Bee City USA Greenwood, SC

10/18/2026

🐝 Sunshine, gusty winds, and a whole lot of learning!

Six dedicated Bee City USA volunteers brought enthusiasm, creativity, and a love of pollinators to our booth at the iSTEAM Festival! 🌼🦋

Visitors discovered that approximately one in every three bites of food depends on animal pollinators—and that tiny flies called midges pollinate the cacao flowers that give us chocolate! 🍫

Children practiced moving “pollen” from flower to flower with homemade bees and bee finger puppets. There’s nothing like a little hands-on fun to help an important lesson stick!

We also shared how to stop mosquitoes before they become flying, biting adults. Being vigilant about standing water makes a difference: empty and scrub water-holding containers at least weekly, and check again after rain. 💧

Our beautiful vase of fall flowers offered a lesson of its own: cuphea, brilliant yellow swamp sunflowers, Georgia asters with their shimmering purple petals, and the fluffy blue blossoms of ageratum. What a lovely reminder that pollinators still need food well into October! 💜💛

Thank you to our six wonderful volunteers and everyone who stopped by to learn, play, and ask questions. The wind kept us on our toes, but the sunshine and curiosity made it a wonderful day! 🐝

10/16/2026

Don’t want to miss this!

🦟🐝 Can we protect people and pollinators?

Stop by Bee City USA Greenwood to discover the connection between mosquitoes and pollinators! Enjoy hands-on activities and learn simple ways to reduce mosquitoes while supporting bees, butterflies, and moths. 🌼

www.imaginesteamsc.org/lakelands

10/10/2026

🦋 Small wings. Big journey. Let’s help monarchs along the way!

Fall migration is an incredible feat, but monarchs face challenges, from drought and dwindling flowers to pesticides, disease, and habitat loss.

Here in Greenwood, our gardens can provide a welcome fuel stop! 🌼

🌸 Keep fall flowers blooming. Goldenrod, asters, and other nectar-rich flowers help fuel the journey. Wait to cut back plants that are still feeding visitors!

🌱 Choose locally native milkweed. It supports caterpillars and follows our seasonal rhythms. Tropical milkweed that stays green through winter can encourage out-of-season breeding and allow the parasite OE to build up.

🦋 Help them thrive in the wild. Creating habitat is the best way to support monarchs. Raising them indoors can interfere with natural migration cues and increase disease risks.

🚫 Avoid insecticides in pollinator gardens. Caterpillars and butterflies need safe places to grow and feed.

💡 Turn off unnecessary outdoor lights. Protecting natural darkness helps wildlife follow nature’s rhythms.

Every garden matters. Let’s make Greenwood a welcoming stop for these remarkable travelers.

10/08/2026

🦋 Happy gardeners—and hungry caterpillars!

Today’s Bee City USA gardening day brought smiles, beautiful monarchs, and caterpillars munching on milkweed. In October, monarchs pass through Greenwood during fall migration, traveling south toward Mexico and fueling up on flowers. Late-season breeding can also mean caterpillars are still feeding nearby.

🌼 Flowers fuel butterflies.
🌿 Milkweed feeds caterpillars.
💚 Volunteers make room for both!

Thank you to our wonderful gardening crew for helping Greenwood Bloom.

09/29/2026

It’s monarch migration time in Greenwood, SC

09/28/2026

Come and help us beautify our Rain Garden.

09/22/2026

Fall Divisions on the first day of fall. Thanks to Bee City USA Greenwood, Lakelands Master Gardeners and community members for your hard work. These plants will be sold at the Lakelands Master Gardeners plant sale in April.

09/20/2026

We donated some of our Bee City USA volunteers over to the Clemson Extension office to help them with their rain garden. We got lots of weeds pulled , polished up the educational signs, and cleaned out the blue bird houses. Thanks to everyone for your hard work!

09/17/2026

✨🚨 Tiny Night-Light Alert! 🚨✨

Who needs batteries when you’re a Phengodes glowworm beetle?

This wild little creature may look like something from a science-fiction movie, but it’s the real deal. Phengodes larvae can glow in the dark, lighting up portions of their bodies like a miniature string of Christmas lights. 🎄💡

And don’t let the cute glow fool you — this little beetle larva is a predator, with a taste for millipedes. Nature apparently decided it could be both beautiful and fierce. 😄

One of the things we love about being a Bee City USA community is discovering that our landscapes are home to far more than bees and butterflies. Every patch of leaves, rotting log, garden bed and woodland edge can be hiding something extraordinary.

So tonight, maybe turn off the outdoor lights, grab a flashlight, and take a slow look around.

You never know who might be glowing in the neighborhood. ✨🐛✨