Accent on Natural Landscaping Inc

Donna VanBuecken

Natural Landscaping

Do you have a passion for native plants and natural landscaping? Do you wish you knew more about native plants and biodiversity? If so, I invite you to join this blog and learn about native plants, natural landscaping and biodiversity a little at a time.

As Executive Director of Wild Ones for 17 years, one of the things I enjoyed the most was to share with members and others the new and interesting information I learned about things related to the Wild Ones mission. So now as I continue on with my next life adventure, [Read more…]

Pollination continued

In my earlier post about Gardening for Pollinators, I talked primarily about pollinators and flowering plants, also known as angiosperms. But there’s a whole other group of plants out there which require pollen as well — specifically grasses and trees — known as gymnosperms.The difference between these types of plants is that angiosperms have ovaries, while gymnosperms do not.

As mentioned in my earlier post, reproduction is the driving force behind pollination. The anthers (male parts) of a flowering plant contain pollen at their tips which need to be transferred to the stigma (female parts) situated at the tip of the ovary’s style. When the two meet, germination occurs and a new flower begins to form.

Blowing in the Wind

Although pollen of some flowers can be carried by the wind to a willing stigma, gymnosperms depend upon the wind to carry their pollen from one plant to another. As you might expect, this could be an iffy situation since the fertilization would occur at the whim of the wind’s current. To make up for this haphazard distribution, the plants produce millions of grains of pollen. No wonder spring is such a tough time of the year for allergy sufferers!

The spikelets on this native Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) and Big Bluestem (Andropogan gerardii) are often referred to as their flowers. Photo by Steve Maassen

Grasses which includes grains are wind-pollinated, as are many trees. The styles of grasses are typically long and feathered to make it easier to capture the pollen grains from the air. They are arranged in groups called spikelets which are comparable to an individual flower.

The female flowers of the Red Oak (Quercus rubra) are often inconspicuous, while the male catkins hang prominently. Photo courtesy of University of Kentucky.

Many deciduous trees, on the other hand, have catkins that dangle to make it easier to capture the pollen grains. Oak, walnut, poplar, birch, willow and hazelnut are examples. Catkins are made up of a type of flower, either male or female, which must be wind-pollinated to produce fruit. Sometimes these incomplete flowers are on the same tree and sometimes on different individual trees.

The woody cone of this White Spruce (Picea glauca) contains the female parts and typically grow near the crown of the tree. Not shown here, the less conspicuous male cones are coated with a fine yellow pine pollen. Photo courtesy of Michigan State University Extension.

Conifers, however, do have both male and female parts on the same tree. Pine trees produce cones rather than flowers. The female cones are in the top branches of the tree and the male cones in the lower which makes it easier to keep the gene pool diversified.

How many times can a pollen grain fly
before it finds the right stigma?
The answer, my friends, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
(Sung to Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind.)

Flowering deciduous trees like the cherries are angiosperms and function depend upon pollination as outlined in my earlier post on Gardening for Pollinators.

Grasses and Trees as Larval Host Plants

Native grasses just as native forbs also serve as larval host plants for many native butterflies and moths. Native trees also serve as host plants providing food and shelter to butterflies and moths during their larval stage, so be sure to include them in your gardening efforts.

Grasses that serve as larval host plants.

Trees that serve as larval host plants.

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WCHF Induction Ceremony Rescheduled – May 5, 2018

Good News!

The Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame’s (WCHF) 2018 Induction Ceremony for Roy and Charlotte Lukes, George Meyer and Arlie Schorger has been rescheduled for the afternoon of May 5, 2018. Dinner will follow at the Atrium at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Here are the specifics:

Date: May 5, 2018

Place: The Atrium at SentryWorld, 601 Michigan Ave N, Stevens Point, Wisconsin

Schedule (afternoon event):

12:30  pm   Social Reception and Registration (Free) 

2:00 pm      Induction Ceremony (Free)

4:30 pm      Dinner ($25). Please purchase tickets or confirm use of April 14th Tickets.

Are Reservations Needed?    (Public is Invited)

Social Reception: No Reservations needed. Simply attend and enjoy!

Ceremony: No Reservations needed. Simply attend and enjoy!

Dinner: Tickets ($25). Reservations required. 

How to Purchase or Confirm Dinner Tickets (Eventbrite tickets from April 14th can be used for May 5th Dinner; just confirm if you plan to attend):

Order dinner tickets through Eventbrite.

Or confirm use of April 14th luncheon tickets by April 27th by contacting one of the following Event Organizers.

Joe Passineau,  WCHF President:  715-677-4047  jpassine@uwsp.edu 

Wisconsin Wildlife Federation:  608-635-0600  office@wiwf.org

Door County: Charlotte Lukes 920-823-2478, Tim Stone 920-839-2140 or Roy Thilly 920-839-2503

Hope you can join us for the celebration!

See poster.

See also Roy & Charlotte Lukes 2018 WCHF Inductees.

 

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Gardening for Pollinators

I’m working on a new PowerPoint (PPT) presentation on pollinators. Although I’ve done many presentations on natural landscaping, I’ve never done one focused on pollinators, so I thought I should understand a little more about pollination before I started developing the PPT. Here’s what I came up with….

Ecosystems

Earth is made up of naturally occurring geographical areas with similar climate, geology and soils. Within each of those ecoregions, typically there are a number of ecological regions referred to as  ecosystems made up of plants, animals, birds, butterflies, insects, organisms and the physical environment or habitat in which they live. Typically, all these elements in the ecosystem develop a mutually dependent relationship which becomes a Circle of Life.

Ordway Prairie, Pope County, Minnesota. Photo by Peter Dziuk, Minnesota Wildflowers.

Pollination and the Circle of Life

Pollination is a very important element of the Circle of Life. Why? Because the Circle of Life starts with plants and most plants depend upon pollination to reproduce.

  • Plants absorb sunlight energy through photosynthesis – solar power!
  • They use that energy to produce more plant material from water, carbon dioxide in the air, and nutrients from the soil.
  • In the process they give off oxygen – thank goodness!
  • Herbivores (primary consumers) eat the plants and use the nutrients to produce more herbivore.
  • Predators (secondary consumers ) eat the herbivores and use the nutrients to produce more carnivore.
  • When death comes, a vast suite of soil organisms (bacteria and fungi) decompose the material, returning the nutrients to the soil.
  • Which makes the nutrients available for plants to take up again, completing the Circle of Life.

Pollination is a reproductive process. Flowers offer food (nectar) to pollinators in exchange for reproduction. It occurs when pollen is transferred from the anther (male part of flower) to the stigma (female part of flower). And, it’s important to life because without pollination, we would not have vegetables and fruits to eat, and plants could not reproduce from season to season.

What Role do Pollinators Play?

Although some pollen is dispersed by the wind, birds, butterflies, bees and other insects and animals are the main transporters of pollen between flowers, hence the term pollinators. They carry the pollen which is a fine powdery dust found in the male part of the plant (anther) and contains the plant’s sperm to the female part of the plant (stigma). Some pollinators have special structures by which they carry the pollen — like the native bees. Others like butterflies, bats and other insects carry the pollen from one flower to another when it affixes itself to their bodies, legs and wings.

Gardening for Pollinators

Flowers and pollinators co-evolved, developing features that make the exchange of pollen and nectar successful. To support native pollinators, we need to grow the native plants with which they evolved. Because they evolved together, native plants have the “right” features. Here are some examples.

Native habitat is disappearing rapidly in our USA as fencerows are being destroyed for crop farming and land is being developed for residential, commercial and manufacturing use.* It is important to support pollinators by growing native plants to provide nectar and pollen throughout the seasons, and to make sure host plants are included that provide food and shelter for larval development. It is also important to provide access to clean water and to create variable heights for shelter and nesting. Above all, use insecticides sparingly, if at all.

Lastly, tolerate a little mess – leave dead snags and leaf litter, keep some areas bare for ground nesting insects, and tolerate non-noxious, non-invasive weeds that provide food and shelter for pollinators.

*According to Doug Tallamy in the film Hometown Habitat, only 5% of our land remains as native habitat. 42% is being used for crop framing and 53% for development.

See also A Naturally Landscaped Yard and A Living Landscape Mimics Nature. Although focusing on birds, these yard designs are appropriate for pollinators as well.

Garden Design from Previous Posts

Small Corner Native Plant Garden

Are Cultivars Pollinator-Friendly?

Trees & Shrubs for Early Pollinators

Trees and Shrubs for Early Nesters

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The Very Hungary Caterpillar

I found this little video on a friend’s Facebook page and couldn’t resist sharing it. It’s from Deep Look – PBS. Enjoy!

Why Is The Very Hungry Caterpillar So Dang Hungry?

It's hoarding protein! Not just for itself, but for the butterfly it will become and every egg that butterfly will lay. And it's about to lose its mouth… as it wriggles out of its skin during metamorphosis.

Posted by Deep Look • PBS on Thursday, April 12, 2018

It’s hoarding protein! Not just for itself, but for the butterfly it will become and every egg that butterfly will lay. And it’s about to lose its mouth… as it wriggles out of its skin during metamorphosis.

Thank you Rick Webb for making me aware of this great little video.

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