On a warm, sunny afternoon in October, I sat on my front steps in full Monarch Butterfly regalia- homemade wings pinned to a polka dot shirt, black pants and shoes, and a headband with pipe cleaner antennae. Beside me, a real monarch butterfly fluttered about in a pop-up mesh habitat;  the last butterfly to emerge for the season. To celebrate, I sang “Goin’ down to Mexico” before tagging and releasing the butterfly to a goldenrod plant in our garden while my housemates captured the scene on video so I could send it to the teachers at Vance Elementary School to share with their students. ​
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Every fall, I raise monarch butterflies from caterpillars found on the milkweed growing in the Vance Elementary Peace Garden. Every class helps look for caterpillars and follows their magical metamorphosis, all the way until the climactic day when a butterfly is released into the garden. Each year, several grade levels participate in the Journey North Symbolic Migration, tracking the butterflies migration to Mexico and back. In the spring, the kindergartners celebrate their return with our own “Symbolic Migration”, traveling through different stations in the school imagining they are monarchs migrating.  This fall, with school happening entirely online, I adapted these lessons and created weekly Monarch Update video lessons to send to teachers so they could still follow the season of metamorphosis with their classes. ​​
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In 2018, Asheville GreenWorks connected our school with Estela Romero, an environmental educator and conservationist from Angangueo, Mexico. Estela came to our school  to share her story and knowledge about Monarch Butterflies during a special assembly. Every student in the school sat enraptured as she described walking amongst millions of monarch butterflies that spend winter in the mountain forest of Oyamel fir trees near her village. She taught us so much about the science and folklore surrounding these magical creatures and it was so special to have her visit.
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Pollinator education is a key component in the FEAST program at Vance Elementary. FEAST is a program of Bountiful Cities and empowers youth and families to grow, prepare and enjoy fruits and vegetables through hands-on cooking and garden education. FEAST classes integrate all subject areas with real-life hands-on connections that foster healthy eating habits and a relationship with food and nature. The students are engaged in every piece of the garden, from turning the compost pile to building the garden beds, and from planting seeds to harvesting and cooking the fruits of their labors.
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​Bountiful Cities and FEAST maintain the garden with the support of the Vance Parent Team and the Garden Committee, a group of Vance parents and community members. Vance Elementary is the magnet school of Ecology, and the Vance Peace Garden and FEAST Program are a core component of the curriculum. Asheville GreenWorks has also been a key partner to our school by participating in numerous assemblies and school events, facilitating the start of a cafeteria composting program in 2013, and providing numerous resources from recycling and composting education to Tree ID lessons.​


Jordan Diamond coordinates the Bountiful Cities FEAST program and Peace Garden at Vance Elementary School. She is a passionate pollinator enthusiast and educator and has recently joined the Bee City USA - Asheville Leadership Committee. For more information about these programs, email [email protected], follow the Vance Elementary Peace Garden on Facebook, or subscribe to the FEAST Peace Garden youtube channel.
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Pollination Celebration! Photo Contest Winners and Prizes

7/8/2020

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In honor of National Pollinator Week, June 22-28, and as part of Asheville’s 8th annual month-long Pollination Celebration! Asheville GreenWorks tried to get a literal snapshot of which pollinators were active in Buncombe County throughout the month of June. The Contest ended June 30 with 428 entries. Some photographers submitted multiple photographs. The Bee City USA – Asheville Leadership Committee has selected winning photos for the following categories: Children, Teens, Adults and Professional. There are also numerous Honorable Mentions. Carolina Native Nursery and Reem’s Creek Nursery co-sponsored the Pollinator Photo Contest.
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There are about 350,000 named species of beetles in the world, 20,000 species of bees, 17,500 species of butterflies, and 300 species of hummingbirds. Most, but not all, species of each category are pollinators. In Madagascar, even lemurs are pollinators! 

The goal of the contest was to encourage our community to take a closer look at the creatures that enable the plants in our community to reproduce and fruit. By emphasizing pollinators in Buncombe County during one month, the Contest sought to draw attention to the seasonality of pollinators and how place-based they are. Asheville’s Bee City USA program works year-round to engage the entire community in doing their part to reverse the local and global pollinator declines that threaten not only pollinator species themselves, but also our human diets and nearly 90% of the world’s flowering plants. 
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Asheville GreenWorks manages the Bee City USA – Asheville program and Leadership Committee, which judged the entries.  The committee considered the clarity of the pollinator, how the photo communicated something about pollinator diversity, and pollinator interactions with flowers, especially how they transport pollen on their bodies.  Committee member Betsy Savely said, “Judging was a fun, learning experience for me. But the quantity and quality of the entries far exceeded our expectations, which made choosing winners extremely challenging.” 


Best Overall Award
Jean Marie Dillon received the Best Overall Award for her photo of a Northern Pearly-eye Butterfly that appeared to be dancing on her windowsill. While this butterfly is a minor pollinator which mainly eats tree sap, dung, fungi and carrion, it also eats nectar from tree flowers such as river birch and black willow. Dillon said, "My husband and I were making dinner when I spotted this butterfly outside our kitchen window. It was pouring rain and the butterfly was seeking shelter. When I looked through my butterfly book, we discovered it was a Northern Pearly-eye--a first sighting on our property." In addition to its seeming ability to dance, the committee was captivated by its striped eyes and antennae.
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Dillon wins a $250 shopping spree from Reem’s Creek Nursery and a professionally framed print of her photo by Black Bird Frame & Art. Other prizes include bowls, mugs and bee ornaments by JCR Designs; gift baskets from Gaia Herbs and the Center for Honey Bee Research; pollinator-themed greeting cards by Florrie Funk; pollinator themed-jewelry and artwork by Marie Colton Woodard; bee necklace by Mark Traub; books about pollinators by Douglas Tallamy and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; a $25 gift card from Ace Hardware on Merrimon; and, 6-packs of Buchi Kombucha.
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Northern pearly-eyed butterfly by Jean Marie Dillon
Awards for Adults
The Adult category was the most competitive category. The committee selected Andy MacPhillimy's green metallic sweat bee eating pollen on Monarda (bee balm) for 1st place. Sweat bees are drawn to human sweat for its salt content. Their colors make them very photogenic, however, they go unnoticed because they are so tiny. Tim Sorrill won 2nd place for his bumble bees on echinacea. For her photo of a margined leatherwing soldier beetle (a firefly mimic) on milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Renee Dunaway took 3rd place. Beetles are considered the oldest group of pollinators on Earth. ​
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Green metallic sweat bee on Monarda by Andy MacPhillimy
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Bumblebees on Echinacea by Tim Sorrill
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Margined leatherwing soldier beetle on butterfly weed by Renee Dunaway
Awards for Children 12 and Under
  • 1st Place: Soren Tompkins (age 10) for Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly 
  • 2nd Place: Jacob Tompkins (age 12) for Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly
  • 3rd Place: Willow Wallace (age 4 ½), for honey bee on borage
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Great spangled fritillary butterfly by Soren Tompkins
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Silver-spotted skipper butterfly by Jacob Tompkins
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Honeybee on borage by Willow Wallace


​Awards for Teens
  • 1st Place-: John Fulmer for Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly 
  • 2nd Place: Natasha van Niekerk for sweat bee on non-native blanket flower 
  • 3rd Place: Tünde Paule for honey bee
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Silver-spotted skipper butterfly by John Fulmer
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Sweat bee on non-native blanket flower by Natasha van Niekerk
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Honeybee on clover by Tünde Paule

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​Awards for Professionals
In the Professional category, Paul Stebner was awarded both 1st place for his photo of a fritillary butterfly on bee balm and 3rd place for a photo of an Eastern carpenter bee playing hide-n-seek in a penstemon cultivar. Second place went to John Tyson for his photo of a honey bee with seemingly transparent wings.

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Fritillary butterfly on bee balm by Paul Stebner
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Honeybee by John Tyson
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Eastern carpenter bee in Penstemon cultivar by Paul Stebner


Honorable Mention Awards
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Most Unusual Bee: Marie Henderson for a leafcutter bee mimicking a carpenter bee on native Blue False Indigo (Baptisia). Leafcutter bees transport their pollen underneath their abdomen, while carpenter bees transport pollen mostly on their back legs. Notice the two yellow “bedroom slippers” on the back feet?  Those are pollinia, most likely from a milkweed flower. Only milkweed and orchid flowers attach pollinia, rather than pollen grains, to their pollinators.
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Leafcutter bee on native Blue False Indigo by Marie Henderson

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Photos Taken Outside Buncombe County: Courtland White for a photo of a bumble bee on non-native dahlia taken in Henderson County. This photo was outstanding for its clarity and composition.
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Bumble bee on non-native dahlia by Courtland White

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A Face Only a Mother Could Love: Joseph Patterson for a male Eastern carpenter bee on American wisteria.  Most carpenter bees are famous for their green eyes and the spot on the male’s face. The Eastern carpenter bee is larger than most carpenter bees and, consequently, has become an unwelcome guest when they chew nesting sites into the exterior wood of our homes.
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Eastern carpenter bee on American wisteria by Joseph Patterson


​All Hail The Monarchy: Julie Rogers for male and female monarchs on non-native butterfly bush. The two black pheromone dots (scent pads) on the lower wings near the abdomen indicate which monarch butterflies are male. Imperiled monarchs are famous for their up to 3000-mile migration from Canada to Mexico. The best way to bring them back is to plant milkweed native to your area.
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Male and female monarch butterflies on non-native butterfly bush by Julie Rogers


Bee-Loved Flower: Megan Riley for brown-belted bumble bee on native Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa). Riley’s bumble bee appears to be giving this flower a hug! It is not unusual to find a bumble bee or squash bee sleeping in a flower overnight, especially if the flower closes its petals during the night.
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Brown-belted bumblebee on eastern prickly pear by Megan Riley


​Dreamiest Native Solitary Bee: Mark Troy’s leafcutter bee on rue anemone.  Troy’s photo allowed us to imagine life as a bee quietly moving from flower to flower. We tentatively identified this bee as a leafcutter due to abdominal cues: black stripes on top and apparent white pollen underneath. Most bee species transport pollen on their back legs, not under their abdomens. Leafcutter bees line their nest cavities with small disc-shaped leaf cuttings.
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Leafcutter bee on rue anemone by Mark Troy


Eye Popping Pollinator: David Harris for Orange Sulphur Butterfly. Not only were Harris’ photo and subject matter stunning, those bulging green eyes were unforgettable!
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Orange sulphur butterfly by David Harris


Fuzziest Bumble Bee: Wendy Stovall for bumble bee in non-native gladiola.  Stovall’s photo demonstrates not only what makes bumble bees so adorable, but what makes them and other bees such good pollinators. Their fuzzy hairs are literally magnets for pollen, and also help to keep them warm. Bumble bees can fly at cooler temperatures than most other pollinators.
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Bumblebee on non-native Gladiola by Wendy Stovall


Lover Bee: Celene DeLoach for male leafcutter bee with hairy front legs. When mating, this bee species uses those hairy legs to cover his mate’s eyes, presumably so she won’t be attracted to anyone else!
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Leafcutter bee with hairy front legs on Echinacea by Celene DeLoach


Most Awesome Antennae: Diane Puckett for Melissodes long-horned bees on echinacea.  This bee species’ abnormally long antennae are not just for show. Like all insects, in addition to other functions, the antennae enable them to smell extremely well—crucial to finding nectar. Flowers produce nectar exclusively to attract pollinators.
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Melissodes long-horned bee on Echinacea by Diane Puckett


Most Tasteful Proboscis: Lindsay Gadzinski for pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor) on non-native lily. This photo is educational on many levels. It illustrates what most butterflies do with their tongues (proboscis); they roll it up under their chins and extend it when they drink nectar. The butterfly is facing the flower’s male part, the stamen, which is topped off by pollen-filled anthers. The butterfly’s wings appear to be sprinkled with yellow pollen. Dutchmen’s Pipe (pipevine) is the larval host plant for pipevine swallowtails, imparting chemicals (aristolochic acids) that when ingested by the caterpillars make them poisonous and distasteful to predators. Four other butterflies mimic pipevine swallowtails in hopes of discouraging their would-be predators: spicebush swallowtail, Eastern black swallowtail, dark form of the Eastern tiger swallowtail, and the red-spotted purple butterfly.
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Pipevine swallowtail butterfly on non-native lily by Lindsay Gadzinski


Packing Pollen: Joe Adams for bumble bee on lavender. Both bumble and honey bees use their front legs to comb pollen from their bodies, storing their pollen on their back legs where they use nectar to mold it securely into balls. (Ever wonder why the bee pollen you buy comes in little balls?) Pollen may be red, yellow, black, white, etc., depending upon the plant species.
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Bumblebee on lavender by Joe Adams


​Pollenpalooza: Cristina Garcia for unknown bee on St. John's wort. While the eyes, antennae, and hairy legs indicate this is a bee, it’s difficult to say what kind.  But, oh my, what a pollen bonanza! Forensic researchers use pollen grains to determine where a specimen has been because they are so unique to plant species and the places they are found.
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Unknown bee on St. John's wort by Cristina Garcia


Shake Your Booty!: Donna Paxon for native solitary bee with abdomen tilted straight up! With the exception of honey and bumble bees, most bees do not live in colonies which have queens and worker bees. Like many bee species, this solitary bee has the tell-tale elbow antennae that help in narrowing down what kind of bee they might be.
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Native solitary bee by Donna Paxon


Wings that Wow: Celene DeLoach for newly emerged eastern black swallowtail butterfly. (This is the second award for DeLoach.) DeLoach said, “I found the chrysalis on a coreopsis plant and watched it as it emerged.” In this photo, the butterfly cannot yet fly because the wings have not yet fully filled with liquid.
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Newly emerged eastern black swallowtail butterfly by Celene DeLoach


Best Wannabee: Renee Dunaway for a bee mimic fly.  This is the second award for Dunaway. Many species of flies are important pollinators. Indeed, midge flies pollinate chocolate and coffee in the tropics. Although Dunaway’s fly is yellow and fuzzy, on careful inspection, you can see that its antennae are way too short for a bee, it has only  two wings rather than four, and it has eyes like a pilot’s goggles!
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Bee mimic fly by Renee Dunaway


Photos Taken Before June: Sam Hollis for a hover fly on azalea in Bent Creek. Like Dunaway’s fly above, you can see that its small antennae are way too short for a bee, it has only  two wings rather than four, and it has eyes like a pilot’s goggles!
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Hoverfly on azalea by Sam Hollis


Winning photos will also be posted on  Asheville GreenWorks Instagram page and the
Bee City USA – Asheville FaceBook page.
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For the Love of Bees

6/10/2020

4 Comments

 
PicturePhoto by Megan Lee
This June marks Asheville’s 8th annual Pollination Celebration! You’re thinking honeybees, right? How much do most people really know about honeybees? Let’s see…they make delicious honey. Oh yeah, they also pollinate crops. It’s no wonder they’re popular. They’re the poster children of feeding the world. 

But they have secrets… Please don’t shoot the messenger. Here goes. They are not originally from the U.S. and compete with native bees for resources. Now understand this isn’t the honeybees’ fault. It’s not as if they decided to fly here with the sole intention of invading our country. They were imported from Europe to Virginia in 1622 to make honey and pollinate crops.  When you get right down to it, they’re agricultural animals with the same function as cows or chickens. They feed us. 

So, what, pray tell, is wrong with that? Nothing. That is until the crops they pollinate are no longer in flower. That’s when they compete with 4,000+ native species for food. So how do we balance the farmers’ need for crop pollination with that of wild bees? Do we have to choose? Not if we plant enough nectar and pollen producing vegetation for both. Bees use a tremendous amount of energy collecting what they need. The more they find in one area, the less they must travel. This is the same concept as why you go to the closest grocery store. 

Here are suggestions to help you save wild bees and continue to adore honeybees guilt free:

Some wild bees use cavities in wood and hollow stems for nesting sites, so provide bee hotels.  You can make your own by drilling several holes ranging from 1 – 25 mm wide by 150 mm long in fallen trees or stacked wood you don’t intend to use. Bees will nest in a size that fits their body, so having a variety will ensure nesting opportunities for several species. When cleaning up your garden or pruning shrubs, leave at least a foot in height of any plants that have pithy stems. Bees will excavate them to nest in. 

At least 70% of native bee species nest in the ground.  The more nesting opportunities you can provide, the better.  Create bare patches of soil here and there for them to excavate. They prefer sandy, well-drained soil with minimal surrounding vegetation (like no traffic areas of your lawn).  They may use garden beds if necessary, so don’t use weed barrier fabric. It might as well be concrete to a bee. 

PicturePhoto by Heather Rayburn
Do not use pesticides. They kill insects (bees) through direct contact or from being ingested. Pesticides, including neonicotinoids, are linked to Colony Collapse Disorder.  Ask retailers for pesticide-free plants and remove weeds by hand.

Avoid using overhead sprinkler systems. In nature, bees receive warning signals of impending rain and return to their nests for cover. Sprinkler systems provide no warning. When bees return to their nesting site, it is often muddy, landmarks are gone or changed, and nest entrances are obliterated. If bees remain confused about this altered state of their surroundings, they will often abandon the nest with young inside because there’s nothing else they can do. Instead, use sprinklers at night or better yet, install drip irrigation which also conserves water. 

If you have a bird bath, keep in mind a bee can drown by landing in water too deep for them to stand in. Add a rock or other surface to it (that’s not clear like water) for them to stand on. You can also provide a shallow dish such as a jar lid. Fill it 3/4 with sand then top off with water. Butterflies will also appreciate this offering. 

Plant as many native flowers, shrubs, and trees that bees prefer as you possibly can.  This is especially important for beekeepers, as you have a higher concentration of bees that need to forage.  Keeping them close to home will allow wild bees to forage elsewhere without as much competition.  Asheville GreenWorks provides a comprehensive list of native plants, and nurseries that carry them, on their website. 

All native plants and animals have a purpose in their specific environment. They’re interdependent. If Asheville genuinely wants to celebrate its status as the first Bee City USA affiliate in the nation, its residents need to provide for all bee species, not just popular ones. 
Let’s all show our industrious little buddies some love by providing what they need! 

The full event list with registration instructions for Pollination Celebration! can be found HERE.

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Mary Summers is an Environmental Consultant with [email protected] She reconnects you and your land to nature by showing you how to save time, money, improve aesthetics and increase psychological wellbeing using techniques on your property that have a positive impact on the environment. She can be reached through her website: natureathome.us
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    Members of the Bee City USA - Asheville Committee contribute to this blog.

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​Asheville GreenWorks is a 501(c)3 non-profit environmental organization, governed by a Board of Directors. Established in 1973, GreenWorks mission is to inspire, equip and mobilize individuals and communities to take care of the places we love to live.
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