Swallowtail butterflies – center stage

There are times that I get pretty obsessed with the wildlife in my yard. The first year that hummingbirds started hanging around, I would sit on the front porch for extended periods of time, with my camera on a tripod, waiting to get the perfect photos of the little fluttering jewels. I took thousands of photos. And although I never did grow tired of seeing the hummingbirds (and, hopefully, never will) I did quit taking so many photos of them. After all, I hardly have time to look through the photos, much less do anything else with them.

I get the same way whenever any new creature comes on the scene, and since we garden for wildlife, our photo-ops are pretty common.

My most recent garden obsession is the swallowtail caterpillars that are on some of our herb plants. Swallowtails laid eggs on our dill and fennel plants, and most of them were soon quickly devoured by some visiting wasps. I haven’t seen the wasps in awhile, and the caterpillars are again taking over those plants. But even more caterpillars are on the potted parsley plant that is right outside our front door. This has given me a great opportunity to watch much of the caterpillar/butterfly lifecycle, but still not enough to figure out what is happening to most of the caterpillars.

At any given time, there appear to be close to 100 caterpillars in various growth stages. They get huge, and although a few end up going to chrysalis, they don’t all appear to be making it to that stage – or at least I can’t figure out where they are going. Someday I am going to invest in one of those “critter cams” so I can keep an eye on my critters from a distance.

The video at the top of this post is fairly long, but it shows how a caterpillar changes to chrysalis. I always thought that the chrysalis was formed OVER the striped caterpillar skin, but this video clearly shows that the caterpillar sheds its skin as it turns into a chrysalis.

Gardening for wildlife is a great way to learn more about the “critters” that we can protect by practicing eco-friendly landscaping.

If you don’t have butterflies in your own garden, be sure and stop by a butterfly garden at one of the local botanical gardens such as Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy Butterfly and Caterpillar Exhibit or the Butterfly Habitat Garden at the Smithsonian. **Note: Always check before visiting any of the local butterfly gardens, as they are sometimes closed due to weather, including extreme heat.

Favorite Native Plants, Peggy Bowers, Mount Vernon Estate

Last year I did a series of posts listing the Favorite Native Plants of some members of the local gardening community. (See bottom of this post for a listing)

Since I’m such a big fan of native plants, I decided to run a few more posts on this topic.

My first post in this years Native Plant series is from Peggy Bowers, Garden and Greenhouse Manager at Mount Vernon Estate, Museum and Gardens.

Here’s what Peggy had to say about favorite native plants:

I am delighted to be able to contribute to the Metro DC Lawn and Garden Blog. I have been a long time advocate on the importance of using native plants in both our home gardens and commercial landscapes. With the tremendous loss of natural habitat, incorporating native plants into our gardens is more important than ever.

During the 18^th century, habitat loss was much less an issue than today, but native plants were still much appreciated and used simply for their beauty. General George Washington used many native plants in his gardens and landscape at his beloved Mount Vernon, collecting many from his woodlands and forest. Today at the Mount Vernon Estate we are still growing those same varieties of plants that George Washington so appreciated in his lifetime.

While all native plants fill a niche in nature, many also bring more to the party making them must-have garden plants. Here are a few of my favorite native plants that will make excellent additions to almost any garden.

When it comes to vines I love the well-behaved Coral honeysuckle,  Lonicera sempervirens. Blooming most of the summer, the nectar found in the red trumpet shaped flowers is a favorite of the ruby-throated hummingbird, while the red berries provide a good food source for many of our native songbirds.

Another must-have in my garden is the beautiful Echinacea purpurea or purple cone flower. Coneflowers are great food source for all kinds of pollinators including butterflies, bees and wasps while the seeds are a favorite of our brightly colored American Goldfinch. Echinacea now come in a huge array of colors and heights making them great additions to any garden.

While there are many great shrubs to choose from Itea virginica or Virginia sweetspire is at the top of my list. Well suited to either moist or average soil they are happy in both full sun and partial shade. They provide year round interest starting with beautiful fragrant white bottle brush shaped flowers in June, gorgeous red to orange fall color and dark red stems in the winter. The flowers are great for butterflies and other pollinators and the seeds are eaten by vireos, warblers and orioles. Two outstanding selections that are readily available are ‘Henry’s Garnet’ and’ Little Henry’’. “Henry’s Garnet” grows 4 to 5 feet and will have consistently brilliant red fall color while Little Henry, at under 3 feet, is very suitable to smaller spaces and looks terrific massed on a hillside.

As for trees, one of my favorite native trees which should be used more often is Asimina triloba or paw-paw. Growing naturally along river banks and in moist forests, it also adapts well to average garden soil and moisture. Growing 15 to 30 feet it has a beautiful dark maroon flowers in early spring, tropical looking 6 to 12 inch leaves, delicious aromatic fruit and beautiful yellow fall color. If all of this was not enough reason to grow it, the paw-paw tree is also the sole food source of the larvae of the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly.

I hope this helps to inspire you to incorporate even more native plants into your garden to share with our native butterflies, bees and birds.

Thanks so much for your input, Peggy. I wonder if George Washington enjoyed the hummingbirds and butterflies as much as you and I do?

Link for more information on Mount Vernon Estate, Museum and Gardens.

Resources for native plant information: Native Plant Center and Lady Bird Johnson Wildflowercenter

Previous posts:

• George Washington – Founding Native Gardener
• Favorite Native Plants – Alex Dencker
• Favorite Native Plants – Thomas Rainer
• Favorite Native Plants – Kathy Jentz
• Favorite Native Plants – Alison Gillespie
• Favorite Native Plants – Steve Bates
• Favorite Native Plants – Marlene Condon

Native Plants for Wildlife

I always suggest that people add at least some native plant species to their landscapes. I think native plants are good for several reasons. They are generally better adapted to the conditions of the local environment so they shouldn’t need as much care, water and fertilizer as other plants might.

One of the other reasons that I recommend native plants is that they are usually the best choices for providing food for local wildlife.

But then I started thinking about butterflies. You may already know that butterflies all have specific plants that they use for their host plants. Host plants are the plants on which butterflies lay their eggs and caterpillars dine while they are getting big enough to go to chrysalis, before hatching into butterflies.

Some of my favorite butterflies – those of the swallowtail family – dine on dill, parsley and fennel. In fact, I often end up spending ridiculous amounts of money on these plants to make sure that my gluttonous caterpillars don’t run out of food.

And to the best of my knowledge, those plants aren’t native. So I wondered if there were native plants that those butterflies dined on before early European settlers starting bringing over their favorite herbs and spices.

I have a couple of favorite sites for checking butterfly info so I check there first. The Butterflies and Moths of North America website lists the plants I knew about as well as Queen Anne’s Lace as a host plant. I checked, and Queen Anne’s Lace is not a native, and is also considered invasive in some areas.

None of my other usual sites listed any other plants except saying “plants of the carrot family”. I FINALLY found one source that listed these native species for Black Swallowtails.

native species

• mock bishopweed, Ptilimnium capillaceum (Michx.) Raf.

• roughfruit scaleseed, Spermolepis divaricata (Walter) Raf.

• spotted water hemlock, Cicuta maculata L.

• water cowbane, Oxypolis filiformis (Walter) Britton

• wedgeleaf eryngo, Eryngium cuneifolium (Small)

Personally, I will probably keep buying a little parsley, dill and fennel for these beautiful creatures. We really don’t mind sharing. But if anyone knows of any NATIVE plant species that swallowtail caterpillars dine on, I’d love it if you let me know what works.

Happy gardening!

National Pollinator Week - June 18-24th

I guess it’s a little apropos that I was so absorbed with the butterflies in my yard (see my last two posts: #1, #2) that I forgot to mention that this week is National Pollinator Week. Or maybe it snuck up on me because it is typically the final week in June (which is next week instead of this week).

In any case, National Pollinator Week is a great time to learn more about the valuable benefits that pollinators play in our gardens and in world-wide food production.

Five years ago, the first Pollinator Week was celebrated with  the unanimous approval of the  U.S. Senate.  Pollinator Week is now an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles.

It is estimated that about 90% of all flowering plants rely on animal pollination (as opposed to wind pollination) and over 200,000 species of animals participate in the pollinating. Without pollinators, many plants would never produce fruit or set seed and many of the foods we eat would no longer be available. As if a world lacking chocolate and coffee wouldn’t be bad enough, wild creatures that rely on pollinated plants for food and shelter could also disappear.

Like so many other species, some pollinators are showing steady population declines. Although the declines in honeybee populations are mainly due to diseases, declines in wild pollinator populations are attributed to habitat loss, competition from invasive species and exposure to pesticides. This is a valuable reminder about why it is important for eco-friendly gardeners to eliminate pesticides.

There are several activities in the area to celebrate Pollinator Week, listed on the events page of the Pollinator Week website. But a visit to any of the local butterfly gardens or to a local beekeeper may be the best way to learn more about these important garden visitors.

And don’t forget that another great way to help protect pollinators is by supporting the Pollinator Plate project.

There are many posts on this blog related to butterflies and hummingbirds, two of my favorite pollinators. You can use the Topic Index at top to find them. Here are a few posts related specifically to pollinators:

• Attracting Pollinators
• 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Honey Bees
• First Rooftop Garden Built for Bees

There is Nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so

Most of us have heard the quotation above. It is a quote from Hamlet by William Shakespeare: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Shakespeare also penned the line “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” which is proceeded by the line “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy.”

As a gardener, those lines often come to mind when I think of both weeds and bugs.

Weeds, native flowers, wildflowers, flowers. Whether they are welcome or unwelcome is really up to us and how we choose to think of them.

The same, is certainly true of visiting garden critters. Good bug, bad bug, beneficial insect.

For the past week, I’ve been watching an “army” of caterpillars dining on the dill and fennel plants in our garden. Now, “army” wouldn’t be my choice of words to describe caterpillars, but it seems to be the preferred word to use when describing a collection of these crawling critters.

And although  some people would see chomping caterpillars as “bad” bugs, quickly decimating the dill and fennel plants, I love watching the whole process of egg to caterpillar to butterfly and was delighted to go out every morning and watch their progress.

But what started out as an “army” of at least two dozen tiny swallowtail caterpillars soon turned into ten, then seven and now its down to two.

What conquered my “army” of caterpillars? A wasp. The kind of wasp that many people see as a beneficial insect just because they DO dine on caterpillars. So in my garden, this good guy (wasp) has definitely turned into the bad guy.

The irony of the whole thing is, there was a time when I introduced those wasps into my yard.  I'm always trying to find alternatives to using toxic chemicals in my landscape because I know that they can pollute the environment. So to test the effectiveness of purchased beneficial insects I ordered ladybugs, green lacewing larvae and caterpillar-eating wasps. Of course, I was thinking more about getting rid of the caterpillars that I DON'T like, rather than the ones that I do, but I haven't quite figured out a way to train the wasps yet.

I know that neither the caterpillar nor the wasp is bad (or good, for that matter). They are both just doing what they need to do to survive. The Circle of Life, as my husband said.

But the defeat of my beautiful little army by one solitary wasp was a good reminder about gardens and gardening: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Related posts: Don’t Let the Bugs Bug You
Changing Your Relationship With Weeds

June 15th is Nature Photography Day

  In 2006, the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) celebrated the first Nature Photography Day. The day was designated to not only promote the enjoyment of nature photography, but to show how photographs can be used to help advance the cause of conservation and protect plants, wildlife, and landscapes.

Today, on the seventh annual Nature Photography Day, we all have the opportunity to use our cameras to explore and share the beauty of the natural world around us, and perhaps to help influence others to see and appreciate that beauty as we do.

NANPA encourages everyone to get out in nature this weekend and to share your photos on their  Nature Photography Day page. Theirs isn’t a contest, but just a spot to share a favorite photo of nature that was taken on June 15th, 2012.

While you have your camera in hand, I encourage you to take a closer look at your own yard and take your best shot to help further the cause of conservation, by showing the beauty of the plants, wildlife and landscape of your own yard.

Our Green Gardeners Make a Difference event IS a contest, and you have the chance to win great prizes. The contest is free, so you have nothing to lose! Top winners will be chosen by online voting, so even if you don’t think you have the best photo or the best garden to show off, our voters (including your friends and family) might disagree.

Whether you enter or not, I hope you enjoy taking a closer look at the nature that you have all around you, in your own home landscape.

I took the above photo in my front yard this morning. Although I can’t enter the Green Gardener photo contest myself, this photo would be eligible to enter for several reasons: it’s a photo of a gulf fritillary caterpillar (indicating I don’t use pesticides) on a native passion vine (native plants), in one of my butterfly gardens (wildlife habitat). All of those things are great steps for a Green Gardener!

Feathers, fur and flights of fancy – May is Garden for Wildlife Month

“Green” gardening and wildlife habitats go hand in hand. Some people learn the pleasures of sharing their gardens with wildlife after they have begun to create a more eco-friendly landscape and the birds, butterflies and other critters just start showing up in the native plants and chemical free, critter safe zone.
Other gardeners make a concerted effort to create habitat for wildlife, which by its nature and definition, results in a more environmentally friendly landscape.
Since May has been designated as Garden for Wildlife Month, now is the perfect time to learn how to make your own landscape more wildlife friendly.
To create a wildlife friendly landscape, a property should provide wildlife with food, water, shelter and places to raise their young. Other sustainable gardening practices which help to create a more environmentally friendly habitat are:

• the use of rain barrels
  
• water-wise landscaping
  
• mulch
  
• rain gardens
  
• integrated pest management
  
• removal of non-native plants
  
• use of native plants
  
• reduced lawn areas
  
• elimination of chemicals
  
• composting

You can learn more about creating wildlife friendly landscapes by visiting some of the links at the bottom of this post.
I would also like to thank Donna Williamson, a fellow wildlife lover who contacted me about the photo I used  of hornworms in a bowl of soapy water as a form of eco-friendly pest control. Donna, author of the book The Virginia Gardener’s Companion, pointed out that hornworms are the caterpillars of the sphinx moth, and instead of disposing of them, another option is just to grow enough plants to share with them! Donna said:

“I wanted to share some info about the sphinx moths/tobacco hornworms - it was disconcerting to see them drowning in a bowl on your blog which I usually enjoy so much and I applaud your effort to get folks to realize the danger of homemade pesticides! I grow lots of tomatoes so the hornworms and I can share, and I also support the wasp predators that lay their eggs in some of the caterpillars.”

Thanks Donna. I really appreciate it when our readers share what they have learned to do around their own eco-friendly gardens.
Now, for more information about creating eco friendly landscapes:
May is Garden for Wildlife Month (NWF website)
10 Tips for Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden
The Proof is in the Planting

Butterflies help remind us to be good environmental stewards

Eco-friendly gardeners say "Let me tell you about my garden critters"
Gardening for Hummingbirds

The proof is in the planting

We just got the April/May issue of National Wildlife Magazine in the mail and I was excited to see that this issue is dedicated to Gardening for Wildlife.

If you have followed this blog for long, you probably know that my strong interest in eco-friendly gardening started because of my desire to attract more birds, butterflies and other creatures to my yard and gardens. AND my efforts to garden for wildlife became more focused after I learned about the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Certified Wildlife Habitat (CWH) program. I really wanted to get my yard certified.

My favorite article in the issue is called Certified Success, and it is about a woman named Stephanie Widows who did a study, as part of her master’s program, to determine how successful the NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat program is in providing habitat.

For the study, Widows visited 50 homes that have certified habitats and evaluated them to see the quantity and quality of wildlife habitat that each yard had. She compared both the habitat elements and the number of wildlife species on these properties to nearby properties and to other, randomly selected properties in the same neighborhoods.

Her study concluded that the certified properties did, indeed, provide more beneficial habitat AND had more wildlife species than the neighboring yards which were used for comparison. In fact, the certified yards had more than TWICE as many species present as the other yards which were visited.

Most people who garden for wildlife can attest to the fact that their eco-friendly gardening definitely does bring in the wildlife. I am sitting outside while I am writing this and can see several species of birds and butterflies and even hear a hummingbird up chittering away in the trees. I know that most of that wildlife is here only because I have made a concerted effort to attract it.

I also know that there haven’t been many official studies done to PROVE that gardening for wildlife makes a difference. I’ve looked for research on the topic before and know it was very limited. So I was excited to read about Ms. Widows ' research.

Of course, you don’t have to have your yard certified in the NWF CWH program to attract wildlife. Certainly, anyone can create an eco-friendly landscape with wildlife in mind and provide the same benefits. But with almost 150,000 homes enrolled in the program (adding up to some 300,000 acres of habitat) the program did provide a great basis for Ms. Widows' study.

To qualify for certification in the NWF CWH program, a property must provide wildlife with food, water, shelter and places to raise their young. Other sustainable gardening practices which allow a property to earn certification are:

• the use of rain barrels
  
• water-wise landscaping
  
• mulch
  
• rain gardens
  
• integrated pest management
  
• removal of non-native plants
  
• use of native plants
  
• reduced lawn areas
  
• elimination of chemicals
  
• composting

Related Posts: Does eco-friendly gardening help local wildlife?
10 Tips for Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden
How I Became a Bird Nerd

Driving your message home – new specialty license plate for Virginia

I didn’t used to believe in putting bumper stickers or specialty license plates on my car. But then I realized what a great opportunity  I was passing up  to spread the word about eco-friendly gardening.

If you are a “green gardener” in Virginia, you  have the opportunity to help encourage others to create eco-friendly gardening for pollinators.

This beautiful specialty tag is enough to make anyone want to attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds to their yard, and we all know that means getting rid of chemicals and planting more native plants!

Here’s the info I read on the Virginia Native Plant Society Facebook page:

A group of local nature lovers is hoping to attract support for a new Virginia license plate with the inscription “Protect Pollinators.” The plate is meant to bring attention to the role pollinators — bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, etc. — play in supporting the vitality of the earth’s ecosystem and food supply.

“So far we’ve had quite a lot of interest from Beekeepers, Master Gardeners, Naturalists (including native plant and pollinator enthusiasts), and the Audubon Society,” said pollinator plate organizer Samantha Gallagher. “Like all of the proposed new Virginia plates, we need 450 applicants, the General Assembly’s vote, and the DMV’s approval.”

According to the Virginia Pollinator Plate web site, supporters have signed up 44 people so far. They need another 406 commitments by November 2012 to move on to getting legislative and DMV support. An electronic application can be found here.

Gallagher says the purpose of the plate is not to raise money, but to raise awareness.
“Our plate costs $10 annually and isn’t a shared revenue plate, but our hope is that it provokes interest and conversation in pollinator conservation,” she said.

For more information about the Pollinator Plate, visit the Virginia Pollinator Plates website or visit them on Facebook

For more information about attracting pollinators to your yard, here are some related posts:

• Enjoying the Birds and Bees in Your Own Backyard – Attracting Pollinators
• Gardening for Hummingbirds
• Plants to Attract Hummingbirds
• Create a Butterfly Garden

How I became a bird nerd

February is National Bird Feeding Month, so I thought I would write a post about how I got interested in bird watching.

I’ve always liked nature and wildlife but my interest really took off back in the early 1970’s.

My mother came home from a trip to Oklahoma and told me that my Aunt Fran (aka Miss Fran from Story Land if you grew up out there) had her yard certified as a National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Backyard Wildlife Habitat . Knowing my Aunt Fran (she’s one of my idols), she may have been one of the first people in the country to do so. I thought it was so cool, that I wanted to have my yard certified too. So I learned, from the NWF, what I needed to do to help attract wildlife. I made my yard wildlife friendly by adding elements that provided food, water, shelter and places to raise young and by eliminating the many dangers that could harm the wildlife.

One of the first things I learned to do, of course, was to eliminate chemicals from my landscape. Chemicals in the landscape can harm birds, bees, hummingbirds, beneficial insects and even human critters and once I cut them out, a lot more wildlife species began hanging around. I also learned the benefits of adding native plants, which are usually great sources for feeding local wildlife.

My yard began attracting birds and butterflies and life was good.

A few years later, I was writing for the home & garden section of a local newspaper and I suggested that the editor let me write about the Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program. I got to visit many certified Backyard Wildlife Habitats in the area and seeing what those very eco-minded people had done with their yards just added fuel to the wildlife-loving fire in my heart.

That was the beginning of a whole new relationship with nature and the environment for me. Once I got up close and personal with wildlife, I started learning more and more ways to protect the critters, which meant learning how to protect the environment. I gave workshops to teach other people how to create environmentally friendly landscapes. And some of those people went on to train others.

I guess you can say that the seed that the NWF planted in me, to protect the environment, took root and has had a far-reaching effect.

Many people have heard of the Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program (which is now called the Certified Wildlife Habitat Program), but most of them probably don’t know that the program started from an article that they had in the April 1973 issue of National Wildlife Magazine. The article encouraged people to landscape and garden in a more sustainable, natural way, with wildlife in mind, to help restore the ecological balance of the planet.

Response to the article was so overwhelming that NWF began the Certified Wildlife Habitat™ program (originally known as Backyard Wildlife Habitat program) that same year to educate people about the benefits, for both people and wildlife, of creating and restoring natural landscapes.

There are currently over 140,000 NWF Certified Wildlife Habitats in the country and just from my own experience, I would guess that a good percentage of those property owners have made major changes to their gardening practices that have ended up having a significant positive impact on the planet.

So in honor of National Bird Feeding Month, I encourage you to take a closer look at nature. Cut down on the chemicals in your landscape. Plant some native plants. And learn to share your yard with the critters that were here before you!

10 Tips for Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden

Butterflies LIVE! – Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Friday, May 25 - Monday, Oct. 14, 2012
Hundreds of butterflies will take flight in Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's glass Conservatory in 2012. The Butterflies LIVE! exhibit is back by popular demand and will feature showy tropical species from May 25 - October 14, 2012. 
The exhibit will also feature special plantings to provide food for the butterflies, allowing visitors to get an "up-close" and personal view of these fascinating creatures.
This exhibit is presented by the Robins Foundation.

A Year’s Worth of Eco-friendly Events and Garden Tips

Bookmark this list or print it out! You won’t want to miss these eco-friendly events and garden tips for 2012.

January –

• Celebrate National Bird Day on January 5, 2012 by setting out bird seed for our fine feathered friends and planning your summer wildlife garden.

February –

• February 6^th – 12^th, 2012 is Go Green Week – a national week of action on climate change in schools, colleges and universities. It’s a great week to start planning a butterfly garden with your kids.
• Become a Citizen Scientist by participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count – February 17-20^th, 2012

March -

• World Water Day is March 22, 1012 - International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Mark the day by adding a few rain barrels to your landscape.

April –

• April is National Garden Month – Every April communities, organizations, and individuals nationwide celebrate gardening during National Garden Month. Trends for 2012 point to more and more gardeners choosing eco-friendly options.
• April 15-21, 2012 – National Environmental Education Week - dedicated to increasing the environmental literacy of K-12 students. Do your part to help grow your own Environmentalist.
• April 22, 2012 – Earth Day – Creating an eco-friendly garden is a great way to celebrate the earth every day.

May –

• May is National Wetlands Month - Support and promote wetlands by informing community members about wetlands' vital roles, "adopting" a wetland, joining a local watershed group, or participating in a wetland monitoring, restoration, or cleanup project. There are many other actions Americans can take to help conserve wetlands. To learn more about what you can do to help protect and restore these valuable natural resources in your state or local area, visit What You Can Do to Protect and Restore Wetlands.
• National Public Gardens Day – May 11, 2012 – a celebration of botanical gardens, arboreta, and other public gardens takes place.

June -

• Create a garden to attract pollinators for National Pollinator Week – June 24^th – 30^th (always last week in June)
• World Environment Day – June 5^th, 2012 - World Environment Day is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. Celebrate the day by making a pledge to eliminate chemicals from your landscape.

July -

• July is smart irrigation month – Find a watersense irrigation contractor to help tune-up your irrigation system.
• Nude Recreation Week is July 9^th – 15^th 2012 (link is censored – you’ll have to Google that one yourself!) – time for some Bare Naked Gardening

August –

• August is National Water Quality Month. Learn how eco-friendly gardening helps to protect local water supplies.

September

• September 11. 2012 is Protect Your Groundwater Day. Eliminating chemicals, using rain barrels, and picking up after pets are all great ways to protect the groundwater.
• Pollution Prevention Week – July 16^th – 22^nd, 2012 (third full week in September) This week is an opportunity for individuals, businesses, and government to emphasize and highlight their pollution prevention and sustainability activities and achievements, expand current pollution prevention efforts, and commit to new actions.

October –

• October 4, 2012 – World Animal Day - In the garden, Invite the critters. Whether you want to attract butterflies, hummingbirds, beneficial insects other pollinators or wonderful wriggling worms, eco-friendly gardening is your first step.
• Make a Difference Day – 4^th Saturday in October – Acts of kindness can come from the garden, too.

November -

• America Recycles Day – November 15^th - Since 1997, communities across the country have come together on November 15 to celebrate America Recycles Day - the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling in the United States. Creating compost is a great way to recycle in the garden.

December-

• Christmas Bird Count – December 16^th – January 5^th? Since the 12^th annual Christmas Bird Count is still under way, the dates for the 13^th annual count may not be set yet. But participating is a great way to prove that our eco-friendly gardening efforts are making a difference.

Seeds Bombs: For or Against?

As a garden blogger, there are a couple of topics I tend to shy away from because opinions on both sides of the topic are so strong. Cats, for instance. Many gardeners love cats in the garden. Others feel just as strongly against them. Same thing with deer.

And a third topic, and one that has been getting a little bit of “news play” lately, is seed bombs and guerilla gardening. Normally, I would stay away from this controversial topic, too. Except for the fact that I think that seed bombs can be harmful to the environment.

I wrote about guerrilla gardening back in February of 2011. I admit that part of my problem with both guerrilla gardening and seed bombs are the words, themselves. (Back in my hippy days, I used to get together with a group of people that discussed things like words that brought violent thoughts to mind, and those two words just do, to me.)

Anyway, Frederick Maryland resident Brian Slagle has been in the newspaper and even on TV lately because of the seed bombs that he makes and sells online and at local stores. Apparently, they are a hot item for Christmas.

I was ALMOST swayed to change my opinion about seed bombs when I was reading the article about him on CBS Baltimore.com. I read about how these bombs of wildflower seeds, thrown into vacant lots and bare land, can attract bees, hummingbirds and butterflies. ‘Ahhhh,’ I thought. ‘More hummingbirds and bees and butterflies!’

But here is my concern with seed bombs. The whole point of seed bombs are to grow things on other people’s property. The online video on TBD.com even shows a picture of Slagle’s kids throwing the bombs onto a piece of property bearing a sign that says Private Property – No Dumping Allowed. WHAT IF THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THAT PROPERTY DON’T WANT THE PLANTS THERE AND USE CHEMICAL HERBICIDES TO KILL THEM? Even using a gas mower to mow the plants down puts pollutants into the air. And if the local government comes in to mow or clean up the property, who do you think pays for that?

I do understand the principle behind taking over a vacant lot and planting vegetables or other plants, IF YOU TAKE responsibility for the care and maintenance of the plants. But seed bombs are something else all together.

My suggestion for seed bombs is this: Plant native plants on your property to attract birds. They will eat the berries and seeds and create their own seed bombs when they poop them out across the city.

And if you want to spread the joy and beauty of flowers, by giving seed bombs or other seed packets, encourage people to plant them in their own yard. If they want to know more about the joys or gardening for bees, butterflies or hummingbirds, I’ll be happy to tell them.

12 Days of Christmas for Eco-Friendly Gardeners

Written by Betsy S. Franz

On the first day of Christmas my garden gave to me
An eco-friendly native tree – (Native plants are often excellent choices for eco-friendly gardens, since they require less chemicals and less water to maintain)

On the second day of Christmas my garden gave to me
Two new loves – (when you look closely enough, every day in your eco-friendly garden will bring you something new and wonderful to love.)
And an eco-friendly native tree.
On the third day of Christmas my garden gave to me
Three full bins - (kitchen scraps, leaves and garden discards keep my compost bins full)
Two new loves
And an eco-friendly native tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas my garden gave to me
Four hummingbirds – (planting the right plants and eliminating chemicals make hummingbirds regular visitors to my garden)
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas my garden gave to me

Five less wat-er-ings - (eco-friendly gardens conserve water with adequate mulch, drought tolerant plants, and rain barrels)
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas my garden gave to me
Six trees a swaying - (Trees protect water quality, clean the air and provide wildlife habitat.)
Five less wat-er-ings
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree
On the seventh day of Christmas my garden gave to me

Seven barrels brimming - (rain barrels not only conserve water, but help keep harmful pollutants out of our waterways)
Six trees a swaying
Five less wat-er-ings
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree
On the eighth day of Christmas my garden gave to me

Eight monarchs milking - (Okay. Monarch butterflies don’t really “milk” milkweed, but their tiny caterpillars need these native plants to grow into beautiful butterflies)
Seven barrels brimming
Six trees a swaying
Five less wat-er-ings
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree
On the ninth day of Christmas my garden gave to me

Nine ladies dancing - (Painted ladies are another beautiful butterfly that you can attract to your DC area garden by planting the right plants for them)
Eight monarchs milking
Seven barrels brimming
Six trees a swaying
Five less wat-er-ings
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree
On the tenth day of Christmas my garden gave to me

Ten worms a creeping - (Worms help aerate the soil while producing valuable nutrients)
Nine ladies dancing
Eight monarchs milking
Seven barrels brimming
Six trees a swaying
Five less wat-er-ings
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree
On the eleventh day of Christmas my garden gave to me

Eleven pipes a piping - (we direct all excess rainwater, and overflow from our rain barrels, into the grass and other permeable surfaces)
Ten worms a creeping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight monarchs milking
Seven barrels brimming
Six trees a swaying
Five less wat-er-ings
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree
On the twelfth day of Christmas my garden gave to me

Twelve weeds succumbing - (chemical free weed control helps keep our weeds under control)
Eleven pipes a piping
Ten worms a creeping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight monarchs milking
Seven barrels brimming
Six trees a swaying
Five less wat-er-ings
Four hummingbirds
Three full bins
Two new loves and
An eco-friendly native tree

Butterflies help remind us to be good environmental stewards

As delicate and fragile as they appear, I think that butterflies have tremendous super-powers. In fact, I think that they can help save the world! Why? Because they are so beautiful and magical that, once they start hanging around, they can influence gardeners to quit using pesticides and plant more native plants, both of which are positive steps for the planet.

If you don't already garden for butterflies, fall and winter are the perfect times to start learning about how to attract these beautiful "flying flowers" to your gardens. Once spring arrives, you will have the knowledge AND the enthusiasm to get out there and start planting your nectar and host plants to attract butterflies.


 Here are some links to butterfly information for the DC, Maryland and Virginia areas.

• Create a Butterfly Garden - Metro DC Lawn and Garden Blog
•  Butterflies of Virginia Butterflies of Maryland
• Butterflies of DC
• Butterflies of Maryland – Maryland Department of Natural Resources
• Backyard Butterfly Bonanza – Fairfax County
• Using Native Plants to Attract Butterflies pdf file (From Green Spring Gardens)

There are also several butterfly groups in the area that will help you get started on this great hobby.

The Washington Area Butterfly Club emphasizes education about and appreciation and conservation of butterflies in the Washington, DC, area including Maryland and Virginia. Meetings are free and open to the public, although occasional events are only for members and their guests. Members also conduct various other butterfly-related activities including butterfly gardening, butterfly counts, conservation, and field trips.

Butterfly Society of Virginia promotes butterfly and moth conservation, including conservation of habitat and host and nectar gardens.

Prince George's County Butterfly Count

In a previous post, I talked about the fun and importance of the annual North American Butterfly Association annual butterfly count. If you haven't had the opportunity yet to participate in one of these counts, there is another one coming up on July 16th.

NABA Count – "Prince George's County Butterfly Count"
Saturday, July 16, 2011 (Rain Date: July 23) 9am – 5pm
NABA Count Fee: $3 per person

Clearwater Nature Center
11000 Thrift Rd
Clinton, MD 20735
301-297-4575

Count Coordinator: Glenda Jordan
glenda.jordan@pgparks.com

This butterfly count has been held annually since 1992. All participants must be physically prepared to handle the summer heat/humidity and hiking. Participants are responsible for bringing their own water, hats, field guides, cameras, etc. This program is better suited to teens and adults. Previous butterfly count experience is preferred, but not necessarily required.

Help Count Butterflies! This weekend and throughout the summer

The 37th annual North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Butterfly Count is underway! These annual counts are a lot of fun but are also important ways to track the butterfly populations of North America. Tracking butterflies, and other wildlife, are great ways to help determine the impact of both good and bad landscaping practices.

During the Butterfly Count, volunteers conduct a one-day census of all butterflies sighted within a specified area. Local butterfly groups and other wildlife experts generally help facilitate the counts.

The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) organizes the counts and publishes their annual reports. These reports provide important information about the geographical distributions and population sizes of the species counted. .

No matter how much or how little butterfly watching you've done, the results of butterfly counting can be surprising and interesting. There are several counts being conducted in the DC/VA/MD area this summer.

• Western Montgomery County is having theirs this weekend. (See below)
• The Reston, VA count will be Saturday, July 2 from 9:30 AM to 12:45 PM. It will meet at the Walker Nature Education Center, located at 11450 Glade Drive. Please email: naturecenter@reston.org or call 703-476-9689 and press 5 to sign up. There will be an introductory class on Thursday, June 30 from 7:00-8:30 PM also at the nature center. Reservations are required by June 27. It is free for count participants or $5 per person for those not participating in the count.
• Richmond Counts will be on July 9th - email James_Shelton32@yahoo.com for more info
• West Anne Arundel County July 9th - email csparks007@verizon.net
• Loudon Wildlife Conservancy is having theirs on August 6, 2011.

Use this map to find the dates and locations for more counts in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Please considering joining one of them for a day of fascinating butterfly counting.

For more information on the count program, please consult NABA's website at www.naba.org.

To learn more about local butterflies, see our pages on: Butterflies of DC, Butterflies of Maryland, and Butterflies of Virginia

And to do your part to help INCREASE the number of butterflies in the area for next year's count, read : Create a Butterfly Garden

---

Western Montgomery County Butterfly Count

• Who: No experience is necessary, and young (ages 12 and up) to old are invited to come out and have fun while contributing to butterfly study and conservation. Teams will be formed with at least one person skilled in butterfly identification who will head up the team. We encourage you to count for at least a couple of hours, but you don’t need to commit to a full day.
• When: Saturday, June 25 Meet at 9:00 am outside the Visitors' Center at Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds, MD; or near the impoundments at Hughes Hollow (McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area) near Poolesville, MD
• Where: The count circle includes several natural areas in western Montgomery County,including Little Bennett and Black Hill Regional Parks; Sugarloaf Mountain, Seneca Creek State Park; some areas along the C&O Canal.
• Counting fee: $3 for ages 12 and older. (Not for children under age 12, given heat, open sun, and tall vegetation.) This fee is passed along to the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) to cover the costs of coordinating the counts and compiling the data.
• Equipment: Wear comfortable field clothing, remembering the seasonal realities of a hot sun in open meadows, poison ivy, ticks, and the possibility of biting insects. Bring lots of water, lunch and a pocket note pad, as well as a butterfly field guide and binoculars, if you have them. Cameras and insect nets are optional. Any netting of insects will be “catch and release” for identification only.
• Please contact: Stephanie Mason, 301-652-9188, Ext. 37 or smason@audubonnaturalist.org if you plan to participate or have any questions. The Audubon Naturalist Society organizes this local count, which is part of the 37-year national count sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association and the Xerces Society.

Learn Butterfly Gardening - June 12th

Some of you may know that I think  butterflies can help save the planet. They are such beautiful, magical little creatures, that I think they can encourage more people to quit using chemicals, plant native plants and take other steps to create  eco friendly landscapes.

I would even love to see Michelle Obama start a butterfly garden on the White House grounds.

If you would like to learn more about local butterflies, plan on attending the lecture by Dr. Dexter Hinckley, on 15 species of butterflies at Hidden Oaks Nature Center from 2 to 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, June 12th.

Learn techniques for attracting these garden jewels, host plants for their caterpillars, and nectar plant suggestions for adults. Learn techniques for attracting these garden jewels and area butterfly gardens you can visit.and area butterfly gardens you can visit. The cost is $5 per person. Register online or call 703-324-4662. For information, call 703-941-1065.

Dr. Hinckley holds a PhD in entomology from the University of Hawaii. He is retired from the EPA, has substaintial volunteer experience with the Smithsonian and the National Zoo, and now does freelance work as an "independent environmental Services professional".

Set within 52 acre Annandale Community Park, Hidden Oaks Nature Center is located in the heart of Fairfax County, a few minutes inside the Capital Beltway. The woods surrounding the center feature an easy loop trail 1/3 mile long. Seasonal brochures enable visitors to discover the changing nature of the woodland at points along the trail. For further exploration, additional trails lead through the woods to two streams. Bird watching and photography are special pleasures in these quiet surroundings.

Butterflies of DC

Butterflies of Maryland

Butterflies of Virginia

Enjoying the Birds and the Bees in Your Own Backyard - Attracting Pollinators

What do flowers, fine chocolates and flavorful coffee have to do with the birds and the bees?

Both chocolate and coffee are two of the 1000+ plants that depend on visits from the birds and the bees, and other pollinators, to help spread the love, or in their case, pollen, from flower to flower. In fact, it is estimated that about 90% of all flowering plants rely on animal pollination (as opposed to wind pollination) and over 200,000 species of animals participate in the pollinating. Without pollinators, many plants would never produce fruit or set seed and many of the foods we eat would no longer be available. As if a world lacking chocolate and coffee wouldn’t be bad enough, wild creatures that rely on pollinated plants for food and shelter could also disappear.

Like so many other species, some pollinators are showing steady population declines. Although the declines in honeybee populations are mainly due to diseases, declines in wild pollinator populations are attributed to habitat loss, competition from invasive species and exposure to pesticides.

Fortunately, we can do our part to correct the problem by inviting the birds and the bees to our own backyards. Simply choosing the right plants and eliminating chemicals in our landscapes will invite more pollinators, which in turn will bring more flowers, more fruit and a new level of enjoyment to a garden filled with colorful, winged wonders.

The most popular pollinators are already some of our favorite garden visitors – butterflies and hummingbirds. Other pollinators include beetles, bees, ants, wasps, moths and even small mammals.

So how do we attract these pollinators? Plant what they love!

To attract more pollinators to your yard, keep these things in mind:

• Choose plants with overlapping bloom times to provide flowers throughout the year
• Select plants with a variety of colors and shapes to attract different pollinators
• Plant in clumps, rather than single plants
• Whenever possible, choose native plants.  Avoid modern hybrids, especially those with “doubled” flowers, as the pollen, nectar, and fragrance is sometimes unwittingly bred out of these plants in exchange for “perfect” blooms
• Include night-blooming flowers for moths and bats.
• Avoid pesticides, even so-called "natural" ones such as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). If you must use them, use the most selective and least toxic ones and apply them at night when most pollinators aren't active.

Include some  favorite plant choices for pollinators in your garden (see lists below). And then pull up a lawn chair and treat yourself to a little coffee and chocolate while you enjoy the birds and bees in your own back yard.

For more information:

Creating a Wild Backyard – Hummingbirds, Butterflies & Bees – Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Creating a Wild Backyard – Bees – Maryland Department of Natural Resources

U.S. Forest Service – Celebrating Wildflowers: Pollinators – http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/index.shtml

Pollinator Partnership – http://www.pollinator.org/

Pollinator Conservation Resources – Mid-Atlantic Region

Learn More About Pollinators – Chesterfield County, Virginia Cooperative Extension

Organic Gardening For Babies

My home office has big windows with views of my yard, which is usually filled with birds, butterflies and beautiful blooms. The view always reminds me of both the reasons and the results of being an eco-friendly gardener. I’ve often said that I do it for the wildlife (I’m a real nature nerd) and the water (my husband is an avid fisherman who gardens green to keep the waterways healthy).

Inside my office, I have photos of the other important reasons for being a “green gardener” – the wee ones of the next generation. Three of them are in the beautiful photo above of my niece’s triplets.

As more and more of my friends and relatives are welcoming children and grandchildren, the importance of eco-friendly gardening becomes more evident to me.

Just in case you need any reminders, here are:

10 Reasons that Eco-Friendly Gardening is Good for Babies

1) Eco-friendly gardening means gardening without chemicals. Eliminating chemicals from our landscapes makes our gardens safer places for children to play. Because babies, kids, and pets spend most of their time playing outdoors on the grass, or indoors on carpets, where lawn chemicals have been tracked in on shoes, the tiniest members of our family are also the most vulnerable.

2) Eco-friendly gardening conserves water. Conserving water in our gardens helps to insure that we preserve the world’s water supplies for future generations – water is not a renewal resource.

3) Eco-friendly gardening creates wildlife friendly spaces. Creating wildlife friendly landscapes allow children a bird’s eye view of all of the wonders of the world.

4) Eco-friendly gardening insures that these wonders, such as hummingbirds and butterflies, will be around for them to appreciate and share with their own children.

5) Eco-friendly gardening prevents storm-water runoff. Preventing storm water runoff helps us maintain clean drinking water and provides beautiful recreational resources for future generations.

6) Growing food in eco-friendly, organic gardens provides healthier food sources for children.

7) Eco-friendly gardening saves time, which leaves more time for you to play with your kids (or grandkids). Choosing plants which are compatible with your site conditions will require less work.

8) Eco-friendly gardening saves money which you can spend on your kids (or grandkids). Learning to work with Mother Nature, Not Against her, will save money on water, chemicals and plants that don't flourish and need to be replaced.

9) Eco-friendly gardening decreases energy use (and air pollution associated with its generation) because less pumping and treatment of water is required.

10) Eco-friendly gardening is good for your soul. And good souls are important for raising good kids.