Julia Parker-Dickinson has created a path for pollinators

Julia Parker-Dickinson was depressed. A space near the Quinlan Bridge which she saw as an intersection of wetland, woodland and wildland was consistently mowed by the town.

She decided to establish a small garden there, and soon people began providing her with additional plants, compost, manure and money for supplies.

“It became a neighborhood endeavor,” she said, “and I was joined by people I hadn’t previously known well. It’s a garden of unsung heroes.”

The Quinlan Bridge Garden was the start of the Charlotte Pollinator Pathway, a volunteer community effort sponsored by Sustainable Charlotte to build biodiverse habitats at key public buildings, along historic roads and in private gardens throughout town. The second garden Parker-Dickinson worked on was at the intersection of Rotax and Roscoe Roads and the group continued from there, creating a pathway of eight gardens from West Charlotte to Monkton through East Charlotte.

Parker-Dickinson notes that the gardens have suffered losses, getting run over by cars and having trash thrown on them, but they continue to survive.

“These aren’t aesthetically display gardens,” she said. “They are food shelves for pollinators and wildlife.”

Parker-Dickinson is thrilled at the amount of volunteer help she has been receiving, including cyclists who stop their rides to pull up weeds.

“The whole neighborhood picks up trash,” she said. “People really work together.”

Through her work with the Pollinator Pathway, Parker-Dickinson was able to meet the boards of the Lewis Creek Association and Sustainable Charlotte. She joined the latter and praises the many things they do, including putting on Repair Cafes to keep items out of landfills and the Window Dresser program, which helps people, who have leaky windows but can’t afford to replace them, with more energy-efficient models.

“Knowledge is power” Parker-Dickinson said. “Sustainable Charlotte helps ask the questions about what we can do to reduce our ecological footprint.”

Roughly 20 years ago, Parker-Dickinson was working for the National Gardening Association when she took the University of Vermont’s master gardener course. Five years ago, she became a master gardener project leader. Of all the pollinator gardens, only the one at the Quinlan Bridge is a master gardener project, but Parker-Dickinson has been gratified by how many master gardeners have helped out with the other gardens.

She praised the program for giving people an opportunity to learn more about the plants that populate our state. “Plants are the foundation,” she said. “That seems obvious but there is an important connection between plants and everything else on our planet.”

A native of Chicago, Parker-Dickinson moved to Vermont with her husband whose family is from Dorset. They chose their Charlotte home 11 years ago based on what she described as a “blank slate of a yard” and the view. The house needed some work and Parker-Dickinson devoted her efforts to building a big garden where she could enjoy the quiet and the view of the Milky Way at night.

“Charlotte is gorgeous,” she said. “We are so fortunate to live in a town with so much conserved space.”

Parker-Dickinson currently teaches a combined first and second grade class at Monkton Central School after several years at Smilie School. She also runs the school’s garden program and just started an ecology club for third through sixth graders.

Parker-Dickinson has chosen younger children for a reason. “They are curious,” she said, “and I think there is happiness and optimism in them.”

Previously, she worked as a preschool teacher at the YMCA and ran the extension site at the Charlotte Children’s Center.

Parker-Dickinson interlaces environmental education into her lesson plans. “You only care about something if you know about it,” she said. “Even Vermont kids are spending less time outside.”

Periodically, Parker-Dickinson thinks about quitting teaching so she can be a full-time gardener. “Teaching is underpaid and underappreciated,” she said, “but it’s a really important job and I feel like I have a chance to make a difference.”

Recently, Parker-Dickinson found another forum to disseminate her knowledge and love of plants. She is the new garden expert on WCAX’s weekday show, Across the Fence. Her goal is to help people find ways to improve their gardens that don’t require much work or money.

“We all have this opportunity as individuals, especially homeowners with land, to make a difference,” she said. “Our spaces can make a big difference to our environment.” Parker-Dickinson is still in awe of the beauty around her in Charlotte.

“You take care of the things you love,” she said. “We need to treat our properties in a way that shows we care about our state and our planet.”