UPCOMING EVENTS:

Spring Native Plant Share and Workshop • Saturday, May 11 •
11 a.m.–1 p.m. • La Finca Del Sur • East 138th Street and Grand Concourse
Join Butterfly Project NYC, the Bronx Green-Up, and GreenThumb/NYC Department of Parks and Recreation to learn more about the connections between native plants and pollinators and how to encourage their presence in urban landscapes. This year’s workshop is part of NYC Wildflower Week and will include an educational game demonstrating the importance of the relationship between plants and pollinators. Plants will be available for pickup to be used in schoolyards, community gardens, and other public spaces, while supplies last.

To RSVP, e-mail info@butterflyprojectnyc.org.

New Workshop Offerings
Butterfly Project NYC has taken a slightly different direction with our latest workshop: “Rediscovering New York City’s Native Plant Communities.” Ursula Chanse, Director of Bronx Green-Up at the New York Botanical Garden, and Chrissy Word, Co-Founder and Programs Coordinator of Butterfly Project NYC, presented the workshop for the first time on Saturday, March 23rd, at the Green Thumb GrowTogether at Hostos Community College. By helping participants to better understand ecological communities — including associative native plants, animals, soils, and habitats — we are continuing and expanding upon our mission to provide more and better habitat for pollinators and helping to increase New York City’s biodiversity overall. A version of this workshop will be presented at the 2013 Native Plant Share in May and much of the information will be shared in our General Service Meetings this summer.

2013 General Service Meetings
Butterfly Project NYC will co-host a General Service Meeting on the 3rd Thursday of each month from 5 to 7pm. We currently have openings for three more community or school gardens. Our hosting gardens can expect the following from a General Service Meeting: horticultural advice and materials, and volunteers who will work to pull weeds, install native plants, move plants, and provide redesign in order to make the garden’’s Pollinator Conservation Area work better for pollinators, human visitors, and students. Butterfly Project NYC will also take the opportunities to provide information about pollinators as well as curriculum to educators who are working with students in their gardens.

If your garden could benefit from co-hosting a General Service Meeting, please email us at info@butterflyprojectnyc.org and include “General Service Meeting” in the subject line.

_____________________________________________________
RECENT NEWS:

General Service Meeting • Thursday, October 25th • 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. • Friends of Van Cortlandt Park Garden, Broadway at Mosholu Avenue, Bronx
At the fall service meeting Butterfly Project volunteers came together to shape up the pollinator garden for the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park. FoVCP has dedicated an entire planting bed to native plants in this very desirable location for pollinators right next to the Van Cortlandt Park forest. Volunteers helped to clear weeds, move plants and shrubs, and plant native perennials. Our service meetings are generously supported by Change By Us NYC.

Fall Native Plant Share and Dividing Perennials Workshop and Workday • Saturday, October 27th • 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. • Drew Gardens • East Tremont Avenue adjacent to the Bronx River, 1/2 block east of Boston Road, Bronx
At the Fall Native Plant Share volunteers learned how to divide overgrown perennial plants, increasing the number of useful native plants in this community garden. At the end of the workday, volunteers took native plants and some of the newly divided perennials back to their own communities and school gardens. Plants were available for planting in schoolyards, community gardens, and other public spaces. Funding for native plants was provided by Citizens Committee NYC. The event was held in collaboration with Bronx Green-Up of the New York Botanical Garden.

Pollinator Curriculum Guide Workshop for Educators • August 3rd • 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. • Vladeck Hall • 74 Van Cortlandt Park South, Bronx
Butterfly Project offered a P-credit course on our Pollinator Curriculum Guide as part of a week-long professional development event sponsored by Friends of Van Cortlandt Park and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

Butterfly Project General Service Meeting
Thursday, August 2nd • 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. • Davidson Community Garden
Butterfly Project held a workshop on native plant mid-season maintenance and then members assisted the Davidson Community Garden in sprucing up their pollinator garden area. This workshop was generously supported by the Bronx Green-Up Program of the New York Botanical Garden and by Change By Us NYC.

Opening of Brandon Ballengée’s “Love Motel for Insects”
Friday, June 8th, 2012 • 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. •
Kempner Gallery Sculpture Court • 501 West 23rd Street, Manhattan
Brandon Ballengée’s outdoor sculptural light installation “Love Motel for Insects” held its opening on Friday, June 8th, in the sculpture court of Kempner Gallery. This interactive blacklight sculptural exhibit offers a bold scientific and artistic inquiry into urban ecology. The exhibit will be free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and occasional evenings from June 9th through August 4th, 2012. Butterfly Project NYC is exhibiting native flowering plants at the base of the sculpture to create important insect habitat. Funding provided by Urban Art Projects. For more information visit the Love Motel for Insects on Facebook.

Butterfly Project Workshop and Native Plant Share
Saturday, May 19th, 2012 • 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. •
Garden of Eden • 1686 Weeks Avenue, at East 173rd Street, Bronx
New members and past participants alike joined the Butterfly Project and Bronx Green-Up/The New York Botanical Garden in learning the importance of pollinators and how to attract them using native plants at Butterfly Project’s 2012 Native Plant Share. This year’s workshop focused on the proper techniques for the installation, maintenance, and care of native plants. Workshop participants took home free native host plants for pollinators. Over 2,000 native perennials were distributed to 52 community gardens! Funding for native plants was provided by GreenThumb and the Citizens Committee for NYC.

Butterfly Project Spring Service Meeting
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 • 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. •
Community School 211 • 1919 Prospect Avenue, Bronx
Butterfly Project held our first general meeting of the year at Community School 211 in the Bronx, where members old and new were encouraged to come to learn more about Butterfly Project’s latest initiatives, and to lend a hand in beautifying Community School 211’s Pollinator Conservation Area.

Bronx Parks Speak Up
Saturday, February 25, 2012 • 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. •
Lehman College, Bronx
Butterfly Project hosted a table at the 18th Annual Bronx Parks Speak Up, organized by the Bronx Coalition for Parks and Green Spaces (BCPGS). The event draws hundreds of Bronx residents and public officials each year, and our table offered conference attendees a great opportunity to learn more about Butterfly Project, community gardens, and local pollinators.

Pollinator Curriculum Guide Workshop
Thursday, February 23, 2012 • 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. •
Ampark Neighborhood School, Bronx
In collaboration with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, and the Bronx River Alliance, Butterfly Project presented a workshop on how to use our Pollinator Curriculum Guide to incorporate native pollinator activities in the classroom. Participants received free copies of the Curriculum Guide.