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In honor of June being National Pollinator Month, Rose Pest Solutions recently opened The Enchanted Garden at the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, Ill. This is the fourth pollinator garden developed and donated by Northfield, Ill.-based Rose, which is considered to be the oldest pest solutions company in the country.
“Encouraging pollinator health and working to stave off further decline is so important to our future,” Janelle Iaccino, Rose’s marketing director, said in a news release. “We can’t really live without them since they are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat. We are on a mission to educate everyone about the importance of pollinators and what we can all do to protect them. When we reach and teach children, they grow up knowing the importance of our pollinator friends and can help make a difference.”
Depending on the time of day, The Enchanted Garden will draw such pollinators as bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, hummingbirds and even bats at night. These pollinators transfer pollen between blooming flowers, allowing plants to fertilize and grow fruit. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), without them, more than 35 percent of the world’s food crops and 80 percent of all flowering plants would not survive.
Garden perennial plants focus on native plants that bloom continuously from spring to fall. The flowers serve as nectar guides, with various patterns visible to pollinators that draw them directly to nectar and pollen. There will be a beautiful array of oranges, yellows, reds, purples and more, all planted to highlight their unique colors and textures. However, Iaccino said, plants were chosen for their attractiveness to pollinators, not necessarily for their colors.
“We get a lot of questions about what to do when planting a pollinator garden,” she added. “We tell people it’s important to choose similar colors clustered together, because when there’s a larger patch of it, pollinators are more likely to go to it.”
Iaccino joined Rose President Curtis Rand, along with Dr. Stan Cope, PHE, Rose director of technical services, and Kevin Cadwalder, Rose Rockford branch manager, for the garden’s official ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 4.
About Rose Pest Solutions
Since 1860, Rose Pest Solutions has been trusted in the Midwest to keep homes and businesses free from insects, rodents and more. Using cutting-edge technology, environmentally friendly methods and personalized unique solutions, Rose and its sister company Franklin Pest Solutions are dedicated to creating and maintaining healthier living environments.
Founded in 1860 and owned by the Dold family, Rose Pest Solutions serves communities in all of Chicagoland, the Greater Milwaukee area, the Greater Rockford region and South-Central Wisconsin. Franklin Pest Solutions serves Indiana, Southwest Michigan and Kentucky. The company boasts three Pest Management Professional magazine Hall of Fame honorees: Company founder Solomon Rose (Class of 2001) and longtime leaders Bob and Judy Dold (Class of 2002).
