January 2026: Taking Care of Wildlife in Our Gardens Monthly Challenge.

 

Welcome to the 2026 Taking Care of Wildlife in Our Gardens Monthly Challenge. Taking care of nature has been the overarching theme of this blog for a very long time. It's what I do as a gardener, it's what I write about and it's what I encourage all of you to do. January 2026 will be the start of the fifth year of the taking care of nature challenges and it's even more relevant in the midst of the many challenges facing wildlife today.

Wildlife is facing major threats from habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, pollution, overexploitation (poaching/overhunting), the effects of invasive species, disease, and human-wildlife conflict. Although the population of earth isn't growing as fast as it once was there are still over 70million people added to our world populations each year. The more crowded we get the more we continue with our unsustainable practices that disrupt ecosystems and consequently push species towards extinction. 

Radnor Lake in winter

 What can we do? I suggest we start taking care of wildlife.There any number of ways we can do this and the Taking Care of Wildlife in Our Gardens Challenge is one I especially recommend.

What the challenge is all about!

The first part of this challenge is to do something or even lots of things each month that supports nature. 

• Be it for the critters living or visiting our gardens, 
• volunteering at a nature center or 
• joining an advocacy group. 
• Adding native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be).
• 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. Share your activities with everyone. 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/citizens can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? Our neighborhoods are changing. Almost everyday in my own neighborhood an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar, hackberry and other trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when trees are lost. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris causing runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's extremely important that information about the role trees play in our ecosystem is shared. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

The "bee lawns" in my neighborhood that are composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses  and sedges are disappearing. Instead, they're 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 all our neighbors, new and old, see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

Here's 5 things that might inspire you this month.

• Join a local WildOnes. They offer fabulous webinars, opportunities to volunteer, garden tours and monthly meetings where you can meet and chat with other members. Here's a link to my local chapter, Middle Tennessee WildOnes. You can join the national chapter and help form a local chapter where you live!

• 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. 

  
• Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)
• Take an online course on designing with native plants. Winter is a great time to begin planning changes in your garden that support wildlife.
• 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 parks, and parking lots.

Thanks for reading and I hope you feel inspired to take up the challenge.

I'd love for you to comment and share your thoughts, your frustrations, your successes in your garden or within your community. Please feel free to suggest topics and I hope you know that any input or feedback you care to offer is greatly appreciated. 

May this be the start of a hope filled year for all of us. Happy New Year.

xoxogail

Need more activities? 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.

 

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, 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.

Wildflower Wednesday 2025 Posts in Review

I was worried that this might have been the first year that the Hypericums weren't going to put on their hypercolored show for the Wildflower Wednesday Posts in Review Roundup! At the last minute and after two inches of much needed rain their brilliant colors began to brighten my garden. Each fall when I see Hypericum frondosum's brilliant color I wonder why more American gardeners haven't planted them. It's a wonderful Southeastern US native shrub with four seasons of interest and good wildlife value. It's going to have be the first WW star of 2026!

 

 

Gardening in the Middle South is mostly a treat, we have four seasons, but our winter is mercifully short and spring and late autumn make up for the steamy hot summer weather. The last several years have been especially rough with weather extremes of incredible cold, incredible droughts and incredible rains...But we gardeners remain positive knowing that before long the earliest spring ephemerals will break dormancy and the gloriously long bloom of wildflowers will begin.

Here's the Wildflower Wednesday Parade of Stars.  Please follow the links to read about our fabulous wildflowers. 

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year. xoxogail  

January Wildflower Wednesday: Anemone virginiana

I love this photo of its winter curls...before it goes all fluffy.

I have had a love-hate relationship with a few plants over the years and Tall Thimbleweed was once one of them. It's been so long since I felt that way that I am having trouble remembering exactly why. Perhaps it was its tendency to spread too easily like other Ranunculous/Buttercup family members. But, these days I appreciate all its fine qualities, including its self sowing.

Anemone virginiana aka Tall Thimbleweed has a long flowering period from early to mid-summer. In summer the buds are displayed on slender stems above clusters of attractive lobed leaves that are clustered in a whorl halfway up the stem. The small white spring blooming flowers  have five petal-like sepals and greenish-yellow central stamens around a central dome. Mining bees, small carpenter bees, sweat bees, green sweat bees and yellow faced bee will be found visiting the unique flower. (source)

 

February Wildflower Wednesday: A Winter Blooming Treasure-Hamamelis vernalis

 I am not shy about sharing photos of my blooming Ozark witch hazel. Nor do I shy away from making it a Wildflower Wednesday star every few years. It it deserves the attention. I wish more people grew this beauty instead of the non-native hybrids that most nurseries sell; especially when you consider that it's a host plant to 69 moths and butterflies. 

You'll love its sweet fragrance wafting toward you on a warm winter day (in the 50s). You'll delight in the yellow/orange crepe paper streaming petals that unfurl as the day warms and furl back up when the temperature drops. Walking by this plant in full bloom is a treat with the cool flowers, the wonderful scent and visiting pollinators.

 Hamamelis vernalis is a lovely native shrub/small tree that blooms when you have just about given up hope that winter will end and warmth will return to the world. In my Middle Tennessee garden it often begins blooming in mid January and it's not unusual for it to continue blooming all through February and often into March. 

 

March Wildflower Wednesday: Sweet Betsy Time in the Woodland Garden

I love Trillium cuneatum and revel in its spring emergence every year. It's been years since I showcased this beauty and I think it's a perfect little Wildflower Wednesday star.

It was one of the first native plants that I discovered when we moved here many years ago. Long time readers might remember that I built this garden around the native beauties I found all over the wooded edges of my yard. Sweet Betsy was hiding in the wayback backyard under the oak trees and I transplanted it to my new woodland garden. I remember carefully digging around it to get all the rhizome and roots and gently placing it in the garden. They survived and thrived despite my gardening ignorance.

Trillium cuneatum typically flowers from early March to mid April. It can be found in rich, mostly upland woods, but, it is especially happy growing on Middle Tennessee's Ordovician limestone soils (neutral to basic soil).  Trillium will be happy in your garden, if you give it a rich, moist soil, shade, protect it from browsing critters and keep aggressive perennials from crowding it. They can live for a long time and usually do not flower until they are several years old. It's found growing across Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Sweet Betsy is a great selection for your shade garden. Plants are hardy, drought-resistant (although they prefer moist soil), somewhat deer proof, and extremely long-lived.  

April Wildflower Wednesday: Maianthemum racemosum 

Maianthemum racemosum (formerly known as Smilacina racemosa) is a colonizer that is spreading very slowly beneath Viburnum rafidulum in my habitat. It mingles delightfully with Green and Gold, Christmas ferns and Purple phacelia. I am very fond of it and appreciate that it is attractive in the garden from early spring to winter frost.

The crooked arching stems and large leaves of early spring are attention grabbers with their slightly zigzag hairy, reddish or green stems between the leaves. The leaves (ovate and alternate) are produced on 1-3 foot, unbranched arching stems that usually last through the summer.

May Wildflower Wednesday: Scutellaria parvula — Small skullcap 

Dear readers,  There are far too many lovely native wildflowers that are underappreciated or overlooked and Scutellaria parvula is one of them. Even its species name "parvula" means very small and insignificant! It may be small but, it's not insignificant. It's a lovely flower and I hope you are as excited about meeting it as I am to introduce you to our Wildflower Wednesday star.

The flowers of this diminutive beauty are best seen and appreciated close up and that means you gotta get down on your knees to see it's pretty flower face. Trust me when I say, it was so worth the dirty pants to get a close look at this sweet flower. While there I could clearly see the square stems and opposite leaves that are hallmarks of a mint family member.

Photo Source 

It stands less than a foot high and its tiny flowers are about 1/3 inch long and are located in the leaf axils in the upper third of the plant. The blue/violet tubular corolla flower has fuse petals that form upper and lower lips. The lower lip with its white patch and blue dots is a perfect landing pad for bees.  

 June Wildflower Wednesday: Dichanthelium clandestinum 

When  I walk the rolling hills of this neighborhood I can still see pollinator friendly lawns in front of the 1950s ranch houses and the woodland remnants in the hills that surround the neighborhood. The lawns come alive in March when Claytonia virginica/Spring beauties bloom, followed by Salvia lyrata/Lyre leaf sage, Ruellia humilis/wild petunia, Carex/sedges, Danthonia spicata/poverty oat grass and other native witch grasses. I hope that enough of these lawns will be safe from the developers who are bull dozing the trees and the 1950 suburban ranches to the ground in order to build houses that fill almost the entire lot. They have replaced the pollinator friendly lawns with sod...Gone are the spring beauties, gone are the other pollinator plants and gone are the lightening bugs. Ignorance of the value of saving native, trees, grasses and plants are destroying the habitat of pollinators, birds, insects and mammals. That breaks my heart.

But, in my wild garden you will find many of those plants, along with our Wildflower Wednesday Star, Dichanthelium clandestinum. Deer-tongue grass is one of the witch/panic grasses that I've discovered happily growing  in damp spots in the garden. The unbranched leaves of early spring caught my eye and made identifying it easier.

Most of the various panic or witch grasses  are members of the Panicum or Dichanthelium genus. Many are hard to identify by this author. Deer-tongue grass is easily identified by its attractive silver flower heads that shimmer in the slightest breeze. The clasping leaves give the plant a bamboo like appearance and the foliage turns yellow-brown in autumn.  After a hard frost kills the fall stems and leaves, they are replaced by low winter rosettes of basal leaves. The winter rosettes of this plant make a good evergreen groundcover. The root system is rhizomatous and can form colonies. It's attractive and has good wildlife value....so it's a keeper! 

 July Wildflower Wednesday Anglepod

 For years I thought the name of this plant was angelpod!  

 

Although angelpod is not its name, I think you'll agree with me that our Wildflower wednesday star,  Gonolobus suberosus, is a cool plant. 

It's called anglepod because it's milkweed like fruiting body has sharp angled edges. Gonolobus suberosus is it's botanical name but it has many common names: anglepod milkvine, anglepod milkweed or angular-fruit milkvine. It has leaves that are heart shaped  and opposite. The stems, petioles and leaf veins may show purplish shading that fades as the plant ages. The greenish-yellow star shaped flowers occur in a cluster near the top of the plant.  It is naturally occurring throughout the southeastern U.S. from Texas to southeastern Kansas to southern Illinois and Indiana to Maryland and southward to Florida. It's a perennial herbaceous vine that prefers habitats like borders, thickets, and open areas within forests. It's native to middle Tennessee and I am not sure how it got in to my garden, but I am glad it's here and gladly accept the gift.

 August Wildflower Wednesday: We celebrate a butterfly and its hostplant, Ptelea trifoliata 

A dozen years ago I saw my first Giant Swallowtail butterfly when it stopped by to nectar on the wildflowers. It superficially resembled an Eastern Swallowtail while gliding about, but once it settled on the Asclepias tuberosa, it was clear that it was not one of my regular garden visitors. The coloring was wrong and it had an unusually large wing span. I was pretty sure it was a Giant Swallowtail and just as I've read, that first sighting was dazzling! 

What a beauty and the 6.3 inch (16cm) wing span makes it the largest North American butterfly.  

Forewing with diagonal band of yellow spots. Tails are edged with black and filled with yellow

The Giant Swallowtail Butterfly/Papilio cresphontes' flight is a graceful series of strong flaps and long glides. It spends its time on the wing, nectaring or patrolling for mates (if male). I waited patiently for it to stop flitting and pose prettily with wings fully spread, but, it was feasting madly. 

It's welcome in most gardens, but, is considered a pest in Florida's citrus growing regions where citrus trees are its chosen host plant. Fortunately there are plenty of parts of the US  and Canada where it is welcome, including here in my garden in middle Tennessee.

Back then I wasn't growing its host plant, but several years ago I bought two Hop Tree/Ptelea trifoliata hoping that the next Giant Swallowtail that visited would find a place to lay eggs.

 They eat and poop and eat and poop ...a lot!

 September: Wildflower Wednesday: Goldenrods

 Fall's best landing pads of deliciousness.

 Goldenrod is a genus of over 120 species of herbaceous perennials in the daisy family (Asteraceae). There are at least 75 native to North America. They thrive in open areas like prairies, meadows, and savannas while some species prefer woodland edges or moist conditions.

 

Goldenrods are luminous with small, bright yellow flowers in dense clusters on top of tall stems. They begin blooming in mid September in my middle Tennessee garden and continue to bloom throughout October. They put on a beautiful flower show and any insect that needs pollen and/or nectar is sure to be found visiting.You can't ask for a better fall blooming wildlife valuable plant and when you combine them with the ex-asters, you get beauty and happy critters.

 

 

Yet gardeners are reluctant to plant them, so let's get the objections over with first! 

Goldenrods have a bad reputation for two reasons.
 

• They have been misidentified as the cause of hayfever suffering. They are not responsible for any allergy symptoms you or I are having this fall. The tiny grains of wind blown pollen from ragweed is the culprit. Goldenrod is insect pollinated and the pollen grains are too big to be blown about. Pass that along please!
   
• Their tendency to colonize might be one of the main reasons so many gardeners don't plant them in their gardens. Long time readers know I have a love affair with rough and tumble, take care of themselves, colonizing wildflowers and goldenrods are the champion of colonizing wildflowers. Yes, they can be aggressive spreaders, but they are rugged and adaptable. They grow were many wildflowers cannot survive and they can spread quickly where there is no other native plant competition. Those that have been problematic propagate by a rhizomatous/spreading root system that can quickly take over a small garden. So avoid Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and Late Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)  two goldenrod species known for their aggressive spread by rhizomes.  If you want to plant a goldenrod but fear their nature, look for clump forming cultivated beauties like Solidago 'Solar Cascade', Solidago caesia/Bluestem Goldenrod, Solidago odora, Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'. My favorite clump former for shade is Solidago flexicaulis/Zigzag Goldenrod.

 

October Wildflower Wednesday: There Are Wildflowers That Like to Challenge the Boundaries!

At Clay and Limestone we call several of them good friends and Conoclinium coelestinum is one of the best!

Conoclinium coelestinum

This rough and tumble wildflower makes gardening on my shallow, too often dry garden soil worth the effort! It's an enthusiastic growers but, I decided years ago that a plant with lovely fuzzy lilac flowers that attracts bumbles, small bees, skippers and was a host plant to several moths was worth my having to pull out a few errant plants.

Yes, given the right conditions it can be an enthusiastic colonizer. It begins blooming in late August (Middle South) and continues through early fall and into October. The fuzzy appearing lilac-blue flowers add a softness to my late summer and fall garden when the Susans, Goldenrods, Cup Plant, Verbesinas, Joe-Pye weeds and Ironweeds are making a large and loud scene. It's especially beautiful when allowed to naturalize and make its own big statement.

November: Wildflower Wednesday: Hamamelis virginiana

 Today I am thankful for family, friends and my wildflower garden. I am thankful for time I spend outdoors, for the critters that live and visit my garden, for the last blooming flowers and for the gnats, flies, moths and bees that are out and about on warm days. 

 I am grateful for all of you who read my Wildflower Wednesday posts and don't mind that I am posting this one on Thanksgiving Day instead of on the fourth Wednesday! 

unfurled crepe papery petals on a very warm November afternoon. 

Today, I celebrate Hamamelis virginiana our Wildflower Wednesday star. Witch-hazel is a fall flowering understory tree with sweetly fragrant small yellow flowers. It is native to woodlands, forest margins and stream banks in eastern North America (including OK and TX)  where it's found growing in moist well drained soil in sunny to partial shade conditions.

That's where it's found in nature and it's a darn shame that it is overlooked by most nurseries in favor of selling the flashier non-native witch-hazels. Dear readers, step away from those Chinese witch-hazels and ask for Hamamelis virginiana! You won't be disappointed and that's a promise.* If you can't find it locally there are good online nurseries that sell seedlings.

Hamamelis virginiana starts blooming in October at Clay and Limestone and blooms for at least a month. In outstanding weather you can expect to find a few flowers in early December! Every branch is covered with fragrant spidery crepe paper flowers that never fail to charm as they furl on cold days and unfurl on warm ones!

 

 

There are so many wonderful wildflowers to celebrate, I hope you have a list of your favorites. Here's my secret, all the plants in my habitat are my favorites, but, these wildflowers are incredible plants and if you can give them the growing conditions they need, then consider adding them to your garden. If you garden in middle Tennessee they may be perfect for yours.

I love when you visit and leave comments, especially when you share something about your garden. I hope to see you in 2026 and may your garden give you the joy that mine has given me. 

xoxogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. On the fourth Wednesday of each month I share information about wildflowers and other native plants. Please join in if you like. You can write a blog post or share your favorite wildflower on social media. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not, and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers.

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.

First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge Roundup of the 2025 Posts

Dear Readers,

I believe gardeners have a key role in improving the health of our communities, especially when we practice environmentally conscious gardening. That includes protecting our irreplaceable and threatened biodiversity; supporting pollinators; replacing or reducing lawns; composting; avoiding chemical use; planting natives; supporting birds and other wildlife by dimming lights; leaving the leaves; spending time outdoors; and getting kids outdoors...That's just to name a few. 

 

I started the Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge meme several years ago. Taking care of wildlife in our gardens is a huge part of environmentally conscious gardening and something that I wish my neighbors would embrace. The challenge is simply to do one thing or even lots of things each month that supports nature. Then share what you've done with others on social media, the newspaper or your neighborhood listserv. Information like this when shared helps others take action.

Why now? Because things are changing drastically around us. Development is just one of the many human activities that has contributed to habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation. When an ecosystem has been dramatically changed by human activities it may no longer be able to provide the food, water, cover, and places to raise young that wildlife need to survive. Every day there are fewer places left that wildlife can call home. We might not be able to stop the development/destruction but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help others see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment. 

I've included links and a brief summary of each 2025 Challenge. Just follow the links to each post. I hope you find them helpful. Writing them helped me learn even more about living environmentally conscious. 

If you have any suggestions for future post, please share them in the comments.

xoxogail

 The Posts:

January: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge

Dear Clay and Limestone readers, I've been assessing whether to keep posting the monthly nature challenge. The overarching theme of this blog for a very long time has been about taking care of nature. It's what I do as a gardener, it's what I write about and it's what I encourage all of you to do. January 2025 will be the start of the fourth year of the taking care of nature challenges and it's still relevant in the midst of the many challenges facing wildlife today, so I've decided to keep on keeping on.

As a reader, I want your feedback and input.  I'll be asking questions in each post. I want to know if enjoyed the post? Was it helpful? What did you find most insightful about it? What questions do you still have about this topic? What topics would you like me to cover? Any other input/feedback you have will be appreciated. I hope you comment and share your thoughts, your frustrations, your successes in your garden or within your community.

I hope you know you are important to this blogger. You are after all a big reason why I continue to blog.

February: First Wednesday Wildlife Challenge: Soil is More Than Dirt

 Soil is a dynamic, living environment that supports and feeds life. Soil is the earthy material that plants grow in. It is composed of a matrix of minerals, organic matter, air and water. Each component is important for supporting plant growth, microbial communities and chemical decomposition. The soil ecosystem can be defined as an interdependent life-support system. Some scientists refer to soil as Earth's living skin.

Soil after 30+ years of leaving the leaves and top dressing with compost

 This post is intended to be an introduction to soils and is not a deep dive into a very complex topic. The purpose of this post is to give you a starting point in case you want to dive deeper. I do hope you're encouraged to learn more about the soils in your part of the world and that you get engaged in activities that promote soil health.

 

March: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: It's Time to Plan for Spring Migration, Birds Need a Few Things  

 

 

Spring migration is starting. The numbers are increasing quickly from thousands a night flying over to millions when it peaks later this spring. It's not too early, in fact it's time for us to think about how we can protect birds as they migrate over our cities and states.

 Migration:

Millions of birds will be returning north to their breeding grounds where abundant food and nesting sites await them. 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.

 April: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Immerse Yourself in Spring

Spring is popping out all over and this is a great time to challenge you to get outside and enjoy it all.

Our health and well-being are directly affected by the amount of time we spend in nature. In a review of the research, Gregory Bratman, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, and colleagues shared evidence that being out in nature is associated with increases in happiness, subjective well-being, positive affect, positive social interactions and a sense of meaning and purpose in life, as well as decreases in mental distress (Science Advances, Vol. 5, No. 7, 2019).

May: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Acting Locally Thinking Globally

I don't know about you, but I am overwhelmed from all the disturbing news about the environment. Air pollution, insect decline, bird losses, deforestation, proliferation of invasive plant and animal species, habitat loss, loss of bio-diversity, water scarcity, over-fishing, ocean degradation, soil degradation, and chemical pollution. Unfortunately, the list goes on and on. It's both terrifying and exhausting and it's completely understandable that we often feel that there's nothing we personally can do to stop the avalanche of destruction.

We can't do it all, but we can do somethings. We have to pick our battles and I've chosen to garden for wildlife and fight for the critters that visit and live in my habitat. It's why I continue to blog and post on social media about native plant gardens and taking care of wildlife. I believe that 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.  

I am borrowing from the thinking globally and acting locally environmental movement. "Think globally, act locally" urges people to consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in their own communities and cities. Now that so many environmental  regulations are being erased, it is even more important that individuals come together to protect habitats and the organisms that live within them. It is incredibly important that we become active. You decide what's important to you and at on it.

 June: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: The Rodenticide Effects

I don't use pesticides in my garden and wouldn't begin to think about using a rodenticide for a mouse problem in my home. So when a friend told me she was having trouble with mice in her hobby room and that her pest control company set out rat bait I couldn't stop myself from sharing my concerns about rodenticides and what the unintended consequences of trying to kill a few mice has on wildlife outside her home.

I explained to her that rodenticides work by preventing a rodent's blood from clotting causing them to bleed internally. Although these poisons target rodents- raptors and other animals, both tame and wild that eat those rodents may be harmed or killed via secondary poisoning, known as relay toxicosis. This happens when the poisoned mice/prey animals leave one's home and wander outside where they attract the attention of hunting raptors and mammals (foxes and bobcats).

Rodenticide poisons are designed to smell and taste good to rodents to entice them to eat them, but they can be just as appealing to wild mammals, including squirrels, opossums, skunks, raccoons, and foxes if the pellets are somehow spilled outside. 

Studies have shown that rodenticide poisoning from eating poisoned rodents is more widespread than was thought. Follow this link to this study: A review: poisoning by anticoagulant rodenticides in non-target animals globally to see the serious and widespread nature of this problem. A recent study showed nearly 80% of raptors and other rodent consuming wildlife tested by WildCare were found positive for secondary rodenticide poisoning. (source)

July: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Recomendations For Your Reading and Listening Pleasure

I am taking a July break, but didn't want to leave you without a few good listens and reads. Please feel free to add any of your recommendations in the comments on this post or in social media where this will be posted. xo

 

 I often listen to gardening podcasts while gardening and sometimes on walks. Here are a few I have enjoyed and I hope you will, too. Just follow the highlighted links. 

Here's a list of a few of my favorite native plant garden blogs and websites.

Sidewalk Nature: Joanna Brichetto's blog/website and her tag line says it all~ Look Around. Nature is us, our yards, sidewalks, parks, and parking lots.

Humane Gardener : Nancy Lawson's tag line is Cultivating compassion for all creatures great and small.

WildOnes:  Wild Ones promotes native landscapes through education, advocacy and collaborative action. The link will take you to the Middle Tennessee chapter

Home Grown National Park : Join the native plant homegrown garden movement. The website has links to keystone plants in your eco-region.

Nuts For Natives:  A self taught gardener (like many of us) who loves native plants.

Have a safe and wonderful July. xoxogail

 August: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: When Noise is Harmful

Yesterday, I hollered for Michael at the top of my voice and he couldn't hear me over the noise of 2 mowers and a leaf blower in the yard next door. To top that off, just as the new house construction across the street was nearing completion, I heard the sounds of a house being bulldozed. More noise on the way.

I really miss the quiet. I can go inside to get a break from the noise, but, I worry about the effects all that noise has on the critters that live and visit my garden.

Noise pollution is serious. 

Noise pollution in my neighborhood has had significant negative impacts on my well-being. I no longer spend a lot of time outside because the construction noise is so unpleasant. 

Noise is the second largest environmental cause of health problems, just after the impact of air pollution. Approximately 10 million persons in the US have permanent hearing loss from environmental noise or noise related trauma.  Scientists measure sound in decibels using scales to determine harmful sounds. Sound levels above 85 decibels are potentially harmful to a person’s ears. See the chart below to see how many sound sources in our lives are impacting our well being and our hearing.

Research (source) has shown that it can also significantly harm wildlife by interfering with their ability to communicate, navigate, find food, care for their offspring and avoid predators. This can lead to stress, reduced breeding success, and even population declines. In birds, alterations in foraging, vocalizations and nests were noted; laboratory studies, on the other hand, carried out on small mammals, highlighted spatio-temporal cognitive alterations and memory loss. Researchers concluded that greater attention to all ecosystems should be given as soon as possible so as to try to achieve a balance between human activity and the well-being of terrestrial fauna. (source)

September: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Fall Migration is Happening and You Know What To Do

 

First things first, turn off your outdoor lights at night. We do this every night but it's especially important now.

We can expect millions of birds to fly over many of our cities. 

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)

October: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Take Your Troubles To Your Garden

 

It has a great big heart and arms that envelope a troubled spirit. 

 

That's what I did this morning. I was feeling frustrated, exhausted and sad, but, sitting in my garden I noticed that my heart stopped racing, my breathing slowed down and my thoughts were filled with peace instead of worries. I decided to focus on what was happening around me.  

 November: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge I Challenge You To Leave The Leaves

 

It's autumn in Nashville. The temperature is cooler, there's been more rain, the sky is an intense blue and the trees in my garden are a turning a delightful golden color. 

As wonderful as fall is there's also the infuriating, obnoxious and ear damaging noise of leaf blowers. Every fall my neighbors pay lawn service contractors to haul away one of our most valuable ecological resources-fallen leaves. 

We don't have to have our leaves hauled away! We can Leave the Leaves for Wildlife! I am challenging you to think differently about fall cleanup and take the challenge to leave your leaves.

Why? Because fallen leaves are one of our most valuable resources for the health of our gardens and our environment.

 

So very glad you stopped by.

Gailxoxo 

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.