There’s a hole at one end of the Driveway Border that I had expected to be full of colorful flowers by now. But it was not to be. A number of plants have been harmed by Four-Lined Plant Bugs (FLPB) this year, none more so than the Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginucum). Here’s how the Culver’s …
gardeninacity
Notes from a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
So before I write about spring cleanup in the garden, which is going pretty well, I have to touch on an unpleasant subject. Namely, my failure to protect all my woody plants from girdling.
These days there are too few opportunities to go outside and putter in the garden, basically because the garden is frozen.
A recycled post from the National Wildlife Federation recently reignited a debate in our house concerning the humble opossum. Possums give Judy the creeps, but I think that people generally, and gardeners in particular, should roll out the welcome mat to North America’s only marsupial.
The number of Monarch butterflies out in the Front Garden seems to have peaked. For a while there were 6 or 7 at any typical moment, just recently it’s dropped to 3 or 4. I take this to mean that the core of the southern Monarch migration has passed through our area. Within a week …
I always get excited when a new butterfly makes its first appearance in the garden. This happened a few days ago. At first I thought it was a Black Swallowtail, but then realized it didn’t have a “tail” and that the color and markings were very different.
Lately the Front Garden has had so many little creatures flying about that it’s almost impossible to make it to or from the front door without getting hopelessly distracted. Let’s have a review of some of the creatures who been doing the distracting.
Squirrel: It’s What’s For Dinner
Judy sent me this article from The Guardian about chefs who are making various dishes out of squirrel, specifically Grey Squirrel. There’s a lot of Grey Squirrel meat to be had in the UK because of an organized attempt to cull Europe’s invasive Grey Squirrel population, who are driving the native Red Squirrels to extinction. …
Good News on Monarch Butterflies, But Don’t Get Too Excited
So the good news is that there are a lot more Monarch butterflies roosting in Mexico this winter than there were a year ago. Monarch populations are measured by the size of overwintering colonies in the mountain forests of Michoacan. This year, they are covering a little over 6 hectares (or about 15 acres), a …
Gardening for Native Bees: Interview with Heather Holm
A couple of months ago I heard Heather Holm speak on gardening for native bees at a forum organized by the Lurie Garden. Heather is an award-winning author and widely-recognized advocate and educator for native bee conservation. Educated in Canada, she currently lives in Minnesota. She was nice enough to agree to respond to some …
