by Stephanie Walquist Sprezzatura Rembrandt, an Old Master who used earth tones to offset golden light, used a technique he termed sprezzatura, meaning apparent carelessness. In the spirit of artistic and environmental sensibilities, let us native gardeners unite under this term. Allowing the gardens to stand during fall and winter, we might appear careless about […] Continue reading "Sprezzatura in the Fall Garden"
This post was written to address a question about aphids on milkweed. Any of the steps would apply to aphids on any other type of plant, including edibles. (Note the image at the top of the page is of a Lacewing adult, one of the beneficials that you want to attract and keep in your […] Continue reading "Aphids: What to Do?"
Putting the Garden to Bed–Wild Ones Style The best time to get ready for next year is now. 1.Get rid of any invasives. 2.As you remove some of these plants, you might bring up hibernating insects like ladybugs and spiders. Tuck them back in the best you can, so they can do their good work […] Continue reading "Putting the Garden to Bed–Wild Ones Style"
Resources to Learn about Harvesting Milkweed Seeds This post provides links to articles that help us with learning about harvesting and sharing milkweed seeds. Many of the tips and tricks are applicable to other types of seeds. If you’ve grown milkweed, your plant is probably developing pods. Rose Milkweed (Ascelpias incarnata) might have already […] Continue reading "Resources to Learn about Harvesting Milkweed Seeds"
What’s in a Leaf Pile? A lot of potential for life is in a leaf pile. Many beneficial (and beautiful) insects overwinter in our yards. For instance, the Katydid (important food source for birds during late summer) and Preying Mantis overwinter as eggs attached to twigs, stems, and/or leaves. Ladybugs and Lacewings also spend the […] Continue reading "What’s in a Leaf Pile, Or Why Not to Do Fall Clean-up"
Hold your rake! Clearing out your garden can backfire. Raking everything out and tossing into yard bags removes the building blocks of soil and destroys beneficial insects (butterflies, moths, fireflies, etc) that found a safe place in your garden during the winter. You can learn more about some of these animals in this post: What’s […] Continue reading "Rethinking Spring Clean-up"
Quick Tips to Tidy the Habitat Garden We understand the difficult balance there can be between having a presentable garden and being ecologically friendly. Although we tend to keep our own gardens through the winter, we still do a little trimming and thinning here and there. Below are some of the strategies we use: If […] Continue reading "Quick Tips to Tidy the Habitat Garden for Winter"