After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and see all sorts of bees, butterflies, moths, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and birds living their lives. They all work so hard that it is inspiring. I'm looking forward to spring again for this exact reason.
I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is generating the activity.
And honestly, native plant species are easy. If you plant them in the right place, they will grow very easily and strongly with minimal care. Then you can collect their seeds. I am really hoping that all the milkweed we're planting brings more monarchs. Last year, we saw a couple.
I like Douglas Tallamy's books Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope.
Native plants may be easy; but by that measure, invasives are where its at. :D
That said, bringing down trees is always odd to me. Definitely bring down any that pose a risk to your house. But otherwise, seems more effort than it is worth. I should probably be a lot better at pruning, as that is a ton of work. And, while intellectually I know the answer is that you are unlikely to kill the tree, I am always worried about that to the point that I don't prune enough.
> I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is generating the activity.
I disagree. Native plants are great, but so are tomatoes or some bell and habanero peppers. You're projecting your personal opinions on what makes a garden good. To some, a good garden is defined by its native-plant biodiversity. To others, it's getting fresh herbs for salads at dinner. To others it is something else. It's not an either-or thing. You can plant many things and reap varying benefits.
> I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants.
I disagree.
Billions of birds fly around the world every year with seeds in their gut. Plants are constantly, naturally, migrating in territory.
"Native" plants are plants which were in a given place (in this example the US) before an arbitrary date (for the US, very roughly 1500), when we started keeping track of local flora.
The climate is observably changing, and what was "native" in 1500 may not be applicable to a local ecosystem anymore. Trees are already suffering in some ranges, and ranges are moving north.
Note that there is a difference between "non-native" (arbitrary) and "invasive" (measurable). Planting invasives (whether native or non-native) should be discouraged because they have the potential to disrupt ecosystems by completely filling niches. Planting non-invasive non-natives is harmless, and if well considered can be beneficial to your local ecosystem.
If you haven't already, you might enjoy learning about permaculture. This is a short and easily-accessibile introduction - two of its originators, David Holmgren and Su Dennett, talking about how they designed their house according to its principles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss1BjW2kSNs
The part of your comment which prompted the comparison was "... native plant species are easy. If you plant them in the right place, they will grow very easily and strongly with minimal care." This is one of the principles of permaculture - based on the land you have available (and it can be as small as a balcony off a flat) spend some time working our what works where based on your plot and plant that, rather than struggling to get something working where it doesn't belong.
Yeah, I also don't understand appeal of "just a square of land filled with immaculate lawn and not much else. It's essentially space wasted for nothing.
Agreed! I've been gradually replacing the invasive plants with native plants, and for the most part, native plants are doing really well. We have one side of the yard with bad soil from an ivy infestation, but with enough soil amendment, I think it'll be fine.
If you're in the bay area, https://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/ is a great resource - you can tour gardens and find garden designers. Calscape.net also a great resource, plus the native nurseries like Oaktown and Watershed.
I think you're right about the natives and the 'right kind' of activity.
Native species, especially the ones at risk, are more likely to be specialists. And of course, they specialize in the native plants.
Invasive species, on the other hand, are more likely to be generalists. That's why they become invasive in the first place. And they'll be happy to visit those non-native plants.
The Nature Conservancy had a recent article in its magazine about the change in bloom time for many natives (based on temperature) and the difficulty that can cause for migrating birds and for animals (whose schedules may be based on length of day). For this reason, I am moving away from native-only to a more utilitarian approach. (And don't get me wrong, I have scores of native plants in my very small yard.) I am thinking more about native-nearby plants and plants that may feed wildlife at adjacent times. So maybe it's best to have several types of milkweed that bloom at different times, as someone else noted below.
I'm in the Midwest and I'll also note the adage that many of our natives follow "sleep, creep, leap". Year 1, you'll be like "damn is this stuff even growing, this sucks" and year 2 you'll say "well I guess it came back? maybe?" and year 3 you'll say "it's starting to look nice here!"
I'm also taking a slightly heterodox approach in that I am mixing in non-native edibles with glee (I've got at least 6 kinds of berry bush for instance, some native some not). The weight is still on natives, but I've been influenced by, who, Todd Hemenway?? who pointed out that the ecological impact of shipping berries from far-away lands is much worse than the ecological impact of having berry bush that's well-behaved and not native. Similarly, there are very few non-native plants I try to abolish anymore. Instead to the best of my ability I eat them. It is extraordinary how many plants can be eaten. From Japanese knotweed (cook it like rhubarb in sweets, or stir-fry) to hops to daisies (eat young like arugula) to garlic mustard (great pesto) to hostas (nice asparagus-like flavor when roasted or sautéed young). I'm not introducing these, not at all, but when they appear I don't get xenophobic, I get dinner. Which also sounds kind of creepy. But what I mean is that I'm not digging up my echinacea to use the roots medicinally; I don't have enough plants to do so sustainably yet -- but I sure am serving 6 linear feet worth of hostas at a dinner party.
Native plants and species are already suited to the area, so it is a great place to start.
What I am finding though, is that the main difference between an invasive species, and a native species that is vigorous, is that the native species has a lot of interactions with other species within the local biome. And invasive species does not, so runs unchecked without a predator, or does not provide any benefits for other species. If they did, they would be “native”. Over time, the biome will adapt, and interactions will start arising.
There very much are circumstances in which an invasive, resilient species is the right thing. For example, Jerome, Arizona, is an old copper mining town with a devastated ecosystem. Tailings from the copper mine poisoned the land. It’s at a steep incline, with severe erosion. Houses had been sliding off the slope.
When the mine shut down, and the population dropped to about 100 residents, fhe mayor at the time brought in an invasive tree called the Tree of Heaven to save the town. That mayor hired an aircraft to seed it all around Jerome. This tree is invasive, difficult to kill once established, drives out other species, and produces copious amount of seeds. Crucially, it can survive soil that has been poisoned by the mining tailing. It grows everywhere in Jerome — and holds what soil is there. This terrible, aggressive plant is helping to remediate a land trashed by human activity.
There are invasive plants and there are non-native plants and these things aren't necessarily the same. You do you with your yard but not everybody has to be so strict. There are plenty of non-native plants that have very low risk of becoming invasive which do a lot for biodiversity and are nice to look at.
I completely agree with most of your points. I have a spot in my garden where I want to plant a large native tree, probably an oak. I would love to plant all natives, except that they quickly get eaten by deer in my neighborhood. Even many "deer resistant" varieties like coneflower and beebalm. Of course, this make no sense, since deer and native plants should have evolved to survive beside one another. I think this contradiction is because the local deer population is just much much higher than the historical levels, since they have no natural predators here. My neighbors say they weren't a problem until recent decades. I was somewhat skeptical, except that I see many plant varieties thriving in the 2012 Google streetview shots that would not be feasible to grow today.
> planting only native plants . . . could be attracting non-regional and non-native species
Native plants do that, too. Invasive species thrive on that, in fact. Horticulture is more complicated than just "eating local." Ok, so a good diet is also more complicated than eating local.
> native plant species are easy
Absolutely! And if you're in a place that can flood or has droughts or sometimes has wild temperature spikes, those are plants that have adapted to the environment. They live through tough times that kill the plants that haven't adapted.
I've been using the "Seek" app for plan identification and I'm floored to the amount of overgrown ornamentals from Asia everywhere. It seems like landscapers love to put non-native exotic grasses, trees, and shrubs all over the place.
I don’t really understand the logic behind native only, beyond the desire not to introduce a plant or creature that would monopolize their environment.
I did this when I bought a house in Santa Cruz. Planted a bunch of natives, in particular bushes that flowered at different times of the year - ceanothus, manzanita, etc. I happily had bees and other insects around the yard almost all the time. It's worth doing.
Funny thing, monarch butterflies (and the caterpillars) seem to prefer the non-native Milkweed to the native variety.
> I am really hoping that all the milkweed we're planting brings more monarchs. Last year, we saw a couple.
The numbers went up a bit during Covid, surprisingly. I wish we could do something about the general downward trend, there are far, far fewer now than there were even 30 years ago.
this is great - more people should take this approach. Individual efforts like this might be enough to help native species hang on in face of government indifference. I'm reminded of that story of the survival of the Chinese Alligator, which I believe is mainly down to the efforts of a single woman who protected the nest sites which happened to be on her farm, and raised the hatchings beyond year 1 before release back to the wild. Every little bit matters!
During the process of buying our house, one of the disclosures was that the house has a huge inground swimming pool, but some aspect of the plumbing was broken, and nobody knew how much it might cost to repair. So, as-is.
Nobody in our house swims, and the costs of repairing and running the pool would be excessive. At first I thought about having it drained and either removed or converted to some kind of outbuilding space. Then it occurred to me, I shouldn't just dispose of a water-bearing structure! The thing is engineered to safely contain thousands of gallons! We kept it. The pool hadn't been used in several years prior to the sale of the house, which was perfect because the chlorination had long since evaporated. Thus a readymade freshwater pond.
I started adding native plants and sheltering areas to the shallow end. Frogs were already in residence for mating season but now several species live there full time. Tons of insects: backswimmers, water skimmers, caddisfly, mayfly, damselfly and dragonfly larvae, bladder snails, giant water beetles. Ducks and herons visit. Purple martins and flycatchers hang out at dusk.
People often ask about mosquito control, and so far it hasn't been an issue. I believe this is due to a combination of the water depth (mosquitos prefer very shallow and still water like puddles), circulation speed, and predation of the mosquito larvae by everyone else. Because there are marginal plants, predatory insects can transition from their aquatic larval stage to adulthood (they need stalks to climb up out of the water).
The pond has become one of the great joys of my life--seeing the seasons change through the lifecycles of the species, watching bees forage on pickerel rush flowers, hearing frogs sing at night.
Yeah if you get a sufficiently thriving ecosystem going mosquito control deals with itself. But, especially if you live anywhere near the tropics or subtropics, I'd make sure to keep updated on West Nile Virus and other less common ones like dengue, zika, etc
I spent part of my childhood in rural Japan and during the summers would fall asleep to the sound of hundreds of frogs croaking in the rice paddies. It was a great lullaby for me, it sounds like a great thing to have in your backyard!
I've always had a dream to buy a plot of land and homestead. But I have family that is getting older and needs my help more often. The though of being far away from essential services like Hospitals is not ideal. Also I'm still too early in my career to make that move.
So, more recently I've been thinking of an idea I call "urban homesteading", which is just based off the idea of not waiting until the perfect circumstances to start something. Nothing about living in the suburbs prevents me from doing like 80% of what I would do homesteading. I can still...
1. Can/Preserve/Dehydrate/Vacuum seal Food
2. Build up a supply of essential non perishable food
3. Grow food I can eat in a garden
4. Build things with the materials I have instead of buying them
5. Fix and repair old stuff I have instead of buying new stuff
6. Reduce my reliance on City Water, Electricity, Gas, while still enjoying the benefits
Sure I might not have the most space or privacy having neighbors on all sides but so what. I don't have a big backyard, but I don't really need one as there is a large park 3 minutes from my front door that I can walk to. Other than enough space for a small deck and grill I can devote the rest of my backyard to a garden. I'm slowly building up towards this, but I'm starting slowly so that it isn't overwhelming
When I made one 8x2.5 high density raised bed on my stoop in Philly, I got: Birds, squirrels, butterflies, moths, wasps, caterpillars, praying mantis, aphids, worms, grubs, ants, ladybugs, bees, and more. I grew tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, basil, thyme, oregano, lavender, bee balm, broccoli, lettuce mix, and beans, and had ornamenral flowers to attract pollinators.
I'd set up a chair and just watch like it was the nature channel. Every time a bee would come visit, I would rejoice. The whole city melted away and I was plunged into a tiny living ecosystem. Absolutely the best investment I've ever made for my quality of life.
When I bought a place in the LA area, the house had neatly trimmed lawns and flowers planted with perfect spacing around the borders in both the front and back yards.
Over the past twenty years, it's been converted into a wild, exuberant mix of flowers, fruit trees, and native plants. We do irrigate with drip-lines. We have a lot of butterfly host plants, and it is now a veritable Disney-film-happy-place filled with birds and bees and butterflies (and aphids and spiders and salamanders).
There are a few chairs and benches scattered around, and I sit outside and read or code on pleasant days. I spend a lot of time taking macro photos of bugs and flowers.
Several of our neighbors loathe us, saying that our yard is a mess and lowers property values. Their pesticide-ridden lawns are perfectly green, even in the Summer, and they are only ever outside to instruct their gardeners where to direct the leaf blowers.
Most people walking by are enchanted by the wildness and the animal life. Kids, particularly, are thrilled when they see the butterflies, or get to pick cherry-tomatoes or berries off the vines.
I suggest to add a bee home (bee house, bee hotel) to your garden. It is simple, last several years, it can be as small as a bird house, and can be a fun weekend project with the kids. (It can also be purchased.)
Please, do not get honey bees, unless willing to take care of them - just like with any animal husbandry. I love them, I am a beek, but I find too many abandoned or swarms from people who bought into the idea that they need to save the world through bee hives. Just resist the urge, unless you have time and willingness to do proper beekeeping.
There's was a story in Smithsonian magazine a few years ago (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-ecologist...) about an ecologist who more or less did what this article proposes, increasing the biodiversity in his backyard. He called his project a "Homegrown National Park".
Tallamy's Suggestions:
1. Shrink your lawn (replace grass with plants that create habitat)
2. Remove invasive plants (native plants support more animal biodiversity)
3. Create no-mow zones around trees (accommodates insect life cycle)
4. Equip outdoor lights with motion sensors (lights can disturb animal behavior)
We replaced our front yard with native plants and I love it. Plan to do this with my back yard as soon as I can afford it. I specifically chose a house in a part of our city with no HOA because I don't ever want to go back to monoculture of grass. Such a waste of space.
I did this last year and it was incredibly satisfying. If I amrunning errands and near a nursery I'll stop by and get a new plant or two. Slowly filling it in and watching all the nature is nice.
Our back yard is about 4x bigger, but I'll be tackling that shortly too! Our neighborhood is a mix of lawns, manicured landscaping, and natural gardens. Lawns are slowly becoming less frequent.
I wrote a book about my experience taking my concrete filled back yard to one full of life over the pandemic! Gardening in an urban setting presents unique challenges but it's super rewarding!
Planting native plants is very rewarding, and you don't need a lot of space to do it, either.
The only space for greenery in our condo, located in a major urban center, is a small strip of mud at the side of the building. A few years ago I seeded it with native plants, and they grew spectacularly. Spring through fall we have colorful native flowers that attract a huge amount of bees of various species, butterflies, and other pollinators - in the middle of a giant city!
It's a great feeling to step outside and see flowers and greenery that belong, covered in busy life that was never there before! You don't need a lot of space, and you can do it in a city too.
Personally, I like to plant as many different types of fruit trees, fruit vines and berries as I can and as much diversity as I can. But, I find sticking just to natives is kinda limiting. It's nice to prefer natives but I wouldn't be too religious about it.
Semi related, but I firmly believe everyone with a yard should have chickens. 4 chickens can feed a family with more eggs than they'll ever need, you'll almost never throw food scraps out again, and you'll keep harmful methane producing waste out of landfills.
When starting my medicinal herb garden I created a spreadsheet to compute a score for each species I was considering, taking food and medicinal value plus native/invasive/non-invasive alien into account.
One thing to keep in mind is, a plant can be invasive in one region, but totally harmless in another. Just because it is a problem in Florida doesn’t mean you must avoid it in Vermont.
I don’t have the privilege of a backyard but I’ve been doing square foot gardening on my balcony for about 3 years.
Have been using Merlin Bird ID to track birds that have visited the garden + bird feeder. I have so far logged 23 species which took me by surprise. The number of insects and birds visiting regularly is truly humbling, anecdotal but the premise of the article certainly rings true to me.
I prob have 20 kinds of weeds, 20 native species of plant. I've had whitetail deer, eastern red fox, river otter, snapping turtles, box turtles, muskrat, brown rat, bald eagle, turkey vulture, black vulture, crow, osprey, blue heron, white heron, green heron, snowy egret, redtail hawk, sparrow hawk, tons of songbirds, racoon, possum, black squirrel, grey squirrel, chipmunk, multiple water snake species, rough green snake, ring-tail snake, black racer, milk snake, worm snake, blue-belly skinks, toads, frogs, eels, blue crabs, sand crabs, horseshoe crabs, shrimp, oysters, clams, multiple species of jellyfish, rays, skates, pipefish, striped bass, catfish, crappie, bluefish,... I'm pretty sure I've missed several.
Where should I start to become biodiverse?
Funny that these ideas are still making "news". I feel like I'm surrounded with people who figured out a long while ago that human's are and have always been necessary to the health of our ecosystems. Our current sad state of affairs is caused not by human intervention, but by human neglect of our relatives on this planet.
99% of human cultures have been gardeners, cultivating land to increase diversity, energy, and abundance. Colonization fucked that up on a worldwide scale, and created this new narrative of humans in opposition to Earth.
I've been working with a partner to change that by connecting people to urban gardens where they can see "human care of Earth" in action. Its called healinggardens.co . Check it out.
[+] [-] bmitc|3 years ago|reply
I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is generating the activity.
And honestly, native plant species are easy. If you plant them in the right place, they will grow very easily and strongly with minimal care. Then you can collect their seeds. I am really hoping that all the milkweed we're planting brings more monarchs. Last year, we saw a couple.
I like Douglas Tallamy's books Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope.
[+] [-] taeric|3 years ago|reply
That said, bringing down trees is always odd to me. Definitely bring down any that pose a risk to your house. But otherwise, seems more effort than it is worth. I should probably be a lot better at pruning, as that is a ton of work. And, while intellectually I know the answer is that you are unlikely to kill the tree, I am always worried about that to the point that I don't prune enough.
[+] [-] wcarron|3 years ago|reply
I disagree. Native plants are great, but so are tomatoes or some bell and habanero peppers. You're projecting your personal opinions on what makes a garden good. To some, a good garden is defined by its native-plant biodiversity. To others, it's getting fresh herbs for salads at dinner. To others it is something else. It's not an either-or thing. You can plant many things and reap varying benefits.
[+] [-] smallerfish|3 years ago|reply
I disagree.
Billions of birds fly around the world every year with seeds in their gut. Plants are constantly, naturally, migrating in territory.
"Native" plants are plants which were in a given place (in this example the US) before an arbitrary date (for the US, very roughly 1500), when we started keeping track of local flora.
The climate is observably changing, and what was "native" in 1500 may not be applicable to a local ecosystem anymore. Trees are already suffering in some ranges, and ranges are moving north.
Note that there is a difference between "non-native" (arbitrary) and "invasive" (measurable). Planting invasives (whether native or non-native) should be discouraged because they have the potential to disrupt ecosystems by completely filling niches. Planting non-invasive non-natives is harmless, and if well considered can be beneficial to your local ecosystem.
[+] [-] frereubu|3 years ago|reply
The part of your comment which prompted the comparison was "... native plant species are easy. If you plant them in the right place, they will grow very easily and strongly with minimal care." This is one of the principles of permaculture - based on the land you have available (and it can be as small as a balcony off a flat) spend some time working our what works where based on your plot and plant that, rather than struggling to get something working where it doesn't belong.
[+] [-] ilyt|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pamelafox|3 years ago|reply
If you're in the bay area, https://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/ is a great resource - you can tour gardens and find garden designers. Calscape.net also a great resource, plus the native nurseries like Oaktown and Watershed.
[+] [-] throw_away1525|3 years ago|reply
Native species, especially the ones at risk, are more likely to be specialists. And of course, they specialize in the native plants.
Invasive species, on the other hand, are more likely to be generalists. That's why they become invasive in the first place. And they'll be happy to visit those non-native plants.
[+] [-] kaitai|3 years ago|reply
I'm in the Midwest and I'll also note the adage that many of our natives follow "sleep, creep, leap". Year 1, you'll be like "damn is this stuff even growing, this sucks" and year 2 you'll say "well I guess it came back? maybe?" and year 3 you'll say "it's starting to look nice here!"
I'm also taking a slightly heterodox approach in that I am mixing in non-native edibles with glee (I've got at least 6 kinds of berry bush for instance, some native some not). The weight is still on natives, but I've been influenced by, who, Todd Hemenway?? who pointed out that the ecological impact of shipping berries from far-away lands is much worse than the ecological impact of having berry bush that's well-behaved and not native. Similarly, there are very few non-native plants I try to abolish anymore. Instead to the best of my ability I eat them. It is extraordinary how many plants can be eaten. From Japanese knotweed (cook it like rhubarb in sweets, or stir-fry) to hops to daisies (eat young like arugula) to garlic mustard (great pesto) to hostas (nice asparagus-like flavor when roasted or sautéed young). I'm not introducing these, not at all, but when they appear I don't get xenophobic, I get dinner. Which also sounds kind of creepy. But what I mean is that I'm not digging up my echinacea to use the roots medicinally; I don't have enough plants to do so sustainably yet -- but I sure am serving 6 linear feet worth of hostas at a dinner party.
[+] [-] hosh|3 years ago|reply
What I am finding though, is that the main difference between an invasive species, and a native species that is vigorous, is that the native species has a lot of interactions with other species within the local biome. And invasive species does not, so runs unchecked without a predator, or does not provide any benefits for other species. If they did, they would be “native”. Over time, the biome will adapt, and interactions will start arising.
There very much are circumstances in which an invasive, resilient species is the right thing. For example, Jerome, Arizona, is an old copper mining town with a devastated ecosystem. Tailings from the copper mine poisoned the land. It’s at a steep incline, with severe erosion. Houses had been sliding off the slope.
When the mine shut down, and the population dropped to about 100 residents, fhe mayor at the time brought in an invasive tree called the Tree of Heaven to save the town. That mayor hired an aircraft to seed it all around Jerome. This tree is invasive, difficult to kill once established, drives out other species, and produces copious amount of seeds. Crucially, it can survive soil that has been poisoned by the mining tailing. It grows everywhere in Jerome — and holds what soil is there. This terrible, aggressive plant is helping to remediate a land trashed by human activity.
https://youtu.be/Oayt7eru2nc
[+] [-] colechristensen|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jlglover|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drewcoo|3 years ago|reply
Native plants do that, too. Invasive species thrive on that, in fact. Horticulture is more complicated than just "eating local." Ok, so a good diet is also more complicated than eating local.
> native plant species are easy
Absolutely! And if you're in a place that can flood or has droughts or sometimes has wild temperature spikes, those are plants that have adapted to the environment. They live through tough times that kill the plants that haven't adapted.
[+] [-] ascotan|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taftster|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] onos|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jmspring|3 years ago|reply
Funny thing, monarch butterflies (and the caterpillars) seem to prefer the non-native Milkweed to the native variety.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] Natsu|3 years ago|reply
The numbers went up a bit during Covid, surprisingly. I wish we could do something about the general downward trend, there are far, far fewer now than there were even 30 years ago.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] hunglee2|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pascalxus|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hackernewds|3 years ago|reply
Why?
[+] [-] mikesabbagh|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hammock|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neonnoodle|3 years ago|reply
Nobody in our house swims, and the costs of repairing and running the pool would be excessive. At first I thought about having it drained and either removed or converted to some kind of outbuilding space. Then it occurred to me, I shouldn't just dispose of a water-bearing structure! The thing is engineered to safely contain thousands of gallons! We kept it. The pool hadn't been used in several years prior to the sale of the house, which was perfect because the chlorination had long since evaporated. Thus a readymade freshwater pond.
I started adding native plants and sheltering areas to the shallow end. Frogs were already in residence for mating season but now several species live there full time. Tons of insects: backswimmers, water skimmers, caddisfly, mayfly, damselfly and dragonfly larvae, bladder snails, giant water beetles. Ducks and herons visit. Purple martins and flycatchers hang out at dusk.
People often ask about mosquito control, and so far it hasn't been an issue. I believe this is due to a combination of the water depth (mosquitos prefer very shallow and still water like puddles), circulation speed, and predation of the mosquito larvae by everyone else. Because there are marginal plants, predatory insects can transition from their aquatic larval stage to adulthood (they need stalks to climb up out of the water).
The pond has become one of the great joys of my life--seeing the seasons change through the lifecycles of the species, watching bees forage on pickerel rush flowers, hearing frogs sing at night.
[+] [-] culi|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SCUSKU|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chime|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] inkcapmushroom|3 years ago|reply
Do you run the pool pump, or else how is the water circulating?
This sounds like an awesome project, what a joy to have that right in your backyard.
[+] [-] potsandpans|3 years ago|reply
Maybe you're somehow influencing a future anarco biologist
[+] [-] Decabytes|3 years ago|reply
So, more recently I've been thinking of an idea I call "urban homesteading", which is just based off the idea of not waiting until the perfect circumstances to start something. Nothing about living in the suburbs prevents me from doing like 80% of what I would do homesteading. I can still...
1. Can/Preserve/Dehydrate/Vacuum seal Food
2. Build up a supply of essential non perishable food
3. Grow food I can eat in a garden
4. Build things with the materials I have instead of buying them
5. Fix and repair old stuff I have instead of buying new stuff
6. Reduce my reliance on City Water, Electricity, Gas, while still enjoying the benefits
Sure I might not have the most space or privacy having neighbors on all sides but so what. I don't have a big backyard, but I don't really need one as there is a large park 3 minutes from my front door that I can walk to. Other than enough space for a small deck and grill I can devote the rest of my backyard to a garden. I'm slowly building up towards this, but I'm starting slowly so that it isn't overwhelming
[+] [-] morgango|3 years ago|reply
While whimsical, it shows very how adjusting your environment just a little bit can really attract wildlife.
[+] [-] throwawaaarrgh|3 years ago|reply
I'd set up a chair and just watch like it was the nature channel. Every time a bee would come visit, I would rejoice. The whole city melted away and I was plunged into a tiny living ecosystem. Absolutely the best investment I've ever made for my quality of life.
[+] [-] angst_ridden|3 years ago|reply
Over the past twenty years, it's been converted into a wild, exuberant mix of flowers, fruit trees, and native plants. We do irrigate with drip-lines. We have a lot of butterfly host plants, and it is now a veritable Disney-film-happy-place filled with birds and bees and butterflies (and aphids and spiders and salamanders).
There are a few chairs and benches scattered around, and I sit outside and read or code on pleasant days. I spend a lot of time taking macro photos of bugs and flowers.
Several of our neighbors loathe us, saying that our yard is a mess and lowers property values. Their pesticide-ridden lawns are perfectly green, even in the Summer, and they are only ever outside to instruct their gardeners where to direct the leaf blowers.
Most people walking by are enchanted by the wildness and the animal life. Kids, particularly, are thrilled when they see the butterflies, or get to pick cherry-tomatoes or berries off the vines.
[+] [-] WaitWaitWha|3 years ago|reply
Please, do not get honey bees, unless willing to take care of them - just like with any animal husbandry. I love them, I am a beek, but I find too many abandoned or swarms from people who bought into the idea that they need to save the world through bee hives. Just resist the urge, unless you have time and willingness to do proper beekeeping.
[+] [-] glennericksen|3 years ago|reply
Tallamy's Suggestions:
1. Shrink your lawn (replace grass with plants that create habitat)
2. Remove invasive plants (native plants support more animal biodiversity)
3. Create no-mow zones around trees (accommodates insect life cycle)
4. Equip outdoor lights with motion sensors (lights can disturb animal behavior)
[+] [-] revx|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MR_Bulldops|3 years ago|reply
Our back yard is about 4x bigger, but I'll be tackling that shortly too! Our neighborhood is a mix of lawns, manicured landscaping, and natural gardens. Lawns are slowly becoming less frequent.
[+] [-] lasermatts|3 years ago|reply
Link to my book (for anyone interested): https://a.co/d/crd2HcD
Super excited to see articles on big sites talking about the importance of biodiversity!
[+] [-] acabal|3 years ago|reply
The only space for greenery in our condo, located in a major urban center, is a small strip of mud at the side of the building. A few years ago I seeded it with native plants, and they grew spectacularly. Spring through fall we have colorful native flowers that attract a huge amount of bees of various species, butterflies, and other pollinators - in the middle of a giant city!
It's a great feeling to step outside and see flowers and greenery that belong, covered in busy life that was never there before! You don't need a lot of space, and you can do it in a city too.
[+] [-] tambourine_man|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pascalxus|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ernestipark|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] clbrmbr|3 years ago|reply
One thing to keep in mind is, a plant can be invasive in one region, but totally harmless in another. Just because it is a problem in Florida doesn’t mean you must avoid it in Vermont.
[+] [-] seatac76|3 years ago|reply
Have been using Merlin Bird ID to track birds that have visited the garden + bird feeder. I have so far logged 23 species which took me by surprise. The number of insects and birds visiting regularly is truly humbling, anecdotal but the premise of the article certainly rings true to me.
[+] [-] fillskills|3 years ago|reply
If anyone here has an urban garden and would like to list it on our marketplace, we would be glad to review or help.
If you have questions or want to work on something with us please feel free to reach out at abhi at healinggardens.co
[+] [-] slowhand09|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] farmerrishi|3 years ago|reply
99% of human cultures have been gardeners, cultivating land to increase diversity, energy, and abundance. Colonization fucked that up on a worldwide scale, and created this new narrative of humans in opposition to Earth.
I've been working with a partner to change that by connecting people to urban gardens where they can see "human care of Earth" in action. Its called healinggardens.co . Check it out.
[+] [-] banga|3 years ago|reply
I'm not affiliated, just have high regard for Tallamy's work.