Monarch Mania program making strides!

We launched the Monarch Mania website in February to provide information and education on helping pollinators and creating gardens for them. Our goal was to register 50 gardens in our first year, and we surpassed that goal with 54. Registered gardeners were provided with a certificate and an attractive Monarch Mania sign to post in their garden.

Funding was provided to the following area schools to create pollinator gardens: Mason City – Hoover, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Harding elementaries; Clear Lake – Clear Creek Elementary. Clear Creek 3rd graders and their teachers also broadcasted seed on a winter day for a “snow planting” to increase pollinator habitat in their outdoor classroom.

We provided milkweed seed to Mason City High School and West Fork Middle School (Rockwell) to get plants started.   Ruby Golnick and Patrick Kruger’s students at MCHS; and Dean Weber’s students at West Fork, did a fantastic job in starting approximately 6500 milkweed plants. These milkweeds were provided for school plantings and given away at various local events. Monarch Mania registered gardeners were also provided with milkweeds for their gardens. The Cub scouts from Pack 4153 in Mason City planted 240 of these milkweeds at Lime Creek Nature Center for a monarch larva “food plot” and seed source for future milkweed plantings; and the Mason City YMCA utilized some of these milkweeds for their pollinator planting as well.

Educational programs on monarchs and pollinators were provided to all elementary schools in Cerro Gordo County. A pollinator garden program was provided to our “For Seniors Only” group, area civic groups, and the general public. We teamed with the North Iowa Nature Club to bring monarch expert Dr. Karen Oberhauser to Lime Creek for a special spring program.

The Monarch Mania website is being utilized for gardeners to share stories and pictures of their pollinator habitats; and to provide announcements and articles about pollinators. It also serves as a great resource for anyone wanting to start a garden, and will continue to serve as a source for citizens to register their gardens and participate in the Monarch Mania program.

It has been a VERY successful first year for the Monarch Mania program, and none of it would have been possible without funding from the Maxine Sanberg memorial fund. I believe Maxine would be very proud of all the local work that has been done for monarchs through this program! Join this great program and start planning your own garden today!