As spring approaches, The Wildlife Center of Virginia has created a game (with prizes) to celebrate our pollinator plants across the country! For all fifty states + Puerto Rico, we've created bingo cards featuring commercially-available native vegetation that promotes and supports pollinators such as bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Find your state below, grab some seeds from your local plant nursery, and start gardening!
Prizes
Just for participating and planting one plant from the bingo card of your region, you can fill out this form and be entered into a drawing for a Wildlife Center of Virginia shop item of your choice* (e.g., t-shirt, set of puppets, a John Denver DVD, etc)!
If you grow all the plants in a bingo line (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal), you can email Kai Medina at kmedina@wildlifecenter.org with the subject line "Bingo", information on what you planted, and a photo of your garden. For your fantastic efforts in planting pollinator-friendly vegetation, you will earn a Wildlife Center of Virginia Pollinator Certificate and a ticket for a virtual program on July 16, 2022, at 12 pm EST. This program will give you the opportunity to see the Center's animal ambassadors live on camera and ask questions, while we celebrate our nationwide pollinators!
If you are a teacher leading this activity in a classroom, just for participating your class will be given the bingo-line prizes and be entered into a drawing for a free private Wildlife Center of Virginia virtual program of your choice! Just email Kai Medina at kmedina@wildlifecenter.org with the subject line "Class"!
As we release the National Pollinator Bingo Cards, we may end up working with different organizations to promote our wonderful pollinators! If any of them wish to add prizes to the pile for their community, those will be listed here.
Drawings will commence on July 1, 2022.
*If you are located in DuPage County, Illinois and you submit a completed bingo card, in addition to the other prizes you will also receive a sticker from the DuPage Monarch Project!
* The lithograph "Symbols of Freedom" is not included in this prize pool, One entry per person/class. No entry after June 30, 2022 at 11:59 PM EST.
How do I plant it all?
During the spring, we recommend growing seeds indoors a few weeks before the last frost of the season (each bingo card lists a map showing general frost dates). After the last frost, you can choose to either buy grown perennials from a local plant nursery or take your indoor perennials and replant them outside. Ensure that everything you plant is safe for your pets!
Look up specific growing tips online for each plant. We recommend checking out www.wildflower.org/plants and www.pollinator.org for resources!
Click your state/province below to find your bingo card!
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All of the files for the Bingo Cards are presented in PDF format, but if you would like them as PNGs to use and share as images, check out this link.
Want to help?
If you are an organization that would like to work with us to promote pollinator plants, shoot us an email at kmedina@wildlifecenter.org with the email subject: "Looking to Help".
This could involve adding prizes local to your community, working to expand the range of our bingo cards, or critiquing our work (is something inaccurate? Are there no accessible bingos in your community?) Thank you for any help you can give!
Want to learn more?
To learn more about participating in the Center's National Pollinator Bingo, check out this video with Connor, the Center's outreach coordinator, and Amber, the Center's office manager (and avid beekeeper) as we host Piedmont Master Gardener Michelle Mrdeza for a fun discussion about the project, how you can become involved, and tips & tricks to get started with your own pollinator garden.
Here's a link to the slides in the presentation!