Location
St Paul’s Episcopal Church
726 Sixth Street
Brookings, SD, 57006
Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/16/2020 - 04/23/2020
All Day
Category(ies)
This is the 5th year of our Tulip Test Garden at St Paul’s as part of our gardening for Creation Care education project. In past years, flowers have bloomed in the middle of April so we will be watching again this year. The project has several goals: 1) to beautify the grounds with wildlife-friendly plantings, 2) provide a youth activity related to nature, and 3) bring together the wonder of nature and science. St Paul’s is participating in a Citizen Science Project called Journey North (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tulip/index.html). The procedure is to plant bulbs in the fall and record their emergence and flowering in the spring. The project gives us a connection with the Earth and its weather; the data from tulip gardens across the northern hemisphere help scientists understand broad climate changes. The bright red flowers will attract bees and provide nectar that bees take to the hive to make honey. A tulip is a self-pollinating plant, but is also a cross-pollinating flower relying on insects to carry pollen from one tulip bloom to another. From tulip bulbs in the fall to honey in the spring – what a wonder!
