IRMO, S.C. — A new addition to a library in Ballentine is looking to give displaced birds and other creatures a new home. The garden is small but has a mighty purpose in the area.
“It just gives life to this garden but it is very beneficial to wildlife,” Jay Keck with the South Carolina Wildlife Federation said.
The newly unveiled garden at Ballentine Richland Library is more than just something pretty.
“They support a lot of insects. Everything eats insects and if they don’t, they eat the things that eat the insects so we want to promote pollinators bees and wasps,” Keck said.
A grant from the Richland County Conservation Commission funded the project. South Carolina Wildlife Federation helped install the garden along with the zoo and some volunteers to help attract native South Carolina species to the area.
“Everybody knows about the purple martens you know at balm island. I wouldn’t be surprised even today if saw some up in the air you know here feeding on some of things that are feeding on some of the plants we installed here,” Keck said.
He said the garden has brought toads, lizards, moths, and monarch butterflies. According to John McKenzie with the Richland County Conservation Commission, this type of intervention was necessary to help with the growing pains that come with development in the county.
“We have so much loss of habitat and any time you can add a rich garden like this it attracts a lot of wildlife and what’s great about this one is it’s in a very public space,” he said.
As the county develops, animals lose their homes.
“Sometimes it is the progress of man and there’s people building homes and having very basic lawns and things like that the richland county conversation and the wildlife federation encourage plantings for wildlife,” Mckenzie said.
Mckenzie said this is also an opportunity for people to learn about the animals and insects around them. The garden is free to the public.