KNPS 2025 Pollinator Garden Grant Winner, the Wright Elementary “Jets”

Since 2023, Kentucky Native Plant Society has been awarding five grants of $500 per year to foster the establishment of native plant pollinator gardens, emphasizing not only the ecological benefits but also the educational enrichment they provide. Through these gardens, KNPS seeks to nurture a deeper understanding and appreciation of native plant species and their crucial role in pollination.

In 2025, we were thrilled to receive nearly 30 worthy applications for this $500 garden grant. Picking only five was difficult for the committee: David Taylor, Rachel Cook, Kelly Watson, and Susan Harkins. You can see all five of this year’s grant winners here, KNPS 2025 Pollinator Garden Grant Winners!

One of this year’s winners was Wright Elementary School, in Shelbyville. Their new garden is a second-grade project, but will be used by the entire school for many academic endeavors. They have big plans for this garden’s future, including an irrigation system, benches, and even a picnic area.

We recently received this update about their garden and the images from Amanda Nett, a Second Grade teacher at Wright Elementary.

With the grant we received we were able to fill 2 large and 2 medium garden beds with native plants. Our students were able to plant them, care for them and learned why native plants are so important to Kentucky. We focused a lot on pollinators and how the native plants we selected can help pollinators. We cannot begin to thank you for the grant money. It was such a wonderful gift and really furthered our students’ learning and appreciation of native plants! I’m sending several pictures of the kids preparing the beds, the whole group and after we added the native plant beds. Many of the plants are blooming now, and we can’t wait to see how much it grows in the upcoming years!