Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

First Wednesday Wildlife Challenge: Kids Need Time Outdoors


We need to get our kids outside more...There are many good reasons to be outside for all of us, but, it's especially true for children who seem to be spending less time outdoors than ever before. When researching the numbers I was shocked to read that the average child spends only 6 -7 minutes outdoors everyday. That's so different from my free to roam childhood when as a part of a small gang of neighborhood kids we rode bikes, climbed trees, explored the woodlands and were unsupervised almost all day. Each generation has less time outdoors, let alone unsupervised time outdoors. I am not recommending that you free range kids, just give them more opportunities to be outdoors in nature. There are so many benefits for them and for nature.  

What are kids doing if they aren't playing outside? They're spending a lot of time in front of electronic screens. The reality is that most kids are coming in way above what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. In fact, 87% of children had screen time exceeding the recommendations. The latest statistics show that most American children spend about three hours a day watching television. Watching television, working on a computer, looking at social media, or playing video games can total 5–7 hours a day. (source)


 The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends:

  •  no screen time before 18 months. 
  • introducing screen time gradually to children between 18 to 24 months
  • no more than one hour per day of high-quality programming for children from 2–5 years. (Sesame Street or Little Einsteins are considered high-quality programs)
  • kids 5–17, should get no more than two hours of screen time a day, not including virtual learning or homework. 


Here are six crucial ways playing outside helps children (from Harvard School of Medicine)

1.   Sunshine. Vitamin D production, improved immune system, healthy sleep and improved mood

2.  Exercise. Children should be active for an hour every day, and getting outside to play is one way to be sure that happens.

3.  Executive function. Being outside gives kids opportunities to practice problem solving, use their imagination, solve problems with playmates and help in developing other life skills.
 

4.  Taking risks. Children need to take some risks.  "Risk-taking is all about identity formation. As kids mature, they need opportunities to discover who they are, to set their own boundaries, and to establish their own values and beliefs apart from those of their parents. Wise risk-taking builds resilience, boosts confidence, encourages perseverance, and curbs fear." Climbing trees, jumping off boulders and walls, picking up bugs, and reaching out to make friends are ways kids can take a risk. Activities need to be age appropriate.

5.  Socialization. Children need to learn how to work together, to share, to cooperate, how to treat others and how to make and be a friend. 

6.  Appreciation of nature. So much of our world is changing, and not for the better. If a child grows up never walking in the woods, digging in soil, seeing animals in their habitat, climbing a mountain, playing in a stream, or staring at the endless horizon of an ocean, they may never really understand what there is to be lost. The future of our planet depends on our children; they need to learn to appreciate it, to connect to it.  Research shows that kids who grow up connected to nature are more often motivated to get involved in conservation actions. (source)

Visiting Warner Park Nature Center


As a gardener who gardens for wildlife it's been important for me to give my granddaughter time to explore and enjoy nature. We spend time in the garden observing bees and butterflies and looking for worms and insects. One morning this past week we went to watch the sun rise and I handed her my camera and let her go. The following three photos are a few she took.

mist rising led to a discussion of why

At eight years old she is already a vocal advocate for critters and nature and I hope that she will continue in this vein for all of her life. I believe that my primary role as a grandparent is to love unconditionally, but, I've been the family historian, a playmate, a baking teacher and a role model. The time we spend outdoors is incredibly valuable and I believe it is essential to helping her connect to nature while nurturing a sense of stewardship for nature.

snail on a wall

I've been connected to nature since I was a little kid. What does it mean to be connected to nature? It means we can enjoy it, empathize with it, feel responsible for it, be aware of it, show curiosity about it, choose to be out in it and  have an emotional and cognitive affinity for it.

Eric Fromm coined the term biophilia, but, it was popularized by Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson through his 1984 book Biophilia. In it, Wilson proposed that humans' attraction to nature is genetically predetermined and the result of evolution. In other words, we are wired to be connected to nature.

birds on a wire caught her eye

There's something else to consider here. Kids growing up in our world can't help but be aware of the realities of climate change, biodiversity loss, and other environmental problems. They may have feelings of worry, fear, and even despair as a result of their exposure to the realities of climate change. Many of us have experienced this Eco-Anxiety as some refer to it. Eco-Anxiety is a perfectly reasonable response to the issues facing our planet. The good news is there are some very effective ways to help kids deal with it. Please be aware that all suggestions need to be appropriate for a child's age and maturity.

Suggestions from Earth Rangers:

  1. Empathize with them: Let them talk about their concerns, really listen, reassure them  but, don't discount them.
  2. Educate them: Offer opportunities to learn about climate change and suggest actions to protect the natural environment.
  3. Help them get involved/engage in stewardship: Help them build an insect habitat, plant a butterfly garden or encourage them to join an eco club at school.
  4. Help them get excited about nature: Take them on on nature scavenger hunt or take a fun class at a local nature center. Read books together.
  5. Give them agency: Allow them to teach us or others what they have learned about how to protect nature.

just a few books for younger readers and a few guides

As significant adults in a child's life we can get them outside to play. We can encourage connection to nature while helping them feel that any concerns/anxieties they have for the environment can actually be helpful if it leads to environmental action. We must help them feel empowered to take action and steer them toward activities that help them feel more in control. Adults, i.e. parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, must be a role model for that action, too.

 xoxogail

 


 

 Take the Taking Care of Wildlife In Our Gardens Challenge




The first part of this challenge is to do something, even lots of things, each month that support the critters living in our gardens. Gardening with native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be). Plants and their pollinators are a classic example of mutualism: they have coevolved through evolutionary time in a reciprocal beneficial relationship. This is also true for other critters that visit and live in our gardens. 

Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. Helping others learn about nature is included. Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. 

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature! Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? My neighborhood is changing. Yours might be, too. Every day an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar and hackberry trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when we lose trees. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris cause runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's important that our neighbors and our community have information about how important trees are to our ecosystem. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

In place of the "bee lawns" composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses (in my neighborhood it's poverty oat grass) and sedges, they're being sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally. Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

  • Gone are the lightening bugs.
  • Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
  • Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
  • Gone is plant diversity. 
  • Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
  • Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
  • Gone is a healthy foodweb.

 It breaks my heart. 

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help our new neighbors see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

xoxoGail



Here's an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden, and things you can do for and/or in your community. But don't limit yourself to my list, make your own list or check out the internet for ideas.

 

Looking for ways to get involved go here for a list of environmental advocacy groups.

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. Buy them nature books.

Get in the garden with your children and grandchildren. 



Give nature books as baby shower gifts (Nature books for infants and toddlers)

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.


 

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source

Plant for bloom from late spring to early winter. Bees are most active from February to November (longer in mild climates) late winter blooming Hamamelis vernalis and the earliest spring ephemerals (like the toothworts, hepaticas, spring beauties, and False rue-anemeone) are perfect plants for a variety of pollinators.

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Make a rain garden in low spots to collect and mitigate runoff.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Get rid of the plastic weed barriers in your garden, it's not good for anything.

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

 


Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves. Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall and need a soft landing site and a place to live over the winter.

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.


Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and they're great bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds. 

Turn off your yard up-lighting, eave lights and porch lights after 11pm. This is important for nocturnal critters including mammals, snakes, insects, bats, birds (especially during migration). (Birdcast suggestions)

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: You can observe visitors to your water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group you can join the national organization.  (Middle Tennessee WildOnes)

Support your local native plant sellers. (GroWild in middle Tennessee, Overhill Gardens in east Tennessee,  Resource Guide TN Native Plant Society)

Encourage your local garden clubs to offer native plant talks.

If your garden club has a plant sale encourage them to sell more native plants.

Get trained as a naturalist (Tennessee Naturalist Program. Almost every state has their own Master Naturalist training program

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id. 

Take an online course on designing with native plants.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

If you are already gardening with wildlife in mind then add a few signs that help educate your neighbors. (Xerces Society, Pollinator Partnership)

Join the Xerces Society.

Set up an information station where neighbors can pick up brochures about your garden and other info. 

Get certified (National Wildlife Federation, check to see what your state offers)

Support trees by joining the effort to make sure developers don't remove more trees than are necessary for their project. Work to make sure there are tree removal permits and that they are actually enforced in your community.

 

 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.


Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Wildflower Wednesday: Verbesina virginica

It's rough and tumble wildflower time in my garden and that makes me happy. The take care of themselves Autumn beauties are shining.


Rough and tumble wildflowers are simple wildflowers that bloom their hearts out and require the easiest of care. Verbesina virginica is one of the best and it deserves to be a Wildflower Wednesday star every fall, but, especially this year, because it has survived to bloom beautifully despite our severe drought.

And when it blooms, it's a magnet for all kinds of insects. Especially bumblebees. They're out every morning and will be there every day until the flowers have gone to seed. But, going to seed is not the end of all this flower has to offer.


I wasn't always so crazy about Frostweed.  I first saw it growing in the wayback backyard~behind the Garden Of Benign Neglect. I decided to watch for a season to see what it could be. That was one of my best gardening decisions.


 

 It's a stately queen among the rough and tumble flowering natives in my garden. This tall Asteraceae family member (can reach 6 or more feet) is a plant that most of us wouldn't give a second look. At least not until it bloomed along with the other Autumn beauties. Plant it with Phytolacca americana/Pokeweed,  Solidago/Goldenrods, Rudbeckia triloba/Brown-eyed Susan, Vernonia/Ironweed, Oenothera biennis/Evening primrose and Silphium perfoliatum/Cup plants. I will always have a special place in my heart for these wild and rough looking beauties.

 

As I wrote earlier, rough and tumble wildflowers are simple wildflowers that bloom their hearts out and require the easiest of care. What I especially love is that they haven't had their best characteristic bred out of them. They are so much more than pretty faces, they're landing pads of deliciousness for butterflies, bees, wasps and moths. They bloom just in time for the late arriving pollinators which are making a mad dash to collect as much nectar and pollen for their last brood.

Frostweed is a late blooming magnet for all kinds of insects, including those insects that are themselves food for spiders, birds and other insect eating critters.


Bumble Bees love it. Green Metallic bees love it. Giant Carpenter Bees love it. Butterflies love it. Skippers love it. Hoverflies love it. Soldier beetles love it. Hummingbirds love it. In fact, it's an essential late summer/early fall nectar food for all visiting pollinators and it's an especially important food for the Monarch Butterfly. It's has been selected for monitoring by Monarch Watch an organization devoted to education, conservation and research about/for the Monarch Butterfly.
Verbesina virginica's flowers have a petal here and a petal there, but, that matters not to a bees and other pollinators.

It's a native herbaceous biennial/perennial in the Asteraceae/Sunflower family. It has clusters of white ray florets and white disk florets with noticeably contrasting purplish-black anthers. 


Its leaves are dark green with rough surfaces and toothed margins and are oppositely arranged.


Its stem has distinctive wings running along its length leading to one of it's common names, wingstem. If you live in its native range, you've probably seen it along roadways or in natural areas and parks. It can be found on streams and river banks, bluff bases, bottomland and upland forests, pastures, railroads, roadsides, prairies, and in forest openings. It can be found all over my neighborhood where ever birds have transpooped the seeds. It is most common in areas with neutral or basic soils (Soil which is in the range from slightly acid to slightly alkaline) .

Frostweed is a robust spreader. Seedlings germinate far from the parent plants thanks to wind and birds! It self sows in my garden (I have to thin it out), but, I've begun scattering seeds here and there for their architectural and pollinator appeal. If you have seeds, plant them as soon as you get them to insure the seeds get at least a 30 day stretch of cold, moist conditioning. If there's snow on the ground you can mix them with sand and toss the mixture onto the snow or winter sow them in a container so you can keep an eye on them, then transplant where their height will best appreciated. 

Verbesina virginica has a lot going for it:

  • It blooms exactly when bees are provisioning a nest for the winter. 
  • It has a long bloom time (late July to October) 
  • Pollinators love it, especially bumblebees
  • Provides seed for migrating birds
  • It's a feeding station for over-wintering birds
  • It's a  host plant for the caterpillars of Summer Azure, Bordered Patch, and the Silvery Checkerspot butterfly
  • Great architectural appeal (6 feet tall)
  • The Chelsea chop in June will keep it shorter
  • Drought tolerant when established
  • Not particular about soils
  • Not eaten by deer or rabbits
  • Frostweed flowers are a winter bonus!

Although, more common on the first frosty mornings of fall, here in my Middle Tennessee Zone 7a garden we have all the right ingredients for frostweed flowers to make their special appearance all winter long.

 Imagine a beautiful late fall day; it's warm and the sun is shining. The Verbesina's roots draw water up into the stem and late that night when the temperatures drop well below freezing, the stems freeze, split open, emitting plant juices, which immediately freeze into ribbons of ice that curl around the stem and the base of the plant!

 It's magic! Well actually the scientific term is capillary action.

Isn't nature grand!


Everyday there is something of the marvelous to behold.


Frost flowers will continue to form as long as the temperatures are cold and the plant juices are flowing.

You've got to get this plant in your garden!

The Particulars

Family: Asteraceae

Common names: White crownbeard, White wingstem, Frostweed, Iceplant, Iceweed, Virginia Crownbeard, Indian Tobacco, Richweed, Squawweed

Native Range: Pennsylvania west to central Texas, south to Florida


Habitat: White Crownbeard occurs in prairies, in pastures, in forest openings, along streams, and on roadsides. It is most common in areas with neutral or basic soils.

Size: The stems are 3-8 feet in height and unbranched below the inflorescence. They have winged internodes, and are pubescent. The wings that make them easily identifiable

Bloom: Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are arranged in corymbs. Each head has 1-7 white ray flowers and 8-15 off-white disc flowers.

Bloom time: Late July–October.

Sun: Full sun, half sun, and, even fairly shady sites.

Water: Moist to dry

Maintenance: Weeding and editing, plants can become weedy, spreading by seed and from rhizomes.

Propagation: The fruit is a winged achene with two small bristles at its apex. Best planted from seed or if in a natural area allowed to self sow. Seed dispersal is by wind, animal or flowing water

Wildlife Value: Over wintering birds eat the seeds. Bumble Bees love it. Green Metallic bees love it. Giant Carpenter Bees love it. Butterflies love it. In fact, it's an essential late summer/early fall nectar food for all visiting pollinators and it's an especially important food for  the Monarch Butterfly.

Comments: Best in natural garden, along pond edge or if well managed in the background of a butterfly garden. This plant is called "frostweed" because it often forms spectacular "frost flowers" in the fall, when a sudden overnight freeze causes the stems to burst and release sap.


I adore this plant, but, I also weed it ruthlessly if it's crowding other more delicate plants. I can't imagine Clay and Limestone without Frostweed and the other rough and tumble beauties. Local gardeners, let me know if you want seeds, I'll have extras for sure.

xoxogail



Thank you for stopping by and welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if your wildflower is in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. If you participate in WW, please leave a link.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

First Wednesday Challenge: It's Migration Time and Birds Need A Few Things

Fall migration has begun and we can expect millions of birds to fly over many of our cities. The drought has been hard this summer and I hope there are enough native plants with seeds, berries, nuts and insects to help fuel birds as they pass through. As for fresh water,   Nashville is on a river and there are enormous lakes nearby, so birds can flock there when they stop to recharge.

Bird Cast

Birds migrate south as winter approaches because insects and other foods are dwindling. They're traveling to areas that have food and nesting. Some birds stay put because they can find adequate food and water, others are traveling anywhere from a hundred miles to several hundred. The birds that are being monitored by Bird Cast are long-distance migrators. "They typically move from breeding ranges in the United States and Canada to wintering grounds in Central and South America. It's an arduous journey and over 350 different species of North American birds are long distance migrators." (source)

 

Goldfinches can stay or migrate depending upon food sources

Migration is a natural phenomena that happens every fall and spring. Their journey is physically taxing and the lack of adequate food supplies along the way, bad weather, exposure to predators and the ever increasing danger from colliding into lit up buildings all add to making this journey hazardous.


Crossing Davidson county, Tennessee where I live

There are things we can do. Very important things!

  • Provide food
  • Provide fresh water
  • Make your windows obvious, especially the big picture windows. Add decals, paint spider webs, stripes or designs, this will keep birds from colliding into them when they stop at our feeders. 

  • Go lights out at 11pm to 6am during migration (spring and fall)
  • Become an advocate: Work to get your community involved in turning off their outdoor lights from 11pm to 6am every night.

Let's take a closer look at how we can provide food and water:

Because we get a lot of joy from observing them in our gardens, Michael and I feed the birds and provide water year round. I garden for wildlife so the garden has been designed with critters in mind. In fact, nearly every plant has been chosen with birds, insects and other critters in mind. My native shrubs provide food, nesting and shelter for mammals and birds, as well as being a host plant to butterflies, moths and other insects that keep my wildflower garden thriving. Native plants are also a haven for tasty insects which so many migrants, particularly the Warblers need for fuel. 

I hope that there's enough food in the garden for hungry migrating birds that stopover; if not, there will always be supplemental seed and suet in feeders and water in the bird baths and raised ponds. Biologists refer to places as “stopover” habitats, areas where birds stop to rest, eat, and seek shelter from predators. Some stopover sites are so large they can even be called “staging areas” because so many birds come together to rest and then continue their migration. One of the most famous staging areas around the world is along the Platte River in central Nebraska, where more than 500,000 sandhill cranes gather in a spectacle of migration! (source) That's on my "got to see list".

Last week we asked John, the owner of The Woodthrush, what we could be doing for migrating birds. He said that water was super important for migrating birds.

According to University of Rhode Island researcher, physiological ecologist Scott McWilliams,  here's what's going on with migrating birds. "The digestive systems of birds adjust to meet the changing energy demands of migration. The birds’ bellies increase in size and the cells get larger so they can eat more and store energy for their long flights. The digestive systems of migratory birds essentially shut down during migration so most of their energy can be used in flight. When they stop to eat along their routes, they eat less, until finally their systems re-adjust when they arrive at their destinations where food is plentiful again." (source)

Here's a little bit more about birds and water that you might like to know.

Birds need water just as much as they need food. The birds that live and visit our garden need dependable water to survive. Each day, an adult bird needs to drink enough water to make up 5 percent of its body weight to replace the water lost from waste removal, respiration and evaporation. Water performs a number of important functions: bathing, to clean feathers and remove parasites. They get some of their water/moisture from the insects and fruit they eat, but, they need to drink water every day.

How we can provide water:

  • Bird baths. Place them near cover so birds can hide from prey. Place in shade so water stays fresh. Change water often. I heat mine all winter so there is water for birds when it's freezing out.
  • Place water dishes on the ground since many birds prefer drinking water like this.
  • If you have the resources a pond or stream would be ideal.
  • Raised bed ponds with a way for birds to safely drink.
  • A shallow galvanized container with rocks for birds to perch on works well, too.
  • Misters, water wigglers, and drippers invite birds to come to bird baths and natural pools.
  • When desperate for rain, as we've been lately, I turn on an over head sprinkler and watch the birds fly in and out of the water. It's magical, they arrive the minute the water is turned on. It makes me happy and takes care of many of the critters. I do it for the birds post.

 Migrating birds need this very important thing to happen.

Birds that migrate or hunt at night navigate by moonlight and starlight. Migratory birds depend on cues from properly timed seasonal schedules. Artificial lights can cause them to migrate too early or too late and miss ideal climate conditions for nesting, foraging, and other behaviors. It can also cause them to be attracted to illuminated building where they can collide and die. (source

Collision hazards for birds come in many forms and can affect many types of birds. In fact, nearly one billion birds collide with glass in the U.S. alone each year. Most of these (preventable) fatalities happen at homes and buildings shorter than four stories tall. Please make note of that fact...Birds are in danger of our lit-up homes, not just sky-scrappers, wind-turbines or towers.

According to research scientist Christopher Kyba, for nocturnal animals “the introduction of artificial light probably represents the most drastic change human beings have made to their environment.”

“Predators use light to hunt, and prey species use darkness as cover,” Kyba explains. “Near cities, cloudy skies are now hundreds or even thousands of times brighter than they were 200 years ago. We are only beginning to learn what a drastic effect this has had on nocturnal ecology.” (source)

Migrating Purple Martins

One last thing.

So, this is my plea to you all. Please turn off your outdoor lights from 11pm to 6am every night.  I wish you would consider turning off your eave lights, tree up-lighting and porch lights every night, but if not always, please, turn them off during bird migration. For more information about the effects of artificial lighting on all living creatures go to my post First Wednesday Challenge: Every Day Needs A Night.

Thank for reading, xoxogail

First Wednesday Monthly Challenge



Want to Take the Taking Care of Wildlife In Our Gardens Challenge?

The first part of this challenge is to do something, even lots of things, each month that support the critters living in our gardens. Gardening with native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be). Plants and their pollinators are a classic example of mutualism: they have coevolved through evolutionary time in a reciprocal beneficial relationship. This is also true for other critters that visit and live in our gardens. 

Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. Helping others learn about nature is included. Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. 

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature! Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? My neighborhood is changing. Yours might be, too. Every day an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar and hackberry trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when we lose trees. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris cause runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's important that our neighbors and our community have information about how important trees are to our ecosystem. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

In place of the "bee lawns" composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses (in my neighborhood it's poverty oat grass) and sedges, they're being sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally. Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

  • Gone are the lightening bugs.
  • Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
  • Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
  • Gone is plant diversity. 
  • Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
  • Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
  • Gone is a healthy foodweb.

 It breaks my heart. 

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help our new neighbors see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

xoxoGail



Here's an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden, and things you can do for and/or in your community. But don't limit yourself to my list, make your own list or check out the internet for ideas.

 

Looking for ways to get involved go here for a list of environmental advocacy groups.

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. Buy them nature books.

Get in the garden with your children and grandchildren.

Give nature books as baby shower gifts (Nature books for infants and toddlers)

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.


 

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source

Plant for bloom from late spring to early winter. Bees are most active from February to November (longer in mild climates) late winter blooming Hamamelis vernalis and the earliest spring ephemerals (like the toothworts, hepaticas, spring beauties, and False rue-anemeone) are perfect plants for a variety of pollinators.

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Make a rain garden in low spots to collect and mitigate runoff.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Get rid of the plastic weed barriers in your garden, it's not good for anything.

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

 


Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves. Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall and need a soft landing site and a place to live over the winter.

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.


Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and they're great bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds. 

Turn off your yard up-lighting, eave lights and porch lights after 11pm. This is important for nocturnal critters including mammals, snakes, insects, bats, birds (especially during migration). (Birdcast suggestions)

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: You can observe visitors to your water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group you can join the national organization.  (Middle Tennessee WildOnes)

Support your local native plant sellers. (GroWild in middle Tennessee, Overhill Gardens in east Tennessee,  Resource Guide TN Native Plant Society)

Encourage your local garden clubs to offer native plant talks.

If your garden club has a plant sale encourage them to sell more native plants.

Get trained as a naturalist (Tennessee Naturalist Program. Almost every state has their own Master Naturalist training program

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id. 

Take an online course on designing with native plants.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

If you are already gardening with wildlife in mind then add a few signs that help educate your neighbors. (Xerces Society, Pollinator Partnership)

Join the Xerces Society.

Set up an information station where neighbors can pick up brochures about your garden and other info. 

Get certified (National Wildlife Federation, check to see what your state offers)

Support trees by joining the effort to make sure developers don't remove more trees than are necessary for their project. Work to make sure there are tree removal permits and that they are actually enforced in your community.

 

 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.