BEE CITY USA | An Initiative of the Xerces Society
  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Mission & Values
      • Our History
      • Bee City Canada
      • Contact Us
  • Bee City USA
    • Current Bee Cities
    • What is a Bee City
    • Benefits to your community
    • FAQs-City
    • Application-City
    • Renewal-City
    • Annual Reports - City >
      • 2017 - City
      • 2018 - City
      • 2019 - City
  • Bee Campus USA
    • Current Bee Campuses
    • What is a Bee Campus
    • Benefits to your campus
    • FAQs - Campus
    • Application-Campus
    • Renewal-Campus
    • Annual Reports - Campus >
      • 2017 - Campus
      • 2018 - Campus
      • 2019 - Campus
  • Get Involved
    • Create Habitat
    • Donate
    • Supporters
  • About Pollinators
    • Why Conserve Pollinators
    • Pollinator Friendly Habitat
    • Identifying Pollinators
  • Resources
  • Media & News
    • Blog
    • Newsletter & Media
Picture

BLOG

Vertical Divider

A Glass Pollinator Garden for Talent, Oregon

8/24/2018

0 Comments

 
PicturePhotos: Karen Rycheck
NOTE: Bee City USA is especially excited for guest blog posts from our affiliate cities and campuses.  

​
Guest Blog by Diana Reynolds Roome, reproduced with permission from Talent [Oregon] News & Review and the author, Diana Reynolds Roome.

For mosaic artist Karen Rycheck, any giant slab of bare concrete looks like a blank canvas.

Last year, she noticed that the outdoor stage between City Hall and the Library could be the perfect place to declare Talent's dedication to vital pollinator insects and the plants that feed them.

​"We have this designation," said Karen, referring to Talent's 2014 declaration as a Bee City USA (the second in the nation.). "But few people know that we're a Bee City or what that means. I want to make the commitment obvious. Let's stick to that and honor it."

Scores of people apparently agree. Many have taken the project into their own hands, literally, by taking one or more mosaic workshops at Karen's studio in Talent. Under her careful guidance,, they have fashioned an explosion of colorful  glass and ceramic flowers, often surprising themselves.

"Working with Karen and helping on the mosaic mural project has given me so much confidence and artistic freedom," said Noel Hastings, who has come from Grant's Pass multiple times with her sister and a friend. 'Sitting side-by-side with other artists, each with our own flair and style and with Karen's direction, has allowed me to be free in my own thoughts."

For Carol Berger, a retired occupational therapist in Talent, the mosaic has been an opportunity to highlight the importance of flowers and pollinators. "I have a pollinator garden and this project gives me one more opportunity to promote this cause and have a lot of fun at the same time, "she said.

Flowers will express the major theme in a mosaic 32 feet long by 19 inches tall, to be installed on the lower front of Talent's outdoor stage in time for this year's Harvest Festival. It will have the words Bee City USA - Talent blazoned across the front, and will swarm with insects and bees as well as flowers of every imaginable shape and color.

Bees and butterflies will be portrayed in detail, fashioned by Karen herself. These will be based on several speciific  species and because of this they take exceptional skill. For this project, Karen has done a lot of research into different types of pollinators and how they relate to specific blooms.

I'll place each insect on the flower it would probably be pollinating," Karen said. "That's what I love about these projects. I like the educational component, I enjoy doing research and learning things."

Read the entire story here.

​Note:  For regional native plant guides that support pollinators, visit the Xerces Society.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Header photo by: Nancy Lee Adamson
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Asheville
    Bee Campus USA
    Certified Bee Cities
    Donation To Bee City USA
    Events
    Honeybees
    Legislation
    News
    Non Honeybee Polllinators
    Non-Honeybee Polllinators
    Pesticides
    Research

    RSS Feed


    These are the opinions and events of interest to the Bee City USA coordinator and Xerces Society.

Bee City  USA Logo
Quick Links
   > What is a Bee City
   > What is a Bee Campus
   > Why Conserve Pollinators

   > Create Habitat
   ​> Blog & News
   > Pollinator Conservation 
   > Resources at Xerces.org
Get Involved
   > Donate
   > Become a Sponsor
   > Contact Us
Please notify us at beecityusa@xerces.org
​if you find broken links or other website issues.

​

© The Xerces Society, Inc. 2012 - 2020
​Website Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Mission & Values
      • Our History
      • Bee City Canada
      • Contact Us
  • Bee City USA
    • Current Bee Cities
    • What is a Bee City
    • Benefits to your community
    • FAQs-City
    • Application-City
    • Renewal-City
    • Annual Reports - City >
      • 2017 - City
      • 2018 - City
      • 2019 - City
  • Bee Campus USA
    • Current Bee Campuses
    • What is a Bee Campus
    • Benefits to your campus
    • FAQs - Campus
    • Application-Campus
    • Renewal-Campus
    • Annual Reports - Campus >
      • 2017 - Campus
      • 2018 - Campus
      • 2019 - Campus
  • Get Involved
    • Create Habitat
    • Donate
    • Supporters
  • About Pollinators
    • Why Conserve Pollinators
    • Pollinator Friendly Habitat
    • Identifying Pollinators
  • Resources
  • Media & News
    • Blog
    • Newsletter & Media