Cheshire Pollinator Pathway

Reminder! If you are an ION Bank customer vote for Cheshire Pollinator Pathway!! Voting ends soon!!!! (March 2). Thank You!
How to Vote
1. Visit: cap.ionbank.com/CAP/
2. Select our organization
3. Submit your vote by March 2, 2026

We loved time recently spent with the Cheshire Y kids, teaching them about Monarch Butterflies and Milkweed. Monarch butterfly storytime and puppets, coloring pages & winter milkweed sowing were a blast! Thanks to Coast of Maine's soil donation. #GrowingGoodProgram #GrowingGoodwill

Pesticides, Pollinators, People and Planet: What We Need to Know Neonicotinoids have caught the attention of the public, but they are part of the larger issues with pesticides. For many decades, we have been on the "pesticide treadmill," with...

We are on a Pesticide Treadmill. Find out what you need to know about neonics and other pesticides with a CPL presentation from Dr. Kimberly Stoner, made possible in part by a Petit Family Foundation grant.

Sign up at CPL to Save your Seat!

cheshirelibrary.libcal.com/event/15434182

Many thanks to our dedicated volunteers and wonderful donors who helped to make 2025 so successful for our non-profit.

The first snow of the season is long gone thanks to rain that followed. Looking forward to "something" for Christmas. Fingers crossed!

Time to put up "safety" guides for the town snowplow crews. Every winter, the decorative fencing gets put away. In its place--orange caution tape. It ain't pretty, but should do the job of keeping snowplows out of the garden!

Couple of hours well spent sorting & packaging native plant seeds for our upcoming Winter Seed Sowing event in January!

Thank you everyone for pitching in!

Details for the Jan. workshop:
www.cheshirepollinatorpathway.org/events

Giving Tuesday is a worldwide show of support
for the causes and missions that call to you.

On Giving Tuesday, December 2nd, support
The Little Things that Run the World when you donate to the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway.

www.cheshirepollinatorpathway.org/donate-join

Lock 12 at the Willowbrook: Cheshire Pollinator Pathway garden

Golden Alexander, Aurrea Zizia blooming in November.

Lock 12 CPP Garden Stewards Anne McNulty and Lisa Giugno's recent visit found Golden Alexander (Aurea Zizia) in bloom. This an important early spring bloomer, and it will bloom over and again, but November is definitely new territory!

Aurea Zizia is the larval host for the Black Swallowtail.

Thanks to a Claire C. Bennitt Watershed Fund grant, Water Warriors Grady and Cecilia & friends learned how to protect our waterways & placed educational medallions on local storm drains.

The project is done in partnership w/Sustainable Cheshire, CPP, & the Mill River Watershed Association.

Join us for Caroline Sutton's EYES IN THE SOLES OF MY FEET: From Horseshoe Crabs to Sycamores, Exploring Hidden Connections to the Natural World on 10/13.

Get a copy via bookshop.org, Support independent bookstores.

Register via CPL for the online talk
cheshirelibrary.libcal.com/event/14986253

So many groups working to make a difference! See you at tomorrow's Cheshire Sustainability Fair., including
Lights Out CT
Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments
Cheshire Public Schools
Cheshire Parks & Recreation
Clean Transportation Communities of Southern CT

Free Raffles at the Cheshire Sustainability Fair 10/4, at Boulder Knoll Farm, Boulder Rd.

Enter to win a Rain Barrel or a Family Pass to the Regional Water Authority's Recreation Areas. Stop by the Coalition for a Sustainable Cheshire table to enter. Our thanks to RWA for their support.

Super awesome bunch of volunteers did a smashing job at the big Mixville Recreation Area's garden installation on Sunday.

Thank you so much to Alice and Fran (Mixville neighbors), Ron, Lisa, Nancy, Keith, Jennifer, Karen, Barb, Ann, Lizeth, Betsy, Geoffrey, Patty & Deanne and Joy and Joanna.

The Cheshire Sustainability Fair is Saturday from 10am-2pm at Boulder Knoll Farm (Boulder Road).
Stop by our table and enter a free raffle to win a gift certificate to Earth Tones Native Plant Nursery (we love them)! We'll also have native plants & seeds to give away! See you there!

The BIG native plant installation is Sunday (yes, this Sunday!) at Mixville. We need your help to get these plants in the ground. To volunteer, connect with at cheshirepollinatorpathway@gmail.com

We'll see you at the Cheshire Sustainability Fair on October 4th at Boulder Knoll Community Farm, from 10am-2pm. Recycled, Upcycled, Reclaimed Fashion Show, EV Cars, Birds of Prey presentation and dozens of our best Green Partners on-site!
See you there!

We gave out almost 200 plants at our Free Native Plant event at Lock 12. We appreciate everyone who came out! One more chance for free native plants at the Oct. 4th Cheshire Sustainability Fair at Boulder Knoll Farm. (Live entertainment & Admission is free!)

This Saturday! September 20th. Lots of native plants we've potted up for you to take home. Free!

See you Saturday at the Cheshire Pollinator Pathway garden at Lock 12, North Brooksvale Rd.

The Original Garden on North Brooksvale. Sweet!

Wild Ones toured our Original and Lock 12 gardens 8/16.

CPP presented our Origin story, & talked about working with state and local governmental bodies & environmental groups to produce positive effects within our community.

It was a pleasure to host the Robin & Jim from Wild Ones.

Willow and Gail at the Pollinator Pathway table at Plant Science Day.

Funtastic time at Plant Science Day with our table partners-- Hamden Land Trust's Pollinator Pathway.

Plant Science Day brings together a multitude of environmental groups, so we did a lot of meeting and greeting!

We caught some presentations & ate Blackie's hot dogs and Mr. Dipper ice cream!

Plant Science Day 2025 is Weds., from 10-4, at Lockwood Farm in Hamden. Come out, chat with environmental groups, tour the gardens & grounds, learn to propagate plants, get advice on your veggie or flower gardens, and more! Catch talks on monarchs; battling invasives and more!
See you there!

CPP's Karena Kulakowski's recent visit to meet Yellow House Nature Camp kids, to talk about her work studying pollinators--which includes catching & tagging them.

Our thanks to Cheshire Youth Services. We appreciate the chance to talk about the importance of pollinators in our environment.

Residential Green Award winner in front of her Cheshire gardens.

Alison McCaffrey is July's Residential Green Award winner, sponsored by Cheshire Pollinator Pathway, the Coalition for a Sustainable Cheshire & the Mill River Watershed Association.

Thank you for your eco-friendly efforts to foster a healthier environment for pollinators, wildlife & humans.

CPP at Mixville Recreation Center -- moving along with more plantings today and a surprise visitor: shrub hairstreak!

Monarchs are here at Cheshire Pollinator Pathway's West Main Street gardens (off Railroad Ave., adjacent to Ball & Socket). Didn't see telltale black dots on inner wings, so it's likely a female. Wonderful!!!!

Biologist Karena Kulakowski trains a group of volunteers for a phenology citizen science project at Cheshire Pollinator Pathway's original garden at North Brooksvale Rd.

Biologist Karena Kulakowski trains a group of volunteers for a phenology citizen science project at Cheshire Pollinator Pathway's original garden at North Brooksvale Rd.

Cheshire Phenology Project training day at CPP's Original Garden with biologist Karena Kulakowski & CAES entomologist Dr. Kelsey Fisher from CAES along with a great group of enthusiastic and eager volunteers!
#phenology #citizenscience #pollinators #nativeplants #chesihrect

Cheshire Pollinator Pathway volunteers install the fence for the season

CPP Volunteers installing the fancy fence for the season

Woo-hoo! We took down the winter orange tape and poles, and installed the lovely fence at the Original Garden. Thanks for working to get the fence done; for weeding and planting. You guys are great!

Cheshire Pollinator Pathway members at the May 10th Plant Giveaway.

Super turnout for our Native Plant Giveaway at Lock 12 today! Thanks to everyone for making it such a success. Happy Planting! 🦋