The Virginia Native Wildlife Garden I Left Behind

Kitchen herbs in the foreground are mostly European, but the asters and River Birch are natives

When I moved away from Virginia 5 years ago, I was leaving 4 years worth of garden work, which included study, research and hard labor. I had spent countless hours studying butterfly lists, butterfly needs, plant lists, plant qualities and requirements. Many of the resources I used are listed here on the right sidebar::==>

Things were just starting to fill in and fulfill their ecosystem functions when we found out we were being transferred to Italy.  Even though I was thrilled to go to Rome, I was heartbroken to leave my garden behind, because I knew nobody would take care of it and understand it the way I did.

I worked with my gardener, Martin, to the point where he understood how I wanted it cared for while I was away, but he left soon after that as well.  Today I just found my notes that I left with him, on how to care for the garden, and what the names of the native plants were.  I found some photos as well. It really was hard to look at them.  My heart started pounding and my breathing got kind of fast and shallow.  It was as if I were looking at old pictures of my child, or my favorite pets!

Here, for the sake of record keeping, for when I return to Virgina and restore my garden, is the document I left for Martin on the care and upkeep of my Virginia Native Plant pollinator garden.  Some more photos are below as well.

Cory’s Garden Notes 

v  Leave as many fall leaves in place as possible – they contain the eggs, pupae and hibernating adult insects. Leaves also act as mulch.

v  Let the clover stay in the grass for the bees and butterflies.  I don’t mind the dandelions and plantains, but the tenant might.  Keep them comfortable with their surroundings. Leave the violets. Leave the Virginia Creeper unless it starts to take over. So far it’s been well-behaved.

v  Pull up the ivy, bush honeysuckle seedlings, forsythia, grape, porcelainberry, bishop’s weed, garlic mustard. Throw them out in the trash or put them in a pile on the street and call for a county unbundled brush pick-up.  Remove the vinca only if you have some other ground cover to replace it with.

v  Let seed heads persist through winter for visual interest and food for birds and chipmunks.

v  Don’t let the vinca take over the plants in the side yard, but only pull it up if you have something good to replace it with.

v  Divide the green-headed coneflower in front of the porch. Put half back in place, but about a foot forward toward the sidewalk. Place the other half on the other side of the brick steps for symmetry.

v  Tame and contain the asters and give the columbine, Japanese anemone and strawberries plenty of room to live.

v  Don’t let the white strawberries take over the gray dogwood, or the blueberries or the wood ferns. Make sure it doesn’t invade the little bed with the sensitive fern and the wood poppies.

v  I tolerate a lot of insect damage because I try to plant what insects want to eat (so that birds will want to eat the insects…)

v  The native Prunus shrubs and trees are among the most important host plants for lepidopterae, second only to the oaks. Prune the wild cherry so it’s not in the way, but let it live.

v  Hummingbirds love the zinnias. Plant some in the spring near the bird bath and the cardinal flowers.

v  Add more of the plants that survived the drought/heatwave; expand and add mass
   

     List of Native Plants in My Virginia Garden

-          Cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis)

-          Blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

-          Wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis)

-          Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

-          Golden ragwort (Packera aurea)

-          Ironweed (Vernonia novaborascensis)

-          Heuchera

-          Blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)

-          Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

-          Gaultheria procumbens (teaberry)

-          Marginal woodfern (Dryopteris marginalis)

-          White strawberries (Fragaria virginiana)

-          Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

-      Bee Balm (Monarda)

-      Purple Passion Flower vine (Passiflora incarnata)

-      Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

-      Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

-      Low Bush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)

-      Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia viginiana)

-      New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) 

-      Maple Leaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium)

-      Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)

-      Bluestem Goldenrod (Solidago caesia)

-      Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

-      Inkberry (Ilex glabra)

-      Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a larval host for spicebush swallowtail.

-      Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

-      Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)

-      Trumpet Honeysuckle Vine (Lonicera sempervirens)

-      Greenheaded Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata)

-      Common Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

-      Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

v  Here’s a list of March-blooming natives that I never got around to planting:

-          Cardamine concatenate (shade/moist)

-          Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman’s breeches) (sun-shade/moist)

-          Dirca palustris (leatherwood) (shade/moist)

-          Mertensia (VA bluebells) (shade/moist)

-          Polemonium reptans (Jacob’s ladder) (shade/moist)

-          Sanguinaria Canadensis (shade/moist)

A few more photos (indulge me a little, sniff)...

Where to Buy Native Plants: Send me Your Tips!

Image from pixabay.com

I'm creating a clearinghouse document here of places where my readers and I have successfully purchased native plants for our native garden projects. Please send me the names, locations and a short description of the places you have bought native plants. Use the comment section. I'll add them to the text.  I'll sort by state, and by country. Thank you! Here's my list for now:

When I lived in Arlington, Virginia, I got most of my native plants from one nursery, two non-profit nurseries, and a biannual plant sale.  I also got some of my plants from neighbors who gave me cuttings, seeds or root clumps from splittings.

If you don't live in the National Capitol Area, use the resource links at the right to research other reliable providers of native plants as well as information on which plants your local butterflies and other pollinators need for food. Yes, right over there =>

USA By State

Maryland

Environmental Concern Inc.St. Michaels, MD
Environmental Concern holds native plant sales in May and in September. You can purchase from there nursery throughout the year, but check their website and make an appointment.

Virginia

The Virginia Native Plant Society keeps an updated list of native plant nurseries across Virginia.

Nature by Design
Alexandria, VA
Check their website for hours and current plant list. They will also help design and install native plant gardens.

Earth Sangha Wild Plant Nursery
Springfield, VA
Check their website to make an appointment to buy plants, view the plant list or to volunteer in the nursery.
Every year, the nursery hosts three "Open House & Plant Sale" events, one in the spring, summer, and fall.


Northern Alexandria Native Plant Sale
Formerly Parkfairfax Native Plant Sale
Alexandria, VA
This native plant sale is held twice a year, on the last Saturday in April and on the last Saturday in September. Check their Facebook page for dates, location and vendors.

Considerations when purchasing native plants

Sources of the plants: Ask the nurseries where they get their plants, or the seeds and cuttings they use to grow the plants they sell. Make sure they have an ethical source that is able to provide reliable native plant species. Also try to be sure that the native plants are not being sourced from wild foraging.

Heirloom vs Cultivar: A plant may sound like the native plant you are shopping for, but if it is a cultivar, having been bred for generations to achieve a particular color or bloom size, the plant may have lost its original qualities making it useful to the butterflies and other pollinators that depend on it. Try to find original or heirloom versions of the native plants.

Local or regional: Make sure your native plant choices are native to your area. While you may have learned that Monarch butterflies need milkweed, the different species of milkweed across the country, and even across coninents, have different chemical makeups, and might not be the proper plant to nourish the Monarchs passing through your area.

Native Plants and Butterflies in the News

Bumblebee on Coneflower. Photo from pixabay.com

Chabad in Suburban Chicago Plants Native Pollinator Garden

By Charlotte Adelman on Chabad.org
This article was published on May 10, 2017 on the Chabad.org website. The author is a native plant gardening expert. She stopped by the Chabad in Wilmette, IL to talk with the rabbi about protecting the environment as an act of tikkun, the Torah law that requiers Jews to repair the world, both physically and spiritually. The Chabad community embraced the idea of designing a butterfly garden on the new grounds of the Wilmette Chabad Center for Jewish Life and Learning. The organization decided to replace some of the lawn with native grasses, sedges and shrubs to provide critical habitat for butterflies and other pollinators. Read more about their project at the link above.
-Cory

How to Choose the Best Plants for Pollinator Gardens
By Janeen Wright on greenhousegrower.com
This article was published on May 9, 2017 on the Greenhouse Grower website.  The article looks at native plant gardening from the supply side. In the USA, people are becoming aware of the benefits of gardening for pollinators, and the demand for native plant material is growing. Native plants aren't easy to find, though.  In the article, one nursery owner in Illinois says,

“The demand for milkweed species and other native plants has skyrocketed, and many consumers are having a hard time finding a full selection of native species in garden centers,” says Grace Koehler, Sales Manager and Green Roof Professional at Pizzo Native Plant Nursery in Leland, IL. “Market demand is rising; the supply is stagnant.”

The author admits that growers still lack understanding of the native plant needs of bees and butterflies. While the consumers want to grow pollinator gardens, the nurseries aren't sure yet which plants are the right plants. The article also discusses the difference between natives and cultivars, but the conclusion of the article is that in order to meet the demand for native plants, the nursery industry is going to have to get educated and get then get stocked. 

-Cory

Palo Borracho: Drunk on Montevideo's Spectacular Trees

What’s Blooming Now? Palo Borracho

Whether you're driving by or jogging by, you can't help but notice these tropical beauties in Montevideo's parks, blooming in March with a lacy pink canopy. Visible from a distance, their true wonder is revealed when you look up close. Its gorgeous flowers, unique fruits, and shady leaf structure make it a coveted tree in many regions of the world.

“Palo Borracho” and  “Silk Floss Tree” are common names of the Ceiba speciosa, a tree that is native to Peru, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. It is in the same family as the kapok and baobab. It can reach a height of over 12 meters.

This tree has many showy features. The bark of the younger trees is green, turning streaky brown and green later in life. The trunk and branches are covered with thick thorns. The base of the trunk flares out in a bulbous shape.

The Palo Borracho flowers in summer to fall, before dropping its leaves. The pink and white flowers resemble hibiscus flowers. The nectar attracts pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. The palmately compound leaves are made up of 5-7 leaflets all coming to a common point on the stem. The tree is bare in winter. In the spring, the fruits appear, looking like woody pears. These burst open, and black seeds covered in fluffy white cottony fibers fly out. This fiber has been used as stuffing for cushions, packaging, canoes, and added to paper pulp.  The seeds germinate easily and the tree grows quickly: nearly ten feet in just two years. 

All photos by Cory Giacobbe, 2017, Montevideo, Uruguay

Butterfly Gardening in Italy

I created this slide show a couple of years ago in Rome to show people in Italy how and why to plant native plant gardens for butterflies and other pollinators.  You can use the slide show if you want. Just remind people to find out what their local species of butterflies and plants are. Help them locate resources for native plants and nurseries that sell natives and heirlooms, instead of exotics and cultivars, ethically sourced or home grown.

Here's a link to the slide show.  Enjoy!

https://www.haikudeck.com/farfalle-a-roma--art-and-design-presentation-5a881d7c30

Butterfly Gardening in Missouri

Butterflies are beautiful to watch, their colors, the way they flit and fly, and sip nectar from the flowers you planted. That's reason enough to attract them to your garden. But the benefits of planting a butterfly garden are much broader than that. Butterfly gardens benefit other pollinators which help your vegetable garden and fruit trees. Many butterfly garden plants provide food and nesting for birds. Caterpillars provide the protein snack that birds need to feed their young and to migrate long distances.

Support the butterfly lifecycle with host plants and nectar plants

For a butterfly to compete its lifecycle, the adult butterfly eats flower nectar or the juices of fallen fruit.  The female lays her eggs on specific plants that she smells with her feet to make sure it's the right one that her caterpillars will need to eat in order to grow, molt and grow some more. Most people know that the Monarch caterpillar needs to eat Milkweed. But all butterfly species have their own particular plants that their caterpillars need to eat. These are called their host plant. You can look at the butterfly list in the link below to see what host plants each butterfly needs.

Provide a habitat network for pollinators

Planting native plants, and encouraging your neighbors to do so as well, provides a network of habitat for butterflies, birds and other pollinators. There may be a fence between you and your neighbor, but a butterfly can get nectar from your garden and hop the fence to lay eggs in your neighbor's garden. The lifecycle is supported by this pearl necklace of habitat oases.

Learn about your local wildlife and the native plants they depend on

This guide is intended as a starter kit for all gardeners who have a garden in the sun, large or small, or a patio with planters, or even something as small as a window box. The PDF in the link below is a list of plants you can choose to get a quick payoff of butterflies in your Missouri or Illinois garden. It's not a comprehensive list. I chose my favorite butterflies to attract, but gave you resources at the end to seek more information once you get inspired to go farther.

Here is a link to the PDF of my list of native midwest plants that attract and sustain butterflies of Missouri:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1J85lJOaDItYkJPLUVuVWkxb2s/view?usp=sharing

For gardeners in other areas of the country or the world, there are some resources in the right side of this blog that can get you started. Over there, look! =>