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| | Moving beyond individual yards |
October program: The YardWorks Project - Ecology Via Engagement
We're pleased to have Dr. Josh Cerra, Cornell University Professor of Landscape Architecture, as our October speaker. Dr. Cerra is the director of the YardWorks project, "a cooperative stewardship initiative that visualizes neighborhood-scale benefits by engaging communities of landowners in a site-by-site design process." If you've ever felt your habitat garden is an oasis in a desert of sterile landscapes, this is the topic for you! Our meetings are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Bring a friend!WHEN: Sun. Oct. 25 at 2:00 pm WHERE: Liverpool Library ( Directions) Help publicize our meetings You can help publicize our meetings by printing out and displaying a small poster (8.5 x 11 inches) any place posters are permitted. Download our general HGCNY sign, and here is a sign specifically about our October meeting. Thanks!
NOTE: A Well-Grounded Landscape
Tues. Oct. 13 7:00 pm at DeWitt Community Library is CANCELLED. ~ Janet Allen, President, HGCNY Wild Ones Chapter |
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| Black swallowtail butterfly overwintering in the chrysalis stage
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Where do butterflies overwinter?
Not all butterflies fly south as do monarchs, so where do they spend the cold, snowy winter? Different butterfly species overwinter in different stages: as eggs, caterpillars, chrysalids, or adults. As eggsSome butterflies, such as the Purplish Copper, overwinter as eggs on twigs or leaves of perennials, shrubs, and trees. As caterpillars
Some, such as the Baltimore Checkerspot and the Red Spotted Purple, overwinter as caterpillars, burrowing into the leaf litter at the base of their host plants.
As chrysalids
Some, such as the Black Swallowtail's last generation, remain as chrysalids, attached to twigs.
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| | Mourning cloak, seen on March 30 |
As adult butterflies
Some, such as the Mourning Cloak, are adult butterflies, spending the winter under the peeling bark of trees, perennials, old logs, or even in sheds or barns. Since they're already adults, they're often the first butterflies you see in the spring, often somewhat the worse for wear.
How do they do it?
As explained by James and Nunnallee (2011), hibernating adults are dormant "and in a physiological state called diapause, characterized by a lowered metabolic rate and radical biochemical changes.
Diapause is different from simple dormancy or inactivity as occurs in butterflies and their immature stages during cool periods in spring and autumn or overnight. It is a rigidly controlled physiological mechanism that is genetically fixed or induced by environmental cues." - as noted in the Fletcher Wildlife Garden blog.
How to help butterflies survive the winter
*NOT* with butterfly houses! Leaving our landscapes as natural as possible will best help butterflies survive the winter and be there for us to enjoy next year. |
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| Don't waste this valuable resource!
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Leave Leaves Alone!
Most of us live in towns like Bedford, NY in Westchester County. On their website, they share their award-winning Leave Leaves Alone campaign, which benefits both people and the environment. From their Leaves Leaves Alone website:
Bedford's annual ritual of raking, blowing, piling, bagging, and trucking leaves out of residential neighborhoods costs each homeowner - or their landscaper - hours of time each fall and robs our yards of one of nature's greatest resources: rich, natural compost. Each fall in the Town of Bedford it takes 10 people with 10 vehicles six weeks to pick up leaves. This practice causes diesel pollution, and is a waste of time and a waste of money -- our money -- our tax dollars. There are alternatives and they'll save you time AND money. The sustainable way of managing leaves involves mulching or composting them on your own property. It's safer, more efficient, saves time and money, minimizes pollution and is better for your soil and plants. If we stop blowing our leaves onto the streets for the town to pick up, everyone wins.
Their home page shows before and after pictures of mulching leaves as well as links to videos showing how it's done by either commercial mowers or home mowers. |
| | Click on picture for more info on leaving leaves |
BUT leave leaves on non-lawn areas
Just as in nature, leaves left on the ground decay naturally, providing homes for little creatures -- such as next year's butterflies -- and continually enrich your soil. No need to chop these leaves with a mower !
Some other reasons to leave leaves from the Washington Dept of Fish & Wildlife:
* Improves and adds nutrients to the soilIncreases and strengthens plant root growth* Regulates the temperature of the soil, keeping it cooler in summer and warmer in winter* Prevents rain water from running off the soil and disappearing down a storm water drain* Prevents water from splashing up onto plants which slows the spread of soil-borne diseases* Prevents the soil from crusting or compacting* Creates a natural forest floor environmentRead more from the Crossing Paths newsletter |
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Time for Project FeederWatch!
From the Cornell Lab:Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America.
FeederWatchers periodically count the birds they see at their feeders from November through early April and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. FeederWatch data help scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. Anyone interested in birds can participate. FeederWatch is conducted by people of all skill levels and backgrounds, including children, families, individuals, classrooms, retired persons, youth groups, nature centers, and bird clubs. Participants watch their feeders as much or as little as they want over two consecutive days as often as every week (less often is fine).
They count birds that appear in their count site because of something that they provided (plantings, food, or water). NOTE that our habitat plantings count, not just bird feeders!!
Sign up to be a FeederWatcher by clicking the red button at the top right of the homepage. There is a participation fee - $18 for non-Lab members and $15 for Lab members. In other words, less than the cost of a couple of movie tickets or fast food meals. You can learn more about watching feeder birds (including tricky bird IDs), explore the data that has been collected over the years (such as the Top 25 birds), and participate in the FeederWatch community. By the way ...Can you find my younger self in the More Featured Participants section? This was quite a while ago when I was just getting my habitat garden going, but through the years Project FeederWatch has remained my favorite citizen science project. |
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Milkweed for monarchs
The federal pollinator plan needs a BILLION milkweed plants. What's the bottleneck? Milkweed seeds! You can help by sending some local ecotype seeds to Monarch Watch. What's "local ecotype"? Seeds from plants that are truly from Central New York, not cultivars or plants purchased online from the Midwest etc. They may be found growing in our gardens! For example, seeds from plants purchased from the Plantsmen Nursery or Amanda's Garden (since the seeds to grow these plants were collected in our region), butterfly weeds (Asclepias tuberosa) grown by HGCNY's Dave Mitchell (who collected the seeds locally), and most likely any seeds from common milkweed plants (since they're rarely sold in nurseries). How to prepare them?The Bring Back the Monarchs campaign describes how to collect and send seeds to Monarch Watch. NOTE: They request that people not send seed from purchased plants. If your milkweed plants were purchased from the HGCNY Wild Ones chapter, they should meet the criteria for local ecotype, but you should note that fact on the envelope.
If you'd prefer, you can bring your seeds labeled with all the required information to the October HGCNY meeting and we can send them.
In nature, milkweed seeds can germinate with their "fluff" still attached, but to store milkweed seeds or to pass them along to others it's MUCH more convenient for all concerned to have the floss removed. (As William Cullina says, "Dry down has a buoyancy that would make helium jealous.") Here's a short video showing how to remove floss from milkweed seeds. It's much easier than it sounds!
Also, be sure the seeds haven't been eaten by various milkweed beetles. Check for frass, entry holes, or latex oozing from the pod. |
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| | Hummingbirds may become out of sync with nectar availability as the climate changes |
A Sea Change
Fri. Oct. 16
The Palace Theater, 2384 James St., Syracuse
Doors open at 5:15 with food trucks, Cellist at 6:15; Program starts at 6:45The award winning climate change film, A Sea Change, ( aseachange.net) premiered to a standing-room only audience at the Smithsonian Museum, and a standing ovation. The film screened at festivals in North America, Europe, and Latin America, garnering multiple awards and aired on national and international television. A Sea Change is the story of retired teacher Sven Huseby, whose love for his five-year-old grandson Elias and the world he will inherit compelled Sven to travel thousands of miles interviewing scientists on ocean acidification - the little known flip side of global warming. The photography is stunning; the interviews with scientists sobering; Sven's relationship with his grandson Elias is delightful and moving and the ending hopeful - focusing on solutions being implemented today. This is a film you want to see if you care about the world you will leave for the next generation. Immediately following the film there will be Q & A session. The panel consists of Barbara Ettinger, documentary film maker; Sven Huseby, the main protagonist in the film, and Dr. Bruce Monger, climate scientist from Cornell University. Moderating the panel will be Chris Bolt, WAER news and public affairs director. Suggested donation: $10 adults, $8 seniors/students, $6 per family member; DISCOUNTS for advanced sale tickets at Greening USA.
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| | Stopping by on Oct 6 on its way to Mexico |
Flight of the Butterflies at MOST's iMax Theater
It's a treat to see monarchs in our yards in the summer, but their annual migration to Mexico is one of nature's miracles. A movie about this migration is playing at the MOST. Here's the description: Weighing less than a penny, a monarch butterfly makes one of the longest migrations on Earth to a place it has never known. Join hundreds of millions of real butterflies on an amazing journey to a remote and secret hideaway, and one scientist's 40-year search to unravel the mystery of where they go each fall. Runtime - 45 minutesFor info on show times etc. |
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Join Wild Ones
We welcome everyone to our meetings, but we encourage you to become an official member. Since HGCNY is a chapter of the national organization Wild Ones, when you become a member of Wild Ones, you're automatically a member of HGCNY, too. And since Wild Ones is an official not-for-profit organization, your membership is tax-deductible. It's easy to become a member, receive the bimonthly Wild Ones Journal, and support our mission. Just go to the Wild Ones website or call toll-free (877) 394-9453. |
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Join us on Facebook
As more of us participate on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hgcny, this will become a useful resource for asking (and answering!) local HGCNYers' questions about habitat gardening. |
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Learn more: Habitat gardening
This is an example of a local habitat garden. It also includes links to more information and inspiration to get started on your own habitat garden. |
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Learn more: Edible gardening
This is an example of a local edible garden. It also includes links to more information and inspiration to get started on your own edible garden. |
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