No Lawns
- www.theguardian.com The gardener who took a Canadian city to court for the right to not mow his lawn
Missisauga officials have twice forcibly cut Wolf Ruck’s grass and billed him, after he decided to rewild his garden
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Wild Ones Presents "Weed Ordinances" w/ Rosanne Plante
YouTube Video
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>Join Iowa attorney and business professor Rosanne Plante as she explains what to do if the “Weed Police” knock on your door! > >Most towns, cities, and other municipalities have weed ordinances (local law) concerning what is a weed, what is not defined as a weed in their jurisdiction, and what is allowed to be grown on the property of local citizens. How do you know if you are really in violation, or if your “flowers” just remind others of weeds? > >Rosanne presents a handy checklist to use if you are ever accused of breaking a weed ordinance. Many times, citizens are not in violation at all, but can use the citation or threat of a citation as a teaching moment for local government officials. > >As a past city attorney herself, Rosanne has extensive experience not only drafting city ordinances of all kinds but also prosecuting offenders. She truly knows what is needed to “prove up” a weed violation. > >Download a Sample Native Planting Ordinance: https://wildones.org/resources/
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Bee House Update
I posted awhile back after making a home for solitary bees, sharing that it had gotten some use. Its important to replace the sticks annually to prevent parasites from being passed from bee to bee as holes are reused.
Thanks to some winter storms, we had lots of downed branches to clear, so I had no shortage of sticks available for use as future bee housing:
The holes need to be between 5" and 6" deep, so I started cutting the sticks into 6.5"-ish lengths.
This doesn't look like much but it took a lot of eight-foot branches to make these piles.
The next step was drilling holes. Different size bees need different diameter holes, so I read a few guides and picked out a range of drill bits between a metric #2 and a full half-inch (I don't think solitary bees care about unit standardization) to make sure any potential tenants can find a cozy caliber to call home.
I used the drill press to start the holes then used a set of extra long metric bits in a screwgun to get the full length the bees need
This didn't always go perfectly. I didn't break any bits, but sometimes the holes were crooked enough to punch through the side of the stick and I'd set them aside.
Then I just had to bag up what I'd made and replace the sticks in the bee house:
(Background omitted because it's easier than tidying the shop.)
I'd thought I'd made enough sticks for two years, but it took almost all of them to fill the bee house. Glad I prepared as many as I did.
I think I'd call that move-in ready.
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Rain garden installed in February already attracting visitors
Monarch on rose milkweed, Asclepias incarnata.
I dug this out myself, roughly 6 feet in diameter and 4 inches deep. Given how fast everything is growing and self-seeding, I'll be able to expand closer to the street next year.
Southeastern USA Plains. This is the last stop for rainwater before the storm drain leading to the Chesapeake Bay.
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Orange coneflower forming a groundcover under rattlesnake master
This is in the Southeastern USA Plains.
The mature plants (seen on the left side) went to seed in the fall. I broke apart the seed heads over the right side in February.
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How to create a firefly-friendly backyard
> Firefly populations are declining. These tips can help you turn your yard into an inviting habitat for the bioluminescent stars of summer.
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Eastern Prickly Pear about to pop!
So many flower buds!
This is full sun between a brick wall and concrete pathway. Sandy clay, soil is wet in the winter and turns into pottery during the summer. What was four pads four years ago now covers 6 sq feet! Doesn't get much higher than a foot tall and edible.
Here's some flowers from last June:
Eastern Prickly Pear, Opuntia humifusa, is native to Eastern North America. Best for people who enjoy playing the game operation!
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Low-Impact Landscaping Law (Maryland)
Just found out about this law that went into effect in 2021 in MD. HOAs or communities cannot require turf-only landscapes.
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Violet, You're Turning Violet, Violet!
In this patch, I'm working towards a mix of violets (Viola sororia), nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberi), white avens (Geum canadense), and yellow woodsorrel (Oxalis stricta). There's also clover, chickweed, mock strawberry and others I'm weeding out. The shrub is an elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) which should get 10 feet wide. The top right corner is a mix of Philadelphia fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus) and orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida).
This is an urban area in the North American Eastern Temperate Forests. My yard is the lowest point of the street next to the storm drain, a "rain garden" for the block. Here, the violets thrive from deep shade to full sun. They are the host plant for fritillary butterflies.
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Reason #438 to KILL YOUR LAWN - Turrn Your Yard Into a Classroom | Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't
YouTube Video
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>Another good reason for killing your lawn is that once you've done so, you can turn your yard into a literal classroom in order to study things like plant identification and the ecology of the native habitat that once stood where your house is. > >In some ways, planting native plant gardens (which can sometimes include non-native, non-invasive species of plants) are small acts habitat restoration in miniature, sure. > >Equally (if not more) rewarding however is the ability to learn about the plants that together compose your native ecosystem by growing them right in front of you. Grow them throughout their entire life cycle - observe what pollinates them, what disperses the fruits and seeds, what eats them. The rewards from this kind of sh*t can't be overstated.
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Help me design my new garden. I need ideas and inspiration.
I hope these type of requests are allowed here. Otherwise just let me know and I'll remove my post.
I'm soon moving to a new house and it has a little garden area of 5.5 m wide and 4.4m long. And surrounded by a tall hedge (that I don't want to remove)
At the moment, as you can see on the pictures below, it's all tiled. I initially intended to remove about a third of the tiles and make a mos, clover and wild flowers lawn that my cat and dog can use now and then. Then maybe make some tall planteres for wild herbs from stacking the removed bricks up in a square and adding some wood planks.
But now i got the idea of asking you guys if you have any better ideas for how to use this space for a little sanctuary for me and my pets. I'd love to see some inspiration, sketches or ideas from you on how i get more use out of this space. Maybe removing the tiles is not the best idea?
I live in Denmark so the climate is a bit mixed. I'm not a big gardener type of person so something simple that mostly takes care of itself is ideal. Lavenders, sage, oniongrass types of herbs and Viola tricolor and wild flowers for easy and pretty colors.
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North American Plants for Fireflies
www.firefly.org Plants for Fireflies | List of Native Plants Good for Fireflies | Firefly.orgWhat plants are good for fireflies? Plants that provide habitat for females, larvae, and operational cover for flash males.
>Gardeners often don’t realize gardens make for great firefly habitat, helping to replace lost natural habitat. The common firefly — the Big Dipper firefly (Photinus pyralis) — readily takes to an organic habitat. The trick is to make your garden as inviting as possible for fireflies to take up residence.
>Fireflies spend up to 95% of their lives in larval stages. They live in soil/mud/leaf litter and spend from 1-2 years growing until finally pupating to become adults. This entire time they eat anything they can find. As adults, they only live 2-4 weeks. Females that have mated successfully need a place to lay eggs. They will lay eggs in many spots, but gardens offer an oasis with a source of soil moisture good for larval development.
This is a Texas based organization, but many of the plants (or their close cousins) are found across the continent.
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Ecoregions of North America (interactive map, locator, plant lists and descriptions)
bplant.org Ecoregions of North AmericaNorth America can be divided into fifteen ecoregions, corresponding to major differences in climate, vegetation cover, and ecosystem type.
- civileats.com What the New USDA Gardening Map Tells us About Climate Change
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was recently updated after more than a decade. It confirms what anyone who’s planted seeds recently already knows.
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Invasive Species - How to Fight Plants with Plants
www.humanegardener.com Invasive Species - How to Fight Plants with Plants - Humane GardenerWhat's to love about native plants that spread like crazy? Everything! Enlist these hardy troopers to reclaim habitat from invasive species.
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The Best Way to Put Carbon Back in the Ground - Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't
YouTube Video
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- www.almanac.com Grass Alternatives: 12 Low-Maintenance Lawn Replacements
Wish you could ditch your grass altogether? Or, how about replacing your lawn or part of your yard with a stepable carpet? Before you put down yet more grass seed, discover 10 grass alternatives.
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How to get rid of Privet for good?
I've been at war with Privet. No matter what I do, the little bugger comes back in full force. How do I get rid of this relentless plant for good?
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An unexpected but enjoyable nighttime activity
I came home from bringing my daughter to an extracurricular to find a big pile of grass in the backyard. My wife said that she was trying to pull out some of the Ground Ivy that has been plaguing our yard and garden over the last few years and found that the sod just started coming up like a carpet, so she went with it. We spent the rest of the daylight hours as a family ripping up the whole damn backyard.
We still aren’t quite sure what we are going to put back there but at least this part is out of the way. I’m excited to see what we are going to do with it now.
Hoping we can knock out the rest of the Ground Ivy from the garden so it stops trying to choke everything else out.
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Give Your Yard Back To Nature
www.popularmechanics.com Why You Should Let Nature Take Over Your LawnTurning your perfectly unnatural (yet impressively green!) lawn into an imperfectly wild(ish) piece of land requires a little time and energy at first. And then...a lot less mowing.
>A garden that’s planted purely by aesthetic decisions is like a car with no engine. It may look beautiful, the stereo works great, but you’re going to have to push it up the hill.
This is a really informative article by Popular Mechanics describing how to effectively landscape with native plants, as well as the long term benefits you will see as a result.
- yt.artemislena.eu The Best Way to Put Carbon Back in the Ground
KILL YOUR LAWN...and plant a grassland. Andropogon gerardii (Big Bluestem) and Sorghastrum nutans (Indian Grass) are arguably two of the most important grass species in North America, and together compose a large part of an ecosystem that offers the best chances for both carbon sequestration AND re...
- yt.artemislena.eu The Worst Invasive Species in the Midwest You Oughta Be Killing
Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) has ravaged the ecology of Northern Illinois (and many other areas in the Eastern US at the same latitude). In Europe where it's native, it's an important member of the ecosystem. In the Midwest though, it's a scourge that forms monocultures and leads to local extinct...
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Discussion: Do Yellow Bug Lights Keep Bugs Away?
www.thespruce.com What's a Yellow "Bug Away" Light?You may have noticed you see yellow bug lights in the summer. The most common place to see one is on a porch.
I recently replaced two outdoor light bulbs with dusk-till-dawn bug lights from Sunco. Immediately noticed less bugs around lights which means less bugs caught in the never ending spider webs.
Anyone else do this?
Another article with more science: https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/45105/20230727/what-bug-light-bulbs-effective-repelling-insects.htm
- www.theguardian.com Invasive species cost humans $423bn each year and threaten world’s diversity
At least 3,500 harmful invasive species recorded in every region on Earth spread by human activity, says UN report
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Reminder: Your lawn isn't "being invaded by weeds," it's undergoing natural selection.
Especially ironic when suburbanites rave about how houses are infinitely better than apartments because they're "closer to nature." You want to be closer to nature? Let natural processes work and have a lawn of whatever grows in your area naturally (even an "invasive" species is better than lawn grasses, unironically, and lawn grasses are almost always also non-native species, just ones that can't actually survive in the environment.) Don't water, don't mow, don't fertilize, just let nature do its thing. It will also attract more pollinators, birds, wildlife in general and instead of a lawn, soon you'll have a natural meadow in your yard. That's nature, a lawn that needs excessive water, chemical fertilizers, and poison just to maintain isn't.
- yt.artemislena.eu Da Beautiful Chaos of Da Prairie (KILL YOUR LAWN)
Embrace the Beautiful Chaos of Da Prairie Real Nice. Prairies may be mostly gone but that's why you gotta re-create what you can in your area if you live where they once occurred. Collect seeds, establish stock plants, then continuously spread seed around you in public parks, railroad embankments, ...
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Maui’s neglected (Invasive) grasslands caused Lahaina fire to grow with deadly speed
This story documents how the invasive grasses allowed the fire to grow.
- bc.ctvnews.ca B.C. woman who deliberately damaged neighbour's trees ordered to pay $150K in compensation
A B.C. woman who repeatedly trespassed on her neighbour's property and cut the tops off of cedar trees with a chainsaw has been ordered to pay nearly $150,000 in damages.