By Geri Williams

In January Kristin Andres, the Associate Director for Education & Informational Services for the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), gave a very informative Zoom program on Native Plants and Eco-friendly Landscape Practices. We were able to record the program and you can view the program on our website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dcXxN98hvo

”Everybody says they love Nature, but if you look at people’s yards, very few invite her over”, is a quote by Neil Diebold from Kristin that really stayed with me. Your personal landscape can play an important role in improving and protecting our environment.

The cornerstone of a nature-friendly landscape is native plants. Insects and plants co-evolved over thousands of years and developed specialized dependent relationships. Many butterflies and moths only lay their eggs on very specific plants as their caterpillars can only eat the leaves of those species. If you don’t have those plants, you won’t have the butterflies. The classic example is the monarch butterfly and its reliance on milkweed. But not just monarchs rely on milkweed plants – several other insect species also need them. The common milkweed grows tall, 3-4 feet, and sends underground runner roots that can sprout at a distance from the mother plant. So it can be unruly and is not suited for traditional flower borders. It is best grown in an area that is allowed to be “wild.” There are other milkweed species that are native to our area and well suited to flower gardens. The orange-flowered Butterfly Weed grows about 2 feet tall and is very hardy and drought-tolerant. The Swamp Milkweed has soft pink flowers and grows up to 2.5 feet tall but requires more moisture. Monarchs use both varieties for nectar and for laying their eggs.

Other examples of host-specific relationships: Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies only lay their eggs on spicebush shrubs and Eastern Swallowtails only use wild black cherry and birch trees.

Doug Tallamy, the  who has written “Bringing Nature Home”, “The Nature of Oaks,” and “Nature’s Best Hope,” (all remarkable, insightful books worth reading) has studied the relationship among insects, plants, and birds. In one study, he determined that a pair of chickadees needed 9000 caterpillars to feed one clutch of babies for 3 weeks until fledging. Ninety-six percent of terrestrial birds feed their young caterpillars and other insects and 90% of caterpillars require native plants. Some of our native trees are especially important hosts. Dr. Tallamy determined that oaks are hosts to more than 530 species of Lepidoptera (the order of butterflies and moths) and willow and black cherry trees each host more than 450 species. He looked for the difference in the numbers of Lepidoptera on native and non-native trees. He found almost none on non-natives such as Kousa dogwood, Bradford pear and ginko trees. Fortunately for us, these native trees grow well in our watershed.

“If something is not eating your plants, then your garden is not part of the ecosystem.”

The old traditional idea of yard landscaping, started in the 1950’s dominated by large treated lawns and non-native plants such as Bradford pears and hydrangeas, are wastelands for butterflies, insects and birds. We need to change our mindset, tear up some of our lawn, and plant more native trees, shrubs, and flowers.

Our yards can serve to repair some of the tattered environment with choices and land care practices that are mindful of nature. Use of native plants and chemical-free yards that welcome Mother Nature can mend the connectivity of ecosystems, provide pathways for pollinators, and steppingstones for wildlife between other wild areas.

Kristin also provided tips for protecting our ponds. Having a vegetative buffer with native plants along a pond shore is very important. Vegetation along a pond filters and cleans dirty runoff from upland uses, provides shoreline and shallow water habitat, stabilizes the bank, and increases lake aesthetics.

Studies have shown that in an undeveloped pond, the fish are healthier since 40% of fish diet is from insects that drop into the pond from native vegetation along the shore.

Skip lawn treatments: you don’t want fertilizer and herbicides washing into the pond. If possible, keep your path to the pond narrow and at an angle or better yet, zigzag so water doesn’t runoff straight down to the pond. Preserve the native buffer, reduce lawn size, and plant more native plants. Some native shrubs that work well in a buffer are viburnums, high bush blueberries, and inkberry holly.

We can also better manage water runoff keeping it on our property by installing a rain barrel or cistern. If you have a low spot where rain collects, consider a rain garden. It does not have to be elaborate. Just remove sod, dig out and put 6-10 inches of gravel in bottom, replace some soil and plant some native plants and shrubs. Plant a flowerbed along the street side of your yard to absorb rain sheeting off your grass rather than having grass to the edge of the road. For a new driveway or parking area, consider permeable pavement such as ‘Porous Pave ‘ or ‘Perc Crete’.

There is much more information on creating a healthy yard to attract wildlife and protect our watershed. You can purchase “Guidelines for Cape Friendly Landscapes” from APCC or read it online:

 https://apcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/FINALGuidelines_Website_PP_-PDF-compressed.pdf