Gardening Is for the Birds

Join the Ewing Green Team for their first in a series of programs about gardening sustainably this spring.

More than just bird feeders, birds need food, shelter, nesting sites and nesting materials to survive. The  Ewing Green Team is extremely excited to invite you to an introductory program on how gardeners can create a bird-friendly backyard, attracting a far wider range of species, using native plants that provide needed food and shelter.

Join the Ewing Green Team for a 1 ½ hour workshop on Wednesday, March 30th at 7 pm at the Ewing Senior and Community Center (Zoom alternative may be substituted) and learn how to make simple changes in your garden that will transform it into a year-round haven for birds by providing the essential elements needed for their survival.  Mary Anne Borge, a local naturalist, writer, photographer, and educator, will tell you what you can you do to attract birds to your garden and which plants are best to entice bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects to make their homes with you.  She will also share maintenance techniques that are the most hospitable for these garden visitors and residents.

Mary Anne Borge is the Associate Editor for Butterfly Gardener magazine, a publication of the North American Butterfly Association; an instructor and naturalist at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope, Pennsylvania; a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist, and the team leader for Lambertville Goes Wild. Her photographs have been featured in numerous publications. She shares her love of nature through her writing and photography at the-natural-web.org.

This presentation is a part of a series of programs sponsored by the Ewing Green Team to help gardeners live more sustainably and harmoniously with nature by gardening for wildlife.  And once you’ve created a welcoming haven for local wildlife, we encourage gardeners to certify their properties with the National Wildlife Federation.  The NWF is engaged in a nationwide movement to support local wildlife and restore and reconnect America’s natural spaces through their Garden for Wildlife program.  The Ewing Green Team believes that this is a critical effort and we have enrolled Ewing in their Community Gardening for Wildlife Program.  Every Ewing garden that certifies with the program ups our point tally in the community program and moves us closer to our goal of becoming a NWF certified community.

This event is the first in a series of events that the Green Team is offering this spring to help gardeners garden more sustainably.  Coming in April, the Green Team will host Kendra McKoy and Olivia Spildooren from The Watershed Institute when they present Gardening for Storm Water and Wildlife: How to Build a Rain Garden on April 13^th.  On April 25^th Nicholas D’Amato, an Ornamental Horticulturalist and Environmental Designer, as well as the founder and owner of Gino’s Nursery in Newtown, PA, specializing in the growing and sales of plants native to the Mid-Atlantic region, will present  Landscaping Approaches to Rewilding Your Backyard. Look for more information coming soon.

We hope that this will be start of a great gardening season for wildlife this spring and for the future!

Event Summary

Date: Wednesday, March 30^th
Time: 7pm
Location: Ewing Senior and Community Center, 999 Lower Ferry Rd., Ewing
Cost: Free and open to the public
Presenter: Mary Anne Borge