With gardening catalogs arriving every week and spring plant sales already taking orders, I know my favorite time of year is almost here. My daffodils and tulips are already coming up, despite record cold temperatures and snow this week (ouch). I want to get going in preparation for spring planting, but as a wildlife gardener, ...
Read More | Wildlife Gardening JournalAs wildlife gardeners, we work tirelessly to create attractive, safe spaces for the creatures that visit and use our landscapes. Yet, despite our best intentions, certain plant choices can inadvertently cause harm. One such example is the non-native Nandina domestica, sometimes called heavenly bamboo, which is native to Asia rather than North America. While its ...
Read More | Wildlife Gardening JournalFall is here, and thankfully our afternoon temperatures have fallen into the high 80s from the 90s and 100s. It's a good break for plants suffering from extreme drought, which mine are. We even had our first freeze, so all my tender perennials are stashed away in the greenhouse for winter. (The trick will be ...
Read More | Wildlife Gardening JournalLeafhoppers are a diverse group of small insects in Cicadellidae family. They derive their name from their ability to hop around the leaves in your garden, the better to feast upon them. Considered to be a pest by most people, some can be quite beautiful, and they certainly play a role in the wildlife garden, ...
Read More | Wildlife Gardening JournalWriting this blog is always a learning experience for me. I have no formal training in botany beyond my Master Gardener classes (no surprise there, I'm sure), so I'm continually learning about plants like any other gardener. Today, I thought I'd write about a plant that has done stellar in my garden. It started from ...
Read More | Wildlife Gardening JournalIn July and August, I swear it feels like I'm battling the four horsemen of the apocalypse in my garden. First, the rain turned off leading to a flash drought. Then the beastly hot temperatures arrived. Now a plague of grasshoppers is eating their way through my plants. Or rather, I have a lot of ...
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