Category: Garden and Landscape Design | Accent on Natural Landscaping

WOFVA Chapter Plant Sale Orders Due March 31, 2021

March 14, 2021

Female monarch nectaring rough blazingstar (*Liatris aspera*).

Are you starting to get excited about spring and getting out in your yard? Digging in the dirt? Planting new plants, trees, and shrubs? Are you asking yourself what you can do for butterflies, bees, and other pollinators? Then you should know about the Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter’s annual native-plant sale. Orders for native plants, trees, and shrubs are due Saturday, March 31, 2021.

Native plants are the host plants and food source for most native pollinators and insects. They evolved together, so it’s natural that they would rely on each other for their preservation. In this day and age of bee-colony collapse, monarch-butterfly loss, and insect eradication, it’s important for all of us to do our part by gardening for wildlife. Without bees and other insects, many of the foods we eat would not be pollinated naturally, which means our meals would be a different experience and would become more costly.

The Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter’s annual spring native plant sale will be held at the WILD Center in Neenah, Wisconsin (2285 W. Butte Des Morts Beach Road, Neenah, Wisconsin), on May 22, 2021.

Chapter volunteers sorting pre-orders of native plants. — Chapter volunteers sorting orders of native plants. Photo by Donna VanBuecken.

The plant sale order form identifies all plants, trees, and shrubs offered as to ecotype (shade, sun, mesic, etc.). There are also some pre-designed collections of prairie and shade plants available, and a listing specifically for monarchs and pollinators. If you need assistance in selecting native plants, see alternatives to non-native cultivars and nativars.

Plants are in 4-inch pots and are more than reasonably priced at $6 per plant. Trees and shrubs are individually marked. There is also special pricing available for non-profits purchasing plants for their outdoor learning centers and habitats.

Don’t forget to place your order!

Orders are due Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

Pick up is May 22, 2021, from 9AM to 2PM.

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The e-mail photo is by Robert Carlson.

http://www.accentnatural.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/WOFVA-PlantSale-BackUp.docx

Developing a Naturally Landscaped Yard

March 9, 2021

Donald L. Vorphal died on January 11, 2021. Photo courtesy of the Vorpahl family.

When I started to plan my prairie in 1986, I didn’t know what I was doing. In fact, I’m not even certain I understood what was a native plant. I learned about the benefit/necessity of surveying my property from Don Vorpahl. Don was one of the first native-landscape designers in Wisconsin and an early member of Wild Ones. His generosity in sharing what he had learned about the fledgling native-landscaping movement was immensely helpful, and I shall always be grateful for his ready counseling. He was a good friend of Wild Ones.

See his article titled “Planting a Woodland” in the Wild Ones book Landscaping With Native Plants.

Landscaping Design

I started developing my yard by surveying my property, and then as I planned to add to my natural landscaping, I updated my design. This gave me better control over what I was trying to achieve, instead of a “willy-nilly plunking in” of plants in our yard. We now have a very large prairie in our backyard (south) and an adjacent woodland in our sideyard (east).

Benefits of Native Landscaping

Where once we had 1-1/3 acres of lawn that took my husband all week to mow because of its soggy nature and Northland Creek’s tendency to overflow, he now has about an hour’s mowing. The rest of our week’s time is spent enjoying the birds, the insects, and the rest of the wildlife that frequents our beautiful yard. We are fortunate to have mature bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) and shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) on our site, so we built our prairie and woodland around them.

The summer storm that came through in July 2019 uprooted our green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) throughout our prairie. It’s always sad to lose a mature tree, but in this case losing the green ash was not so bad. When we planted our prairie, the trees were small and cast little shade on our back yard. But over the past 30 years, they have grown to an immense stature with a very dense canopy and have changed the dynamics of our prairie. Now the dynamics of the prairie will rebound. Never have I seen so many native plants spring up. The yellows, purples, and whites just crept up and filled in the spaces.

Where Did We Get the Native Plants?

Many of the prairie and shade plants in our yard came from plant rescues arranged through my Wild Ones chapter, Fox Valley Area. Other plants came from my chapter’s spring plant sales. Seed for the original planting came from Prairie Nursery. Subsequent overseedings have come from Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter seed exchanges, Prairie Nursery, Wild Ones Fox Valley Area Chapter plant sales, and through the nursery catalogs that have become increasingly more available.

Growing Old

Donna and John's backyard prairie hosts many insects and a variety of other wildlife. — Donna and John’s backyard prairie hosts many insects and a variety of other wildlife.

As we grow older, our landscaping grows older with us. Soon, we may not be able to care for it as well as we do now, but our hope is that it will care for itself when we get to that point. I am also hoping that by then the invasive noxious weeds I’ve written about previously will have ceased to be a problem.

For more information about planting your own naturally landscaped yard, you can also read the book Wild Ones Landscaping with Native Plants on the EPA website.

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The e-mail photo is by Donna VanBuecken.

Bird/Pollinator-Friendly Garden

February 16, 2021

As cold as it has been, the birds have nowhere to go other than to hunker down in the bushes and leaf piles. Just sparrows – this was a result of my bird count.

In general, bird are nature’s messengers. As populations of birds change, those fluctuations may indicate shifts in pollution levels, climate change, habitat loss, migration timing, and more. How will birds be affected by habitat loss, pollution, disease, climate, and other environmental changes? How will you change?

Bird/Pollinator-Friendly Garden

Plant a landscape in which birds and pollinators will have a chance of dealing with climate change. More native plants means more choices of food and shelter for native birds and pollinators. More native plants will be colorful, visually appealing, and more healthy for the landscape. The landscape will need no watering or fertilizer because of the deep roots. More than half of the birds and pollinators are threatened as a result of the changing world.

The National Audubon Society has some points for your native-plant garden:

Chickadees feed 300+/- caterpillars to their chicks daily. Photo by Doug Tallamy. — Chickadees feed about 300 caterpillars to their chicks daily. In the 16 days it takes to fledge, chicks can eat more than 9,000 larvae. Photo by Doug Tallamy.

557: Varieties of butterflies and moths are supported by native oak trees, as compared to only 5 butterfly and moth species supported by non-native ginkgo trees.

96: Percentage of land birds that rely on insects to feed chicks.

1,200: Number of crops that depend on pollinators to grow.

30-60: Percent of fresh water in American cities used for watering lawns.

40 million: Acres of lawn in the U.S. currently.

80 million: Pounds of pesticides applied to lawns in the U.S. annually. Native plants, on the other hand, support a balance of predator and prey, and thrive without pesticides.

17 million: Gallons of fuel used each year for refueling lawn equipment while polluting the air and groundwater.

800 million: Gallons of gasoline used annually by lawn mowers. This produces significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, driving climate change.

Easy Ways to Create Bird/Pollinator Friendly Gardens

Recommended native plants for sunny areas by designer Rosemary Eiden (WOFVAC).

Create native landscapes that will benefit birds and pollinators and you. This website provides practical, educationally sound information on native landscaping developed specifically for first-time native-plant gardeners. Included in the website is native-garden designs created by professional landscape designers for multiple ecoregions in the United States. The native-plant list takes into account the various light, soil, and moisture conditions. Read more at the Wild Ones.

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The e-mail photo is by Doug Tallamy.

A Small Native Plant Garden

January 19, 2021

Ken Sikora wrote this in an e-mail the other day: “Thanks for the Winter Seeding of a Prairie, Donna! Just last Thursday I did broadcast seeds in an existing prairie, trying to improve the wildflower diversity and fill in some thin spots. I did it knowing it was going to rain Friday, which would help force the seeds to the ground. Now, I’ll just sit back and wait a couple of years to see the results.”

A Small Native Plant Garden

Generally, I have been asked to assist in the plant design of large prairie fields, but this one is a small planting. One of the objectives of the design was to create a somewhat bold statement in sheer volume of foliage and color to draw attention to the site, as well as create a natural setting to attract pollinators and birds.

Bumblebee on Meadow Blazingstar (*Liatris ligulistylis*) with Sweet Black-eyed Susan (*Rudbeckia subtomentos*a). Photo by Joan Rudolph.

The Site

The site is a northeast corner lot that receives morning sun and faces south. It is shaded by a mature Red Maple (Acer rubrum) tree. The tree is approximately 8 feet from the edge of the area to be planted. The soil is medium. The area is approximately 9 x 18 feet or 162 square feet.

Maple trees are notorious for hogging surface water, so this will make a difference in the plant selection. The maple tree is likely far enough away so the root system may not interfere all that much with the garden (although their roots seem to extend forever), but I suspect the canopy will. We definitely want to stay away from plants that require a lot of moisture, like rain gardens do.

Native Plant Suggestions in Order of Bloom:

May-Jun Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

May –Jul Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)

Jun-Aug Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

Jun-Jul Smooth Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis)

Jun-Sep Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) or,

Jul-Oct Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba) Deadhead some Brown-eyed Susan in fall; aggressive seeders.

Nodding Pink Onion (*Allium cernuum*). Photo by Joan Rudolph.

Jul-Aug Nodding Pink Onion (Alliium cernuum) Deadhead some Nodding Onion in fall; aggressive seeders.

Jul-Sep Lavendar Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Aug-Oct New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae) Pinch back in June to maintain a shorter stature.

Aug-Oct Heath Aster (Aster ericoides)

Aug-Oct Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

Others native plants to consider include:

May-Jun Long Beaked Sedge (Carex sprengelii)

Jun-Aug Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Jul-Sep Bergamot (Monarda fisitulosa) Will stay shorter in dryer soils.

Jul-Sep Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) Will stay shorter in dryer soils.

Jul-Oct Zig Zag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis)

Aug-Sep Meadow Blazingstar (Liatris ligulistylis) Over 3 feet tall, but not bushy. As a specimen plant, the city might not object.

Remember to humanize your native garden. Be BRASH About Planning for Nature.

This is a small garden. No need to plant spectacle plants. That is NO Siliphiums (Cupplant, Campusplant, Prairie Dock and Rosinweed). NO Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium). NO Baptisia (Blue False, Cream False and White False Indigo).

To develop a successful garden with plants blooming throughout the season, we need to be mindful of the amount of moisture as well as sunlight the plants require.

Remember! A native plant out of place is not a native plant.