Milkweed Archives - Nature Center at Greenburgh

March 26, 2024January 7, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Ready, Set, Shop!

Are you thinking about what to plant in your garden this year? Nurseries are already displaying their new stock, and native plant sales are popping up everywhere. It’s time to make your shopping list for spring planting. And we can help!

Over the past few seasons, “Around the Grounds” has recommended some great native perennials that will bring life to your garden. Here are some of our favorite flowering plants — with links to blog posts containing photos and tons of information about each of them:

For Sunny Gardens

Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) – late bloomer, hot colors

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) – fall bloomer, essential for pollinators

Milkweed (Asclepius spp.) – long bloom time, critical for Monarchs

Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea or aptera) – blooms early and long

Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis) – long-lived, shrub-like spring bloomer

Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum spp.) – fragrant long bloomer

Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium spp.) – tall butterfly magnet

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) – long-blooming butterfly favorite

White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) – late blooming bumblebee favorite

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) – red spikes for hummingbirds

Coral Bells (Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’) – deer-resistant hosta substitute

Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) – shrub-like, blooms early

For Shady Gardens

Native Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia) – long bloomer, hardy

Goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) – large, showy white flowers

Pink Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) – shrub-like with pink flowers

Wild ginger (Asarum canadensis) – low ground cover, hidden flowers

Golden groundsel (Packera aurea) – shade/sun flowering groundcover

Creeping Sedge (Carex laxiculmus) – clumping grass that stays blue all winter

Violets (Viola sororia) – early flowering groundcover

All of these plants evolved in our region, are well-adapted to our soil and weather, and support native insect and bird populations. Many are deer-resistant and drought-tolerant. You can learn more about their favorite garden conditions in the linked blog posts.

We’ve also recommended ferns, grasses, shrubs, and trees, so browse older posts by clicking on the “Around the Grounds Collection” button below.

Happy spring shopping! And if you live in the Greenburg, NY area, mark your calendar for our spring plant sale on May 13 where many of these plants will be available.

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED WEEKLY BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

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October 13, 2022January 7, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

How We Made a Meadow

It was a weed-infested patch of land just steps away from the busiest commercial corridor in Greenburgh. A little less than 2 acres, it had been neglected for decades. But it was flat, sunny, dry, and open. Perfect for a meadow!

After an initial clearing, we got a better look. There were some nice native birch trees, an ancient stand of bayberry, and several old apple trees remaining from what had once been an apple orchard.

We were very lucky to meet a talented landscape architect who offered to donate his design services to the Nature Center. Bill Boyce of Biosphere Landscape Architects brought his expertise in natural landscape restoration to the project. He designed a space that would retain the best features of the site, while adding places for education and contemplation. Our guiding principle was to create and preserve a diverse habitat of native plants for insects, birds, and other animals.

We knew that the most natural look for the meadow would require planting from seed, carefully selected for site conditions, using a large variety of native wildflowers and grasses. For that, we turned to Larry Weaner of Larry Weaner Design, the foremost authority in the Northeastern US on designing and planting native meadows. Larry formulates custom seed mixes using a complex formula based on seed germination rates, aggressiveness of various species, length of time each species takes to germinate and establish roots, and many other factors. Like Bill, Larry was kind enough to contribute his time and expertise for the Nature Center’s meadow project.

**Larry Weaner, expert on meadow design and planting**

In December of 2014, we cleared the site again, much more thoroughly, removing as many roots of the weedy invasive species as possible, but leaving a few valuable native plants. Bill marked off the areas to be seeded, and we carefully hand-cast Larry’s specially-formulated seed mix.

**Final thorough clearing and marked off planting areas**

**Hand casting seed in the new meadow before rolling to press seed into bare soil**

**Bill Boyce, Cathy Ludden, Larry Weaner, and Travis Brady did the final clearing and hand-seeding in December 2014**

Bill’s design included an Oak Circle, which we hoped would become a calm space for meditation, as well as contribute the immense ecological value of native oak trees. Bill also designed a Stone Classroom, where our staff naturalists could work with students on-site in the meadow.

It takes at least 3 years for a seeded meadow to establish. Soon after plants emerge in the first spring, the meadow is mowed to about 6 inches in height. The idea is to cut back returning invasive species, which grow faster, giving the native seeds time to germinate without being overwhelmed. Two additional mowings the first summer, at increasing heights, keep invasive weeds under control as the new native plants develop roots.

**First season meadow is kept short to allow new seeds to germinate, Spring 2015**

In the second season, the meadow is mown once in the spring, and once more in mid-summer. The third year, the meadow is mown only once in the spring, as it will be annually thereafter.

**Baby native plants appear in the meadow**

In the winter of 2016, Bill Boyce constructed our Butterfly Arbor, taking his design inspiration from the wings of a Monarch Butterfly. He allowed native sumac shrubs to remain near the Arbor to soften the edges of the design.

**The new Butterfly Arbor in April 2016**

The Arbor has removable doors and is specially designed to allow netting to be suspended inside for our annual butterfly exhibit

**Preparing for the butterfly exhibit, Spring 2016**

The native plant meadow at the Nature Center is now 8 years old. It has matured, but it still changes each year and in every season. It has become the very special place we hoped it would be. It is filled with life and beauty.

The meadow is a wonderful place for education and contemplation.

The meadow is a joyful place to explore for people of all ages.

Next week in Around the Grounds we will discuss meadow maintenance and how changing seasons affect the meadow.

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED WEEKLY BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

May 19, 2022January 7, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Pollinators

It’s Complicated…

You may already know that monarch butterflies need milkweed. But did you know that milkweed does not need monarchs? Milkweed is not pollinated by monarch butterflies!

Monarchs have long skinny legs, and even longer skinny tongues. They have learned, over eons of co-evolution with milkweed, to avoid the dangerous sticky sap of milkweed by carefully alighting on the sides of the flowers and lowering their long “tongues” (proboscises) into the flower to reach the sweet nectar.

**Monarch sips nectar while perching on the sides of milkweed flowers**

As they drink, monarchs are careful to not put their feet down inside the flowers where they might get stuck. Unfortunately for the milkweed, this means that monarchs don’t pick up milkweed pollen! The pollen is held in specialized structures inside the upper portion of the flower called “pollinia.” For pollination to occur, pollen from the pollinia has to reach the flower’s stigma, deeper inside the flower. Without successful pollination, no seeds develop, and milkweed does not reproduce.

**Microscopic view of milkweed flower — pollen is held on the two yellow leaf-like parts on the right, called “pollinia”**
Graphic: Rick Darke

So, if not monarchs, who pollinates milkweed? It’s not any of the other butterfly species that also visit milkweed flowers without picking up pollen. Honeybees can’t do it. They are native to Europe where milkweed isn’t native, and they are too small to be strong fliers. If they go deep enough into milkweed blossoms to reach the pollen, they can be trapped, which is not good for either the bee or the milkweed.

Milkweed needs a strong flier, with stout hairy legs that will go down into the flower, catch the sticky pollinia, and carry pollen from one flower to the next. Luckily, nature has provided just the right insect for the job: carpenter bees!

**Carpenter bee with its feet in milkweed blossoms**
Photo: Pixabay

Carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.) are the most important pollinators of milkweed. Their legs are heavy and hairy, so they can step right into the flower and come out covered with sticky pollinia. They are strong fliers, so they do not get trapped, and they can carry the excess baggage. As the carpenter bee goes from flower to flower, pollen is dispersed, flowers are pollinated, seeds form, and milkweed is reproduced.

**Pollinia, shaped like little yellow leaves, cling to the hairy legs of the bee**
Photo: Polinizador’s Blog

Recently, friends who were developing a new pollinator garden for a historic property commented on the trouble they were having with carpenter bees burrowing into the eaves of the historic building. They said that exterminators had tried several applications of pesticide over the years, but the bees were nesting once again in the wooden structure.

Only later, when we learned of the connection between carpenter bees and milkweed, did we realize the contradiction! If we plant milkweed for monarchs in a pollinator garden, but then try to kill the carpenter bees nesting in the eaves of the house, we are pulling a thread in the complex web of life that can unravel the whole thing! If we kill carpenter bees, milkweed disappears. If milkweed disappears, so do monarchs.

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
John Muir, Naturalist

So, what to do about carpenter bees? Well, they prefer to move into holes or cracks that are already established. They apparently don’t like the smell of citrus, and they don’t care for white paint. So, instead of pesticide, try filling existing holes and cracks or replacing weak structures. Apply citrus oil, or maybe re-paint. But killing them? They are definitely hitched to everything else in the universe.

**Carpenter bees are very efficient pollinators of many other flowers as well**

So, it is complicated. Nature is complicated. The more we learn, the better we understand the profound relationships among living things that co-evolved over millennia.

But that doesn’t mean it is difficult to do the right thing. If we simply start with the maxim “do no harm,” we can make better choices. Before we kill a “pest,” let’s understand that creature’s role in the world. Let’s avoid pesticide, apply fewer chemicals, plant native plants, plant more plants, allow a little mess for habitat, live and let live.

For more information on the complex relationship between milkweed and the insect world, see the post “ Marvelous Milkweed-Not Just for Monarchs!” linked here.

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED WEEKLY BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

April 14, 2022January 7, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Pollinators

Feed That Hungry Caterpillar!

This week in Around the Grounds, we recommend two great plants for attracting beautiful butterflies to your garden.

Ah, butterflies…the “winged blossoms” of the garden! Let’s talk about a couple of our favorite plants for butterflies.

If you want more butterflies in your garden (and don’t we all?), you have to feed their caterpillars. True, adult butterflies will visit just about any flower with nectar. So yes, if you have a butterfly bush (Buddleia spp.), or other non-native flowers, you may attract adult butterflies. But you won’t be making more butterflies unless you provide what their caterpillars need.

**Not one species of native caterpillar can survive on “butterfly bush” (*Buddleia spp*), a non-native plant that is also invasive in many areas**

Even very hungry caterpillars won’t eat just anything. They are “specialist” insects, and can only eat certain “host” plants. If butterflies can’t find that host plant, and happen to lay their eggs on whatever is around, the caterpillars will die. So, pollinator and butterfly gardens should include host plants.

In recent posts, we’ve talked about planting Milkweed for Monarchs, and Switch Grass for Skippers. Both are essential hosts for their particular butterfly friends. Here are two more important host plants:

Zizia (Zizia aurea), sometimes called “Golden Alexander,” is the native host plant for Black Swallowtail butterflies. Maybe you’ve seen Swallowtail caterpillars on parsley, dill, or carrot plants? Although those plants are not native to the US, they are in the same plant family (Apiaceae) as Zizia, and genetically so closely related that Black Swallowtail caterpillars accept them as hosts, and do indeed eat them.

**Black Swallowtail caterpillar on parsley**

Zizia is a lovely garden plant. It likes full sun, as do most pollinator-friendly plants, and is easy to grow. It blooms in early summer and often reblooms later in the season. Its flowers are loaded with nectar, so it attracts plenty of pollinators in addition to Black Swallowtails. It prefers moist conditions, but will do fine in average garden soil. Zizia works well near the front of the border where it typically stays under 3 feet tall.

Another excellent host plant is Antennaria neglecta, which has the curious common name “Field Pussytoes.” Maybe the fuzzy white flowers do vaguely resemble a cat’s paw? Antennaria should be used much more than it is. It’s a great ground cover along sunny walkways or at the edge of pavement. It holds up to summer heat, and actually prefers shallow gritty soil, so it’s happy where paving has left gravel in adjacent areas. It does not do well in rich or moist soil.

**Antennaria blooming in a driveway bed**

Antennaria is the host plant for the beautiful American Painted Lady butterfly. We found this exhausted Painted Lady laying her eggs on Antennaria, and it looked like she was very grateful to finally have found her host plant. It shouldn’t be so hard to find!

**American Painted Lady laying her eggs on Pussytoes**

**American Painted Lady eggs and baby caterpillars**

Antennaria is semi-evergreen and survives even where snow plows bury it. In the spring, new leaves come up through the old foliage, and then it starts blooming in April.

Antennaria, or Field Pussytoes, is an underused plant in our landscapes. It is a great garden plant that should be found everywhere — because we really do need to feed those hungry caterpillars!

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED WEEKLY BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

March 31, 2022January 7, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Marvelous Milkweed – Not Just for Monarchs!

This week on Around the Grounds, we learn about the wonders of Milkweed and why it should be a staple in every home garden.

Last week in Around the Grounds we joined the happy buzz about pollinator gardens springing up everywhere. We know that bees need native flowers for nectar and pollen. Butterflies also need nectar, and they need the host plants their caterpillars eat. So, a good pollinator garden supplies all three resources – nectar, pollen, and host plants. Planting a big variety of native plants is the best way to do that.

However, there are a few special plants that do all three jobs. Top among them is Milkweed (Asclepias spp.). Milkweed, of course, is the only host plant for Monarch butterflies.

If you go looking for monarch caterpillars on Milkweed, you may discover an entire, complex ecosystem. A research study in Ohio documented 457 different insect species on just one stand of Milkweed! That’s a lot of biodiversity supported by this amazing plant.

In addition to monarchs, Milkweed is the host plant for 11 other species of Lepidoptera (the insect family for moths and butterflies). One of them is the Milkweed tussock moth. Many a gardener has been shocked to discover a mass of little wriggling black caterpillars rapidly devouring their prized Milkweed plants. But before you panic, consider the careful balance nature has designed.

The Milkweed tussock moth arrives later in the season, after most of the Monarch caterpillars already have eaten their fill and turned into butterflies, so there is plenty of Milkweed for everybody. As these little black caterpillars mature, they wander away from the pack and grow from creepy to… sort of cute? But don’t touch them without gloves. Those funny hairs can sting like nettles.

Milkweed tussock moths are important night-pollinators, and their main predator is bats. Astonishingly, they have developed a defensive sonar-type beep that warns bats away from them.

**Milkweed tussock moth caterpillar**
Photo: M.J. Raupp

Another common sight on Milkweed is a large population of Milkweed aphids. You could hose them off, or squish them with your fingers. Or, you could just watch as ladybugs show up to feed on them. Ladybugs are very effective insect-eaters. One ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids a day. Lacewings, tiny parasitic wasps, and several other beneficial insects also are likely to join the aphid hunt, so the aphid situation seems to take care of itself in our garden.

We’ve found walking sticks, praying mantids, ants, bees, flies, wasps, spiders, and specialized Milkweed bugs and beetles, all living their best lives on Milkweed.

**You never know what you’ll find on the underside of Milkweed leaves**

**A spider sets up shop to see what wanders in**

**Milkweed bugs eat the seeds in late summer and fall**
Photo: Travis Brady

Oh! Did we mention butterflies? Milkweed is loaded with nectar and draws ALL the butterflies – not just Monarchs.

**Spicebush swallowtails in mating dance on Milkweed**

While the best Milkweed for supporting all of this life is probably Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), that species is rather big, coarse, and an aggressive spreader for smaller gardens. Sadly, it’s the loss of Common Milkweed from roadsides, farmyards, and wild places all the way from Mexico to Canada that has caused the tragic decline of monarch populations.

But gardeners are making a difference, and with beautiful Milkweed species for smaller gardens, it’s really easy to do. Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) grows 3 – 4 feet tall and blooms for months. Its lavender-pink flowers blend in with lots of other sun-loving perennials. It is perfect for pollinator gardens, meadows, and mixed borders. And it also comes in white!

**Swamp Milkweed (*Asclepias incarnata*) is a butterfly magnet**

Every garden can find a place for Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa). This lovely Milkweed is a perfect front-the-border plant. It grows about 2 feet tall and is fairly compact. It stays where you plant it and is reliably hardy. The straight species is a sunny orange, and there is a bright yellow cultivar called ‘Hello Yellow.’ Butterfly Weed does best in full sun and well-drained soil. It rarely needs supplemental water, and never needs fertilizer.