First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Where Have All My Insects Gone?

Just the other day a neighbor told me she didn't want any more insects in her garden, she said she already had enough! 

I don't feel that way at all. There aren't nearly enough insects in my garden these days.  I want more! I want to see more native bees, more beneficial insects, more moths, more butterflies, more caterpillars, more hoverflies, more dragonflies, more flies, more beetles...

They're here, but, I'm just not seeing as many as I've seen in past years.

 I can't help but wonder if the changes in my neighborhood have affected the loss of insects in my garden. 

I am now gardening in a sea of manicured lawns...Our neighborhood is changing from its established 1950s ranch homes with freedom lawns that light up each spring with Spring Beauties, glow in the summer with lightning bugs and are buzzing with bee, butterfly and other pollinators all fall. Houses, lawns and trees are being bulldozed down at a frightening rate. In their place are megahouses with perfectly manicured lawns and the same old same old non-native shrubs, all for "curb appeal". 

Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass that is fertilized and treated with pesticides:

• 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

 

I don't even care if aphids are on plants. Bugs make a garden work better.

INSECTS MATTER! And not just to my garden. They matter to all of us. 

Insects are essential for  

• pollination
• decomposition
• nutrient cycling
• they form the foundation of several food chains and are the primary food sources for birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish.
• pest management 

 

The bad news is that insect populations are declining all over the planet-- not just in my garden. Some factors leading to their loss include urbanization, pollution, pesticide use, loss of habitat, introduced species, and climate change. 

Two of the biggest problems affecting insect populations in middle Tennessee neighborhoods are loss of habitat and pesticide use. They're both alarming to me, but, I am very concerned about pesticide use....Especially by homeowners who have easy access to major insect killers. Too many people are intolerant of bugs nibbling on their flowers.

 

Insects have gotten a bad rap. They're seen as a big problem that must be solved with a big solution. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with neighbors and friends about mosquitoes. They've been convinced by major ad campaigns and pest service billboards that they just need to fog their yards to keep mosquitoes from interrupting their outside activities. They've been convinced that it's safe and won't harm anything other than mosquitoes. It's not true. Fogging harms all insects.

So I got my own ad campaign/yard sign! 

And others! I sure hope they're working!

What's a concerned wildlife gardener to do? We need to work on rebugging our gardens not debugging them.

1. Plant native trees, shrubs and perennials. In other words we must plant smarter.

Beautiful blooms in our gardens are fabulous, but, we can't stop there.  Choose plants that are attractive to the many pollinators and other critters that live in and visit our gardens.

Plant lots of colorful flowers that are rich in nectar and pollen and are host plants for the offspring of butterflies, moths and other beneficial critters. Don't deadhead them in winter, remember that the seeds and berries from these plants are often food for birds and small mammals. The standing stalks provide winter cover.

Plant an array of flower shapes that appeal to hummingbirds, bees, moths, flies and butterflies.

Plant for bloom from late spring (native ephemerals) to early winter (witch hazels).

Plant native trees and shrubs because they are host plants for hundreds of important critters that nesting birds need to feed their young. Native woody plants provide cover from predators, nighttime roosts and nesting sites.

Plant shrubs and trees that provide food/nuts and berries for birds and hungry mammals that live and visit our gardens

Provide nesting spaces for bees and other critters.

Accept that plants are beautiful even if chewed on by critters and promise to never, ever, ever, ever use pesticides and herbicides in our gardens. See #3

 Plant knowing that the more you plant for critters...crawling, flying and even digging ones, the healthier and more diverse your garden will be.  

You don't need a yard to plant native wildflowers: plant in containers placed on your patio or balcony

Simply said: Choose plants that have good wildlife value.

2. Stop using pesticides in your garden: 

 The first thing to ask yourself is this: If pesticides really worked would we have to use them continually? Personally, I think not, there's a great deal of money in the pesticide industry and frankly, I don't trust their studies, which are often paid for by the pesticide companies.

They're hazardous to our health, especially the health of our children.  

Source

 

 Harmless bugs are killed when they're caught in the spray, and other animals are hurt when they drink chemical runoff after gardens and fields drain into local rivers.  

3. Make sure plants you plant are pesticide free: Ixnay on Neonicotinoid pre-treated plants. 

 4. Reduce the size of your lawn

5.  Plant a bee friendly lawn: Use Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses (in my neighborhood it's poverty oat grass) and sedges

6. Concerned that neighbors will complain: Use educational signs.

7. Get active! 

Share info and photos about your native bee friendly gardens on neighborhood organizations

Post on social media 

Submit articles to newspapers 

Hold an open garden day to let your neighbors see your garden

Have a give away table with info, seeds, plants were walkers can reach them

Start a blog and write about environmental issues 

Get to know your councilperson; they can be advocates for native gardens, for protecting trees etc.

Exercise your constitutional right and vote for candidates who actively support conservation efforts.  

Contact developers and real estate agents to start their education

8. Be an advocate for nature whenever and wherever you can.  

My friend Joanna Brichetto/Sidewalk Nature author and Tennessee Naturalist, is one of the best advocates for nature that I know. She recently posted a powerful video showing mosquito fogging in her neighborhood. She wrote that the air smelled like medicine and it was drifting toward her yard were birds were foraging for nestlings. To further quote her: 

"It makes no sense to poison EVERYTHING to try and kill ONE thing. Please help spread the word that mosquito fogging is neither safe nor effective, and that the best way to control mosquitoes is 1) dump all standing water every seven days and 2) make a Mosquito Bucket of Doom."

Follow the link to see the entire post.

 

Joanna Brichetto Sidewalk Nature

9. Rebugged garden plants don't need to be perfect!

• We must be okay with the damage that bugs will do to our garden plants.
• We don't use pesticides or herbicides when we see chewed up foliage and petals.
  
• We need to redefine what we think of as perfection and beauty in our gardens.
• We invite beneficial insects into the garden when we plant the right plants and create the right conditions.
  
• We celebrate that imperfection means our gardens are teeming with all kinds of wildlife, not just pretty flower faces.
• We don't fog our gardens because it kills everything.

 

To conclude: 

When you let go of pesticides and embrace imperfection you become the change our world needs.

• You help create a paradigm shift that redefines garden beauty to include imperfection.
• You refuse to be shamed or swayed by the judgement of perfection worshipers.
• You say no to pesticides that kill our important garden visitors.
• You invite more insects into your garden....even when they nibble on your flowers.
• You let nursery managers know that you don't need or expect them to offer "perfect plants" in other words, plants that have been pre-treated with insecticides.
• You don't poison and kill everything to kill one thing. 

 

Insects matter to our world and I want to see more of them everywhere.

xoxogail

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

The first part of this challenge is to do something, or 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? Because nature needs us. 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer 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.