Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

Non-Native Plants reduce Food availability for Birds

Doug Tallamy, Desiree Narango and Peter Marra* have provided more definitive data about the importance of native trees and shrubs for the livelihood of insect-eating birds. In this case, their research focused primarily on the Caroline Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis). In their report Nonnative plants reduce population growth of an insectivorous bird printed in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS) Doug and his team concluded:

Doug Tallamy says a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) pair brings 390-570 caterpillars to their young per day for 16 days. Photo by Doug Tallamy.

“We monitored reproduction and survival of Carolina chickadees within residential yards and found that when nonnative plants increased, both insect availability and chickadee population growth declined. We also found that populations could only be sustained if nonnative plants constituted <30% of plant biomass. Our results demonstrate that nonnative plants reduce habitat quality for insectivorous birds and restoration of human-dominated areas should prioritize native plants to support local food webs.” (PNAS) [Read more…]

Thanksgiving Day 2018

Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum) dropping a blanket of leaves over our yard.

Tomorrow is “Thanksgiving Day.” A holiday set aside to give thanks for the harvest and for the blessings we have, starting with the Pilgrims in 1621. Even though the future of our harvests seems a little uncertain these days because of the undoing of legislation our federal government is undertaking with respect to the safety of our environment and our protected lands, there is still much to be thankful for in our personal lives. For me, the plentiful summer harvest I was allowed to reap is something for which I am very thankful. Another is the health and happiness of not only my husband and myself, but also our family and friends. May this Thursday find you able to be thankful for many things as well, and looking forward to better things in the future.

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First Snowfall of 2018-19

First snowfall of 2018-19 season highlighting what’s left of this past summer’s prairie.

Although it’s not the winter season yet, we had our first snowfall here in Northeast Wisconsin. I love how fresh and new a good snowfall always makes everything look. But now I wonder if I’m ever going to get the rest of the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) leaves spread out over our yard. I’ve found over the years, that the leaves from the three huge maples that line one edge of our driveway do not break down as readily as the native maple leaves do. The Norway Maple leaves tend to smother underlying plant material, so we typically make every attempt to get them broken up and moved around in the fall as much as we can.

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