After San Antonio exceeded 300for300, its Tricentennial goal of creating three pollinator habitats for its 300th birthday in 2018, the Alamo City moved the pollinator gardening goalpost: 500 gardens by 2020.
With three and a half weeks to go until the end of the year, we’re almost there. The community has pledged to create 424 pollinator habitats as of this writing.
Gulf fritillary takes an autumn break on zinnias in Candy Roach’s 300for300 pollinator garden. Photo by Candy Roach
The effort is just the latest rally by pollinator-friendly San Antonio, the nation’s premiere Monarch Butterfly Champion City.
In December of 2015, San Antonio became the first city in the country to agree to act on all 24 recommendations made by the National Wildlife Federation to increase urban pollinator habitat as part of the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge. A citywide pollinator gardening initiative was among the action items pledged.
Since, six other cities have become Monarch Champions, with a total of 550 pledges made–including cities in Mexico and Canada. Interestingly, five of the the seven Monarch Champion Cities are located in Texas.
San Antonio’s local effort, known as 300for300 in honor of the City’s 2018 Tricentennial, has jumped the city limits since its inception, registering pollinator garden pledges from folks in Houston, Austin, Pennsylvania, California and beyond. Anyone willing to commit to plant a pollinator habitat and who hopes to see it on our map, updated monthly, need only register. In short, it’s a campaign for #ButterflieswithoutBorders.
Ready to sign up? Check out our resources:
Sign up for the pollinator habitat challenge.
Plant lists and other pollinator gardening resources.
Pollinator habitat signs are available in our shop.
TOP PHOTO: Indigo spires and Cowpen daisies shroud a Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator habitat yard sign. Signs alert the community WHY your garden might sometimes appear unkempt. Photo by Monika Maeckle
Related posts:
- 300for300 pollinator initiative: 500 habitats by 2020?
- Popularity of pollinator gardens growing in areas prone to drought
- Planting a butterfly garden? Here’s tips on how to do it
- Mostly native butterfly garden outperforms lawn every time
- A year in the life of an urban butterfly garden
- Downtown River walk plot converts to pollinator garden, creature haven
- Converting your Lawn to a Butterfly Garden
- San Antonio becomes first National Wildlife Federation Monarch Champion city
- Tropical Milkweed: To Plant it or Not is No Simple Question
- How to raise Eastern Swallowtails
- How to raise Monarch butterflies at home
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