Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

Reminder – Wisconsin Landscape Pesticide Registry

You can now sign up for the 2019 Wisconsin Landscape Pesticide Registry. You must enroll by February 1, 2019 to be included in 2019’s registry.

If you've ever been outside when someone is spraying lawn chemicals, you'll want to be sure you get on this registry. It's typically a smelly affair. Photo by Jason Lugo/E+/Getty Images.
If you’ve ever been outside when someone is spraying lawn chemicals, you’ll want to be sure you get on this registry. It’s typically a smelly affair and dangerous for your lungs and nasal passages. Photo by Jason Lugo/E+/Getty Images

What is the Wisconsin Landscape Registry?

If you are a Wisconsin resident and you register your property, you will be notified 12 hours before commercial pesticide applicators apply pesticides to neighboring property. Using the Registry, requires you list the properties you want to be notified about. Then companies check that list against their lists of customers. [Read more…]

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…]

Planning a Natural Habitat

If you are thinking of adding more native plants to your landscaping, early fall is a good time of the year to do so. But first, survey your property.

Making a Plan

Evergreens provide a perfect screen for unwanted light and for privacy.

Although it is best to  have photos of your house and landscape throughout the seasons, start now by photographing your house and yard from several angles. Then print the photos in as large a scale as you can.

The next step is the fun part. Start looking through native plant catalogs for the plants you want to incorporate. Consider the colors you want to add — when and where. Consider the lines and shapes –height and fullness. Consider the wildlife you want to attract — birds, bees, butterflies. Consider obstructions and distractions — neighboring trees, street lights, sump pump hoses. And finally, consider the harmony between all these elements in the habitat as you lay your choices on your photos. See the various chapters in Wild Ones booklet Landscaping with Native Plants which is stored on the EPA website. [Read more…]

Fall Clean-Up of Your Habitat

Reference my earlier post dated December 5, 2016 entitled Fall Habitat Maintenance and the comment from Stephen Thomforde regarding heterogeneity as it relates to leaving the leaves. Specifically Stephen wanted to remind us that we should “manage our landscape in ways that mimic biomass harvest by grazing animals and biotic fire.”

I thought with this post I would add to the list of things to do for fall clean-up mentioned in the above referenced post. [Read more…]