Tagged: larval host plants

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Carbon Garden / Climate Change / climate change / Conservation / Edible Plants / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Invasive Plants / Larval Host Plants / Nuisance Plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Resource Protection / Soil Conservation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

A History of Our War With Plants

  “I use only native plants, native to the planet Earth.  I am using indigenous plants; they are indigenous to this part of the universe.” Bill Mollison, Founder and Director of The Permaculture Institute     In the Beginning… Let’s begin with the obvious:  we live within an ever-changing ecosystem.  Europeans came to North America more than four centuries ago, cutting trees, planting fields, building homes and roads.  Native Americans also cut trees, built homes, planted fields, hunted, and lived...

Birds / Carbon Garden / Edible Plants / Fall / Food Forest / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Larval Host Plants / Native Trees / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Diospyrus virginiana, the Divine Fruit

  A sadly spindly ‘mystery tree’ grows on a steep slope in our back fern garden.  I first noticed it six or seven years ago.  Its top was broken off in a winter snowstorm a while ago, and its odd growth pattern, plain looking leaves and immature bark left me clueless about its identify.  My best guess was that perhaps it was a paw paw tree, since the leaves are similar, and we have a stand of those nearby. But...

Community Gardening / Edible Plants / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Keystone Species / Native Trees / Permaculture / Planting Trees / Propagation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Growing Indigenous Trees from Seeds

  What Are Indigenous Trees? Indigenous trees are those native species that have grown in our area since before European colonization.  They are uniquely suited to our climate.  They support our indigenous wildlife and make our landscape unique.  Trees produced from long generations of the same species, that have all grown in our immediate area, are considered indigenous.  A tree ordered from a mail-order nursery, even of the same species, was likely grown from seed, or a cutting, indigenous to...

Beneficial Insects / Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Poisonous Plants / Summer Color Plants / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Designing Plantings to Host Butterflies and Moths

  A friend was excited to buy milkweed plants at a WBG plant sale several years ago. They aren’t easy to find commercially, and few people raise them from seed.  When I saw her again a few weeks later, I inquired about how her plants were doing. “Oh, I must have done something wrong. They’re not looking so good.  Most of the leaves have disappeared,” she replied.     I quickly reassured her that it was unlikely she had done...

Beneficial Insects / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Native Trees / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

For Love of Trees

  Trees enrich our lives in countless ways. Yet we may not pay them much attention, until they are gone. A Million Trees in a Single Day Pioneers in the Nebraska Territory missed the trees they left behind back East.  They needed trees for shade from the summer sun, for windbreaks to hold the soil, for fuel and for building materials.  They needed trees so much, that Nebraska’s Board of Agriculture planned the first American Arbor Day celebration on April...

Beneficial Insects / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Lepidoptera / Native Plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Invitation to a ‘Homegrown National Park’

The bright flash of a butterfly’s wing brings instant joy.  My mind clears for a moment of rapt attention to see what sort of butterfly it is.  Where is it flying?  Where is it feeding?  Will it stay in our yard?  Whatever had been churning through my mind evaporates in that moment of pure beauty. Birdsong in the morning gently pulls me back from dreams, and we hear birds chattering and calling throughout the day, flying from shrub to tree. ...

Animal repellant products / Birds / Deer / Edible Plants / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Herbs / Larval Host Plants / Lepidoptera / Native Plants / Permaculture / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Who Is Welcome to Dine?

A Black Swallowtail butterfly feeds on Verbena bonariensis . When planning your garden and buying plants, is your first consideration who, or what, might eat them? If you are planting fruit trees, tomato vines, or salad greens you’re likely planning to share the fruits of your labor and investment with family and friends. Some friends of mine garden in a community garden, where much of the produce raised is donated to our local FISH organization. But food crops aside, when...