June is Pollination Celebration! month, and an unusual group of advocates has emerged to champion bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects: skeletons.
In Skele.Town, life-sized skeletons dressed in black Bee City USA–Asheville T-shirts and wearing butterfly wings, mingle among towering flowers and oversized insects in a vibrant pollinator-themed display. The playful exhibit combines humor, art, and environmental education to draw attention to the critical role pollinators play in the region's ecosystems.
The installation's creators, Valerie Holstein and John Nelson, hope the eye-catching display will spark conversations about the importance of protecting habitat for native bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, and other pollinating insects throughout Western North Carolina.
"The skeletons may be dead, but they're passionate about keeping pollinators alive!” says Valerie Holstein.
Part of the exhibit's charm lies in its irony. Skeletons represent vertebrates—the group of animals that includes humans, birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Yet these bony ambassadors have chosen to dedicate themselves to supporting invertebrates, the often-overlooked insects that quietly perform some of nature's most important work.
Without pollinators, many native wildflowers, fruits, vegetables, and trees would struggle to reproduce. Scientists estimate that pollinators contribute billions of dollars annually to agriculture while also sustaining healthy ecosystems and wildlife habitats.
The installation is located in a certified pollinator habitat garden, celebrating the intricate relationship between plants and pollinators. Informational signs encourage visitors to plant native flowers, reduce pesticide use, and create habitat for insects in their own yards and neighborhoods.
The Bee City USA–Asheville shirts worn by the skeletons reinforce the community's ongoing commitment to pollinator conservation.
While the skeletal residents of Skele.Town may not have green thumbs—or any thumbs at all—their message is clear: pollinators need help, and everyone can play a role.
As Pollinator Month continues, the unlikely alliance between vertebrates and invertebrates serves as a reminder that protecting the smallest creatures can have an outsized impact. And if it takes a garden full of skeletons standing among giant flowers and butterflies to get people's attention, the pollinators probably won't mind. After all, even skeletons know that a world without bees would be truly lifeless.
To certify your own native pollinator habitat, follow the steps at beecityasheville.org/certify
Photo: Valérie Holstein