An aspect of the Million Pollinator Challenge is to register as many gardens as possible and to try to create a network of gardens and landscapes for these pollinators so that they can have safe spaces to breed, nectar and migrate.
So far over two hundred thousand gardens have been registered. Anyone can register a garden and gardens of any size–from a container habitat to large prairies–can register.
You may already have a garden that qualifies. I did–I have the garden that I call my “Wildlife Garden” that has lots of native plants and nectar plants and of course when I plant, I try to specifically enhance that garden for butterflies and bees. It’s not that they will ask you much about the garden–they will ask your street address to register your garden.
The next step is to get that garden registered in the Million Pollinator Garden challenge. That’s where the “street address” part comes in. Go to the site I’ve linked to throughout these posts.
Go here to register your garden. Don’t worry if you don’t have a photo (and completely ignore that YouTube stuff unless you want to–I didn’t even upload a photo!).
It’s a simple process. They basically want your name, address, a user name so that you can remember how to get back onto the site (that may be the hardest thing) and a little description from drop down boxes about your garden–in other words, is it rural, suburban, city, etc.
There is also a drop down box for Organization/partnership Affiliation. If you do not belong to another organization, select “Association for Garden Communicators (GWA)”. That will tell the GWA that you are registering because you read about this in a GWA-member post somewhere. They like to know that stuff.
As I mentioned, I love to do this sort of thing. It’s called “citizen science,” and it helps the “real” scientists out. I do it as a bird watcher and a weather spotter and I’ve got my garden registered as a backyard habitat and now as a pollinator garden.
For me, I think I get back more than I give. If you’ve never done it, you should give it a try.
Gardendaze 