The Pollinators

Yes, the pollinators of Michigan are the animals and insects, like bees and hummingbirds, that help plants grow and reproduce by moving flower to flower.

But "The Pollinators" is also the name for Carly and David Cirilli, co-founders of the nonprofit Plymouth Pollinators. Over the past few years, the Cirillis and an ever-growing list of gardeners have created a string of beautiful, functional and even critical gardens just for pollinators in their slice of Metro Detroit.

Carly, David and host Beau Brockett discuss this work and why it and the flora and fauna it benefits are so crucial to the suburbs.

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Learn more about Plymouth Pollinators or to get started on your own native garden here.

This episode is part of a pollinator miniseries produced in partnership with NRDC. Learn about its latest pollinator work in Michigan here.

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Common Groundwater is hosted by the Michigan Environmental Council and Beau Brockett Jr.

Our music is "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi, arranged by Derek Zhang and performed by Jackson resident Taj Wallace.

Transcript

The Pollinators

Beau Brockett: [00:00:00] Hey folks, you are tuning into Common Groundwater, a podcast by the Michigan Environmental Council where we go across the state to talk about the environment. We talk about issues of the environment, stories around it, and solutions to it. I'm here today in Plymouth, Michigan, with Carly and David Cirilli, co-founders of Plymouth Pollinators for the start of our pollinator miniseries here on the podcast. Thanks so much for joining me today. Really appreciate it.

David Cirilli: No problem. Thank you.

Carly Cirilli: Our pleasure.

Beau Brockett: Yes, of course. For new folks who are just tuning into this podcast, know that although this is the first episode, of our pollinator miniseries, you'll be able to listen to any podcast episode within that miniseries in any order.

We just came off of our transit miniseries, we, where we went across the state to talk about how transit, uh, functions across different sorts of communities from the rural to the heavily urban.

And now I'm excited to do the same in a different sort of way with pollinators. So in episode's future we will go to a farm, we'll go to the wilderness or someplace close to it, but today we're here to talk about [00:01:00] neighborhoods. We're talk here to talk about parks and gardens. Maybe the, the, the easiest way people can kind of come in contact with pollinators.

 Lastly, last housekeeping item. Just want to mention that NRDC, the Natural Resources Defense Council, is a supporter for this podcast. So thank you to them for making this possible.

Um, enough about me blabbering away now and all that. Let's turn it to you two. So as a nonprofit worker, I know how tough nonprofit work can be.

I'd have to imagine it's even tougher to start a nonprofit and then to keep it running for years and make it a successful thing. Could you talk a bit about your history and how it led up to the creation of Plymouth Pollinators? 

Carly Cirilli: Sure. I guess I'll start. So it kind of, uh, started like around 2014, just in our own backyard.

So I was starting to notice less butterflies in my yard. So I've always been a gardener. And so I started doing some research and was reading about pollinator decline and shared that with Dave and he's a pretty [00:02:00] handy guy and we started working on basically adding raised beds to our yard and creating more of a pollination space or habitat there.

And so, it really started, you know, in our own backyard. And then, um, later [David] had some folks come over from the- 

David Cirilli: from work. Yeah, I worked at the city of Plymouth DPW. Had some of the, guys over for barbecue. They'll come over for food, you know, so, but they were really interested in what I was doing around in the backyard.

They really admired the raised beds. We put in all the pollinator gardens. And there were some spots in around that needed some love. And so in,

Carly Cirilli: In the city.

David Cirilli: In the city. And, um, my foreman at the time came to me and was like, Hey, , what, what do you think we did a pollinator garden in this little spot?

So that was our very first one. And all my coworkers and stuff were just really excited [00:03:00] about doing this. And then after that little one, it was like people were looking for other spots for us to do, and our very next garden was, at Lion's Club. And that was right about the time COVID started. 

Carly Cirilli: We're a pandemic story.

David Cirilli: Yeah. 

So it, that one was, you know, that was the start of pretty much. Plymouth Pollinators unofficially was that garden. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah, so it was kind of a collaboration. So it was great because we had, um, you know, city buy-in, obviously right from the get go, and we had a pretty close relationship with the city.

So we were working on these gardens with the DPW. And so when people finally started coming outta their houses again after the pandemic, they saw the gardens and it was just something that was really uplifting for them. And so, you know, we would be out there working in the garden and people would have questions for us.

Some a little bit [00:04:00] scary, like, 'How do I get butterflies?' We thought, well, okay, we need to get some education out there and start like a Facebook group or something so people can ask questions and get some good information.

And at that point we weren't a nonprofit at that time. It was just us. And then after about a year of that. We were getting so much interest and people wanted to give us money and make donations and things like that, and wanted to see more of it. And that's when we realized, like, we really need to make this official and become a nonprofit. 

 So we became a nonprofit in February of 2022, so we're not very old, but we've gotten a lot of, you know, just a lot of support and, interest and I think the folks in the community are just really excited about it. We're known as the pollinators.

Beau Brockett: Capital 'T,' capital 'P'. 

Carly Cirilli: Exactly. Right. 

Beau Brockett: That's great. Yeah. I love that. It's like a true community story where people are just, you know, interacting with you in a very nonchalant way. and come across the work you're doing and realize the [00:05:00] environmental value of it. And the aesthetic value, I'm sure too.

Carly Cirilli: Yeah, exactly.

We know now, like when we're going to work in the gardens, obviously we have a lot more of them, but we know to, like, plan an extra hour for people just to come by and chit chat and ask questions or, you know, things like that. So the fact that we're so accessible I think is, you know, it helps.

Beau Brockett: That's great. I've heard actually on a past podcast episode, someone make the claim that, um, that like regardless of where you live, who you are, how you grew up, when the first ways you do, like, an active environmental service is by like returning your bottles in cans into like the feeder as, like, a little kid . You go with your parents there. I have to imagine like gardening or even just being around gardens is another way where you have that first sort of exposure.

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. 

Beau Brockett: Very deep. Could you talk a little bit more about your gardens that you've created in these years since, or that you've helped other people create here in the community?

Carly Cirilli: Sure. so we've got a mix of large gardens medium size, and then others, like, we like to call 'em kind of micro [00:06:00] habitats. So we started on a shoestring budget, obviously in the beginning. And at that time we were just really starting to learn more about native plants and where to find them and what to use.

If we look back at pictures from when we first started, they don't look anything like they do now, 'cause we've obviously cycled in new plants and things evolved. 

Typically we don't just, you know, stick with just three or four species in one garden. We kind of put a lot in there. mainly because we're experimenting, and also we're trying to normalize native plants to other people so they can see what they look like, kind of out in the wild. Mm-hmm.

David Cirilli: Yeah. Plus working a lot in certain cities or townships we're learning about ordinances. So a lot of places, by following certain ordinances our gardens are, they're not an eyesore, they're not too tall. They check a box, which is really nice.

And, so, you know, that's been good to help residents or business owners know what they can or can't [00:07:00] do in their own space. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah, and a few of our gardens, we have some information boxes. So we put different educational flyers that we've created in there, like throughout the year, like, early in the year, we'll put things in there about steps for spring cleanup, which is really don't do any cleanup. And then we have, for this time of year, it's like how to create a pollinator garden. Then we have, you know, fall cleanup planting tips. We just created a new one for dark skies-- I was listening to one year, uh, previous podcast, really talking about that a little bit-- and how that affects pollinators as well.

And, um, we've got, like I said, they're all different sizes. In fact, our backs are a little bit sore today because over the weekend we were doing one of our larger gardens. And now we're starting to get grants from other organizations to put gardens in, so, we've probably got 14, 15 gardens now. And now we're starting to branch off into the schools. So we did one at Tonda Elementary School in Canton. We just partnered with is [00:08:00] Vista Elementary School here. And we have a couple on deck too. So the. The schools are getting interested as well.

David Cirilli: Yeah. Which is really good. You get the children hooked first, right? 

Carly Cirilli: Well, yeah. Because you kids who love pollinators become adults who love pollinators. 

Beau Brockett: It's suddenly the volunteer bases. 

Carly Cirilli: Exactly. Right, right. Yeah. 

Beau Brockett: No, that, that is great. And for folks that are interested that aren't in the Plymouth area, your website has like a great little rundown. It really does run the gamut where you have your larger, maybe more traditional looking gardens, but you also have some that are like micro gardens in that small Yeah.

Just kind of in a neighborhood meant to help give a little boost to that site. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah, two of our micro gardens are in Old Village, one's at a coffee shop, Meridian [Coffe Co.] and then, uh, My Little Needle [Tattoos]. And they're just right in front of the shop. And we get more comments from people about those gardens than even our bigger ones because it's just very cool. And so our thing is no space is too small. 

Beau Brockett: Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to touch on that a little [00:09:00] bit more, a little bit later. First, though, I feel like we should maybe talk a little bit about what pollinators are. I think a lot of us probably have a good sense of what they are in general.

Yeah. Like in certain species or types of insects that they may be. But what, in your own words, you know, is a pollinator and what role does it serve in this particular environment that we're talking [about], in the Plymouth area, or at large? 

David Cirilli: I'll let you answer. 

Carly Cirilli: Okay. Pollinators are animals and insects like bees, hummingbirds, wasps flies, butterflies. some bats, not necessarily here in Michigan. But they help plants, grow and reproduce by moving pollen from flower to flower. So this allows the plants to produce fruits, seeds, new plants.

And for the community, obviously, you know, we need pollinators if, you know, we want to eat. So one in three bites of food is made possible by pollinators. So, I don't think people realize that. In fact, when we do our presentations, we have a slide that shows a picture of a, grocery store, [00:10:00] one that's like stock full of, you know, fresh produce and foods and fruits and vegetables. And then the other, picture side by side is just kind of brown. Not a lot of color, no produce.

Yeah. So we really rely on pollinators, you know, in our agricultural industry. And, you know, just for us, you know, for fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Beau Brockett: Yeah, yeah. I'm sure [it's] especially important given I think Michigan has the second-most diverse crop, like variations Yes.

In the, in the country just outside of California. Little more important then. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's important because pollinators are in decline right now. We have, you know, all kinds of stats here.

Actually, I'll let you talk a little bit just about some of the, the bees and, 'cause I don't think a lot of people understand, just how many, different variations of bees there are.

David Cirilli: We focus a lot on the native bees. Honeybees, they were actually brought over during the colonial times in like the [00:11:00] 1600s for agriculture reasons. They were brought over from Europe. But the native bees that, you know, like your bumblebees, your sweat bees, carpenter bees, mason bees, that's the ones we kind of focus on because a lot of those bees you don't even notice.

You see 'em, but they're there and it shows that you have a healthy ecosystem. There's over 450 native bees, roughly, in Michigan.

I know. It's, amazing. 

Beau Brockett: I didn't know either of these things. 

David Cirilli: Yeah, I know. I know. Yeah. Bees are, they're either social or they're considered solitary.

Social bees are like your bumblebees. They have a hive , a queen.

You know, honeybees of course, and some of the sweat bees and the rest are, considered, solitary meaning that they just, they live on their own, they don't have a hive.

Most of the bees are generalists, meaning they will go to pretty much any flower or any plant. [00:12:00] And then roughly 25% are specialists. Meaning they'll only go to a certain type of plant, but they are the best ones at pollinating that plant, so. And they will emerge around the same time when that flower is actually blooming like a squash bee, for example. It will come around. when the squash is, blooming to pollinate it, and then you get your squash yield. 

Yeah. So it's, it's pretty amazing. Yeah. These little insects are just, you know, amazing. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. Yeah. And about 98% of the bees are more solitary bees. And so a lot of those bees, they don't hibernate, they don't have hives. A lot of them have nests, you know, under the ground or they're, you know, in sticks or twigs or whatever.

And so that's why, you know, when you hear a lot of these groups like ours that are saying, you know, leave your leaves, leave your stems. Don't clean up. It's because these bees especially, you know, in, in the springtime, they're still hibernating. They haven't woken up yet 'cause there's [00:13:00] nothing out there for them yet.

And so when you start cleaning all the debris up, you're literally throwing away, you know, butterflies and bees 'cause butterflies are the same.

So, you know, obviously the Monarch butterfly migrates every year. But a lot of your other butterflies, here that are, native to Michigan, they actually over winter in that leaf debris or on sticks and twigs and things like that.

So it's really important to kind of hold off for your cleanup. And don't clean up in the fall, so we just tell people, you know, go watch football or go to the cider mill, whatever, you know. A little less work for you to do. Then in the, and same thing in the springtime, wait until that the weather is really consistently 50 degrees.

During the day and at night as well. So,

David Cirilli: Yeah, for about a week roughly, right? 

Beau Brockett: Before, before you start to- 

David Cirilli: Before you start assisted yard, yeah. And everybody wants to get out. I mean, we wanna get out there too. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. You wanna get out. I know people have ordinances or they, um, you know, they are just kind of itching to get it cleaned up.

Beau Brockett: And so I take it too that the gardens that, that you two and others are, are creating, are [00:14:00] also kind of catered toward pollinators. The 

sorts of flora you're bringing in. Very much the sorts of flora that pollinators like. 

David Cirilli: Correct. And what we're bringing in, too, is we really emphasize native plants because this is what they evolved with throughout the years, you know, so. And we're creating a full, um, habitat or continuing with their life cycle. For example, monarchs, even though they migrate here, they will only lay their eggs on milkweed, and then the caterpillars hatch, and they'll only eat the milkweed leaves. They won't do it on any other plant. So if you don't have milkweed, the monarch will not lay its eggs.

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. And there's other butterflies too that, they rely on certain types of plants.

So if you're somebody that's. Just, you know, not into gardening at all, it's just not your bag, if you plant one oak tree, you're supporting over 400 different types of caterpillar, moth species. So trees. Like, people don't think about trees as being supportive of pollinators, but they actually are.

You need to incorporate those native plants for, the butterfly and [00:15:00] moth caterpillars, as well as those native bees that may be specialists.

It can be a bit complicated when you're just using native plants. It's not something you just can go up to any local store and get them, so, yeah.

Beau Brockett: I actually used your website even before this podcast was even in my mind to help find native seed, actually, for something that my organization was doing. Oh, okay. So I totally understand. It's hard to find a seed sometimes. Glad we helped. You did. 

David Cirilli: That's, that's one of our biggest things is we, we wanna make it easy.

 Because we were beginners just like everybody else, and we didn't know. So, yeah. You know, and that's what people like about us too, or at least I hope that's why they like us. 

Beau Brockett: But I like that sense of like, we were right there with you.

David Cirilli: Yes, yes, yes. Right. 

Beau Brockett: That's great. Well, one last thing I just wanted to bring up one other thing that, that I thought was really interesting that I heard. It seems like. The Monarch butterfly, the honeybee, those are very much symbolic sorts of insects for [00:16:00] pollinators at large.

But obviously they're not telling that whole story, especially when it comes to maybe some of these more native insects, that aren't, you know, going to milkweed or are hibernating or, you know, are resting in some, maybe less knowable places.

So I just wanted to like, bring that out to that. I don't know if that's like the correct framework that I have. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. We kind of have a running joke that we hook people with butterflies. Yeah. Because that's, you know, typically when you talk about, um, you know, so we, we do talk about stats with pollinator decline. So like the monarch butterfly, for example, like you said, it's so recognizable, so majestic.

Monarchs have declined about 90% since the early nineties. And so when we say that stat and we've done a lot of, um, talks at like garden clubs, like people that have been gardening for decades, they like gasp. You know? They have no idea. Right. And so, um, yeah, so I don't think people, like, they see things flying around their yard and they don't realize [00:17:00] there is a problem and there is a decline. And so it helps, you know, when we talk about this and we, we throw out some of those stats and it really like it jars people in there. "I had no idea. "

Beau Brockett: Yeah, definitely. Well, I'm very excited to talk a bit more. We've already teed up some other questions that I've had in mind and I'm really excited to get into them.

First though, we're gonna hop into an intermission to give ourselves a break and our listeners a break as well. So for those tuning in, stay tuned.

Welcome back, folks. You are tuning into Common Groundwater Podcast by the Michigan Environmental Council. This is the start of our pollinator miniseries where we go around the state and talk about pollinators in the various ways that they interact with nature and agriculture and humans. I'm here today with the co-founders of Plymouth Pollinators, and we are talking about the ways in which pollinators interact in our neighborhoods in gardens and parks and things of that nature.

We spent the start of the episode, David and Carly, talking about what pollinators were, what your organization is. 

I'd like to maybe spend the second half. I dunno, maybe zooming out a little bit in [00:18:00] some sorts of ways. The first is to give mention to the second half of your name, Plymouth Pollinators.

We've talked about pollinators. I'd like to talk about like the Plymouth area a little bit, uh, you know, I've been to Plymouth a few times. I've been to some of the neighboring communities like Westland. I don't necessarily equate the two automatically to a vibrant pollinator community.

 And yet here we are. There's a vibrant pollinator community happening here. Could you talk a little bit about the importance of having gardens, native plants, pollinators, what have you, in a sort of more suburban, neighborhood-based environment?

Carly Cirilli: So there's a lot of large organizations out there right now that are , of course, the flagship of, you know, helping pollinators and, working with legislation and big stuff, right? And so, I think it's really important right now for smaller groups like ours, this kind of grassroots groups that have maybe a little bit more freedom, have more, you know, more connections like to, or ties to the neighborhood or with the city, municipalities, um, you know, to kind of [00:19:00] [get] boots on the ground, right? Doing this kind of thing.

There's over 40 million acres of lawn in the US alone. And so lawn doesn't do anything for anyone. It doesn't support any pollinators. It creates more work for us. And so, you know, when you're in these spaces like, like this, like Plymouth, for us, no space is too small. So if everyone in the suburbs, maybe took just a, a quarter of their lawn or their yard and designated it as a pollinator habitat, think about how many acres of habitat that we would be adding back into the ecosystem for pollinators.

As citizens we need to kind of take this into our own hands in order to help this issue. That's why I think it's really important. Probably one of the best compliments I ever got from pollinators is at one of the city commission meetings. I was giving a little update about the gardens and things like that, and one of the commissioners told [00:20:00] me that she was walking around the neighborhood like she typically does, and she said, "You are changing the way people are gardening here in Plymouth."

 And that was really impactful to me because I think we get so focused on, you know, our gardens and what we're doing and what the next event is or whatever. But it's making a difference in the neighborhood, and I think the fact that we're so accessible, you know, people see us around town, they see our gardens. So it's just really important to have more groups like ours that are, you know, kind of leading the charge in the communities. 

Beau Brockett: Yeah. That's awesome. 

David Cirilli: Yeah. And then with Plymouth, you know, actually I used to work for the water department and every spring, summer I'd get calls. "Why is my water bill so high?"

And I'd look like, "Hey, do you have a sprinkler system?" "Oh, yeah." I'm like, "You're just watering your grass. I kind of did my own like numbers, and it was like, you know, an average house would use an extra 8,000 to 10,000 gallons [00:21:00] of water just to water the grass for green.

I would rather have the green in my back pocket and not spend the money on it. Plus it's just wasteful. You know, it kind of opens people's eyes too by doing more of a native plant garden and helping the pollinators, you're not watering as much, 'cause these plants are drought resistant.

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. I think in a lot of ways, like people just don't know. And like I, I said earlier, we give some of these stats about like percentages of pollinators that have declined and, you hear people gasping in the audience.

They have no idea. They're just kind of, you know, in their little bubble and in their own little world. And so when you can have those conversations, and something that I feel we pride ourselves on is we don't shame people, you know? We don't come at this like really hardcore.

We try to like meet people where they're at and understand that, like, even though the goal is to have, maybe 70% or 75% of your yard be native plants, someone's not just gonna rip out their entire, your entire yard . So it's kind of like [00:22:00] if you start small and it is a bit of a gateway 'cause you do start small and then all of a sudden you get all this pollinator activity and, and it gets kind of exciting. And then you wanna do a little more, and then a little more and a little more. So yeah. 

David Cirilli: The next thing you know, you start a nonprofit, 

Carly Cirilli: Right? And then we're talking to you.

Beau Brockett: That's the goal for the Plymouth area to have multiple Plymouth Pollinators. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. And just FYI. So, City of Plymouth is, part of the Mayor's Monarch Pledge with the National Wildlife Federation. 

Beau Brockett: Oh, cool. There's even some like policy oriented changes. 

Carly Cirilli: Exactly. And it's, you know, free for them to do, and it's something again that the city gets. They can humble brag about that a little bit.

 And then it also brings legitimacy to people you know, like, "Oh, maybe I should do this in my own yard." 

Beau Brockett: Yeah. To your point about education too, like here I am five years at the Environmental Council learning things I've never learned, and I prep for this too, right? Like I prep for this before. So, yeah, I think that's a great approach, having a very, like, [00:23:00] compassionate mind toward all of this, because ultimately, like as you see each day, I'm sure you're out at the gardens, right? People are coming in and they like the gardens. They're interested in them. There's no, like, malice behind any sort of, just like not knowing. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah, right. Exactly. Mm-hmm. 

Beau Brockett: Cool. Uh, we talked a little bit about lawns as being not like very helpful for pollinators or even detrimental to them and to other sorts of biodiversity.

Are there any other particular threats that you two are aware of when it comes to pollinators? Anything that they're facing other here? You know, in the area or beyond? 

Carly Cirilli: Pesticides. That's a huge one. We talked about the monarch decline, that it's declined like over 90%.

And when you look at, um. I think it's Xerces [Society for Invertebrate Conservation] that puts out a graph and it shows year over year the trend. It was like the early nineties and that's when the neonics [pesticides] came out. So it's like you can really see what's happened. So pesticide. 

Obviously habitat loss is a huge one. Even in Plymouth, there's a lot of, you know, homes that are being [00:24:00] built and, and things like that. And people are opting for, "I want more house and this much yard." And so habitat loss is a big deal.

Climate change, you know, is another thing. So, um. But yeah, so I think those are some of the biggest threats. And, also the fact that people aren't using native plants. They're not using plants that are, you know, host plants for mono or for butterfly or moths or for some of these like specialist bees.

We get a lot of people that. " I'm creating a pollinator garden. We're putting in butterfly bush," and it's like, you know, like that's, it's not a- 

David Cirilli: It's in the name, yes, and probably the label had a picture of a butterfly on it. Yeah. But it's, yeah. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. So-

Beau Brockett: So this is where Plymouth Pollinators comes in and where the education matters, and is important and the actual creation of physical structures and gardens are important. 

Any other things you'd like to touch on when it comes to either threats or pollinators themselves? Before [00:25:00] we go into our little final segment of our episode here? No pressure if not. 

Carly Cirilli: No, I can't think of anything. Just plant more native plants. Yeah. 

David Cirilli: Yeah. And we're learning something new every day also. I mean, you know, we're citizen scientists, you know? 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. We've made all the mistakes everyone else has made, I mean, I've had butterfly bushes. We've, been there, we've done all that, and it's really, you have to kind of give yourself a break.

It's an evolution. It's a completely different way of thinking. Yeah. 

You have to give it some time and you have to do it in, in stages, I think. So it's, you're not gonna eat the whole elephant. Yeah. So that's why, again, we talk about starting off small, like just a small part in your garden and you know, find an actual native plant nursery. So that's something, again, we try to take the guesswork outta that by putting it on our website. These are all these different places. There's so many native plant sales now, which is great. You can't just go up to, you know, a big box store.

And even though they may have, [00:26:00] like Dave said, it might have a picture of a butterfly on it, or it'll say it's a pollinator, but it may be treated with neonics or you don't know where it came from. 

So you have to kind of just take it a little bit at a time. But you know, the education is out there.

Beau Brockett: Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe that's the great transition then to my final question that I have for you too. Like, if people wanna play more active role, whether here in the area or beyond, what are some great ways for them to get started in doing that? 

Carly Cirilli: So, well, if they're in our area, they can always volunteer with us or go to some of our events and things like that. 

David Cirilli: There's some books that we have posted that are just good reads to get you started to and to understand better why we're doing certain things. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah, exactly.

David Cirilli: There's a lot of organizations. I mean, just by just looking, you know? 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. 

David Cirilli: So, yeah. 

Beau Brockett: I think even on your website you have like links to Wild Ones, more nationally organized groups.

Yeah. Xerces National [00:27:00] Wildlife Federation. Those are all great. Documentaries are great. Plant sales are great. You know, I've yet to meet a native plant vendor that doesn't wanna talk about plants, you know, so if you go to plant sales or go to a native plant nursery, they'll have great tips for you.

David Cirilli: You don't need a lot of space either. We have. You know, our, our little micro gardens. We also have people doing container gardening.

 They live in condos and stuff like that, and. Like Carly said, every small space counts, you know? 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. If you add it all together. 

David Cirilli: Yeah. So we're creating like these, this like little native plant highway so they can travel, you know. There's not these little wastelands or something. 

Carly Cirilli: Which is why we recently created a initiative called Pollination Station, and that's the whole meaning behind it is like, these are little pit stops, yeah, for pollinators all around the community. 

Beau Brockett: I think that works out well. I, I don't want to like, [00:28:00] I'm not a scientist, but-

David Cirilli: Neither are we.

Carly Cirilli: Citizen scientist.

Beau Brockett: Yeah, citizen scientists. 

 I remember learning in, in college about just like the power of contiguous land, right? Like land that's like all in coordination with one another, all kind of lined up and although there's still segmentation between yard and yard or yard and school garden or whatnot. 

Though in a way you are kind of creating a contiguous, sort of pollinator habitat throughout the city, and I think that's very neat and probably very helpful to the pollinators themselves, so. 

Carly Cirilli: Yeah. 

Beau Brockett: Yeah. Well, that's wonderful. Before we go, any, anything else you wanna shout out? Any events going on? Any other sorts of opportunities or resources? 

Carly Cirilli: We've got pollinator week that's happening the whole following week.

We've got some local businesses that are gonna be participating. Like we'll be bringing them some swag and things like that. 

David Cirilli: Ferndale,

Carly Cirilli: Yeah, we have the Ferndale pollinator parade. I can't remember what the date was, but it's in a couple of weeks.

 And then shortly after that, I'm hoping we just get some rest [00:29:00] and we can just sit in the gardens and watch the pollinators. 

David Cirilli: Then we get to work on our gardens. 

Beau Brockett: Yeah. Very true. This is peak pollinator season? 

Carly Cirilli: Yes. Yes. 

Beau Brockett: Intentional for the podcast. But very busy for you, which makes me all the more thankful that you two are able to join me today.

David Cirilli: It was no problem. We appreciate it. 

Beau Brockett: Well with that then, I think we can go on and wrap up, so thank you both again.

 To folks in the audience, I will include links to Plymouth Pollinator's website, which in turn has a lot of the events and resources that we've all talked about throughout the course of this podcast episode. And then I'll also have some links as well where you can learn about some larger scale, pollination or pollinator efforts going on in the state and beyond.

Wanna give a shout out as well to our audience members themselves. Thank you for tuning in today. Yes, I really appreciate it. And stay tuned for other episodes. Our next one will be on pollinators and their interaction with like ecosystems at large in a more [00:30:00] wilderness-oriented environment.

And then thank you as well to NRDC for making this podcast series possible.

Um, with that then, thanks again. We'll see you around. Thank you.

Carly Cirilli: Happy pollinator week.

Beau Brockett: Yes, happy pollinator week.