Ann Brown Encourages the Community to Save the Bees
When Ann Brown retired from her position as research librarian for the Memphis school system, she and her husband, Howard, moved to Lookout Mountain to be closer to their daughter, Alicia Oliver, and her family, husband Eric and children Jack, Sarah and Will, all Baylor students. Perhaps she planned to relax and putter about in her garden, but thankfully for this community, she didn’t. It’s true that Ann may love nothing more than digging around in the dirt, but that’s not the root of it.
Upon retirement, Ann earned her certification as a master gardener and became involved with Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones, an organization for folks interested in landscaping with native plants. There are lots of reasons to plant native plants, one being that they are not invasive. But the main reason Ann is such a proponent of them is because our future depends on them, literally. She is very passionate about this, and she is not referring to the future of anyone’s formal garden.
About 80 percent of the plants in the entire world are dependent on pollinators, and one of every three bites of food we take is the result of pollination. Do you love your brie with a few grapes and a crisp wheat cracker? Forget it if we lose our pollinators. And forget cheddar, half-and-half and Greek yogurt – all dairy requires pollination.
Forty-five percent of the world’s insects have been destroyed, and 40 percent of pollinators face actual extinction. But if Ann Brown has anything to do with it, this is not going to happen.
This petite, attractive lady doesn’t look like a force to be reckoned with, but despite her patient and nonjudgmental way, she is. The muscle behind both Lookout Mountain towns’ designation as Bee City USAs, Ann’s goal is to educate folks about the real danger we are facing. “I’m so impressed with our city councils’ attitude toward our environment – they are so supportive, and care so much about what the mountain is going to become,” Ann said.
You might think it’s enough to buy a mess of plants at a big box garden center and plant them, but it’s not. Neonectoids, a systemic poison that is commonly used by growers, is fatal to all insects. Commonly known as neonics, they are banned in some countries, but are alive and well in the U.S. Ann urges everyone to ask if plants have been treated with neonics before buying them. Supposedly, a few of the big box garden centers will no longer carry plants that have been treated with neonics after this year, or next. For now, there is a section at the Barn Nursery that is pesticide-free, and both Bees on a Bicycle and Reflection Riding offer plants that are free of pesticides.
Monarch butterflies journey twice a year from Canada to Mexico and need fortification along the way. Fifty years ago, clouds of these spectacular insects wafted across Lookout Mountain. Because of development and pesticides, there is a food shortage for these butterflies. Ann is charging each of us with the mission of creating a butterfly garden on our property, or adding pollinator plants to our existing gardens. She will help us achieve this, and actually is responsible for a plethora of workshops at Lookout Mountain’s Pollinator Festival on May 20 at the Commons. One of these upcoming workshops even offers the chance to bring a picture of your existing garden for analysis and recommendations.
“If you build it, they will come,” the famous quote from the movie “Field of Dreams,” is applicable here. And because of the tenacity and commitment and knowledge of Ann Brown, I have no doubt the monarch butterflies will come again. In droves.
