Great News: We're converting our lawns to Native wildflowers

This all relates to the Monarch Highway thread.  But it is not stopping with the Monarch.  The Monarch happens to be the poster species.  No….This thing is going to keep gaining momentum!  And that is exciting.

The natural world is our studio !

Yes, I believe that this is all going to catch on and link itself together…state to state, across NA…maybe the world.  It seems that this problem of no butterflies/bees is all so easy to correct…..too easy.  And so, maybe I am being naive.  I have been beating this drum for over a decade.  Doug Tallamy much longer.  He has much more information than I had.  He is putting all together.  I know it to be the utter truth.  

AND THE TRUTH IS GOING TO STAND ALONE ON THIS.

Went to Doug Tallamy's presentation last week at the local Audubon.  The content of his presentation/message….is mind-blowing.  This guy has research results that really, really tell the whole story.  As I said, I knew what was happening but I could not prove it.  I knew what was needed, but I needed help to get the word out.  Now, more and more of us are getting the word out on this.  It is swelling into a movement.  IT IS NOT GOING TO STOP FOLKS.  I see it as being unstoppable.  We are all getting word out now on this.    

This is a story that we just did not or could not see in generations past.   The data are irrefutable and Doug now makes it all so clear. 

I did a thread here on this in the past.  But I think it is difficult to search for past threads here on NSN.  Can someone please tell me the easy, effective way?  I have asked in the past, and I do not believe I got an effective response.  Maybe I am wrong on this.  I would like to reference a thread (as I recall) about the book "Bringing Nature Home." …by doug tallamy. 

Did you know that our native Oaks (Quercus spp) host something like 350 native species that in turn feed our native birds?  And did you also know that any one of the hundreds of exotic species that we have planted in generations past…..supports almost zero native species?

Doug was featured in this New York Times article, whose title says it all:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/garde ... .html?_r=0

Bottom line folks is that if we really want our birds back, we need to embrace our native plants and also our native insects…NOT POISON THE INSECTS and NOT REPLACE OUR NATIVE PLANTS WITH EXOTICS (which we have been doing for over a hundred years).  Things are changing. 

LAWNS HAVE GOT TO GO…AND THEY WILL  :)  Yes, it is true….I predict that people are going to convert their lawns to wildflower meadows.  IT IS HAPPENING MORE AND MORE…RIGHT NOW!!!!  I roto tilled my side lawn and I have planted a small group (and growing) of native plants.  I already have increased my butterfly species diversity.  It is going to explode in the next several years.  

This year (fall) I am quite confident that I will get Monarch butterfly reproduction on my former lawn here in Maine.

I should have recorded Doug's entire presentation but I got there right at the beginning and I do not know if he would have given permission for that.  Anyway, I did order a DVD that is supposedly an entire Doug Tallamy presentation.

If you have not seen his presentation, I am confident that you will in the future years.  This movement is growing in America (at least).  

I predict that it is not going to stop now.  I do not think that big business can stop this movement.  I do think that local nurseries are going to find a new, growing  market…….in our historical, native plants.  THAT IS EXCITING !!!  Over the last several years I have complained to the local nurseries….to no avail.  I talked with a local owner this Spring and he told me that he remembers me because I "chewed him out" last year….LOL.  That is a compliment to me.  I denied though….telling him that I do not chew anybody out.  He reaffirmed that I did chew him out.  Good!  These nurseries need to start selling native plants.  

It is happening right now.  We spread the word and it is spreading.  Keep spreading the word folks.  It is working!!!

We will be changing over to wildflowers….NATIVE WILDFLOWERS….NOT THESE SO-CALLED MIXES THAT ARE NOT NATIVE.  We will see a plethora of native insect species and we will embrace this.  On the tail of this we will see AN EXPLOSION OF OUR NATIVE BIRD POPULATION.  Oh….I AM NOT CRAZY…THIS IS COMING!!  We will see myriads of butterflies again, flitting around our yards. We will no longer have to smell the nasty odors of pesticides when we ride our suburban streets.  For me, the word pesticide converts to one thought…..the murder of nature. 

We WILL continue to fight the poison companies. We WILL win this war with them.  We will not stop until we do.


My gallery site:

If you click the link below you will instantly see a close bust of a male common loon and its prominent forehead.  I believe this is a diagnostic characteristic for determining sex.  The female does not have this prominent forehead.  I pointed this out in one of my captions.  I may be corrected on this, but all literature I have read uses only comparative body size to differentiate the sexes of common loons.  The female does not have this prominent forehead.

http://itsaboutnature.smugmug.com

Thanks for reading; keep spreading the word…. and thanks for the NSN forums.

Robert King

http://itsaboutnature.net 

Hey Robert
I have been looking at properties in Maine recently and have been avoiding anything that includes the chore of a lawn. You provide an even better reason to keep off the grass.

And FYI (for all)
This group: http://www.windoverwings.org/ is located in central Maine. They rescue and rehabilitate injured birds and return them to the wild. They have a free 2 hour outreach / show and tell program and bring with them the non returnables. Being 4 feet from a raven, hawk, owls and more was a treat for me. Good people doing good work. The site lists the times and state wide presentation locations.

I am literally being driven from my home of 20 plus years because of lawn mower, weed whacker, and leaf blower noise. All day, every day, someone close enough to me is cutting, blowing, whackin grass. Granted I'm sort of in the city and it is inevitable thing, but there is no peace, quiet, or harmony when sitting out in my back yard during the summer.  Some even make noise right up till 9 pm, Sundays, and on the holidays like Thanksgiving. This is not something most around here think about because most literally do not use their yards. It's a shame, but the truth is lawns are of not much use other than for the occasional get together, or for kids to play on. Which is important in those cases. But other than those times, no one goes out around here to just sit and enjoy their grass. If they do, it's usually not for long. My point is lawns are a desert--not only ecologically speaking, but also spiritually speaking.

My backyard lawn is just about all gone now, converted into a flower garden and large pond with tiered waterfalls and large trellises surrounding all. I have a 8X12 patio made of pavers under the deep shade of a collection of tightly packed mature trees. When it's 98 degrees out it is a cool oasis out there, and when it rains it takes quite a while for the tree leaves to fill up before the let the rain through. And of course I have a fire pit and large stack of wood. And about to have a large 8 foot screen and media projector with 3d  to watch movies by fire pit light after the sun goes down. Or if a Cleveland team ever makes the playoffs again a place to watch the games with friends.

Point is again my backyard is the place to be for me. I enjoy it as no one else does in the neighborhood does their own because there is something to enjoy there. The flower garden is a mini paradise. And a mecca for wildlife. I even had a blue heron pay me a visit once. Had to shoo him off as he was trying to fish out the frogs that seem to find the pond every year. I had a deer bed down for a week there. Coons, squirrels, birds, butterflys, dragonflys, hawks, owls, all a frequent visitors.

But Robert is right, and for more reasons than he mentioned, so I thought I would add on. The lawn is a concept that every one has accepted and believes is the "supposed to" way to go. Some guy in the Victorian era wrote a book about how the English garden was supposed to look and the lawn was a big part of his philosophy. Course he was designing gardens for the very wealthy and of course this is always what the less wealthy want so as to elevate their perceived status.... and so it goes.

I had a heated debate with a good friend who stubbornly defended the point of view that lawns are GOOD for the environment. Soil erosion and production of oxygen were his two biggest arguments. But don't natural plants do the same? And don't trees have the added benefit of putting the local environment in the third dimension namely up? So for unit plan area, a tree puts out MORE oxygen than a lawn because it has green leaves producing on every level 10-20-30-40-50-60-70-80 feet up. Plus provides additional living area for other forms of life, plus breaks the wind, and provides shade. I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot more.

Getting back to lawns and how they produce oxygen, how much of that oxygen benefit is then nullified by the gas engines that gobble up the oxygen, and belch out co2 and co? Plus carbon, as lawnmower engines do not have any kind of pollution control on them. Plus the fertilizers that then drain into our water ecosystems. Quite a dead zone in the gulf right now. And all the bug killers. And all of these things need an infrastructure to bring them to market. Manufacturing plants to make the equipment and chemicals that uses energy and expels waste pollutants, trucks to move the goods, cars for people to go to work in to make the stuff we need to cut our yards,..... gasoline, oil, natural gas, electricity, for all the stores to put the equipment on the shelves....wouldn't you think all that rather negates any environmental benefit of a lawn? And again...the noise of lawn maintenance is noise pollution and noise pollution is no small thing on the human psyche. Our health is very much affected by it. Our disconnect with nature is damaging.

Well I have for along time been sold on the idea of getting rid of the lawn, but what native plants and where to get them for a northern Ohio environment is more my challenge. I'm open to any and all suggestions for which plants to put in. I'm not so sure if the city will let me convert the front yard from a lawn, but this could be next. I would make it look nice or not do it at all so as to keep good feelings with the neighbors.

Let's hear some pragmatic advice on how to go about doing it...


Paul

I have been down the road you are about to follow and it isn't all love and fun. I would suggest you get some professional help and do a lot of research. We found the local extension services from colleges and universities were an excellent source of information as well as the EPA.I would suggest PSU as an excellent source but you OSU folks might not want to go there. LOL

Getting started is the big problem,my advice,go slowly and plan carefully. Weeds are a major issue when you first start your plantings and it does take time for seeds to produce and fill in. Also try to incorporate native grasses into your beds,they add interest and will help fill in empty space. Starting with the perimeter of your property is a good start and might be the only option for you, given your neighborhood situation.

Since we were dealing with an acre of land ,eliminating all of the grass was not an option. We slowly reduced the lawn cover but allowed some open space and also used grass as a path through the gardens. You might also want to include native shrubs which will produce berries and some fall color.

Good luck with the adventure,the end results are enjoyable and yes, a lot of work.

Your right about the weeds Jim. Once the lawn cover is gone weeds are going to grow no matter what and do so very densely. One needs to anticipate a lot of participation in keeping them down while desired plants get established.

Paul

Hi Stevenmajor,

I opened the link and signed up for their newsletter.  

Very busy lately.  Summer is so short here.  Trying to fit in photography every day as much as possible.  Great place to live in the non-winter months…..about 5 to 6 months here for me.  

If you would like, let me know well ahead of time if you are going to be in the Portland area ……to join me for some photography.  I am doing it almost all the time and am quite familiar with the surrounding areas that are good for shooting nature.  Lately, I am photographing loons, great blues and freshwater invertebrates and starting to do a lot of videos too.  Lots of fun.  Lots of time involved in it though.

Robert King

 

Paul and James.

I use no chemicals whatsoever on what lawn I have.  I do use poison to kill the Asiatic Bittersweet vine that is going to become the death of our woodlands here in Maine.  It is well established, ubiquitous and nobody seems to be concerned or even know of it.  I have to suggest to the powers that be to get the word out on this.  For this plant only I have been using glyphosate (round-up) but apparently this is not lethal enough.  I severed a 2-3 inch Asiatic Bittersweet stem last year and soaked the basal area with glyphosate.   Was shocked to see that it has re-sprouted this year.   Doug Tallamy recommends Tordon (brand name).  So this is the only pesticide of any kind I will use; i.e. to specifically target the Asiatic Bittersweet and never broadcast application….only specific plants and very carefully applying this poison.  Let me put it this way…if you do not apply a systemic poison to the well-established ABS plant, it will continue to flourish wherever you find it.  Now, simply pullling the tiny plants is best….but get the entire root.

I do have Dandelions and Plantain and I pull them with various types of mechanical weeders I have.  The one I like lately I think is called the Weed Weasle.  Anyway, I like it because I can stay standing and weed a patch of lawn fairly quickly.   NO….this has not been much work for me.   However…..YES, it was a considerable nuisance for the first couple of years.  But only during the Spring months, during the period when plants were competing for establishment.  BTW, I still do have a considerable piece of lawn left to mow.   I keep the mower deck as high as it will go.  This gives the grass a better chance of remaining unstressed during those unpredictable dry spells.  And an unstressed lawn is much more likely to outcompete any invasives.    

Yes, unwanted plants are in almost any soil source that is brought in, and this new soil is an ideal environ for invasive plants to germinate.   And whenever any soil is disturbed, the opportunists are there to germinate.   When soils are severely disturbed (worked)….. most often, invasives and native pioneers are the first to establish.

But no, once my native wildflowers became established, my "weed" problem among the wildflowers became almost non-existent.  Ok, I do have about 3 or 4 new (yet-unidentified) individual herbaceous plants this growing season.  But I also have a group of Swamp Milkweed that came from where…..I do not know.  They just popped up last year and last year I had one Monarch land on one of them and then left the area.  This year, I guarantee you that I will have Monarchs and Monarch eggs.  

BTW, I have no concern whatsoever that these 3 or 4 yet-unidentified individual plants will develop into a nuisance, because they are only individuals and when I finally do identify them, that will be the day I decide their fate.  I will either pull them or leave them to flourish.    

Save your leaves
Leaves quickly make incredibly rich topsoil.   I save all my Autumn and Spring leaves in a huge pile.  That pile shrinks very quickly.  Leaves break down very quickly and the resulting soil is dark and rich.  But it seems to me that this pile of soil is also a perfect medium for the germination of spore or seeds that find their way to it.  

So, I just cover this rich, new soil with a folded plastic tarp (a green one…not blue).  This rich soil is exactly as potting soil that you pay top dollar for.  I get it free and you can too.  Just save your leaves and don't worry about the pile.

"Weeds"
I fought the undesirables for a couple of years.  Now, the more I plant native wildflowers, the less problem I have with undesirables.  I use this word because any plant can be a nuisance, including many of our natives.  I do not use the word "weed"….simply because the chemical companies are have perverted us in this regard.  Monsanto's Round-Up ads said that the only good weed was a dead weed.  Well, that makes me angry.  Some people consider every species other than their damned grass…..a pest.  But by definition, that thinking is perverted.  Our native plants developed their interrelationships over millions of years.  They are not exotics.  They are native….derived from the word ….natural.  


Their lawns are a perversion.  

Not occurring naturally, lawns require tremendous input of resources, and are a result of the owner's vanity.  

In the end, my native wildflower meadow with all of its butterflies and bees…..will have much more class and beauty than any of my neighbors' lawns with straight lines…..give me a break!

Paul, here are the most desirable and common natives that are solidly established on the entire area that was once my side lawn.  My front lawn is now half Gray Birch, annual sunflowers and a perennial sunflower that is native to the American prairie, called False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoidese).  This plant is not native to Maine but it is native to NA.  That is ok for me.  I will keep an eye on it.  Now for the natives:

Joe-Pye-Weed
Boneset
Swamp Milkweed and Butterfly WEED…NOT Butterfly Bush.  

I believe Butterfly Bush is an Asian native….not native to NA.  I strive for wildflowers that will feed butterfly larvae as well as adults.  I cannot always get that, but I try and I am learning.  Most of what I learn is from many years past seeing and identifying native wildflowers in the Maine woods and ALSO from my field guides over the years.  I admit that I am not good at using plant keys.

Aster
Goldenrod

Oh, and I grabbed a couple of native Phlox plants that I saw blooming last month in a local "wild" area.  If you transplant something, take a root ball with it and keep it soaked right up until it goes in the ground and afterwards too.  Watch it closely for maybe a week after transplant.  They do get shocked when transplanted and will often wilt afterwards for maybe a week or so.  When that happens, I just have lots of water ready for them.  They work their way out of it and become completely at home in their new ground within about a week or so.  So I just have established 3 native Phloxes too. Am not sure if they are great for butterflies and bees but I do know that they are native and they are relatively early bloomers.

On a back parcel I have what I believe to be Cow Parsnip and it is has become a terrible nuisance for me.  I have been using the Hula Hoe to wipe it out.  

So far, I have largely planted just one or two established, potted natives, rather than seeds. But now, I am starting to spread native seeds in the bare soil. 

Paul, I recommend using field guides for your identifications.  I would be very careful about what advice I am getting.  And yes, check mine…think about it.  Ponder and make up your own mind.  BTW, I do not trust nurseries here in southern Maine.  They are profit maximizing (understandably ) and the public is still largely demanding exotics.  The public still wants the plants that make their property look pretty.    Apparently, that is the one and only criterion. We are working to change that, because…if you want to feed the birds….first feed the insects.   Over 90% of our native passerine birds (small perching ones…the common ones) absolutely must feed their nestlings INSECTS!  If they do not, the nestlings die.   And our native insects and native plants evolved together.  Largely, our native insects do not eat these exotics that people have been planting on the lawns for over a hundred years.  Again, we are in the process of changing that.

I do not have a large parcel here, but I have what is clearly the best wildlife habitat in the area….and yes, insects are wildlife.  

I WANT A DIVERSITY OF NATIVE BUTTERFLIES BACK AT MY HOUSE.  AND IN JUST 3 YEARS, I HAVE A GOOD JUMP ON THIS.  I AM GONG TO GET THEM.  I WILL HAVE EVEN MORE THIS SUMMER

Robert 
http://www.itsaboutnature.smugmug.com

Just went outside and took another peak.  I also have a little Vetch or Creeping Vetch (Viccia cracca?) and a lot of Red Clover.  Now a lot of folks frown at clover.  

But clover is a highly rated wildlife food.  

BTW, I will put together a nice little list of field guide references for those of you interested in bringing nature to your home.  It is fun and think of the good you are doing.  Let us not forget that a parcel of native wildflowers is vastly less needful of our input of resources than a lawn is.  

But I have to admit that there may be folks reading this who will not accept anything on their property except a perfectly maintained lawn.  And so I surely do not want to offend any of you

Robert, everybody looks at plants through different eyes. I happen to like dandelions and have photos of clumps of them covered with Painted Lady butterflies (probably around 30 PLs). I also have photos of crab spiders and their prey on Cow Parsnips. I like both of them since they serve a role in the lives of insects, spiders and bugs. Cow Parsnips "juices" can create a burn on skin when combined with sunlight, so you need to be careful if using a tool similar to a weed whacker. My choice is to let them grow and fulfill their role in nature.

Joe

The problem with many suburban dwellers is that your front lawn cannot look any different from your neighbors. The local town ordinance will prevent you from that. In the backyard there may not be enough opportunity or separation from the lawn next door to facilitate wildflower or native plant growth.

But it is a very interesting concept and I for one had no clue about this. Thanks for bringing it up. It is my wife who is the gardener and loves her flowers and shrubs. Will take some convincing to move away from the defined paradigms of the day.

Pradeep

I like the dandelions too...hate having to cut them  down with the mower. Tis true local  ordinances may  insist on a lawn in the front yard. Still who's to say one couldn't convert a large portion  of that to something else, maybe 2/3 of it ....maybe more!

I like the idea of a bed of clover. Is there such a thing as clover in dense proximity that would not be perceived by the powers that be as  a undesirable?


Paul

* Whoa!...google "grow clover" and see what the possibilities are. I've got a  new mission it looks like.

Yes Joe, I like dandelions too.  Will respond more completely to your comments later. For now, I am in a parked vehicle and talking this message into a phone.


Comments from the other two folks oh so interesting because it illustrates a wide range of Ordinances. Here in Portland Maine many folks are already starting to convert at least esplanades to flowers and some of them...completely native. I believe I am one of the first to convert an entire section of lawn to native herbs.  I hope this does not cause conflict.

If you maintain the area then people will accept it and even begin to find that they want the same.  By maintain I mean keeping grass edges and paths....and keeping that trimmed so that it is not a result or product of slothing or laziness.

In fact, I have not heard of one incident where a Portland resident was forced to keep a 100% lawn.  So I find it negative that cities force people to have 100% lawn.  That cannot be true....really?

There have been city meetings here and in South Portland directed at banning the use of pesticides for the purpose of reclaiming and maintaining a pure, 100% lawn.  Oh, I am sure people are concerned for their kids and pets too.  This lawn obsession has gone way too far.  Last week, as I rode my bicycle up the street I was overwhelmed by the odor of pesticides.  


I opened this thread with such an optimistic title for several reasons....all beimg indications that things changing for the better.  In Portland Maine city managers are beginning to be receptive  to the concepts of what we are  talking here. I talked with the man in charge of Portland's open  spaces about my concern that we (the city) are maintaining too much lawn.  He said that he is in the process of changing that.  I need to contonue to stay involved with the course of things here.  

We have no butterflies inside Portland's city limits. The occasional person tells me that yes they do see butterflies. I asked them what color. They say white. This is the white cabbage moth. Again... There are no butterflies inside city limits...Not one!  The  white cabbage moth is considered by many to be an agricultural pest.  I believe the white cabbage moths we are seeing are mutants that survived the pesticides by natural selection.

Why are there no butterflies in Portland? There are many many acres of open spaces that had lots of them in past decades.  I know because I photographed them for years.  And in recent years managers have allowed open areas to  revert back to native flowers.

 The problem now is that the butterflies have been excluded for so long that there are none in adjacent areas that are close enough to migrate into the areas where they have been extirpated from. I believe this can be the only reason why we have no butterflies in Portland Maine. I am shocked and dismayed that nobody else I have talk to is alarmed by this. The Portland Press Herald published a letter of mine on this theme... 2 years ago.  Change is often very slow... But if you think about it, anybody and everybody will choose to have a yard of gorgeous butterflies/flowers over a boring lawn of straight lines. It makes sense to me anyway. What do you all think?

pleverington wrote:I like the dandelions too...hate having to cut them  down with the mower. Tis true local  ordinances may  insist on a lawn in the front yard. Still who's to say one couldn't convert a large portion  of that to something else, maybe 2/3 of it ....maybe more!

I like the idea of a bed of clover. Is there such a thing as clover in dense proximity that would not be perceived by the powers that be as  a undesirable?


Paul

* Whoa!...google "grow clover" and see what the possibilities are. I've got a  new mission it looks like.

Yes, I like your attitude.  I think it comes down to keeping the remaining lawn trimmed and mowed….that is…the edges and the paths that go through the wildflowers.  I do not think the neighbors would complain about it if it is very obvious that you are tending to it…being a good steward….not being a sloth.  They do not want a neighbor who lets the place turn into an "unkept weedhole"…for lack of a better description right now.

Clover is a top ground cover.  It is one of the highest rated ground covers among wildlife habitat professionals.  Yet, it is considered a nuisance by grass people who obsess for the perfect lawn.  Something is wrong.  We have been perverted.

SantaFeJoe wrote:Robert, everybody looks at plants through different eyes. I happen to like dandelions and have photos of clumps of them covered with Painted Lady butterflies (probably around 30 PLs). I also have photos of crab spiders and their prey on Cow Parsnips. I like both of them since they serve a role in the lives of insects, spiders and bugs. Cow Parsnips "juices" can create a burn on skin when combined with sunlight, so you need to be careful if using a tool similar to a weed whacker. My choice is to let them grow and fulfill their role in nature.

Joe

Depending on where they happen to be….I like Dandelions too…because the bees like them, and because they are native.  But I do have a 1/2-grass,front lawn.  And therein lies the problem.  Dandelions here are able to take advantage of a lawn and completely cover it.  Once the seed balls appear, the seeds, like tiny umbrellas, can blow to other people's lawns by the thousands.  So, our liking of dandelions is not shared by others at all.  

Dandelion flowers change to seed balls overnight….literally.  Check out this time lapse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ_QqtXoyQw

This year a few of my Dandelions escaped my attention.  When I finally saw them, I pulled the entire plant, with the yellow flowers, and dropped them inside my garage, to dispose of them later.  

I was shocked the next day to see that the uprooted flowers had transformed into seed balls that night inside my garage, on the concrete floor !   

And I did not know that….. unlike most other plants, Dandelions can fertilize themselves.!

This Dandelion problem that folks complain about, goes to illustrate another reason why lawns are more of a problem than an attractive asset.  In other words, Dandelions INSIDE my wildflower meadows….are not a problem…I guess because it is in the native wildflower meadows that Dandelions meet tough competition.  So if they are inside my small, native wildflower meadows…..I have no reason yet to pull them.   And I hope I will never have reason.

Butterflies:
Joe, it would be exciting if we got butterfly numbers on dandelions like that up here…..30 Painted Lady's ?  WOW !  But there are no butterflies (yet) at all back inside Portland's city limits, although there is still quite a generous acreage of native wildflower meadows.  

Why are there no butterflies in Portland, Maine (as an example) ?  There used to be plenty of them. I know, because in decades past, I photographed them without concern that the time would come in my life, when there were no butterflies left here.  Why?

1.  Usually, when a wildflower area is mowed by the City, it is all mowed at the same time
     ROTATION:  There is a thing called rotation that prescribed burners use and that open space managers probably should learn to apply as well.  Example:  Say you have 3 acres of open space.  You want to manage it as an open space that largely will be given back to the butterflies and bees.  Now, you can still mow strips within this large open space, where people can walk to enjoy nature.  There is one problem that is called Plant Succession.   This process assures that the most diminutive vegetation will be replaced by successively larger-statured plants…until eventually you will have a forest that we sometimes describe as being in a Climax state.  So if we want to maintain a wildflower meadow (an earlier Successional stage), we have to get creative.  We divide the 3 acre parcel into three sections (as an example), moving one section in the first year, another in the 2nd year and the the third in the third year.  This way, when we get back to the first section, it has had two years to hold and maintain butterfly reproduction that has been occurring on it.  Without this tactic, butterfly eggs would be constantly destroyed. 

2.  GLYPHOSATE AND NEONICOTINOIDS:    We have applied so much of these plant poisons and insect poisons that we have eliminated entire areas of wild, native herbs and extirpated many insect species from larger areas they formally flourished on.  Remember, over at least the last 10 years and probably more like 20, the objective has been to poison every last insect.  Over that span of time…..we were taught and believed, that no good insects existed.  

WELL OVER 90% OF OUR NATIVE PASSERINE BIRDS ARE OBLIGATED TO FEED THEIR NESTLINGS A DIET OF OVER 90% INSECTS….OR THE NESTLINGS DIE.


And therein is another of the problems causing the loss of our songbirds:  We have greatly favored the planting of exotics (ornamentals as they are so sweetly called) on our properties FOR AT LEAST OVER THE LAST CENTURY.  But exotics have no enemies because they did not evolve in NA.  Almost nothing in NA eats exotics.  If you are in another part of the world, then no plant you bring to your country from another part of the world….HAS ENEMIES IN ITS NEW ENVIRONMENT.  Over millions of years, through MUTATION and NATURAL SELECTION, plants have inadvertently developed chemicals toxins that BY CHANCE, have prevented certain insects from eating them, while others till find them palatable.  

MUST GO FOR NOW…BUT THIS WILL BE CONTINUED SOON……..

Bulletin!.....I just saw a single butterfly along the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine.  Did not see it long enough to identify. That was the first butterfly I have seen in Portland Maine this year!
Robert

SantaFeJoe wrote:Robert, everybody looks at plants through different eyes. I happen to like dandelions and have photos of clumps of them covered with Painted Lady butterflies (probably around 30 PLs). I also have photos of crab spiders and their prey on Cow Parsnips. I like both of them since they serve a role in the lives of insects, spiders and bugs. Cow Parsnips "juices" can create a burn on skin when combined with sunlight, so you need to be careful if using a tool similar to a weed whacker. My choice is to let them grow and fulfill their role in nature.

Joe

You are right Joe

I think I am changing my attitude about Dandelions.  Just today referring to Donald and Lillian Stokes Butterfly Book (ISBN 0-316-81780-5) and I was reminded that Dandelions are one of the very few early wildflowers that get our nectar feeders started.

Yes, I am definitely changing my attitude about Dandelions.  

So this drum I have been beating for about the last two decade at least, is thumbs down on lawns and thumbs up for wildflowers.  But my mind had become so tainted by public disdain for the Dandelion that I too had become one of those people I criticize for calling our wildflowers "weeds".  By default, I had actually forgotten (or never knew) that a Dandelion is a native wildflower. 

I'll tell you…. my neighbors are not going to like this . 

Here is a lot of what you and all of us probably did not know about the Dandelion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum#History

Robert

The movement is gaining momentum 

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/ ... use-mow-it

We are bringing nature home no matter what !

For about the last 3 years, I have been converting my side lawn.  If you click on this link you will go directly to the gallery "Lawn to Native Wildflower Garden".  It is an effort to document the animals that followed after the planting of several native wildflower species. I have not ID'd most of the bugs.  Not interested in it right now.  Also, there are several repeat images in the gallery.   

Last Fall I mowed the dead stems of these perennials.  This Fall I am not going to mow them.  So I hope to save any insect eggs that may have been deposited.  There are already some unwanted aphids on my milkweed plants.  I am going to let nature take its course.  Next Summer, hoping to see some lacewings or ladybugs come in and feast on the windfall of aphids. 

https://itsaboutnature.smugmug.com/Natu ... ildflower/