Penn State Extension - Lehigh County

Happy Pollinator Week! 🐝🦋🌼

Pollinators need more than flowers to thrive. A healthy pollinator habitat includes:
🌸 Food sources — native plants that bloom from spring through fall, plus host plants for caterpillars
💧 Water sources — shallow water, damp soil, or puddling areas for drinking and minerals
🏡 Shelter and nesting sites — leaves, stems, logs, bare soil, and protected spaces for nesting and overwintering
🌿 Fewer invasive plants — so native plants can support native insects and wildlife
🚫 Reduced pesticide use — because pesticides can harm pollinators at every life stage
Small changes in our home landscapes, parks, and community spaces can make a big difference for bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and other beneficial wildlife.

🌼 Step inside a Certified Pollinator Habitat during Northampton County Wildflower Week!

Join the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners of Lehigh & Northampton Counties at Louise Moore Park for garden tours, native plant education, children’s activities, and information on how to create pollinator-friendly spaces at home.

Our Master Gardeners will be available to answer questions about native plants, habitat certification, and simple ways gardeners can support bees, butterflies, birds, and other beneficial wildlife.

🦋 Certified Pollinator Habitat Tours with Penn State Master Gardeners
📅 July 12, 2026
12pm to 3pm

🌿 Native plant and habitat education
🏡 Pollinator habitat certification information
👧 Children’s activities
✨ Free event

📍 Louise W. Moore Park
151 Country Club Rd

Presented during Northampton County Wildflower Week

Stay Safe This Summer, Learn How to Spot Harmful Algal Blooms - Pennsylvania Sea Grant Pennsylvania Sea Grant, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, invites the public to a free webinar on June 25, 2026 from 12:00–1:00 PM focusing on harmful algal blooms (HABs) and their impacts on communities across the region. Harmful algal blooms are a growi...

Happy Summer Solstice! ☀️🌿
Today is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the official start of astronomical summer.
The solstice happens because Earth is tilted on its axis. At this time of year, our hemisphere is leaning most directly toward the sun, giving us the most daylight of the year. For gardeners, that extra sunlight means warm-season plants are shifting into high gear, pollinators are busy, and the garden is entering one of its most active seasons.
Enjoy the sunshine, observe what’s blooming, and take a moment to appreciate the natural rhythms that shape our gardens. 🌻🐝

Look at the choices! Each kit contains plant plugs carefully selected from species grown by Kind Earth Grower using locally collected, open-source pollinated seeds and 50% peat-free growing media. Smaller than typical nursery plants, these plugs are easy to transport and install within existing vegetation. The plugs have healthy root systems that will establish this fall, so plants can flourish next growing season.

Time is running out! If you'd like to order, now is the time! https://extension.psu.edu/master-watershed-steward-watershed-friendly-native-plant-kit-sale

🐝 Celebrate National Pollinator Week with us! 🦋

Join the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners for a free, family-friendly event at the native pollinator garden at Burnside Plantation.
Pollinators support our gardens, our local ecosystems, and even the food we eat. Did you know about one out of every three bites of food depends on pollinators?

Stop by to:

🌿 Explore a small but vibrant native pollinator garden
🦋 Learn why native plants are so important for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators
🐝 Discover simple ways to support pollinators at home
👧 Enjoy a fun children’s activity about pollination

📅 Saturday, June 20, 2026
⏰ 10:00 AM–2:00 PM
📍 Burnside Plantation
1461 Schoenersville Road, Bethlehem, PA 18018

This is a free event and all are welcome!

We have another Master Gardener Demo Garden update for National Garden Week: Lehigh County Extension Office Garden in Allentown.

Master Gardeners Getting their Hands Dirty!
by Andy Neely and Gina Kormanik
Photo credits: Meghan Laverty

Our excellent Master Gardener group continued their skilled garden maintenance with eight teammates converging on the very pleasant evening of May 26th at the Native Landscaping/Vegetable & Flower Demo Gardens co-located with the Lehigh County Extension building. Their diligent work focused on weeding, filling garden beds with numerous plants such as cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, basil, honeydew, eggplant, swiss chard, green beans, zucchini and zinnias, then watering and mulching. The Master Gardener group included: Gary Schuster, Meghan Laverty, Susan Casarez, Judith Savadelis, Jerry Werner, Brandon Desnoyers, Vernette Hilbert, and Andy Neely. Special thanks to Gary and Meghan who provided most of the plants. Check out our photos below!

As it turned out, the soil was quite workable after days of rain, and along the way, our group received a boost in their serotonin levels by getting their hands dirty! Yes, you heard that right. As mentioned in Psychology Today*, "according to research, putting your hands in soil puts you in contact with mood-enhancing soil bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae. This bacteria triggers the release of serotonin in your brain [and] serotonin is a mood-boosting happy chemical that also works as a natural antidepressant and strengthens the immune system." Which may prompt the conclusion that gardeners are happy folk and Master Gardeners are the happiest!

*Why Does Gardening Feels So Good?, Psychology Today, S. Newsonen, April 25, 2024.

Happy National Garden Week. Our Louise Moore Park Demo Garden team has an exciting update!

🌿 Growing the Vision at Louise Moore Park

When our Master Gardener team met with Northampton County Parks earlier this year to present our Pollinator Friendly Habitat certification progress and future plans for the garden, we never imagined just how quickly those ideas would become reality.
In addition to supporting our certification efforts, Northampton County Parks challenged us to think even bigger. The result? Three major expansion projects that are transforming the landscape around the historic farmhouse at Louise Moore Park.

One of those projects began with extending the front walkway garden, creating a more welcoming and ecologically diverse entrance to the Parks Office. At the same time, we were asked to develop a new shade garden along the north east side of the farmhouse. After researching plants that could thrive in the site's conditions while working around windows and utility access areas, the team designed a woodland-inspired planting featuring native shrubs and perennials.

New additions include Lindera benzoin (spicebush), Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel), Fothergilla x intermedia 'Mount Airy', Aronia melanocarpa 'Low Scape Mound', and Viburnum nudum 'Brandywine'. Beneath them, drifts of Heuchera (coral bells), Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower), Stylophorum diphyllum (wood poppy), Phlox divaricata (woodland phlox), and Geranium maculatum (wild geranium) will provide seasonal color and habitat value. This is only the beginning, with additional plantings planned for this fall and next spring.

The excitement didn't stop there.
A third opportunity emerged at the park's trailhead entrance, where a large island planting had become dominated by weeds after years of annual plantings. Seeing the potential for something more sustainable and beneficial to wildlife, our team developed a plan for a new drought-tolerant native planting that can be appreciated by visitors as they enter the park.

The more than 1,000-square-foot island is now anchored by Rhus typhina 'Tiger Eyes' (tiger eyes sumac) and complemented by native grasses including Andropogon gerardii 'Heavy Metal' (big bluestem) and Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues' (little bluestem). For season-long color and pollinator support, we've added Penstemon, Achillea (yarrow), Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), and Echinacea (coneflower).
This week the team sheet mulched the entire area to suppress weeds and installed the first phase of plantings. Like many ecological gardens, this will be a multi-year project that will continue to grow and evolve.

In just the past few weeks, our volunteers have created several thousand square feet of new ecologically friendly garden space and planted more than 100 new plants. While Northampton County Parks provided generous support for these projects, team members have also shared divisions and plants from their own gardens to expand the diversity of species throughout the site.

The work has been substantial. Team members have spent multiple 7- to 8-hour workdays installing gardens, mulching, planting, and watering. During the current dry conditions, volunteers have also taken turns making extra trips to ensure these young plantings receive the care they need to become established.

What makes this project special isn't just the gardens themselves. It's what can happen when dedicated volunteers, supportive park staff, and a shared vision come together to create spaces that are beautiful, educational, and beneficial to wildlife.
And we're just getting started. 🌱

Our Team:
Magda Masterson (Louise Moore Park Pollinator Habitat Chair)
Julie Drago (Educational Programming Chair)
Susan Albert
Tara Gomez
Alison Rothrock
Shelley Penchick
Alan McFall
Barbara Schroeder

This year we became a distribution site for the PA Invasive Replace-ive Program. Registrants provided a photo of the invasive plant they removed, and in return they were able to choose up to 3 native trees or shrubs. It was a huge success with the help of DCNR, the Lehigh County Conservation District, our local Master Gardeners, and Master Watershed Stewards. Over 100 people have helped reduce the spread of invasive species; supported wildlife by providing food and shelter for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. You can take meaningful action in your own yards and neighborhood with an act as simple as growing native plants.

If you received a plant, please share a photo of your property!

June is National Pollinator Month! 🐝🦋
This month, we’re celebrating the tiny but mighty creatures that help keep our gardens, farms, and ecosystems blooming.

Pollinators come in many forms: bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and more. They visit flowers of every shape, size, and color, moving pollen from bloom to bloom and making so much of life possible. 🌸

One of the best ways to support them is to plant with abundance and diversity. A garden filled with many colors, flower shapes, bloom times, and native plants creates a welcoming space for a wider variety of pollinators throughout the season.

This June, let your garden be a celebration of color, connection, and life.

🌼 Plant something that blooms.
🍂 Leave some stems and leaves for habitat.
🚫 Skip unnecessary pesticides.
🌱 Add native plants whenever you can.
👀 And take a moment to notice who shows up.

Happy National Pollinator Month from the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners!

Photo: Lisa Walton, Penn State Extension Master Gardener