Planting a Native Plant Garden

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New Native Garden (2)

My new native garden looks a bit bare at present, but it includes 19 bee-and-butterfly-pleasing plants.

Today, I helped create my first totally native plant garden. I and the person who helps me in the garden planted 17 new natives to accompany the two that were already there. (This same bed formerly held overgrown day lilies that I had grown thoroughly tired of. Therefore, the crescent-shaped bed itself was already made.)

In its new iteration, the bed is in its infancy and is therefore not beautiful. But I am confident that it will be in a year or two.

Design Considerations

As we designed the garden, we aimed to complement the two existing plants, a button bush and a thimble weed, both planted last year, both doing well. We put the tallest plants — wild monarda, or bee balm (3), and penstemon (2) — in the middle. Around the edges, we planted Virginia Mountain mint (3), prairie dropseed grass (3), nodding wild onion (2), coreopsis (2), and golden alexander (1). At the end of the garden, where it extends out further, we planted an aster. We purchased all these plants (plus a few more) last weekend at the annual Native Plant Sale at Matthaei Botanical Gardens. We bought the original two there at last year’s sale. ... Read More

5 Citizen Science Projects for Kids and Grownups

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Monarch Mirror Image

This image of a tagged monarch butterfly was taken from the web and made into a mirror image.

The monarchs have started their long journey south, to their winter homes in Mexico.

Many birds have already begun their southward flights, too — an annual event many of us notice when our backyards become noticeably quieter.

By becoming citizen scientists, observers of these migrations and other phenomena of nature can help scientists learn what is happening to butterflies, birds and many other creatures.

What is Citizen Science?

According to the Scientific American, Citizen Science is a way non-specialists can join teams of scientists in research. SciStarter.com adds, “Science is our most reliable system of gaining new knowledge, and citizen science is the public involvement in inquiry and discovery of new scientific knowledge. A citizen science project can involve one person or millions of people collaborating towards a common goal. Typically, public involvement is in data collection, analysis, or reporting.” ... Read More

4 Ways to Create Habitat for Native Bees

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Swamp milkweed

A bee enjoys the nectar of a swamp milkweed — good for butterflies, too!

Listening to an episode of The Environment Report on NPR recently, I was surprised to hear these words:

“Scientists are looking to see if other bees can fill in the gaps left by honey bees.”

This idea made me laugh, if somewhat ruefully. The speaker seemed to be implying that the bees were just hanging around, waiting for humans to discover them, rather than simply going about the business of feeding themselves, as all bees and other pollinators do.

The story went on to explain that nearly 20,000 species of bees already do a great deal of pollinating. Most do not live in social hives, however, like honey bees. Rather, many of them are solitary. They nest in the ground or in hollow reeds, or even in a modern “bee hotel.” ... Read More

The “Bugs” of Serendipity Gardens: an Invisible Army

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Grasshopper camaflaged

One of my gardening goals for this year was to pay more attention to the bugs in Serendipity Gardens. I am using the term “bugs” very broadly to include all the small creatures that crawl, hop,  or fly — such as bees, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, and spiders. In this post, the word “bug” also includes creatures that camouflage themselves perfectly, like the grasshopper in the photo, and more. Put more simply, my intent was to learn more about ALL my garden’s inhabitants. ... Read More