Have you ever wondered how to attract butterflies and other pollinators to your yard? Here’s your chance to learn from an expert! In celebration of National Garden Week, June 2-8, the Wellington Garden Club will sponsor a presentation by CJ McCartney, a master gardener and environmental steward, who will help you learn how to enhance your landscaping by using native plants to attract butterflies and other pollinators.
The event will be held Thursday, June 6 at 5:30 p.m. at the Wellington branch library, located at 1951 Royal Fern Drive. Free native plant seedlings will be given to attendees.
CJ McCartney began her journey to becoming an environmental steward in the late 1990s when she moved to South Florida from Chicago, where she owned a public affairs consulting firm. The move prompted a shift in interests. Now living in a subtropical climate, she began cycling and hiking natural habitats, and she started noticing all the wildlife that lived in and depended upon those habitats for survival.
Thus began her journey to become a knowledgeable and effective environmental steward. Along with training to become a master gardener, McCartney began taking a variety of botanical and horticulture classes, as well as seminars to supplement her Harvard education in public policy and urban management. Currently, she vouchers native plants for Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management, serves on several boards and committees, and works as the master gardener in residence at the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden.
McCartney is passionate about native plants, their benefits to the environment and the pollinators that depend on them for survival. When she’s not hiking, gardening, photographing wildlife and giving presentations, she propagates native plants from seed and freely shares the seedlings with gardening enthusiasts who attend her presentations.
The Wellington Garden Club is delighted that McCartney has agreed to help the club celebrate National Garden Week by sharing her knowledge and seedlings with the community on June 6. No reservations are required. All are welcome.
The Wellington Garden Club, founded in 1981, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating its members and the public in the fields of gardening, horticulture, floral design and landscape design, and to promoting conservation of natural resources, civic beautification and youth education.
For more information, visit www.wellingtongardenclub.org.
