Spicebush flowers

Summer is the time for the traditional Wild Ones "Show Me, Help Me" tours.

The "Show Me" part means that these landscapes will show tour guests some ways to use native plants and natural landscapes in various settings.

The "Help Me" part means that the host has an opportunity to ask the tour guests for help with a landscaping dilemma, getting a chance to tap into the variety of experiences and knowledge the guests have.

Our tours each have a unique mix of "Show Me" and "Help Me," but they're all interesting and worthwhile.

As with our meetings, the Show Me, Help Me tours are free and open to the public.


Last year, we enjoyed a Show Me Help Me tour of Soule Leiter's landscape. There was a lot of "Show Me" since Soule has been working on her landscape for a number of years, but there was some "Help Me," too, as Soule asked for some suggestions for various spots. She took action on the tour guests' suggestions and has invited us back to see the results!
RSVP to Soule and she'll send directions. 

We hope you can attend at least one tour to see habitat gardening with native plants in action! 

Janet Allen, President, HGCNY

The beautiful Black and Gold bumblebee

Today winds up the annual National Pollinator Week, but our efforts to help pollinators must be ongoing.

The stakes are high. Not only do humans depend on pollinators for one of every three bites of food, but so does everything from songbirds to grizzlies, since more than three quarters of plants in the wild are pollinated by native bees and other pollinators.

For a vivid example of what our grocery stores would look like without pollinators, here are two vivid demonstrations at a Whole Foods market produce section and dairy section. (Move the slider on that webpage to see the full "with bees" and "without bees" images.)

As part of their Share the Buzz campaign, last year the store (temporarily) ditched 237 items, or 52% of the normal produce mix. For this year's demonstration, they did a similar project showing how a loss of pollinators would affect the dairy department (and even chocolate!)

Bumble bee die-off in Eugene Photo: Oregon Dept of Agriculture

Last year, pesticide spraying in a Target parking lot in Oregon resulted in a massive bumblebee kill. Over 50,000 bumble bees died in that parking lot. And since it was a neonicotinoid (systemic) pesticide, the trees are still toxic to bees.

Sadly, it was reported in the last few days that there has been a similar situation in Eugene, OR. People in Oregon are more likely to report these incidents since the invertebrate conservation organization The Xerces Society is headquartered there. How many other, unreported, incidents are occurring in other parts of the country?

1) Plant lots of native plants for pollen and nectar.

2) Provide some bare ground, wooden block nests (or snags) for nesting, and plant host plants for caterpillars.

3) Avoid using pesticides -- especially insecticides.

4) Spread the word! Xerces has a very nice sign (shown in photo) you can buy to display in your yard. You can buy it at http://www.xerces.org/store/.

The Xerces Society website at www.xerces.org has a wealth of information on how you can preserve and protect our pollinators.

Monarch egg (next to penny for scale)

One easy way to help scientists learn more about monarchs and their migration is to report your sightings of adult monarchs and of their eggs on the Journey North website.

Journey North's Monarch News this week says,
"Monarchs flooded into the north central region of their breeding range almost 4 weeks ago. Meanwhile, people in the northeast are still waiting for monarchs to arrive."

They continue about this "Gap in the Map":
"The egg map reveals the shortage of monarchs in the northeastern end of the range, where not a single egg has been reported yet."

 

Journey North has news about many different creatures who migrate. You can find maps showing the migration of robins, whales, hummingbirds, eagles, cranes, and many others. Fascinating!   

 

 

What question do we get asked most often? Where can I find native plants. Now you'll know!

 

Our 2014 Guide has the same general format  as our previous Guides with a few new codes:  

- F indicates Pesticide-Free plants

- BB indicate plants especially good for bumble bees. Both qualities are important.

  

Click on the photo above or HERE to download the entire Guide as one .pdf file.

 

OR you can download any or all of the parts separately for printing.  

 

Here are the THREE PARTS of this guide:

• The INTRODUCTION, which explains more about the Guide, the codes used, some native plant shopping tips, additional plant references, as well as the location and contact information for the nurseries.
• The  PLANTS LISTED BY SCIENTIFIC NAMES and the nurseries selling them.
• The  PLANTS LISTED BY COMMON NAMES and the nurseries selling them.

If your computer downloads the files, but you don't know where they are, look in your browser settings to find your Downloads folder.  

 

Still having trouble? Contact us and we'll email the .pdf file to you directly.

 

The Introduction section  

Whether or not you print it out, please read the Introduction for Shopping Tips, contact information for the vendors and other helpful information.

 

We recommend that you CALL AHEAD before you set out on your shopping trip! Confirm the hours the nurseries are open and confirm that your selected plants are currently in stock. What is available in May, for example, may not be available in July. Call ahead to avoid disappointments and wasted gas!  

 

Thank you for patronizing our local native plant nurseries. Supporting these nurseries is an important way to grow the native plant movement. 

In This Issue

Native coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

It's not too early to starting thinking about our fall plant sale. 1) Think about which plants you would like to purchase at our sale. We'll try to have them available if we find a source. Email John with your requests.

2) As you observe your plantings this spring and summer, note which plants you'd like to donate to our sale. Consider potting them up early so they're established in their pots in time for our sale on Sept. 13.

Our plant sale profits fund this newsletter and other HGCNY activities.