Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens
Healthy Gardens. Healthy Planet
Heather Holm is an horticulturalist, photographer & graphic designer who is passionate about native plants, landscape restoration and observing, attracting and documenting wildlife in her yard. Her 2/3 acre landscape in suburban Minneapolis is a Certified Monarch Waystation and received a first place award from the watershed district for the "Best Landscape Restoration" in 2009. She is an active member and volunteer of Wild Ones (Twin Cities Chapter) promoting the preservation and use of native plants in the home landscape. She also volunteers her time with her municipality in landscape restoration projects and writing grant proposals for restorations. She is also author of the popular blog, Restoring the Landscape With Native Plants and the corresponding facebook page.
American Plum (Prunus americana) American Plum is on the top of my list for an overall wildlife friendly native tree. Flowering much earlier this spring than usual here in Minnesota – it still managed to attract a huge variety of insect visitors. American Plum is native to the Dakotas southwards to Arizona and eastwards (except [...]
I’m continuing the series of posts of native plant lists that Sue Sweeney started for Southern New England. This list is for the Upper Midwest region. Links to Sue’s Posts: Native Shrubs for Southern New England Native Trees for Southern New England Many of the following shrubs overlap in range and I’ve indicated those as [...]
Of all the invasive plants we removed in our own landscape, Creeping Bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) was by far the worst to eradicate. This pernicious perennial, native to Eurasia is very common in the midwest, growing out of cracks in urban sidewalks, creeping along alleyways, and in the suburbs forming large clusters in partially shaded woodlands [...]
Another post in our series on native alternatives to invasive plants. In 2005, after moving into our current house, we purchased a variety of bareroot native shrubs from the DNR to naturalize in the yard. These shrubs included Nannyberry Viburnum, High Bush Cranberry Viburnum, American Hazelnut and Red Osier Dogwood. With two years of drought [...]
The easiest way to create a successful native landscape is to replicate your local plant community. If you’re unfamiliar with the plant communities in your area, plan a visit to a local park or remnant to observe what is growing together and in what conditions. If you are new to the area – find a [...]
Each year in my native landscape I discover many new types of wildlife from small insects to large birds. As I build my native landscape by planting a diversity of local plant species, I am always amazed at what is different from year to year as the landscape evolves and matures. This year has been [...]
How many reasons do you need to leave some leaves in your landscape? As fall approaches, the leaf blowers have already started up in our neighborhood. I could write about these noisy, polluting machines. I could also tell you how important leaves are in the garden as a natural mulch and how they contribute to [...]
What if we were to treat every square inch of our landscapes with respect? In Part 1: Soils, I illustrated that wildlife gardening starts with respecting soils and minimizing soil compaction, degradation and disturbance. PART 2: WATER Water is not infinite. I think many of us think of the water cycle as a closed loop. If [...]
What if we were to treat every square inch of our landscapes with respect? I believe that wildlife gardening starts with respecting soils and minimizing disturbance. This is an overview of some of the common mistakes made that cause damage to soils and ultimately the watershed, organisms (large and small) and plant communities. PART 1: SOILS [...]
Our neighborhood recently completed a large native plant installation for the restoration of a local park. It’s not a typical park by any means with expanses of lawn, trails or playground equipment. This park is approximately 5 acres in size, a parcel that the builder of the neighborhood was saving for his own home in [...]
