Media Release

ALACHUA COUNTY, FL - The Alachua County Downtown Farmers Garden is hosting the second workshop of a three part Native Pollinator Workshop series on Saturday, August 11, 2012, at 11:30 a.m., at the Downtown Farmers Garden, on the grounds of the Alachua County Administration Building (12 SE 1st Street, Gainesville). The workshop is free and open to the public. Groups partnering to host this workshop include: Alachua County, UF Native Buzz, Alachua County Extension Office, Forage Farm, and Florida Certified Organic Growers.

The workshop will be presented by Jason Graham. He is a University of Florida Entomology & Netmatology PhD candidate who established UF Native Buzz, a citizen science project for studying solitary bee and wasp nesting preferences, diversity and distribution around the County.

This workshop will revisit how to design, build, monitor and maintain artificial nests that support these beneficial insects. Also discussed will be how to create a healthy pollinator garden with native wildflowers and plants. Attendees will be able to help plant a new native wildflower patch at the Downtown Farmers Garden by the native pollinator habitat.

The third and final workshop of the three part Native Pollinator Workshop series will be held Saturday, November 10, 2012, at 11:30 a.m. This will include results of over 7 months of native pollinator observation at the Downtown Farmers Garden’s native pollinator habitat and the impact in the garden.

“Pollinators can be entertaining and educational to observe.” said Alachua County Sustainability Program Manager, Sean McLendon. “They are critical to food production and need help from gardeners by not only building nests but planting native flowers.”

View the event flyer.

View the Facebook event page.

For more information, contact Sean McLendon at 352-548-3765 or smclendon@alachuacounty.us.