Bee City

Pollinator Trail 

Plan your own pollinator-friendly adventure! This ongoing self-guided trail is your guide to eco-friendly gardens, green spaces, food, and art initiatives by the City of Hendersonville that highlight the importance of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.

View the Pollinator Trail (walking friendly) as well as the accompanying Google Map step-by-step walking directions. You can also view the Henderson County Pollinator Trail.

Adopt-A-Pollinator Bed

Be part of our Bee City USA program and join the millions of people taking initiative to increase pollinator conservation. Our City parks need your help!

Pollinator Exploration Kit
(available for loan)

Calling all educators, Bee City USA - Hendersonville is eager to help you share the wonder of pollinators with children you teach. Whether exploring your own backyard, schoolyard, or a local park, you'll find many helpful tools in our Pollinator Exploration Kit. To reserve, please email cgendusa@hvlnc.gov.

The kit includes: An insect net, pop-up insect habitat, Jeweler Loupe, Pop-up Insect Habitat, 6X Magnification Handheld Magnifying Glasses, Break-away lanyards (to attach to magnifying glasses) , Insect Catcher, small and large magnifying insect box, Aluminum Sensory Tuning Forks, tuning fork, refractometer, Life Cycle of a Honey Bee and butterfly Model Sets, Bees & Other Pollinators, NC Butterflies & Moths, NC Trees & Wildflowers Folding Pocket Guides, Bee Observer Cards, Bee All-Stars Cards, Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle cards, Monarch Life Cycle Poster, Monarch Migration Map Poster, and Antennae Poster.

Native Plant Species List, Suppliers, and Landscapers

Interested in planting a pollinator garden? Check out our Approved Landscape Plant List for Developers, Gardeners, and Homeowners, regional and local suppliers of native plants, as well as list of local Landscape Architects, Landscapers, Garden Contractors.

29^th Annual Symbolic Monarch Migration to Mexico

Mid-August to mid-October

Hendersonville Students Can Participate Free through Bee City USA – Hendersonville.

From the Hendersonville area, the monarch migration is an epic journey to Mexico covering at least 2,000 miles. Like clockwork, the first migrating monarchs typically reach their over-wintering habitats high in the mountains of central Mexico by the first of November. To celebrate this amazing feat, more than 10,000 children from across the United States and Canada will participate in the 29^th annual Symbolic Monarch Migration by creating paper butterflies to send to Mexico for the winter. Local classrooms, youth organizations, and individual students are invited to join them. Free registrations for any school, nonprofit organization, family, or other group located within the City of Hendersonville, up to 20 groups, are being sponsored by the City.  The deadline to request a free registration code for your group is Friday, September 21.

To register, visit bullingtongardens.org/symbolic-monarch-migration for full details. Bullington Gardens is coordinating the 29^th Annual Symbolic Monarch Migration program in Henderson County.

The symbolic butterflies will correspond with the living monarchs’ actual journey south … as the real-life monarchs arrive in Mexico for the winter, the symbolic butterflies will be delivered to schools in the area of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Sometime in spring after the living monarchs’ departure from Mexico, groups of paper butterflies will also return north carrying special messages from the students in Mexico. United by the monarch butterfly, children across North America learn authentic lessons of conservation, cooperation, and ambassadorship.  Hendersonville children will be able to participate in this popular program.

After creating a habitat garden for wildlife and/or pollinators, an important next step is to spread the word. The following programs offer registration, certification, and/or signage to help explain the purpose of the garden to others and inspire others to create a habitat of their own.

Certified Pollinator Habitat - Asheville GreenWorks / Bee City USA

Butterfly Highway - North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Certified Wildlife Habitat - National Wildlife Federation

Homegrown National Park (based on the writings of Doug Tallamy)

Monarch Waystation - University of Kansas Monarch Watch

Pollinator Habitat - Xerces Society

SHARE (Simply Have Areas Reserved for the Environment) - Pollinator Partnership

Bee Friendly Farm & Garden - Pollinator Partnership

NEW! Four Seasons Boulevard Pollinator site

In 2023, the Tree Board sponsored the installation of a 1/4 acre pollinator site on Four Seasons Boulevard. The site contains flowering shrubs, grasses, and colorful perennial flowers. 

Oklawaha Pollinator Site

The Oklawaha Greenway Pollinator Site sits along 3.5 miles of the fully paved Oklawaha Greenway which winds through wetlands, meadows, and forests to connect four parks and is easily accessible from five convenient parking areas. Currently, the pollinator site is under construction with sunflowers and milkweed being planted for the 2023 summer season.

Note: The City's Bee City USA program is looking for volunteers to help with this effort! If interested, please contact Caitlyn Gendusa. 

Downtown Bee Mural Demonstration Garden Beds

These beds are located at the Azalea Parking Lot facing Third Ave. E. between N. Main Street and King Street. The gardens are planted and maintained by the Tree Board as part of Hendersonville’s Bee City USA program and serve as examples of pollinator-friendly landscaping that can be replicated at home. The gardens also include plant labels, and educational signage.

Bearcat Loop Tree & Pollinator Plantings

Hendersonville’s Tree Board has planted over 80 trees and established 7 raised beds along Bearcat Loop. Among these plantings you’ll find pawpaw, sourwood, and Carolina silverbell as well as perennial favorites including milkweed, mountain mint, goldenrod, cardinal flower, black-eyed susan, joe-pye weed and more.

The following websites provide additional plant species lists and/or background information related to creating habitat gardens for wildlife and/or pollinators.

NC State Pollinator Insect Resources - North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Henderson County Center

Landscaping for Wildlife with Native Plants - North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Pollinator Conservation Guide - North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Pollinator Resource Center & Plant List - Xerces Society
https://www.xerces.org/pollinator-resource-center/mid-atlantic
https://xerces.org/publications/plant-lists/pollinator-plants-mid-atlantic-region
https://www.xerces.org/milkweed/milkweed-seed-finder

No Mow May (Welcome Pollinators to your Lawn) – Bee City USA

Selecting Plants for Pollinators: Central Appalachian Ecoregion - Pollinator Partnership 

Plant a Window Box for Pollinators - Pollinator Partnership

Pollinators of Native Plants (resources from Heather Holm)

Create Habitat for Monarchs - Monarch Joint Venture
https://monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/create-habitat-for-monarchs
https://monarchjointventure.org/mjvprograms/habitat/milkweed-vendor-map

Garden for Wildlife - National Wildlife Federation
https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/
https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants
https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/National-Initiatives/Pollinators
https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Resources/How-to-Garden-for-Wildlife

Start a new HABITAT - Homegrown National Park (based on the writings of Doug Tallamy)