Imagine my delight to see a Monarch caterpillar at the Saratoga Springs Healthy Living Market's certified Monarch Waystation during a visit this week! When I initially wrote about the Monarch waystation project, I mentioned I didn't expect to even see butterflies this year; I definitely didn't think we'd see Monarch breeding success in the waystation [...]
Sometimes a strategy ecologically savvy landscape designers use to decide what to plant where on a property is to observe what plants are already growing and use them as ecological indicator species. The new butterfly garden in Malta, NY, installed over the past week was subject to this ecological landscape design technique. This Asclepias tuberosa [...]
Photo from websource Recently I mentioned how Monarch butterflies have declined as a species this year. Ecologists across the country are encouraging home owners, gardeners, landscape designers and proprietors of public spaces to plant more Milkweed. Milkweed, the native plant family Asclepias, is the Monarch caterpillar's host plant. When we integrate it into our gardens, [...]
On Sunday May 5th the DEC is holding a native plants festival in Saratoga Springs, NY at the Saratoga State Park. They have invited me to give a presentation on butterfly habitat gardening in the Saratoga region, a topic which is mutually inclusive to gardening with native plants. I am speaking at 1pm at 19 [...]
This past weekend I had the privilege of being asked to teach a workshop on butterfly habitat gardening at the Albany 2013 Capital District Garden and Flower Show. I've since heard from several people who wanted to attend and couldn't; this post will summarize the butterfly habitat gardening presentation. Carole Sevilla Brown recently composed an [...]
This week in the news I noticed a disheartening article that illuminated this year's decline in Monarch butterfly species population. A friend and colleague, Ben Vogt, has created several new online platforms for Monarch advocates to rally together and celebrate milkweed, the Monarch host plant. Encouraged by Ben's positive movements, and also by the spring [...]
This week a challenge was posed to imagine turning this sandy pine forest edge into a native plant habitat oasis. Many ecological factors need to be taken into consideration: the complete abscense of any nutrients in the sandy soil, the slope of the hill that lends to erosion, and lack of water retention in quickly [...]
This week I completed installation of a habitat garden in Clifton Park using native plants. Like many gardens in the capital region, adding native plants gives an immediate and noticeable influx of wildlife motion. This property has a forest edge and natural wetland habitat within a half a mile. Butterflies and songbirds are nearby and [...]