Carolina Native Nursery is proud to launch Pollinator Portraits, a unique photo contest and community celebration in honor of National Photography Month and Pollinator Week 2025. Designed to bring visibility to the vital relationship between native plants and pollinators, this event invites our customers to showcase their creativity, love for nature, and commitment to conservation. Enter by May 31!

Have you seen the native gardens at the Marshall Library? If not, you are in for a treat. On May 31 at 12:30, Bee City USA-Asheville leaders, Florrie Funk and Virginia Currie, will guide a pollinator safari in the butterfly garden for families and kids. Who knows? They might even see tigers and zebras. Tiger and zebra swallowtail butterflies that is!

Would you like to help with pollinator conservation by surveying for bumble bees? Bumble bees are an important indicator of overall pollinator health. This class will provide an overview of the Southeast Bumble Bee Atlas program, present the insightful data gathered by volunteers over its first two years, and train participants on the survey techniques used so you can volunteer to gather bumble bee diversity and abundance data in 2025.

Pollinator gardens sometimes get a bad rap for being “too messy” or “unattractive.” This class explores landscaping tricks that will satisfy even the strictest Homeowners Association guidelines while limiting lawns, creating connected habitat, welcoming a wide variety of pollinators, and persuading neighbors to join in the fun. For anyone considering becoming a Certified Pollinator Advocate through the Asheville chapter of Bee City USA & Asheville Botanical Garden, this is the class that Amy teaches for that series.

Hurricane Helene provided Montford’s garden hosts with unexpected challenges including many century-old trees laid on the ground by 100 mph wind gusts. Appropriately, proceeds from this year’s event will help replace the hurricane-ravaged tree canopy. Our Bee City table will have information to share about the plants that are native to our area and the pollinators that rely on them, as well as how to certify your own pollinator habitat.

The Center for Honeybee Research is hosting the Asheville HoneyFest where the winner of the International Black Jar Honey Contest will be announced. Always sure to entertain with a wide variety of live music, the Festival has a little something for everyone. The Asheville chapter of Bee City USA will be there to talk about the other 20,000 species of bees in the world that don’t make honey, but provide invaluable pollination services.

Visit the Bee City USA - Asheville booth to learn more about the amazing pollinators that make our food possible. We’ll have a Scavenger Hunt for kids (and kids at heart) to see how many pollinator-dependent foods they can spot at the market.

Meet our local pollinators! Learn about pollination and WNC’s most common pollinators. We’ll discuss conservation concerns and simple steps you can take to help pollinators. Time permitting, we will go outside and explore which pollinators are visiting Reems Creek Nursery's certified pollinator garden.

You don’t have to travel to other continents to find amazing creatures— they could be right in your backyard! They are just small. This class is to help you learn to observe and identify pollinators in your garden or wherever plants are blooming.

You don’t have to travel to other continents to find amazing creatures— they could be right in your backyard! They are just small. This class is to help you learn to observe and identify pollinators in your garden or wherever plants are blooming.