First Wednesday Challenge: Take A Walk In Nature

 I challenge you to take a walk in nature. Head out to your local greenway, natural area or even your neighborhood. Walks in nature promote health and well being. They're also good for the planet; research has shown that when people are invested in being in nature, they are almost always invested in advocating for it.

Smallanthus uvedalius is blooming at Richland Greenway.

In nature you'll find native wildflowers, invasive plants, pollinators, all kinds of insects, mammals, birds, lizards and maybe a snake. It's also where you can boost your health, improve your mood and introduce your children or grandchildren to the wonderful outdoors and all those plants and critters.

Heron at Radnor Lake

You can find nature right outside your door. 

I live in a neighborhood that was developed over 75 years ago. Bulldozers cut roads through the once forested land and you can still find wildflowers in the woodland remnants, on the undeveloped hills and even in our lawns. Fortunately there are still plenty of "bee lawns" that are 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. High in the trees are Bignonia capreolata/Crossvines. Campsis radicans/Trumpet creeper and Virginia creeper/Parthenocissus quinquefolia can be found climbing all over the shrubbery and hedges.

 

Acorn Plum Gall found under an oak tree

To get inspired follow Jo Brichetto's Sidewalk Nature. She will take you on a walk to show you that "Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots." In other words, nature is everywhere.

Trumpet creeper/Campsis radicans found climbing on shrubs all over the neighborhood

You don't have to id plants, but being able to identify them is a great skill to have. 

Passiflora incarnata growing along greenway

  These might help you learn to id plants:

•  Your smartphone is your friend. Download a phone APP that can identify a plant based upon a photo of the flower and leaves. You can use Inaturalist or Seek, also from Inaturalist. I use Google Lens on my Android phone.
•  Get a good wildflower guide. Living in Tennessee I recommend Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians by Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly and Duhl. 
•  Start observing the plants around you. Take a lot of photos. Notice the shape of leaves, characteristics of the bark, flower structures, and any other distinguishing features.
•  Get familiar with plant terminology.
• Each plant, tree or shrub belongs in a plant family. Learning the characteristics of a plant family can go a long way to helping you id a wildflower. Start with a few plant families. I suggest Asteraceas (Daisy family), Fabaceae (Bean family) and Lamiaceae (mint).
  
• Read gardening magazines, especially ones that identify plants by their botanical names not just their common names. Fine Gardening has a glossary with pronunciations of all the plants in the current issue. Nursery catalogs like Prairie Moon Nursery are a great help with putting plants in their preferred habitat.

Path rush/Juncus tenuis was found in the cracks in my driveway

Going out for a walk? Enjoy being in nature and don't worry about id-ing anything.

•  If you do take photos, you can id plants when you get home!
•  Take your children and introduce them to plants and critters that you see. 
• While you're out there breath deeply. 
• You might even want to take a blanket and lay down to watch the clouds. 
• You can get up early in the morning and watch the sun rise or find a good spot to watch the sunset. 
• Get away from the city lights and look for constellations with your kids. Fall is a great time to watch meteor showers
  

 

annual Cicada found on neighborhood walk

Get out there and have a good time.

Barred Owl (Strix varia) watching the forest floor at Radnor Lake

I walk one of the greenways in Nashville at least once a week and even though I am there for exercise, I am mindful of the plants and animals around me. Nothing is more exciting than spotting a native plant that I've only read about. Last year, I spotted Strophostyles hellvola on a fence along the train tracks at  the Richland Greenway. Boy, was I surprised and delighted. It's got a great name, too, Fuzzy bean. Yes, it's fuzzy.

Fuzzy bean (Strophostyles hellvola) on greenway

 Another plant I've been lucky to see on hikes is Heuchera villosa. Years ago I spotted it growing on the rock outcropping on back roads all over west Nashville. It thrives on cliffs where it finds the well-drained and neutral soil it needs. It's native to moist shaded ledges and rich rocky wooded slopes in the mountains from New York to Georgia and west in scattered locations to Missouri and Arkansas. Which explains why so many of us have trouble keeping it happy in our gardens! (source)

Heuchera on Limestone cliffs on the Ashland City Greenway

 

 

 

 I pass the same wet weather ditch at least once a week and recently these small pink flowers caught my eye. I id-ed it as Dicliptera brachiate, aka, Branched Foldwing, a native herbaceous perennial in the Acanthus family (Acanthaceae). The leaf structure (opposite) and fruiting capsules remind me of Ruellia strepens, also a member of the Acanthus family. Native perennial blooms from July to October attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. Btw, it's still there and I am waiting to see more blooms.

Dicliptera brachiate found along a creek behind church

 

The August 6, 2024 issue of the Washington Post has a great article on how important being outside is to kids: "How time in nature builds happier, healthier and more social children".

“Outdoor time for children is beneficial not just for physical health but also mental health for a multitude of reasons,” says Janine Domingues, a senior psychologist in the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute. “It fosters curiosity and independence. It helps kids get creative about what they can do … and then just moving around and expending energy has a lot of physical health benefits.”

 

the emerging scientist studied live meal worms on a cold winter day

Here's a partial list of reasons to be out in nature. Nature is walking in your neighborhood, gardening, a beach vacation or anywhere in the great outdoors.

 1.  It can boost your natural immunity.   

2.  When you exercise outside, your body will breathe more deeply, allowing more oxygen to get to your muscles and to your brain. 

 3.  Learning to id plants and insects is a good brain activity.

 

 4.  Studies show that children who spend a lot of time outdoors tend to perform better academically.  

5.  When children are playing together outdoors they relate directly with one another, they create games together, they choose sides and they improve their “people” skills.  

6.  Outdoor play is a great way to bond as a family.  

7.  You are likely to ingest or breath in Mycobacterium vaccae (a natural soil bacterium) when you spend time in nature which may help decrease anxiety.  

8.  When you walk barefoot outside, free electrons are transferred from the earth into your body.  This grounding effect is one of the most potent antioxidants. 

 9.  Fresh air is good for digestion. 

10.Being outdoors can sharpens your focus.

11. Kids who grow up with nature exposure are more likely to appreciate and advocate for the environment.

12. The sun's rays give you beneficial vitamin D. Just remember to wear sunscreen when the sun is high overhead.

 

 

13. Kids are less likely to suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder.

14. It improves distant vision in kids. I kid you not!

15. Kids learn about birds and birds are more closely related to dinosaurs than crocodiles and that's exciting info for most kids.

 

Resurrection fern at Edwin Warner Park

There are a lot more reasons to get outside. Trust me and others when we say it's darn good for one's health and it sure does get kids invested in saving the planet. So get out there and get yourself (and your kids) invested in saving our planet. xoxogail

Here's a recap of what the First Wednesday Monthly Challenge is all about.

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.