POLLINATOR FRIENDLY Gardens For Butterflies, Birds, & Bees

Walking through the woods at Serenbe feels like you’ve stepped into another time and place rather than a neighborhood that sits on the edge of Atlanta. One quality that is particularly striking is the amount of wildlife surrounding every inch of the community. All those species, even down to the pesky mosquitoes, play a crucial role in keeping our ecosystem thriving.

“If you want to have the honey bees and the butterflies and the beautiful things, then you have to accept the occasional mosquito and ants and roaches,” said Thomas Peters, Director of Landscaping and Natural Resources at Serenbe.

Mary Collins-Shepherd certainly wants the beautiful things. When she was working at Resource Serenbe in 2020, she loved looking out the window and watching the butterflies flutter from bush to bush along Selborne Lane.When a group of residents created a committee to support Thomas Peters’ Landscape team in April 2020, Mary immediately jumped on board.

Right now, the Landscape Committee is focusing on three gardens: Anders Garden in Mado, a medicinal garden designed and planned by Alfie Vick; an herb garden in Grange, created during an Earth Day pop-up with Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day; and a new pollinator garden in Selborne across the street from The Hill Restaurant. The Selborne Pollinator Garden is where Mary first watched the butterflies flutter about, and now they have so many pollinator plants, and specifically milkweed, that it is a Monarch Watch designated waystation. This designation puts Serenbe in the company of everything from small home gardens to large public gardens all over the country that encourage the Monarch butterflies to come back each year.

As you walk through the Serenbe gardens, you’ll see signage that tells you what plants are there, and which insects and animals they attract and feed. The Selborne Pollinator Garden sees 15-20 species of insects, bringing larger animals up the food chain that feed on those insects like frogs and birds. Giff Beaton, a Serenbe resident who wrote the book on Georgia birds, has seen 124 species within the community, including rare, migratory songbirds. All because they have food here. There’s caterpillar food, adult butterfly food, seeds for birds, and nectar for hummingbirds and bees.

Bees are another crucial yet declining pollinator, which is why Bee City USA works to galvanize communities to sustain pollinators by increasing their native plants, providing nest sites, and reducing their use of pesticides. Serenbe and the City of Chattahoochee Hills were already meeting these requirements so they created a community board, chaired and co-chaired by Thomas and Mary respectively, to formalize the process and apply for the certification. Now an official Bee City, Chattahoochee Hills will host regular community events to continue to educate residents about protecting bee and pollinator populations.

What began as a few butterfly bushes along Selborne Lane is now a fully-established pollinator garden, made primarily from cuttings gathered from neighbors and around the community. Ladybugs are released to keep aphid infestations low where edible plants are grown, and Thomas built bat boxes and manages standing water instead of using mosquito treatments. It’s nature at its most beautiful.

You can learn more about what it means to be a Bee City at beecityusa.org. Visit serenbe.com/ events to follow upcoming pollinator-focused events, and learn more about Serenbe’s pollinator gardens at serenbe.com/community-amenities/gardens.

The word “groundbreaking” means to pioneer. To innovate. To start something no one has seen before. When you buy a lot at Serenbe, the groundbreaking on your future home embodies every sense of the word. Work with one of our builders or BYOB—that’s Bring Your Own Builder—to create a home that matches the feel and flow of your life.

Vendors vary weekly and include organic produce, cold pressed juices, grass fed beef, wild seafood, jellies, jams, pastries, coffee, peaches, blueberries, popsicles, salad dressings, and more! Follow