Spring is slow to crawl out of winter next to the big lake, but early June brings hope that warmer weather and summer is coming.
Female American red start
The trees are filled with singing warblers, many are building nests, and a female red start has worked for days pulling threads from last years swamp milkweed stalks for her nest. It’s amazing how hard they work creating their nests!
Forget-me-nots and dandelions are the flowers the bees and butterflies depend on at this time, but the hummingbirds and bees attack each wild geranium flower that starts to bloom. Also, lupine is just beginning to bloom.
Carpets of bunch berries cover the forest floor
An American lady on a dandelion
Butterfly watching is at some of it’s best with the American Lady, Monarchs, tiger swallow-tail, spring azure, and dusty wings. What are your outside joys for June?
Wild geranium, easy to grow, is loved by bees and butterflies.
How can we help our pollinating wildlife? If everyone added just a few native plants to their yard it would make a big difference to help bees, butterflies, and birds stay healthy. I love spring plants and love the bees, butterflies and birds they bring. Because we don’t use chemicals our yard is pollinator friendly.
Pussy toes add texture and interest, and are hosts to the American lady butterfly
This time of year we are share and transplant our plants to other people’s gardens. I am thrilled to be able to spread these bee and butterfly magnets to anyone who will love them.
This morning we had chickadees building nests(front and back yards), wrens building nests in two house(they couldn’t decide on one), three bunnies, and a hungry hummingbird. This is an end of May view of some of the best pollinator native plants blooming now in our Minneapolis yard:
The native columbine is a magnet for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds and people!The golden Alexander is a host to the black swallow tail butterflyBees love the spiderwortThe Painted lady butterflies have laid eggs on these pearly everlasting.
Canada anemone
Violets(hosts for the fritillary butterflies) Virginia waterleaf, and many other groundcover also are blooming
If each of us does a little bit, we can make a BIG difference!
Below is from the Minnesota Pollution control. View on their website here
Turf grass lawns require lots of maintenance—watering, the burning of fossil fuels for mowing and other upkeep, pesticides, and fertilizers—which impact water quality and can contribute to climate change.
Many of the non-native, ornamental plants we plant in our gardens have little value to wildlife. Some of these flowering ornamental plants produce no nectar or pollen for bees or butterflies.
You can play an important role in helping to preserve species and biodiversity in your own yard by landscaping and gardening with native plants. Replacing turf grass and non-native plants with natives—even in small sections of your yard or garden—pays big environmental dividends!
Some of the many benefits of native plants
Planting a variety of native plants increases biodiversity. We need biodiversity—it runs the ecosystem on which we depend.
Native plants provide food and shelter for wildlife. Many insects require a specific host plant to lay their eggs on and the young to feed on (e.g. monarchs and milkweeds). Animals require many different plants throughout their life cycles to remain healthy and robust.
Native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions where they occur naturally. Many native plants have deep roots, and require little to no watering once established. These deep roots decrease erosion and filter stormwater, nutrients, and pollutants that would otherwise end up in our lakes, ponds, wetlands and streams.
Tips to get you started
Learn what you have. This will save you time and energy later on. Learn to distinguish non-native weeds from native plants. Manage the aggressive, perennial invasive plants that will compete with the native plants for space, water and nutrients. Leave or transplant any native plants you might already have in your yard.
Start small. Perhaps you have an area of your lawn or garden that needs a re-do. Areas of lawn where grass doesn’t grow well or that you are tired of mowing are perfect candidates to get you started. Reduce some areas of turf and add a pollinator garden or a raingarden.
Pick the right plants for the right place. Native plants come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Some plants grow well in full sun with sandy soils, others prefer wet soils or shady areas.
Variety is the spice of life. Try to have plants that flower in succession—different plants that bloom from early spring all the way through to the fall. Plant a variety of different types of plants—flowers, grasses, sedges, shrubs and trees. The larger variety of plants you have will support a larger variety of life.
Avoid neonics. Neonicitinoid pesticides are systemic pesticides that are taken up within the plant. There is mounting evidence that neonics are harmful to pollinators and other beneficial insects. To avoid harming beneficial insects, ask the retailer before purchase if plants have been treated with systemic pesticides.
Native landscaping doesn’t have to look “wild.” You may prefer a wild look. If you want a more manicured garden, plant selection is important. You can also utilize mulch, spacing, strips of grass, paths, and attractive fencing for a more formal look.
Support local native plant nurseries and companies. There are many great companies in Minnesota that specialize in growing or managing native plants/invasive plants. They have the expertise to give you some ideas of what plants might work for your situation. Native plant nurseries in your area will have grown local ecotype native plants—ones that came from your region that are adapted to local conditions.
Be okay with bugs!Only a small percentage of insects are pests, and the damage they do is aesthetic and oftentimes tolerable. Insects form the base of the food web. Without insects, there can be no mammals, birds, reptiles, or other forms of “higher” life.
Don’t have a yard? Consider adopting a local park or open space for planting natives. Be sure to ask for permission first. Or support non-profits and other organizations that are doing this type of work.
If each of us does a little bit, we can make a BIG difference!
How can you help our pollinators? Our pollinators are struggling to survive. There are things we can do in our yards to help pollinators. The mono-culture of perfect green turf grass lawns does nothing to help our struggling pollinators.
Blue Salvia are loved by bees. (not native)
I have been on a road trip from Minnesota, through Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota, and have been amazed at the manicured thick turf grass that dominates in parks and lawns. Turf grass has no value for pollinators, and when fertilized adds unhealthy chemicals harmful to pollinators, humans, pets, wildlife and our water bodies. Adding a diversity of fresh new plants and removing some lawn can make a big difference for our pollinators.
Walking a trail in Lincoln, Nebraska I was thrilled at their efforts to help our pollinators. They are allowing clover and native plants to grow. I even saw a few milkweed popping up.
Just a few changes can make a big difference for pollinators.(bees, butterflies, and birds)
Spring is a fabulous time to add new plants to your yard. A wide diversity of plants helps
Foam flower is an early blooming plant
our pollinators. Native plants don’t need chemicals so they are the healthiest for you, children, pets, and the pollinators. More garden diversity, and less chemicals creates a win-win for our earth and us all!
Always consider how to add more milkweed. Swamp milkweed has been the most successful for me.Wild geranium, easy to grow, is loved by bees and butterflies and is early blooming
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, was a day set aside to think about creating lifestyles to reduce waste and destruction of our environment.
One of the main messages many of us heard that day was that human life can continue on Earth only if people cooperate with nature. Strides have been made over the past 46 years in cleaning up many rivers and lakes, recycling, protecting natural ecosystems, becoming more aware of hazardous materials, and the list goes on. But we have a long way to go if we are to live in a sustainable way in harmony with nature.
There are things to do and things not to do when it comes to being a good steward of our planet, but one of the best may be to take pleasure in the true beauty of the Earth’s ecosystems and its creatures. Too, take time to learn about some of the plants and animals that share the Earth with us. It’s just about impossible to destroy something you understand and love.
Throughout the year, and especially April 22, with the wonders of spring all around us, we should make a point to get out and observe. Every forest, wetland and prairie remnant is full of spring signs — evidence that our Earth is designed as a place for life, no matter what foolish acts people may commit. Jim Gilbert http://www.startribune.com/appreciating-earth-s-beauty-is-one-way-to-steward/376565231/
Plant your yard with plants the bees, butterflies and birds love
Each of us is so unaware of the damage we are doing to our earth. This week I was at a seminar on pollinators. Minnesota has lost two of its native butterflies, the Dakota Skipper and Poweshiek Skippering. and many more bees and butterflies are declining in numbers. Also, I was surprised so many people don’t know about neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are harmful systemic pesticides that weaken pollinators
Round up kills the plants that bees and butterflies need for food and egg laying !
Why is there is so much buzz about bees during the winter? The United Nations announced that we are loosing many of our important pollinators that are vital to the pollination of many important food crops.
What is causing this loss? The major reasons we are loosing species of native butterflies, bees and birds is because of mono-crop planting, habitat loss, and our obsession with pesticides. The combination of these three is making it hard for pollinators to survive.
Even a small yard can make a difference for pollinators. First, add more native plants to your yard, they don’t need chemicals. Plant for different bloom times, diverse flowers, and never purchase a plant treated with neonicotinoids ! Be careful and read directions with any chemicals you use on your yard….Try to go without! Finally, bees and butterflies love blooming dandelions and clover…Let them bloom, then weed them out!
Native plants are needed as host and nectar plants as our native butterflies, bees and birds go about pollinating our food plants as they forage for their own sustenance.
Native plants have deep roots which absorb excess rainfall and prevent water from running directly into our rivers and streams helping to provide clean water for everyone.
Native plants instead of turf lawns help reduce our carbon footprint.
A river of plastic bottles on the way to the Aegean Sea
A recent study by the Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation has found that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This is a terrible man-made crisis, and not enough is being done to stop the cascade of plastic. Everyone of us needs to take personal responsibility to reduce our plastic consumption. The plastic industry is unchecked, and never should such a nuisance product been put into society without a plan to clean up or reuse. We are stuck with plastic, but we can all reduce the amount of plastic we use today and every day from now on. Especially think carefully before you purchase a plastic tubes that cannot be recycled. There is too much information in this post, but I hope you can find one thing below to help you to reduce your plastic consumption!
“In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.” Aristotle
Lake Superior in November
Both November and December have been unseasonably warm! Warm sunny days alternating with rainy days. It is quiet, very quiet. Crows, the call of the pileated, and bald eagles maintaining a continuous chatter are about the only sounds. Even the big lake has been on the quiet side especially with the wind from the SW.
Eagles sit in this white pine tree
Rough grouse and mystical snow buntings entertain as they fly up from the roadside. The large number of chickadees and grey squirrels is unusual, and I assume the mild weather has something to do with their numbers. Both chickadees and squirrels peek through the windows of our house watching our household. Chickadees were still eating flies off our house the first week of December, but cooler nights have turned the chickadees to the feeders, plants and trees.
An occasional 1000 foot ore boat passes through on horizon
Health4earth 