Once upon a time, I had a neighbor who was very, very particular about his lawn. He was often to be found clipping errant long blades of grass with scissors to keep it looking tidy. His lawn was lushly green and beautiful ... but there was no wildlife. Birds passed over it to yards beyond. Without trees, squirrels found no reason to stay. Rabbits went to the next lot in search of clover. If the wildlife you can spot at an easy glance is passing your yard by, you can almost bet the creatures you don't see are doing the same.
Matchy-Matchy
Mother Nature hates monocultures - those manmade, one-species wonders that allow no room for the wonderful variety of wildlife available even in suburban or urban areas. A grass lawn is exactly that; while it may be lovely to the human eye, there is no space for a real, natural ecosystem. Lawns need frequent care in the form of water, fertilizer, mowing, weed control, and pest control.
Nature doesn't need such helicopter parenting. Left to grow, a wild space will invite a variety of plant and animal species that will sustain itself. Planting native species reduces the amount of necessary yard work and encourages our greatest ally in food production: pollinators.
Also, a natural habitat isn't boring.
Save Them, Save Us
The two greatest threats to pollinators are pesticides and habitat destruction. Products such as glyphosate (the chemical in Roundup®) and neonicotinoids (pesticides used in big-box garden center plants and flowers) are persistent and harmful to pollinators of all species. These products can stay in plant tissues and soils for years. They poison insects. In short, they're killing bees.
Guess what happens if we kill the bees? No one is left to pollinate our food supply. Farmers are finding it necessary to truck bees in from far afield in order to pollinate their crops. Pesticides are thought to be responsible for widespread bee colony collapse. Bees are dying at an unprecedented rate. When they go, so will we, unless we do something about it.
Flowers, Flowers Everywhere
Planting native flowers not only beautifies your property and increases its value, but it helps the pollinators. Host plants are important for butterfly caterpillars such as that of the monarch butterfly, which is in desperate need of pesticide-free sanctuaries. Dedicating even a small area of your yard (or a large container if you're in an urban area) can help save these pollinators and enrich the ecosystem where you live.
Bees, in particular, have been in the news many times of late because their rate of decline is alarming. Fortunately, bees are easy to please. Plant as large an area as you can with a few varieties of brightly-colored, native flowers (and if you're lazy like me, plant perennials which will come back every year with no work on your part). Use this tool developed by the National Wildlife Federation to help you decide what will work in your area. Try to stagger bloom times of each variety. Vow to remove all pesticide use from your property in favor of natural weed controls such as hand-pulling ... or my favorite, native plants which will crowd out the unwanted weeds!
The Little Hedge that Could
My neighbor would do annual battle with the privet hedge on our shared border. He cut it to the ground each year, a sad little six-inch-tall row of shrubs struggling to survive. Privet is non-native in my area. I wondered if he thought he was doing the right thing by cutting it down, but it always left me scratching my head. When new neighbors moved in, they didn't cut the hedge. We didn't, either. It grew. And grew. And then flowered.
And then came the wildlife.
Birds took up residence, nesting and singing. I now have a catbird who serenades me beautifully outside my office window while I write. The hedge, now half again as tall as me, shelters and shades squirrels and rabbits. Bumblebees and honeybees flock to it like I've drawn them there with a magnet. My allergies go haywire every spring and summer, and this hedge is not a native to New York State, but the payoff is well worth the cost of leaving it there.
After all, I love food. Don't you?
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