First Community Bank is partnering with conservationist, author, and television host P. Allen Smith on a statewide initiative to design and install pollinator gardens at over 20 of its bank locations throughout Arkansas, including Batesville and Southside.
“Bloom With Us” will beautify the community while raising awareness of the benefits of pollinators and hopefully encourage others to do the same, noted a press release announcing the initiative.
“We are very excited to bring P. Allen Smith’s knowledge of landscape design and gardening to our bank locations to create something unique in each of our communities,” said Dale E. Cole, chairman and CEO of First Community Bank. “A pollinator garden seemed like the perfect thing to give back to our communities. It will offer a place for learning, fellowship, and interaction. I hope the gardens will be a breath of fresh air and everyone will be inspired by what P. Allen Smith brings to life.”
The first location to benefit from the initiative will be a First Community Bank location in Little Rock.
“Creating a habitat that encourages pollinators like butterflies and bees to do their work is a critical piece of landscape design,” said Smith. “The first garden, at the corner of Kavanaugh and Cantrell, will soon delight the eye while benefiting nature.”
In recent years, the importance of pollinators and their impact on our communities has garnered more focus and increased public awareness, the release noted. People, often unknowingly, may pose one of the biggest threats to pollinators and other beneficials because of the ways we have disturbed their natural habitats with our everyday practices and the use of pesticides in our gardens. The good news is we can also be the ones to help rebuild the habitats by planting gardens with flowers that attract and are hospitable to bees, butterflies, ladybugs, and hummingbirds.
For more information on “Bloom With Us,” click here.
P. Allen Smith / Image via PBS
