Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

The Shape of Hydrangeas

It’s hydrangea season and they are everywhere! But where are the bees?

Have you noticed that bees happily buzz around some hydrangeas while ignoring others? The difference is striking with these two hydrangea shrubs seen blooming side-by-side:

What accounts for the difference?

You might reasonably guess that native hydrangeas would be more attractive to native bees than Asian varieties, because that is often the case with other plants. Insects in North America usually prefer the plants with which they co-evolved, so non-native species are much less useful to them. But in the video above, both shrubs are non-native hydrangea varieties. So, what’s the difference to the bees?

When it comes to hydrangeas, it’s the shape of the flower that matters – at least to bees! And since 25% of native bee species are in sharp population decline, we really must care about what’s important to bees.

Hydrangea flowers, properly called “panicles,” are typically one of three shapes: “mophead,” “lace-cap,” or “conical” (cone-shaped).

Mophead
Lace-cap
Conical

In nature, hydrangeas have either lace-cap or conical forms composed of many tiny fertile flowers accompanied by larger showy 4-petaled flowers that are sterile. The only purpose of the sterile flowers is to attract the attention of pollinators, directing them to the real flowers – the tiny ones loaded with pollen and nectar.

Large sterile flowers draw attention to the tiny fertile
flowers inside
Pollinators find nectar and pollen in the fertile flowers

For bees, the sterile flowers on hydrangeas are just advertising. For humans, the sterile flowers are the pretty part. So, for hundreds of years, humans have been manipulating hydrangeas with selective breeding and genetic modification to create panicles with more showy sterile flowers and fewer — or zero — fertile flowers. The heavily-modified hydrangeas are spectacular to human eyes, but useless to pollinators.

Some of the showiest mophead hydrangeas have no
fertile flowers at all, and produce no pollen or nectar

The intentional modification of hydrangea flowers has crossed continents and hydrangea species. Many of the most popular hydrangeas in gardens today are mophead versions developed from the Asian species, Hydrangea macrophylla, or big-leaf hydrangea. You recognize these as the big round flowers that are pink or blue depending on the acidity of the soil, but they are also available in white, pale green, hot pink, and other colors. In fact, there are countless varieties of heavily-modified Asian hydrangea species on the market, including the popular tree form “Pee Gee” and the enormous conical flowers of “Limelight,” both modifications of the Asian Hydrangea paniculata.

Native North American species have been similarly modified to create fancy flowers. Hydrangea arborescens, or Smooth Hydrangea, is native to forests from New York to Ohio, and south from Oklahoma to Georgia. In the wild, it has flat-topped clusters of tiny white fertile flowers with occasional mutations adding a few sterile flowers scattered around the outer ring.

Natural form of the native Hydrangea arborescens

To make its flowers more appealing to humans, growers selected the mutated flowers and modified them dramatically to increase their number and size, eventually eliminating the fertile flowers altogether. The result was a plant with enormous mophead flowers that they labelled ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea, and introduced to the American market in the 1960’s. Since then, many other named varieties (‘Snowball,’ ‘Incrediball,’ ‘Invincibelle,’ etc.) have been developed to appeal to gardeners. Unfortunately, these showy mophead forms offer nothing to bees because the fertile flowers have been manipulated out of existence.

‘Annabelle’ and other cultivars of Smooth Hydrangea
have made this native plant useless for bees.
Photo from nursery advertisement

Even our excellent native shrub, Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), has been targeted for flower modifications by growers. Oakleaf Hydrangea naturally has large conical flowers that emerge white and gradually turn pink. They are beautiful and loaded with fertile flowers that are an important source of nectar and pollen for bees. (For more information on Oakleaf Hydrangea, click here.)

Oakleaf Hydrangea is native to the Southeastern US,
but grows well in gardens throughout the mid-Atlantic region
Conical flowers of Oakleaf Hydrangea are beloved by bees

Apparently not satisfied with an already excellent and garden-worthy native plant, the nursery industry has introduced cultivars of Oakleaf Hydrangea with flowers so altered that they have no remaining value to bees.

A double-flowered version of native Oakleaf Hydrangea
has eliminated fertile flowers completely
Dense conical flowers with no interior fertile flowers on
this Asian hydrangea do not support bees

Open conical flowers with large clusters of fertile flowers inside, like natural Oakleaf Hydrangea flowers, are a feast for bumblebees and other pollinators. And lace-cap flowers, whether Asian or native, because they are formed with large clusters of fertile flowers in the center, attract many species of bees.

An Asian lace-cap hydrangea visited by bumblebees

In a recent 5-year trial at the Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware, 29 cultivars of the native Smooth Hydrangea, including 16 mophead and 13 lace-cap varieties, were evaluated for garden appeal and performance. https://mtcubacenter.org/lacecap-hydrangeas-take-top-marks/ Investigators also monitored each of the plants for pollinator visits, extrapolating the results over the growing season. They found that lace-cap flowers were visited by pollinators at 3½ times the rate of mophead flowers. Although they did not report on the duration of visits, they did observe that bees approached the mophead flowers, but apparently did not often find reason to stay.

So, if we care about bees, flower shape matters!

For gardeners who love hydrangeas and also care about bees, the best bet is to include lace-cap and open conical flower forms with plenty of fertile flowers in your garden. Native Oakleaf Hydrangeas in natural form and native Smooth Hydrangeas in lace-cap form (like ‘Haas’ Halo’) are widely available at nurseries. And if you love the bright colors and playful shapes of the Asian lace-caps, they are a much better choice than the mopheads.

Go ahead and enjoy your mophead hydrangeas – they are harmless and we all love them. But think about adding a few lace-caps or conical forms with lots of fertile flowers for our bee friends.

You’ll love them, too!

THIS BLOG IS WRITTEN 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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Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Walk This Way…

A paved walkway to the front door is one of the most common features of suburban residential landscapes. And it’s important! It is a visitor’s first impression of your home and a major element of “curb appeal.” Landscape design professionals recommend planting your walkway to welcome visitors and visually direct them to the correct entrance while giving them something interesting and beautiful to see along the way.

A well-planted entry walk guides visitors to the front door.
The entry path to the Greenburgh Nature Center in spring.

But a paved walkway presents multiple challenges for landscaping. The process of paving, whether with stone, concrete, brick, or asphalt, often damages the adjacent soil, leaving it compacted, dry, and rocky with bits of concrete and masonry that can significantly alter soil pH and create poor planting conditions.

New construction of paved areas can leave depleted soil.

Paved surfaces are also warmer in summer and colder in winter than the surrounding soil. Pavement reflects summer heat onto adjacent areas and can hold that heat long after sunset. Frozen pavement, on the other hand, can be even colder than surrounding air and soil temperatures, and snow cleared from walkways often includes salt or ice-melting products damaging to plants. With these extremes, it can be challenging to find plants that will look good and survive year-round.

Understandably, many suburban homeowners opt for planting nothing at all along walkways.

The minimalist approach.

Others plant a row of annuals every summer only to watch them wither and die long before fall (New Guinea impatiens anyone?). Most annuals are tropical plants that evolved in the understory of rainforests. The harsh conditions along a paved entry path are a far cry from the rich, wet soil in the shady jungles of equatorial New Guinea!

So, what can you plant along an entry path that will survive tough conditions through summer and winter, and still come back strong in the spring?

Consider plants that evolved in regions with baking hot summers, freezing winters, poor hard packed soil, and weather that can alternate between drought and flood. America’s great prairies and dry meadows are the original habitats of a vast array of hardy native plants. With variations in annual rainfall, soil depth, tree cover, and elevation, an incredible variety of grasses, flowering plants, and hardy shrubs evolved in those challenging landscapes. These native plants are ideal for the conditions so often found on paths from sidewalks and driveways to front doors throughout suburban neighborhoods.

The bonus is that these plants also feed native bees and butterflies and need very little care. Many of them already have been featured in prior posts of this blog. Take a look at these plants as you consider re-designing your entry path, and follow the links below for more information and photos:

Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) is a
cheerful sight lining a sunny path.
Field Pussy-toes (Antennaria neglecta or A. plantaginifolia) is a grey-green ground cover with
adorable cat-paw flowers.
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepsis) is a small
ornamental grass with a soft look and a lovely scent.
Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) grows about 2 ½ feet tall,
has flowers that last for months, and smells wonderful.

Yet another prairie plant that looks great along a path is Prairie Smoke (Geum trilflorum). Its nodding pink flowers turn into puffs that give it another common name, Old Man’s Whiskers. The foliage stays fresh all summer and turns a lovely burgundy in the fall. It is not bothered by snow cover in the winter or hot dry summers.

Prairie Smoke in stages of spring bloom.

Another reliable low-growing groundcover that can fill in along a path mixed with shrubs and taller perennials is Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragaroides). Blooming with bright yellow buttercup-type flowers for weeks from spring into summer, and semi-evergreen through the winter, it spreads slowly and is exceptionally hardy.

Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragaroides) in March.

The most attractive pathway gardens include a variety of native perennials, grasses, and shrubs to create four seasons of interest.

A mixed border makes a path interesting.

There are a number of tough native shrubs that mix beautifully with perennials to create a real garden on the way to your front door:

Shrubby St. John’s Wort (Hypericum frondosum, or H. prolificum, or the pictured H. kalmianum)
are similar species, but different sizes, and all bloom with bright yellow pom-poms
adored by bumblebees.

Another great shrub for the entry path is Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa). Its flowers may be bright yellow or nearly white, its foliage a soft gray/green, and it blooms all summer long, much to the delight of native pollinators.

An entry path with Potentilla in full bloom.

So, there are many beautiful options for designing a durable planted path to welcome visitors (and nature!) to your front door. Think about pushing your lawn away from the path and giving a bit more space to a native garden that says: “walk this way!”

THIS BLOG IS WRITTEN 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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Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Blue Skies, Blue Eyes

Good morning, sunshine!

When the sun rises high enough to warm Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium), its violet-blue flowers open wide to soak up the rays. A passing rain shower or dark clouds, however, will cause this sun-worshipper to fold up tight and hide until the sun reappears. From early May through June, and occasionally even later, the flowers of Blue-eyed Grass welcome the sun like kids on spring break.

Blue-eyed Grass basking in the sunshine.
Flowers curled up tight waiting for the sun after a rain.

Despite its common name, Blue-eyed Grass is not a grass at all. It’s actually in the iris family. The leaves are blade-shaped, like miniaturized versions of the leaves of bearded iris. And the flowers emerge from slits in the sides of the leaves, as they do in other irises.

Flowers unfold from inside the leaves.

The plant is only 6 to 12 inches tall, and the flowers are less than an inch across with cheery yellow centers. The small flowers can create a big effect if they are grouped along a walkway or at the front of a garden. They are a great choice for rock gardens, and for lining the edge of a paved path where the soil tends to be thin, poor, and rocky. Blue-eyed grass actually prefers poor soil and will suffer in rich, organic soil. Regular moisture is ideal as long as the soil is well drained — so a path to the front door is the perfect spot!

Blue-eyed Grass along a front entry walk.

Blue-eyed Grass is native to most of Eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Minnesota and south to Texas and Florida. Its typical habitat is damp meadows or grassy riverside areas where there is moisture, but sandy or rocky soil that prevents water from settling around the growing crown or roots. Most growers advise against mulching around the plant’s crown to prevent rotting. As long as you avoid that, the plant is virtually care free.

Blue-eyed Grass continues looking good even after the bloom season ends. The grassy clumps blend well with other small perennials or ground covers and stay fresh through fall. Hardy in zones 3 to 9, the foliage is semi-evergreen except in the coldest zones, and it is does not seem to mind being buried by snow shoveled off of walkways.

The grass-like texture of Sisyrinchium looks great all year.

Blue-eyed Grass is increasingly popular with suburban gardeners, so it is fairly easy to find at nurseries. A cultivar called ‘Lucerne’ was developed in Switzerland by horticulturists working with the North American native plant. Its flowers are bit bigger and darker blue than the straight species (all of the photos above are of ‘Lucerne’). Blue-eyed Grass is not attractive to deer or other mammals, but it does attract pollinators, so it’s a great addition to pollinator gardens. And the seed pods are favored by cardinals, house finches, and other songbirds late in the season.

Individual plants of Blue-eyed Grass are not long-lived, but they do seed themselves near the mother plant, so colonies can continue indefinitely. If re-seeding is not desired, dead-heading the flowers after blooming will prevent that. In fact, the whole plant can be sheared in mid summer to keep it tidy after blooming. Blue-eyed Grass grows from a small rhizome, but will also spread itself by sending out off-sets from the roots of the parent plant. If older plants seem to bloom less than before, they can be divided by digging up the plant and carefully teasing apart the roots to create new plants as well as refreshing the old one.

Though Blue-eyed Grass can be grown fairly easily from seed, it will take a few years to bloom. Container specimens can be planted in spring or early fall to give the roots time to develop. Gallon-sized or larger container plants will put on a good show their first season.

Sisyrinchium angustifolium straight species in the Meadow at the Greenburgh Nature Center.
Photo: Travis Brady

It’s a bit surprising that we don’t see this wonderful native plant more often in suburban yards. Instead of planting annuals that must be replaced every year, why not choose this native perennial for your front walk or along the edge of your patio?

If you do, blue skies will have Blue-eyed Grass shining for you!

THIS BLOG IS WRITTEN 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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Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Spring Awakening

Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, insects are buzzing, and all around us nature is waking up to spring.

And miracles are happening: complex and ancient relationships between plants and animals begin again each spring. You can watch them in your own backyard – if you have the right plants!

In the forests of the Eastern US, there is a short window of opportunity when daytime temperatures are above freezing but the trees are still bare, allowing sunlight to warm the forest floor. Plants called “spring ephemerals” take advantage of that special moment, living out their brief visible lives in sunshine before fading back underground in shady summer.

Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) is a spring ephemeral.
Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides) blooms in early April, but will fade away in summer.

Spring ephemerals accomplish their entire active life cycle in a matter of 2 to 3 months. They must break through the soil, produce flowers, be pollinated, and set and disperse seed. Then, before sunlight is blocked by the tree canopy, they must photosynthesize enough nutrients to keep their underground roots or rhizomes alive through the next winter. Once they have done all of that, their leaves fade away in summer, and they rest again under soil and leaf litter until spring. “Ephemeral” means short-lived, but many of these plants actually live for years, spending most of that time underground.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a spring ephemeral.
Photo: Sandy Thompson

It’s a challenging life-style: there are late snowfalls and night-time freezes to withstand; pollinators are scarce in early spring; and there aren’t many birds available to disperse seeds. Most butterflies emerge much later, and birds are looking for insects for their babies in spring rather than seeds. So, spring ephemerals have co-evolved with specialized relationships to survive.

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica or caroliniana)
Photo: Sandy Thompson

Consider the life cycle of Claytonia, commonly called “Spring Beauty,” a native wildflower as lovely as the name suggests. It blooms just at the same time that its pollinator begins searching for it. The specialized pollinator is a native bee, appropriately called the Spring Beauty Mining Bee (Andrena erigeniae), that overwinters in individual ground nests, usually under fallen leaves. Male and female bees emerge in very early spring. They mate and the males soon die off while the females begin excavating new nests in the ground (hence, the name “mining bee”). The females hunt for the pink pollen of Spring Beauty, the only pollen they can use, which they form into balls and place in the nest in individual brood chambers. The bee then lays a single egg in each chamber. The larvae hatch, feed on the pollen, develop into adults, and overwinter underground. The next spring, it all begins again.

Andrena erigeniae collects pink pollen from Claytonia.
Photo: Judy Gallagher, Lopez-Uribe Lab

After pollination, Spring Beauty flowers produce seeds, each with an attached fatty mass called an elaiosome. The elaiosomes are particularly attractive to ants, who carry the seeds with the attached elaisomes back to their nests. The ant colony feeds on the elaiosomes and discards the seeds, effectively planting them nearby. This process of seed dispersal by ants is called “myrmecochory” and is common with spring ephemerals and other early-blooming native flowers. (See our earlier blog posts on Wild Ginger and Jeffersonia.)

An ant carrying a Trillium seed with attached elaiosome (greatly enlarged photo!!)
Photo: Mike Dunn from “Roads End Naturalist” blog

So, with the help of its special insect friends, Spring Beauty is pollinated and its seeds are planted for the next year. In summer, its leaves will fade and the plant will disappear underground. But when the snow melts in spring, the plant will wake up again, eventually forming beautiful patches of candy-striped flowers on the forest floor – or, in a suburban shade garden!

Dicentra cucullaria, or “Dutchman’s Breeches”.
Photo: Sandy Thompson

Another spring ephemeral with a special insect friend is called “Dutchman’s Breeches” because its white flowers look like old-style Dutch pantaloons. The flowers hold sweet nectar high up in the pointed flower tops where it can be reached only by long-tongued bees strong enough to force their way in and then escape through the tight opening. Queen bumblebees are perfect for the job. While worker bumblebees die off in the fall, queens over-winter as adults on the ground under leaf litter, and emerge just as Dutchman’s Breeches are flowering. They must find nectar to nourish themselves as they begin laying their eggs. There are not many flowers with nectar in early spring — even most spring ephemerals do not hold nectar — so Dicentra cucullaria is an important resource for queen bumblebees. In exchange for the nectar, the strong fuzzy body of the queen bumblebee carries pollen from flower to flower enabling the plant to produce seed.

Dutchmans’ Breeches flowers require a strong bee to pollinate them.
Photo: Sandy Thompson

Still another spring ephemeral with a specialized relationship is Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum).

A colony of Mayapple in April.

Mayapple flowers turn into fleshy “apple” fruits, about the size of a walnut. The fruit is prized by Eastern box turtles, and provides essential nourishment just as turtles come out of winter hibernation. In exchange, the turtles carry the seeds considerable distances, distributing them in their droppings to form new plant colonies. A recent study showed that Mayapple seeds that have passed through the digestive system of a box turtle have a higher germination rate than seeds distributed by other means! Mayapple can be found in wetland areas, woods, and in meadows where box turtles live, but it also makes a pretty spring show in a shady garden. It spreads somewhat aggressively by rhizomes, so it is a better choice for woodland areas than small gardens.

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) are spring ephemerals that make great garden plants.

Trilliums are joyful spring ephemerals.

Native spring ephemerals evolved in Eastern forests, so they all do well in rich, slightly acidic soil enriched by fallen leaves that are allowed to decompose naturally. They are hardy in their native ranges, most of them from Canada south to Georgia and the Carolinas and west to the Mississippi River. They will disappear by late June or July, so plant them with other shade perennials that come up later: blue lobelia, wild ginger, maidenhair ferns, white wood asters, and goatsbeard are good choices, but so are many other native woodland plants. And allowing fall leaves to remain on the ground at least until mid-summer benefits not only the plants, but also their specialized insect and animal partners.

All of these plants offer critical food for early pollinators, but many spring ephemerals are disappearing in the wild as our forests are cleared, over-browsed by deer, and degraded with invasive species. Growing them in residential gardens is an act of ecological restoration — and a gift to our future.

Mayapple, Trout Lily, and Trillium live together in a shady garden.

If you have mature trees, planting an array of spring ephemerals as a native understory is so much better than a mono-culture of non-native groundcovers (like pachysandra, ivy, vinca, liriope) or a layer of dead bark mulch. The specialized relationships these plants have with insects and other animals are fascinating and beautiful to observe. All of the plants discussed here are easy to incorporate into home gardens, and are available commercially and at native plant sales.

So, when spring is awakening in your yard, give these American beauties – and their special friends – a place to thrive.

THIS BLOG IS WRITTEN 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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Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Side effects: May Include Joy, Calm, and Delight

The morning news is just awful: wars, school shootings, forest fires, floods, political extremes. It’s all too much, and I think I can actually feel my blood pressure rising. Stressed and depressed, I turn away from the news, and look out my window…

A big flock of robins has descended on the Winterberry, eating berries as fast as they can in a joyful feast! They dash back and forth between the Winterberry and the Crab Apple as if they can’t decide which fruit they like best. Dozens more birds – robins, blue jays, and cardinals dive into the American Holly. Squirrels grab the berries knocked to the ground and scamper off to stash them for later.

As I step outside to watch the action, I hear crows screeching an alert from the top of the Locust trees. Sure enough, I see a red-tailed hawk circling high above. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a rabbit dash for cover under the mess of flower stalks I’ve left standing for just that reason – it’s a great place to hide!

Winter hiding place

Watching all of this, I realize that I’m now smiling and calm. The tension I felt earlier has receded. My pulse and breathing have slowed, and there is a sense of well-being just from spending a few minutes in my own yard. These are the healing side-effects of living in nature!

My yard is not typical of suburban New York City. It is heavily planted with native trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers. It’s intentionally a bit messy this time of year, with leaves still on the ground, and untrimmed perennials and tall grasses in muted shades of brown and beige still standing. The shrubs are not clipped into tidy shapes but are allowed to form thickets with their branches interlaced. There is a brush pile creating shelter against the back fence, and River Birch trees with shaggy bark hide insects for woodpeckers and nuthatches even in winter.

My backyard in winter

I know that is why the birds are here: there is food and shelter available year-round in this particular suburban yard.

About 10 years ago, I eliminated pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers from my yard. Then I began removing the non-native and invasive plants so typical of our area: ivy, vinca, pachysandra, barberry, and burning bush. I gradually replaced them with lots of native trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers, always chipping away at the lawn to make more room. I stopped sending fall leaves off of the property and started using them to mulch the trees and shrubs, so the fireflies and caterpillars over-wintering in leaves could stay alive and emerge in the spring. Eventually, I replaced more than half of my lawn with native plants.

My “unusual” front yard

I did all of this because I learned that American songbirds are dying off at a horrifying rate. The total population of backyard birds today is 25% less than it was in 1970, and many once common species have lost closer to 50% of their numbers! Baltimore orioles, bluebirds, and warblers were once as common as robins, but are rarely seen now. This is happening because the forests, meadows, and grasslands where birds once nested, mated, and hunted for insects are gone.

There is virtually no undeveloped land left in America. The suburbs keep growing, taking over land that only a few decades ago was wild. Today, 83% of the continental US is privately owned, and 44 million acres of it is planted in lawn! Worse, most of that lawn is maintained with chemicals that are toxic to birds, butterflies, fireflies, and insects that birds need to feed their young.

Typical suburban yard in winter — nothing to eat and nowhere to hide

Yet, America’s suburbs may be “nature’s best hope.” It’s really the only land left that can be reclaimed as a useful habitat. In the book, Nature’s Best Hope, Doug Tallamy suggests that if we converted just half of the lawn in suburbia — 22 million acres — to native plants, it would exceed the combined areas

…of the Everglades, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Teton, Canyonlands, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Badlands, Olympic, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Denali, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Parks.

That much habitat could have a huge impact on biodiversity – even reversing losses of vital and cherished bird and animal species. These facts were the motivation for my effort to convert a typical lawn-and-tidy-shrub suburban landscape into something richer and more diverse.

I thought I was doing it for nature. The surprise has been what nature does for me!

My yard full of native plants is my refuge, my laboratory, my classroom, my gym, my anti depressant, my stress reliever, and a playground for our family’s children that is infinitely more
interesting and safer than a lawn full of chemicals. We’ve seen new species of butterflies settle here after I added their host plants. With more birds around, we started learning to identify
them. So far, we have identified over 40 different species! And I’ve seen wonderful things I had never before even heard of, like a hummingbird moth!

A hummingbird moth visits my Phlox!

There is something new to discover almost daily in a bio-diverse landscape. It is full of life and wonder! The seasons change so visibly: delicate spring flowers, fragrant summer shrubs, so many fall colors, and winter bird feasts! The sounds are amazing: bird calls, crickets, tree frogs, cicadas, and squirrels chittering. The experiences make me feel alive: watching fireflies blink on a summer evening while the air is filled with the perfume of Summersweet shrub; watching from my living room window as tiny birds take refuge from a snowstorm.

Tufted titmouse and white-throated sparrow shelter in my Rhododendron

When the stress of daily life is just too much, you can always visit the Nature Center, or take a walk in any park or nature preserve. It will help.

But it’s so much better to live with nature, and in nature, in your own yard! You can welcome it, take care of it, observe it, learn from it, and be surprised by it every time you step outside. As we begin the new year, I hope you will resolve to convert a bit more of your yard to habitat and do it not only for nature but for yourself and your family.

There are simple things you can do that will make a difference. This blog frequently has suggestions, so scroll through the Around the Grounds Collection below, or start with these posts for ideas: (1/26/23, 2/16/23, 3/23/23, 4/27/23, 10/5/23).

Wishing you joy, peace, and delight in the new year!

Thanks to Saverio DeGiorgio for the featured photo. Follow Sav on Instagram @savwildlifephotography

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

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