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Monarch’s Last Stand

July 23, 2022 By Jim 3 Comments

native plants support native monarch caterpillar

The monarch butterfly, the North American icon, now faces the threat of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a top wildlife monitoring group which has put the butterfly species on it's Red List. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Homegrown National Park

May 16, 2021 By Jim 3 Comments

“In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water.”— DOUG TALLAMY  When I saw that Doug Tallamy had released a new book a couple of years ago, I thought something like, BEEN there, SEEN that, DONE it. After all, I had already seen him speak in person several times over many years with the first being February of 2014. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Product recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Ecological Landscaping, another view

May 23, 2020 By Jim 1 Comment

Several years ago I went to a social mixer being held at a brewery by the now defunct group the Midwest Ecological Landscape Alliance (MELA). I was then in the process of changing my view of what gardening could be and this group seemed to be made up of like minded people. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

School Trees Not Street Trees

February 21, 2019 By Jim 3 Comments

It is conference season in the "green" industry and I have been busy at both as an attendee and a vendor. Before I go to another one and get even more ideas, I wanted to share one. This fabulous one, I picked up from native plant icon Gerould Wilhelm from a talk he gave with plantsman Roy Diblik. Before I share it, let me give a bit of background from Gerould's talk. Why most trees are really lonely To simplify Gerould's talk too much, let's say the jest of it was that plants live in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conserves Money & Resources, Gardening, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Two shade loving Asters that pollinators flock to

January 8, 2019 By Jim 1 Comment

Blue Wood Aster Symphyotrichum cordifolium

Fall blooming plants such as goldenrods and asters are great additions to almost any garden. Most of them like to grow in full sun. There are, however, exceptions. Let's look at two of these that are very similar, the Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) and Short's Aster (Symphyotrichum shortii). … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Adding the Ground Layer to Finish an Ecological Garden Design

January 3, 2019 By Jim 7 Comments

Ecological Planting White Wood Aster

Let us wrap up the landscape design that was begun in Trees for Carbon Sequestration and Wildlife Support and continued in Wildlife Friendly Garden Design by planting the ground layer. This layer will include a meadow-like planting of perennials and grasses. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Wildlife Friendly Garden Design

November 27, 2018 By Jim 6 Comments

Last post, I showed the start of a wildlife friendly garden design and selected a Swamp White Oak tree to anchor it. That tree was chosen due to the high value it provides to wildlife and due to its high carbon sequestration rates. Now we are going to add some additional trees and shrubs to make the planting an even more wildlife friendly garden. Picking Two Smaller Trees First, let's pick the evergreen tree. In Northern Illinois, there are very few native evergreen trees. Eastern … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Trees for Carbon Sequestration and Wildlife Support

November 8, 2018 By Jim 8 Comments

CO2 Sequestration Rates for tree species

Picking the right trees for carbon sequestration is a good step to take in creating a Landscape that does more than look pretty. In this post, we will begin a 3 Part Series showing an ecological mixed landscape bed design by selecting trees to sequester CO2 and support wildlife at a high level. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: carbon sequestration, climate change, native plants, shade tree, Wildlife

Landscaping for your grandchildren

October 23, 2018 By Jim 4 Comments

Your idea of landscaping for your grandchildren probably includes having a play and lawn area for running around and sports, as well as the usual goals of having a beautiful and low maintenance landscape. Those goals are no longer enough....not if you care about what your grandchildren will be inheriting. We are borrowing the land from future generations, even that yard you think is yours and yours alone, so you are indeed landscaping for your grandchildren whether you think about it or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Plant recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: carbon sequestration, climate change, ecplogical landscaping, native plants

Pollinator Garden Plan with Plant Descriptions

September 28, 2018 By Jim 3 Comments

Pollinator garden image

Today lets look at a pollinator garden plan I put together. This is decent sized garden approximately 12' wide by 8' deep in the form of an oval.  It is for an area with medium to drier soil moisture that gets over 6 hours of sun. We will be using Prairie plants that are especially attractive to pollinators for our planting palette. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: flower garden, garden plan, native plants, wildlife garden

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