![]() Gently pour a bucket of water into/over the hole and new plant until it is ‘full’. ![]() If this step is missed, Sun/heat/wind will dry the block of medium the plant started in and it will die quickly. Put a shallow layer of garden soil over the top of the mix the plant is in. Wild perennials’ roots do NOT grow through air spaces. Press soil/compost around plant FIRMLY. After removing the plastic pot, set plant in hole so crown is ABOVE ground level. DO NOT use a peatmoss potting mix to amend the planting site. This necessitates breaking clay into small chunks and mixing with compost. Amend the soil in the hole with some kind of decomposed biological stuff but nothing with a high nitrogen content. Dig the hole about twice as wide and deep as the size of the container. Soak the soil, slowly, where you will be planting. Instructions for planting perennials in hot, dry weather There are over 20 articles explaining the need to plant natives for pollinators and birds, and a Seedling Identification page for 40 species commonly used in gardens so you won’t pull them up thinking they are invasive weeds.Īsk a member who talked to you at the booth or learn more by joining the local Hawthorn Chapter Missouri Native Plant Society at In this diagram, your yard sod is the first on the left. Consult a NPS member if you are enticed to get plants from beyond this region.įind local professional assistance in the Grow Native Resource guide at Within the Grow Native site, you will also find links to a Native Plant Database which not only lists hundreds of useful plants for your garden but explains the invasive plants and the natives with which you can replace them. In this case “local” means within 50 miles NS, and 100 miles EW. It is important to read this article and some of the additional links provided within it. The best plan for a pollinator garden is to plant a diversity of native plants perhaps 30 different native species grown from a local seed source. Cultivars from Box Stores are not good for wildlife. Fall blooming natives are especially important in nourishing the migrating insects and preparing the adults and caterpillars for winter. Why do I need to plant local-source native plants?Īll native flowers are good food source for native pollinators like bees, butterflies and in turn, birds they have evolved with one another. So, an incredible 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars are required to make one clutch of chickadees.” That’s a total of 350 to 570 caterpillars every day, depending on how many chicks they have. for each of the 16 to 18 days it takes the chicks to fledge. Both parents take turns feeding the chicks, enabling them to bring a caterpillar to the nest once every three minutes. ![]() While they are feeding their young, watch what the chickadees bring to the nest: mostly caterpillars. If you are lucky, a pair of chickadees will move in and raise a family. This spring, if you live in North America, put up a chickadee nest box in your yard. Playing God in the Garden : By planting productive native species, we can create life.īut there are serious ecological consequences to such choices, and another exercise you can do at home makes them clear. We were happy with our perfect pears, burning bushes, Japanese barberries, porcelain berries, golden rain trees, crape myrtles, privets, bush honeysuckles and all the other foreign ornamentals. After all, Asian ornamentals were planted to look pretty, and we certainly didn’t want insects eating them. In the past, we thought this was a good thing. And so Bradford pears stand virtually untouched in my neighbor’s yard. “But local insects have only just met Bradford pears, in an evolutionary sense, and have not had the time - millennia - required to adapt to their chemical defenses. TALLAMY, MAa professor of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware, is the author of “Bringing Nature Home” Please google Douglas Tallamy. Why do I need a diversity of natives in my yard?Įxerpt from The Chickadee’s Guide to Gardening: In Your Garden, Choose Plants That Help the Environment By DOUGLAS W.
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