To help bring awareness of conservation efforts into urban communities and neighborhoods, Roncelli teamed up with the Wildlife Habitat Council to start a pollinator garden in 2019. The pollinator garden serves as an attraction to different wildlife and is designed with specific nectar and pollen producing plants in a way that attracts pollinating insects.

The garden, located at Roncelli’s headquarters in Sterling Heights, includes various kinds of plants and flowers, such as beardtongue white flowers, strawberry plants, switchgrass and bee balm, all of which support and attract different types of pollinators. Monarch butterfly plants are also found within the garden, explained Vicky Patrick, Roncelli’s office accountant who leads the company’s gardening efforts. “We added butterfly milkweed this year for monarch butterflies to help protect the species since they are in danger of potentially becoming extinct,” said Patrick as she provided an overview of what is growing in the garden.

Since the pollinator garden at Roncelli provides nectar and pollen for a wide range of pollinating insects, the garden can eventually become certified as “Pollinator Friendly’’; this certification helps showcase the support of a healthy ecosystem for the community and the future of wildlife. Such certification also proves to surrounding communities that Roncelli’s efforts in keeping the garden have been officially recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council for taking steps toward replenishing resources for wildlife.

Roncelli team members (i.e., employees) come together to help with the proper upkeep and certification of the garden. The goal is to turn its presence at the office into something bigger. After an entire year of the office being shut down due to restrictions for COVID-19, the pollinator garden at Roncelli was not able to receive sufficient attention; this year, serious rehabilitation is taking place since garden upkeep was not possible until recently. Patrick indicated, “this commitment to replenish and restore the pollinator garden at Roncelli has been a rewarding process for the company and will forever be an ongoing project as we continue to commit efforts to create a haven for local wildlife.”