Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens
Healthy Gardens. Healthy Planet
What do you see in this picture? A cozy home with two shade trees in front, some tidy foundation shrubs and a patch of lawn? A place that offers only limited wildlife habitat, a bit of a wasted opportunity? Perhaps you see this just as a property that’s easy to mow and maintain, or simply [...]
There is nothing quite as peaceful and calming, yet as vibrantly alive, as visiting a wildlife garden. If you are lucky enough to have one in your back yard or neighborhood, you know what I mean. The busy activity of birds, butterflies, bees and pollinators amid the color and texture of the native plants [...]
“Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” (Kurt Vonnegut) Borders come in all forms and scales – national, provincial/state, municipal, individual, and even “rooms” that we may have delineated within our gardens. In Canada, it’s no coincidence that most of the human population clings to [...]
I’m pretty sure by now most of you already know that native plants form the backbone of your wildlife habitat garden because native plants support local food webs, which attract more insects, which attract more birds and other wildlife. But today I’m asking you to really *Like* us (I know, sounds like Sally Fields at [...]
Is Sustainability Only for Human Benefit? Several years ago, I posed the question at Ecosystem Gardening “Is Sustainability Only About Human Benefit?” I asked this question because advocates of bamboo as a sustainable flooring and other building materials seemed to blithely ignore the fact that bamboo is considered an invasive plant (a plant from a [...]
