Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

Nature’s Best Hope

Introduction

I want to explain why it has been so long since I have written a blog post. The hospital was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and my therapy sessions were put on hold. Because my friends bought me an iPad, I was able to continue without a therapist. Recently, I have started therapy again at the Neuroscience Group with Nicole Shafran, along with the aid of the Google Duo video app.

Nicole said I could do my blog as part of my therapy, since it will be helpful to my recovery. I have Nicole for two days a week, and I think I will write a blog post about every other week.

The Blog

Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard

You have probably heard of the second book authored by Doug Tallamy. It would be too long for me to read it right now, but I hope you will read it. Here is a good review by Angela Tanner.

Angela explains, “In Nature’s Best Hope, Doug Tallamy takes topics from his popular book Bringing Nature Home (Workman Publishing, 2009) and expands upon them. He explains, with examples and statistics, what is happening to the ecological systems around us, and why we should care. This book is geared toward the private landowner – not one whose primary landscaping concern is how green their lawn is – but one who could also be convinced to be concerned about the alarming decline of birds, insects, and other wildlife.” Read more of the book review.

The NPCC Invites You to the “Nature’s Best Hope” Presentation

The Native Plant Conservation Campaign (NPCC) invites you to enjoy Doug Tallamy’s popular “Nature’s Best Hope” online presentation. Emily B. Roberson says, “Native plant gardens help local wildlife and support vital ecosystem services such as water purification, storm protection, and climate moderation. Tallamy has a new book and presentation, “Nature’s Best Hope,” which describe advances in our understanding of how individual homeowners can help fight the extinction and climate crises and save the planet…all by gardening with beautiful local natives!”

It is wonderful that we, as gardeners, place so much value on wildlife and the flowers we hold dear. Gardening makes me happy, and growing native plants makes me so very happy!

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Plants & Pollinators

Another bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) finds Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) a welcome treat.

Reference my blog Things We can do for Pollinators. This is a reference in a nutshell for pollinators — bats, hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and moths. Supply your garden with a buffet for pollinators. Choose the plants that are best for your site, and keep your garden buzzing and humming by serving only the best plants for pollinators.

Courtesy of the Prairie Nursery, please download our Plants & Pollinators Chart for a look at which plants serve which pollinators, and which are host plants for butterflies and moths. Plants are arranged seasonally to help you maximize pollinator support across the growing season.

Test Your Skills

From the Wisconsin Pollinators  – test your knowledge of botany vocabulary: Botany Vocabulary.

From the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – test your knowledge: Pollinator Partners.

From Wild Ones Twin Cities Chapter – a natural-landscaping crossword puzzle to download.

Gardening for Pollinators

For an in-depth look – from the ecosystems to the gardening to the pollinators — see the blog Gardening for Pollinators.

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Webinars for You

Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA)

Thank goodness for Virginia Waterfleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum), one of the first flowering plants to bloom in the spring.

Here is a note from the Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA) along with information about some interesting webinars: “As people across the country and around the world adapt by the day to ongoing limitations on gathering with family and friends and to new restrictions on movements around favorite green spaces, ELA is offering a new webinar series, A Walk in the Garden, that we hope will provide our community with much needed respite. Even when we can’t enjoy our green spaces in person, we take solace knowing that they will still be there when we return.” (ELA)

Registration is required for each webinar — but they are free!

  • April 8, Noon ET Adventures with Oddities: Strange and Noteworthy Native Plants From unique flavors to hilarious names to the oddest survival strategies, there are strange and noteworthy plants right outside our back doors if we simply know where to look.
  • April 15, Noon ET Pollinator Ecology Explore the garden with a focus on the basics of pollination ecology and discover how to maximize food production by encouraging both native and exotic pollinators.
  • April 22, Noon ET Save the Pollinators! Save the Planet! Beyond providing refuge for six-legged friends under siege, found out how your garden can play a vital role in rebuilding the local ecosystem and creating climate resilience.
  • April 29, Noon ET Planting Design Considerations Explore the garden while thinking first about plants in terms of their form and function, and then learn some strategies to best lay out your planting plan.
  • May 6, Noon ET Art and Design Principles for Ecological Landscapes Ecological design is based on the same principles as landscape design, however, practitioners can become caught up in the arrangement of elements and materials and forget that the application of art and design principles are critical to evoke meaning, intent and order.
  • May 13, Noon ET  Tenacious Plants for Tough Places  Join Andi Pettis to explore some of the toughest plants growing in NYC urban parks both the cultivated species and some of the plants that grew wild, spontaneously and without any care or thought from human beings.
  • May 20, Noon ET  Spring Ephemerals Join Darrah Cole on a virtual walk along The Greenway in April and May to discover the surprising delights of spring ephemeral and bulbs.
  • May 27, Noon ET Mountain Top Arboretum – Timber Frame Education Center from Catskill Native Trees Join Marc Wolf for an inspiring visit to the Mountain Top Arboretum forest – from whence came the Arboretum’s new timber frame Education Center.

Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC)

Great Egrets (Ardea alba) fishing along Northland Creek in the Fox Valley, Outagamie County, Wisconsin.

And here is a note and a list of some more great seminars from the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC): Please use our free library of live webinars. These are some things you might find suitable.

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Prairie Strips have Big Impacts on Pollinators and Water Pollution

Iowa State University initiated a program in 2003 which focuses on planting tallgrass native prairie strips in farm fields, benefiting soil, water and biodiversity. It is called STRIPS. The benefits determined so far can be found in their easy to read report Prairie Strips: Small Changes, Big Impacts.

Prairie STRIPS

The Science-based Trials of Row-crops Integrated with Prairie Strips (STRIPS) program studies the effects of native tallgrass prairie on soil, water, and biodiversity on farms.

Photo of prairie strip courtesy of Iowa State University

Strips of native prairie of varying sizes have been planted on experimental and commercial farms. The strips are often employed in concert with other regenerative agriculture techniques such as cover crops and no-till practices. (Regenerative agriculture seeks to capture carbon in soil and above-ground biomass to reduce greenhouse gas accumulation and support soil health, water quality and native wildlife.)

After several years of data collection, the STRIPS team found including even a small amount of native prairie on a farm substantially improves water quality and nutrient retention, reduces erosion, and generates other benefits.

For example, in farmed watersheds, the addition of only “10 percent prairie reduced sediment export by 95 %, phosphorus export by 90 %, and nitrogen export by nearly 85 % in surface runoff water when compared 100 percent row crop watersheds.”

Tallgrass prairie is a diverse mixture of native grasses and flowering plants uniquely adapted to the climate and soils of the central United States. Prairie strips keep vital soil resources in crop fields. Deep-rooted prairie plants increase soil organic matter and improve water infiltration. The
plants’ stiff, upright stems slow surface runoff and help hold soil in place during heavy rains. (Prairie Strips: Small Changes, Big Impacts) Photo taken at Flint Hills Scenic Byway Wildflower Identification Garden

Further, after seven years, “an average of 51 native plant species were found in prairie strips, compared to 13 species found within the row crop areas.” These native plants, of course, provide habitat for birds, small mammals, bees and butterflies, and other beneficial organisms that cycle nutrients, increase soil fertility, and provide pest control and pollination services. Fields with prairie strips host “twice as many birds and bird species than those with 100 percent row crops.” (Prairie Strips: Small Changes, Big Impacts)

There is one concern, however. The Xerces Society is concerned about the results from farmers who are integrating the STRIPS program, but still using agricultural chemicals in the surrounding row crops. These chemicals could potentially harm pollinators and other organisms attracted to the prairie strips. The Xerces Society is monitoring this concern.

A really good article about the STRIPS program can be found at Civil Eats.

Wouldn’t it be grand if farmers would begin to reverse the loss of native habitat and biodiversity which has resulted because of modern-day agricultural practices, by simply adding some prairie strips to their fields? ‘Practical and beautiful as well!

The information above was reprinted in part from the Native Plant Conservation Campaign with permission from Emily B Roberson, PhD.

Thanks also to Sharon Bochner who brought a similar article to my attention.

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