Sometimes change needs to start with something small. Perhaps even a tiny butterfly the size of your thumbnail.
“I realized if I could convince people to just plant a plant that a butterfly might visit, that starts them on the road to becoming nurturers of nature,” says Mary Benton ’80, founder of Bound by Beauty and president of GROW (Gardeners Restoring Our World) Miami.
After 20 moves around the world in 30 years of marriage to a member of the foreign service, Mary was eager to put down roots when they finally settled in Miami Shores, Fla., 13 years ago. “We had lived in a lot of dictatorships, so the idea of participating in local democracy was really important to us,” she says. But no one was talking about or even acknowledging climate change in their village council. At the same time, Mary started creating a butterfly garden and witnessed firsthand the transformative power of these creatures. When the butterflies persuaded a neighbor to stop using Roundup, she realized that her garden might hold the seeds for even bigger change.
After getting together with some friends and creating a board, Bound by Beauty was born in 2016. And it’s been growing (and transforming) ever since. The organization’s motto is: “Connect, Educate, Transform, Replicate,” which translates into providing free educational resources on its website for teachers and gardeners alike; garden tours highlighting plots that use eco-friendly native plants to attract wildlife and restore habitats; creating seed libraries and seedlings of native plants to sell and give away; leading schoolchildren on wild-plant scavenger hunts and “cool bug” safaris; the creation of GROW Miami last year; and more.
A lifelong artist who has worked in watercolors, sculpture, portraiture, and even jewelry, dedicating her time to transforming the gardens of the greater Miami area was not something Mary had planned. “This is not something I ever envisioned when I was growing up, that I would become this native-plant person. But it’s been a wonderful journey of learning,” she says.
Visit boundbybeauty.org for more information.
Post a Comment
We ask that those who engage in Wellesley magazine's online community act with honesty, integrity, and respect. (Remember the honor code, alums?) We reserve the right to remove comments by impersonators or comments that are not civil and relevant to the subject at hand. By posting here, you are permitting Wellesley magazine to edit and republish your comment in all media. Please remember that all posts are public.