Driving down Route 10/202 south of town center takes you past the new Granby Wildflower Meadow (GWM)across from Maple View Farm. You will see a section filled with little flags which indicate where plant plugs were placed by community effort in June. Our Board of Directors has been maintaining this section by watering and weeding these new wildflowers to give them the best opportunity to flourish.
After the first killing frost this fall, the meadow will be over-seeded with more than 20 species of wildflowers native to the area. This will happen again in 2023 and likely 2024. It will take three to four years before the meadow is truly established. The scientists on the GWM Board of Directors, Jenica Allen and Zachary Donais, took great care in selecting plant species that will create a colorful, hospitable and self-sustaining smorgasbord for beleaguered pollinators. They rely on such sustenance to survive, and we rely on their survival to survive ourselves.
The GWM is part of the Pollinator Pathway, providing steppingstones of native wildflower meadows and gardens up and down the East Coast. The Friends of Granby Wildflower Meadow invite and encourage you to create one of these stepping stones by planting native seeds and plants on your property, whether residential or business. To that end, and to raise funds for 35-40 pounds of seed needed for 2023, we are selling a modified blend of the meadow’s seed mix, which removed “bully” plants that spread more aggressively. These seeds were custom created by Vermont Wildflower Farm for Friends of Granby Wildflower Meadow. Seeds can be purchased through our website in packets for areas of 100 square feet or in bulk for areas up to 6,200 square feet. Members receive a discount.
Please visit granbywildflowers.org for more information about the meadow and to purchase seeds. We invite you to become a member, which gives you voting rights at the annual meeting, eligibility to run for office, and discounts on seeds and future items we might sell. We would be very appreciative of any tax-deductible donations you make to help us with this large endeavor. For more information about the Pollinator Pathway, please visit pollinator-pathway.org
