Newton Cemetery Receives Feed a Bee Grant

Date Awarded: Monday, August 13, 2018 – 8:00am

As one of the recipients of the Bayer Feed a Bee grant awarded during the sixth selection cycle, the Friends of Newton Cemetery has received $2,500 to fund its pollinator planting project.

The grant provides the opportunity to enrich Newton Cemetery’s landscape by creating a beautiful, new pollinator garden that will attract bees and visitors alike.

The grant received to fund this project is part of a two-year, ongoing planting initiative through the Bayer Feed a Bee program. In this cycle, the Newton Cemetery project is one of 14 recipients with demonstrable local impact that have been funded across the country. The mission of the Feed a Bee program is to provide a tangible, sustainable solution to the current lack of forage for bees and other pollinators nationwide by awarding forage grants to organizations in all 50 states by the end of 2018. Approximately 140 projects have now been funded in 47 states as well as Washington, D.C. since the initiative’s launch!

For the project at Newton Cemetery, an ideal location at Birch and Magnolia Avenue has been selected for the new pollinator garden. It is a major focal point for visitors and will provide an environment for the bees to pollinate and the public to learn the importance of sustaining the bee population. The new habitat will be featured on tours and add to the Friends of Newton Cemetery’s ability to educate the public about urban fauna. The full sun location will be excellent for the establishment of the garden.

The cemetery staff has already begun the project with site preparation which included the removal of existing, overgrown plant material and will continue with soil testing & modification and irrigation adjustments. Working with a local nursery, the cemetery’s horticulturalist and two master growers will select the most appropriate perennials for the location. A variety of three hundred perennials such as Asters, Monarda, Echinacea and Gaillardia, are being considered in the design. Our growers, with over 45 years of experience, will oversee the planting process and ensure the proper establishment of the garden. Cemetery staff will maintain the garden and educate the public on the role and importance of the pollinator garden.

Please “bee” sure to visit Newton Cemetery and watch the progress of the project You can also follow the progress on Newton Cemetery’s Facebook.

Newton Cemetery is an historic garden-style cemetery that was founded in 1855 during the rural cemetery movement which gave the nation its first public parks, and is an accredited arboretum with ArbNet. The 100 acre non-denominational cemetery is still active with burials and the scenic grounds are open to the public 365 days a year.

The Friends of Newton Cemetery is a nonprofit, charitable organization established in 2017 that supports the Cemetery’s programs and tours, preservation of historic structures and records, and implementation of horticultural enhancements throughout the cemetery’s grounds.