Mansions Park Gardens

The Mansions Park gardens are located behind Manitou Springs' City Hall and are the result of community efforts by both the Manitou Pollinators and Manitou Springs Garden Club. Two separate gardens are highlighted here. The park also features a stunning fountain and several colorfully tiled concrete benches by which to enjoy the gardens.

The first garden situated to the west features a native plant garden installed by and maintained by the Manitou Pollinators. This plot consists of a variety of native plants to include blanket flower, cinquefoil, rabbitbrush, little bluestem grass, yarrow, catmint, prairie coneflower, penstemon, showy milkweed, salvia, blondie grass, rocky mtn bee balm, blue fescue grass, and borage.

The second garden to the east is a result of coordinated maintenance efforts by the Manitou Springs Garden Club. Inside each fenced section are six garden plots, divided by perennial chives, and which are rented out by participants. The centers and perimeters are planted with perennials and herbs. Black-eyed Susans, lavender, daises, and borage greet you as you walk up to the gardens, with roses at the back corner of each section.

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”. 

List of plants provided by Melody Daugherty email dated 5.5.2022.

Manitou Springs Garden Club on Facebook. June 20th 2018. Accessed May 19th 2022. https://www.facebook.com/ManitouSpringsGardenClub.