Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

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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Monarch Numbers Dropped to 2016-2017 Levels

Monarch Status

Something unbelievable has happened to the Monarch population. Due to the cold spring in the upper Midwest and the dry fall in the southwestern states, the Monarchs’ status dropped to below the 2016-2017 levels.

Scientists estimate 2.83 hectares of North American monarchs overwintering in Mexico during 2019-2020 … by WWF- Mexico and the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP). The forest area occupied by monarch butterflies represents a 53.22 percent decrease compared to last year. Eleven (11) monarch butterfly colonies were located and assessed during late December 2019; three of these were located in Michoacan and eight in the State of Mexico. Most of the area occupied (2.46 hectares) was located within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve with only 0.37 hectares outside. (Photo by Wendy Caldwell; caption from Monarch Joint Venture)

The monarch migration is comprised of three or four generations. In other words, the individual butterfly moving through Wisconsin in the fall was the grandchild or great grandchild of the adult that left the wintering areas in Mexico in the spring. According to Chip Taylor Jr, “growth rates of populations decrease as age to first reproduction increases. Because most first-generation monarchs migrate north in May and early June, the conditions during that time are critical. In 2019, those conditions — mostly lower temperature — delayed the  recolonization of the summer breeding area north of 40°N. Delayed arrivals can ripple through the rest of the breeding season, resulting in a later migration,” coupled with the drought in Texas.

What can you do to help?

Reference The Amazing Monarch Migration. Monarchs need milkweed for the spring, and during the summer and fall migration, the adults need nectar. They use asters, meadow blazingstar, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, beebalm and other native flowers (as well as some non-native ones).  The efforts to create, maintain, enhance and protect habitat for monarchs and pollinators can make a difference. Creating and maintaining habitat,  educating others, contributing data to citizen science programs and advocating for the protection of wild spaces are things we all can do.

A Side Note

The senseless killing of the environmentalist Homero Gómez González and tour guide Raúl Hernández Romero, two of the activists naturalists who worked at Mexico’s El Rosario monarch butterfly sanctuary, leave much to be concerned about. Although the Mexico government wishes to promote ecotourism and the largest and most visited sanctuary is the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve — despite the  biosphere reserves designation — the illegal logging continues. Though conservationists persist in trying to stop the logging, if it is not kept in check or stopped, the monarch butterfly and the forests will cease to exist.

 

 

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Minnesota Homeowners will Bee-Friendly Yards

Introduction

On 11/28/2019 I had a stroke. I have had a significant recovery, but I have a little more to do regarding to impairment of the Aphasia and Apraxia. I can understand everything, but it is difficult to talk, because I cannot put the right words together to be understood. (American Stroke Association)

Aphasia – Aphasia is impairment in the ability to use or comprehend words. It may cause difficulty:
• Understanding words.
• Finding the word to express a thought.
• Understanding grammatical sentences.
• Reading or writing words or sentences.

Apraxia – Apraxia of speech (verbal apraxia) is difficulty initiating and executing voluntary movement patterns necessary to produce speech when there is no paralysis or weakness of speech muscles. It may cause difficulty:
• Producing the desired speech sound.
• Using the correct rhythm and rate of speaking.

It is hard work to come back from this. But, I want to speak and start blogging. With my friends to rely on, I will begin to blog again at least once in awhile. I have a first blog complete and I will share it with you. When I have another one done, I will share it with you also. With friends, I can do it.

The Blog

Minnesota Homeowners will Bee-Friendly Yards

This will happen the bee habitat if fertilizers and pesticides allowed to be present. Slide from Wild Ones Wild for Monarchs PPT. Photo courtesy of Monika Maekle’s “Texas Butterfly Ranch” blog.

Reference my story in “Minnesota Homeowners will get paid to save Pollinators.” The State’s Board of Water and Soil Resources had 6,000 applicants for the first round of people who wanted to participate in the bee-friendly habitat program. They will pay up to $350 to plant pollinator gardens or to convert homeowners’ more traditional short-cut grass to promote a bee-friendly environment. Things are off to a very good start. (StarTribune)

Not mentioned in the StarTribune article is an anticipated concern of harming a bee-friendly habitat, through the use of fertilizers and pesticides starting in spring time and continuing through the fall. There would be a disastrous effect on the habitat for the pollinators, if there is continued use of fertilizer and pesticides. It is important to reinforce to homeowners to not use fertilizer or pesticides in their yards.

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Please Note

Dear Friends,

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will not be writing blog posts for the foreseeable future.

Donna

 

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