It was another beautiful day at Ben Nobleman Park. Despite a light sprinkle of rain, volunteers showed up in full force, and once again we wrangled the plants in the pollinator garden.

Our biggest task today was removing seedling trees and suckers before they could take over the garden. We also restored the pathways so that it will be easier for us to get into the garden and care for it.

Along the way, we discovered what we thought might qualify as an award-winning cherry tree sucker!

The ornamental cherry trees in our pollinator garden are notorious for sending up vigorous shoots (called suckers) from their roots. We cut these shoots as close to the ground as possible so that the pollinator bed isn’t gradually taken over by ornamental cherry trees.

It was a beautiful morning for stewardship at Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard, and we had our work cut out for us.

After being rained out for a couple of stewardship days, the pollinator garden had been growing vigorously. So much so, that we first got to the garden this morning, it was hard to know where to start.

But with a strong team of volunteers, we soon got to work.

When we hosted our annual plant sale at Ben Nobleman Park this June, one of the visitors introduced herself as Shayndelynne. We quickly learned that she has a passion for monarch butterflies.

Shayndelynne is a volunteer citizen scientist who records monarch sightings as part of the Journey North/Monarch Joint Venture program. Citizen scientists across North America report sightings of monarch eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, and adult butterflies, helping researchers better understand monarch populations and migration patterns.