Pollinator Party

401 Plainfield Road,Darien IL 60561

26 June, 2022

Description

Learn more about our precious pollinators as we celebrate Pollinator Week 2022! Join us as we host a Pollinator Party in collaboration with Indian Prairie Public Library. The afternoon will encourage all ages to celebrate local pollinators via educational exhibits related to native bees, butterflies and other less well-known pollinators and includes activities for the youngsters. Local native bee enthusiast, Adrian Ayres Fisher, will join us and help the crowd understand the importance of native bees for pollination, including your tomato plants. Adrian will encourage gardeners to plant native pollen and nectar source plants for native bees. Adrian will also explain how you can provide important habitat in your garden spaces to encourage nesting and overwintering of these gentle and special pollinators. Local butterfly enthusiast and Darien Garden Club member, Pat Miller known as the "Queen of the Monarchs" will also join in the pollinator fun. Pat will help you understand the beauty, lifecycle and plight of the honored insect of the State of Illinois, the monarch butterfly. Pat will explain the importance of providing host plants for monarch caterpillars and other native butterflies larvae. There will be other educational exhibits related to how we can all champion for local pollinators whether they be beautiful bees and butterflies, or ants, bats, beetles, birds, moths, wasps, and other less well-known pollinators. This event is for all ages and we welcome families to learn together. There will be activities for the children as we strive to encourage the smallest naturalists. REGISTRATION IS NOT REQUIRED, but registering here will provide reminder emails so that you will not miss this special event. More information here: https://ippl.libcal.com/event/8880951 Outdoor program. This program is held outdoors. Weather permitting. In the event of inclement weather, this program will be moved into the library’s meeting room. Please note the library’s current mask policy at https://ippl.info/covid19 Read on for more information on our exhibitors and a glimpse of the pollinators at work here in Darien. Adrian Ayres Fisher has been enthusiastically gardening with native plants for over thirty years. Wild native bees are her favorite pollinators. As programs co-chair of West Cook Wild Ones, she educates about and advocates for native-plant gardening, natural area restoration, and biodiversity. She also serves as volunteer steward of National Grove Forest Preserve in Riverside, Illinois. Her website is at www.ecologicalgardening.net Pat Miller, Monarch Watch Conservation Specialist for Illinois and Northeast Region Pat Miller became interested in monarchs and monarch conservation while presenting talks on butterfly gardening for the University of Illinois Extension office as a Master Gardener. Pat's good friend, Jane, met Chip Taylor the year he launched the Monarch Waystation program and became interested in promoting the concept of monarch waystations. Jane and Pat traveled throughout the western Chicago area promoting monarch waystations. Following a trip to Mexico with Monarchs Across Georgia, Pat's interest in monarchs blossomed into a program for school children, libraries, and garden clubs. Pat's love of nature led her into education through her work as a Master Gardener, Master Naturalist and Plant Technician for the Morton Arboretum. She presents programs to schools, libraries, garden and environmental clubs throughout the Chicago area. In 2008 Pat presented monarch programs to over 1000 students and 500 adults, a number she hopes will grow every year. She continues to share her love of monarchs with everyone she meets. In 2007 the Chicago Tribune wrote an article about Pat's efforts in establishing Monarch Waystations in the area. In 2009, Pat was labeled "Queen of the Monarchs" in a second Chicago Tribune article. "Education and awareness are key issues in protecting this wonderful creature". Pat is also involved in raising and tagging hundreds of monarchs. "A lot can be learned from this little creature" and Pat hopes to find even more ways to educate others in the coming years through the Monarch Watch Conservation Specialist role. Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly Margined Leatherwing Beetle Flower Fly - Complex Eupeodes americanus Augochlorine Sweat Bee Great Golden Digger Wasp Brown Belted Bumblebee Monarch butterfly