The St. Andrews (Grand Rapids) EcoFaith Advocate team took a field trip recently to view the native plant gardens of Bonnie Siegford, Master Gardener.  Bonnie, whose specialty is native plantings, is a wealth of information and topics such as seed dispersal, plant clustering, fall and spring care were discussed.  A pollinator plot is not a “one and done” project, and each year brings new challenges, not the least the drought of this past year.  Native plants have deep roots however and can survive difficult conditions better than cultivars.  Besides drought, nonnative invasives such as bird’s foot trefoil have had to be removed from the St. Andrews plot.  Even so, there are a variety of blooms including vervain, false sunflower, rough blazing star, Virginia mountain mint, asters and goldenrod providing nourishment for the pollinators.