Resilient Landscapes in Built Environments

How do you design a resilient landscape when our shared environment is under increasingly mounting stress? Here’s some of what I learned from landscape architect Lisa N. Cowan, PLA, SITES AP, at a Coastal Maine Botanic Garden class today.

Landscape Design for the Long Run

Resilient landscapes are designed from a holistic point of view, taking into account not just your property, but your neighborhood, community and region. The ingredients—including diverse plantings, efficient use and infiltration of water, habitat for people and wildlife, connection to the adjacent areas, small scale moments of nature, and climate change—combine to make a meaningful statement about resilience and shared values.

Because so much land has been disturbed for so many generations, every yard and every landscape matters, starting with yours. Your landscape can contribute to resilience and your lifestyle while supporting ecosystem structures and processes that provide us ecosystem services such as:

  • Air quality
  • Water quality and security
  • Wetland integrity
  • Biodiversity conservation
  • Forest resilience
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Economic diversity
  • Social and cultural well-being

From this big picture view, we work together to articulate your land use and resilience goals, evaluate the property, sketch out simple bubble diagrams and conceptual design sketches, fine tuning through discussion and further discovery until we have a plan that satisfies you.

Because a landscape is a living system, many variables come into play. We’ll need to be patient to see how the plan and implementation evolve over time, and adapt as necessary. Some level of maintenance will likely be required—depending on your goals—at least during the plant establishment period.

So, how do you want you make your landscape more resilient today? If you think we might be a good match, please get in touch and let’s talk it over!

LEAVE THE LEAVES FOR POLLINATORS—LIVE TALK TONIGHT at 7 p.m!

Mass Pollinator Network and Berkshire Botanical Garden Event

Leave Your Leaves

Love butterflies in your garden? Protect them and their  caterpillars by leaving your leaves in the fall!

The Mass Pollinator Network is excited to be hosting an online “Leave the Leaves” seminar event in partnership with the Berkshire Botanical Garden on Wed Oct 5 at 7 PM with Master Gardener Larri Cochran. You can learn and discuss best practices for protecting overwintering pollinators!

There is a small fee for this event (10$ for BBG members / $12 non-members). Proceeds will directly support the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s programming and the Mass Pollinator Network’s advocacy and education work, including more future events that are free of charge.

You can register here: https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/leave-leaves

ROCKPORT’S HALIBUT POINT—INSPIRATION FOR NATIVE PLANT DESIGN

Where to start when figuring out what native plants to add to your landscape? How about a visit to Halibut Point State Park in Rockport, MA to visit one of many plant communities there?

MONARCHS BUTTERFLIES ON THE HOUSE?

IF YOU WANT MONARCHS, PLANT NATIVE MILKWEEDS

Monarch butterfly and chrysalis on house

Anchored by the chrysalis from which she emerged, a female monarch butterfly clings to the side of my home during the eclosure process of metamorphasis. The chrysalis was formed by a monarch caterpillar who chose a protected spot where the foundation meets the shingles. My home is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat in North Easton, MA that has both native butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate). Milkweeds are essential to monarchs, as female monarchs lay their eggs only on milkweed plants. If you want monarchs at your home, milkweeds are not too fussy – and you can start attracting butterflies with just a couple of plants.

Powerful pollinator magnets – design with native perennials for fall bloom

MA native bees on native asters Foxboro

Native asters and goldenrod attract native bees at Foxborough Conservation Commission’s Lane Learning Center

Plant Goldenrods and Asters to Support Pollinators in Late Summer

According to the National Wildlife Federation, native asters like New England (Aster novae-angliae), New York (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii), smooth (Aster laevis), white wood (Aster divaricatus) and other woodland asters support the entire life cycles of over 110 species of butterflies and moths, so it you want a pollinator garden, these are must-haves. And the good news is that it’s ragweed rather then goldenrod that causes so many allergies in late summer, so plant away!

Goldenrods such as zig-zag (Solidago flexicaulis), showy (Solidago speciosa), seaside (Solidago sempervirens), and anise-scented (Solidago odora) species are the top champions of supporting the entire life cycles of butterflies and moths in New England, supporting 110 species in eastern MA.

More good news is that there are asters and goldenrods that do well in shady and dry conditions, so don’t worry if you’ve not much sun – so get out there and help pollinators by planting the plants they depend upon for their very existence.

What plants are best for native bees?

Obviously they like goldenrods and asters as pictured above, but even better are native roses, like Carolina (Rosa caroliniana), Virginia (Rosa virginiana), swamp rose (Rosa palustris) and shining (Rosa nitida), plus flowering raspberry (Rubus odorous). As always, before purchasing plants, know your site’s cultural conditions – like sun/shade, soil texture and drainage – and select the best species for your conditions so your investment has the best chance of thriving.

Birds and other animals will thank you for providing habit – like food, shelter and nesting sites – that looks so satisfying to you!

My Favorite Things – Harper, Goldenrod and Rockport, MA

Old Garden Beach goldenrod Rockport, dog

My favorite things include my pup, Harper, native seaside goldenrod for pollinators, and Rockport, MA, shown here at the park above Old Garden Beach in Rockport. Sorry, Harper, the goldenrod is in focus and your are a prop. Good boy!

Join me in attracting butterflies, birds and native bees to your garden:

Top 5 reasons to include goldenrod in your butterfly garden:

  1. 125 species of butterflies and moths lay their eggs on goldenrod in eastern MA, more than any other herbaceous perennial, and if you want to have butterflies, you must welcome their caterpillars and provide them something very specific to eat as soon as their eggs hatch. The female adult butterflies lay their eggs on the plants that they know will feed their young.
  2. Many people think native plants like goldenrod will take over a garden, but some species of goldenrod are well-behaved clumping varieties that do not spread into colonies.
  3. Adult butterflies depend on nectar from late summer and fall blooming plants to provide nectar for food, and goldenrods are nectar-rich and have a long bloom period. This includes migrating species like the popular monarch, Danaus plexippus, in the Nymphalidae family.
  4. Native bees also need pollen for food, and goldenrods are an ideal source late in the growing season.
  5. The more caterpillars and adult butterflies you have, the more birds you’ll have, and the more diverse will be the wildlife in your garden.
  6. BONUS: Ragweed, rather than goldenrod, is the major culprit of seasonal fall allergies. Ragweed is wind-pollinated, and plants that are wind-pollinated make way more pollen than animal-pollinated plants. Butterflies, moths, bees, and birds are some of the animals that pollinate plants.

Thank you for reading this, and happy habitat gardening!

Turn Your Lawn in Pollinator Gardens and Wildlife Habitat

Check out our progress on the turf-to-habitat project in Seekonk, MA, like it if you like it and subscribe it you want to know more about native plant design and consulting in SE MA.

FULFILL THE DREAM OF CREATING A POLLINATOR GARDEN

WHY NOT TURN YOU LAWN INTO A CERTIFIED HABITAT GARDEN FOR BUTTERFLIES, BEES, BIRDS?

Turning a lawn into certified pollinator habitat gardenWe’re helping a homeowner in Seekonk, MA fulfill her dream of turning most of her lawn into pollinator habitat. Collaborating through the iterative design, installation, and maintenance phases, the client herself has gotten earth under her fingernails and dirtied the knees of her jeans every step of the way.

In the 2020 season we designed and installed two crescent-shaped ornamental landscape beds for MA native trees, shrubs and perennials. In the spring of 2021 we’re expanding upon last year’s work by tying in a larger portion of the back yard lawn. Because we have time on our side before the arrival of native plant meadow kits from the Native Plant Trust, we’re using the sheet composting aka lasagna method of turning lawn into garden beds.

Using flags and garden hoses, we laid out the shape of the new planting area, tweaked it, then committed to it by laying down two layers of heavy cardboard that came from local bicycle and appliance stores. The cardboard keeps sunlight from the grass to keep it from growing.

On top of the cardboard we’ll be laying down high quality drip irrigation hoses, aka pipes, that will tie into the existing lawn irrigation system. The pop-up sprinkler heads of the zone where this section of pollinator bed is going were removed and capped to preserve water, water pressure, and associated financial costs. Continue reading

GOT SPRING FEVER? HELP POLLINATORS THIS YEAR!

Pollinate New England Program in Wellesley Shows You How to Plan and Plant a Pollinator Garden

The Wellesley Natural Resources Commission hosted a live Pollinate New England program (pre-Covid) on the importance of using native plants to support New England’s bees, insects and other pollinators. Watch this video of the program to learn the actual steps of creating a pollinator habitat garden.

Learn how to design and create a pollinator garden

You’ll learn how to attract native butterflies and moths, birds and bees to your garden and

  • put the right native plants in the right places
  • design the spacing of your plants to maximize their potential, have good looks and reduce weeds
  • get your pollinator plants established with organic gardening practices, proper watering and care
  • use ecological mulching materials and learn their benefits, such as retaining soil moisture, moderating soil temperature, and reducing weeds

The goal of Pollinate New England is to teach and encourage homeowners to plant diverse, systemic pesticide-free native plants that support a wide variety of pollinators throughout their life cycles. It’s an initiate of the Native Plant Trust (formerly New England Wild Flower Society), which received an IMLS grant to create a network of pollinator gardens, collaborating with twelve partners throughout six states, supported by a suite of in-person and distance programs and resources.