At its most basic level, gardening is about planting seeds, nurturing them with hard work and tender loving care, and watching them grow. That works for ideas, too.
One shining example: Manitou Springs’ new Pollination Stations scattered along Manitou Avenue. The seed was planted when Becca Sickbert of the Manitou Springs Creative District and Melody Daugherty of the Manitou Pollinators started brainstorming in fall 2020.
You’ve likely heard the word “pollinator” a lot in the past few years. Humans are waking up to the fact that we depend on bees and butterflies for a healthy, productive environment.
“Population declines have been observed for pollinator species in North America and around the world, but community efforts to create, protect and restore new habitat and feeding corridors for pollinators provide more resilience and long-term sustainability,” Sickbert said, adding that 90 percent of Colorado’s flowering plants need pollinators for fruit and seed production.
“Our nutritional needs are dependent on creatures like bees having their needs. Local pollinators’ lifespans will be shortened or they’ll become extinct if their nutritional needs are not met with a biodiverse plant buffet.”
Recognizing the need and being inspired to meet that need is just the beginning. Sickbert and Daugherty forged partnerships with community entities including the Chamber of Commerce, downtown’s Business Improvement District and the Urban Renewal Authority on Manitou Avenue’s eastern end.
Sickbert acquired 24 cast-iron planters that had been retired from Denver’s LoDo district; they were donated, saving about $35,000 from the project budget. Add a large helping of enthusiasm from Manitou residents, and the project quickly grew from the original plan for six planters to 24.
“The program came together fast because there was so much community support and interest,” Sickbert said. “This is a community of avid gardeners and people who appreciate beauty.”
The Manitou Pollinators group, with help from Amy Yarger, director of horticulture at the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, chose the best plants for the commercial district’s intense sun and limited rainfall while providing shelter and a “corridor of nutrition” for pollinators.
Chamber of Commerce staff suggested planting something that would be attractive year-round. So, each planter has a spartan juniper in the center, surrounded by winecups, blanket flowers, firecracker penstemon and Turkish veronica.
“Melody helped us ensure that each one of the flower choices provides excellent nutrition for pollinators and loads of color and texture for people,” Sickbert said.
Of course, they needed helping hands to clean the planters and get the junipers and flowers in the soil. Volunteers cleaned the planters July 14, planted the eastern group July 19 and finished the downtown planters July 21.
“Our volunteers are incredible and worked during some of the hottest days in July to make this happen,” Sickbert said.
They’ll be listed on the district’s website, along with the Manitou Pollinators’ tips about the plants.
The project got assistance from the city, which stored the planters at Public Works until planting time. Each planter weighs more than 400 pounds when empty and more than 700 when fully planted, so the city’s expert forklift operators were needed to place the planters correctly.
The URA area, around the Beckers Lane/Manitou Avenue intersection, has 12 individually adopted stations; the BID from the 600 block to the 900 block of Manitou Avenue has 10; and the Manitou Art Center has two.
“Downtown, water access is a little more convenient because there are more planters overall, so the BID decided to maintain their own planters,” Sickbert said.
“In contrast, the URA’s eastern exposure with fewer trees means more sun, more pavement, more challenges to getting water to the planters and a greater need for individualized care, so that’s where we focused the adoption efforts.”
All planter “hosts” paid for their own plants and materials. The Creative District wrote a grant to secure text messaging (to remind volunteers when to water) and signage that was funded by Colorado Creative Industries and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Rick’s Garden Center on West Uintah Street donated five-gallon buckets, and the Econo Lodge in the 100 block of Manitou Avenue pledged to provide water for the volunteers tending their planters.
The staff at Rick’s helped with sourcing plants and will sponsor prizes for the healthiest and best-maintained planter at the end of this season. The volunteers will be recognized in December, thanks to support from Adam’s Mountain Cafe, Theo’s Toys and J9 Glass.
Anyone who wasn’t able to help with planting can still participate by observing the stations throughout the year.
Just scan the QR code on each planter’s sign, fill out a form on the Creative District’s website and/or photograph pollinators visiting the planters and tag #ManitouPollinators and #CreativeManitou.
Sickbert hopes this program will inspire more drought-tolerant, sun-loving and pollinator-friendly plantings all over the city.
“Anyone can start gardening to create pollinator habitat and nutrition in small ways with containers or window planters even if they don’t have a garden plot,” she said.
Information: manitouspringscd.org/pollinationstations and manitoupollinators.org.