SunWater Spa Gardens

The SunWater Spa gardens, located at the foot of the majestic Tava mountain, permeate this hilly property in every possible outdoor green space. The Manitou Garden Club maintains the grounds which showcase a variety of perennials, shrubs, and trees. Plants featured here include: sweet woodruff, henry lauder walking stick, pulsatilla, Pasqua flower, Pinon tree, American Linden, Hackberry, Honeylocust, Catalpa, Conifer- low spreaders, Tatarian Maple, Golden raintree, Blue Hills Giant or Walkers' low, Salvias & sages, Maximillian Sunflowers, Veronica ground cover, Potentilla ground cover, Yarrow, Centranthus Jupiter’s beard, Agastache, Iris, Penstemon, Liatris, Columbine, Aster, Blue stem grasses, Miscanthus grasses, Karl Forester grasses, Blue Mist spiraea, Currant, Russian sage, Rabbit brush, Fern bush, Butterfly bush, Mahonia aquifolium, Sage - many varieties, Mock orange, Ninebark, False Indigo, Carol Mackey, Vines honey suckle, Wisteria, ghost honey suckle, Bee Balm, Gambel Oak, Ivy English, zauchneria - California carpet, Mugo Pine.

MANITOU SPRINGS POLLINATOR DISTRICT

The creation of this district is an outgrowth of work begun in 2018 by the Manitou Springs Pollinator Project. Their mission is “to enhance the natural environment of Manitou Springs to make it a more pollinator friendly city”. In September of 2019, Manitou Springs City Council Adopted a Resolution Establishing the Commitment to Have a Sustainable Environment and An Ambitious Response to Climate Change for the City of Manitou Springs. The first of seventeen actions states, “Protect pollinators and ecosystem health through reconfirming our commitment to organic land management and, beginning immediately, expand the use of pollinator-friendly plants and practices on City and private properties”. Manitou Springs School District 14 has also committed to supporting this project.

Over the winter of 2018-2019 it was discovered that at least eight beehives in Manitou Springs were abandoned by the bees, or the bees had died inside the hive. Aware that Pollinator populations have been declining nationwide, and that pollinator health and diversity play a critical role in the food supply for wildlife and people, project members researched creating a more robust program. This led to the discovery of a supported Pollinator District Program developed by the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colorado. https://butterflies.org/copollinatornetwork/. Pollinator Project members are sponsoring Amy Yarger, Horticulture Director of the Butterfly Pavilion, to do a public presentation in Manitou Springs about Pollinator Communities during the month of June, 2020. Our goal is for Manitou Springs to become a Municipal Pollinator District. 

What is a Pollinator District? 

According to the Colorado Pollinator Network, “A Pollinator District is a community that is absolutely committed to conserving and improving habitat for pollinators in all aspect of operations. A Pollinator District is a development, including businesses, schools, public facilities and parks, designed, constructed and maintained in such a way that pollinator habitat demonstrates a net gain over the footprint of development. A Pollinator District engages all of the people who live, work and play there in this vital work; community members are vital resources who become citizen scientists, beekeepers, gardeners and stewards of the land. A Pollinator District is a long-term commitment, because these habitats and the populations of pollinators that rely on them take years to establish and thrive”. 

Manitou Springs Garden Club: Accessed May 3rd 2022. https://manitouspringsgardenclub.wordpress.com/.

List of plants provided by Becky Elder 5.2.2022.