This week I discuss the importance of host plants to our native insects. Learn about specialist and generalist feeders and why it's important to have native plant biodiversity and repetition of individual plants of a given species or lineage in...
This week I discuss the merits of planting natives towards the end of the growing season and describe best management practices for native plantings in the fall. Let's make a final push to support our pollinators! Get your landscapes ready...
This week my nephew and I share a fun summer surprise from a recent woodland walk. Learn all about wild leek, also known as wild ramps, a beautiful wildflower whose leaves carpet the forest floor in spring and whose flowers...
This week I share a lovely native wetland shrub with clusters of white flowers, meadowsweet. Look for this upright shrub in open, wet to moist soil sites and consider planting it in a rain garden, bioswale, or pond edge in...
This week I share a unique woodland orchid, downy rattlesnake plantain. Learn where you can find this beautiful plant and why collecting it from the wild is detrimental to population survival. Good luck finding this little gem on your next...
This week I discuss the life history of an invasive species threatening our forested lands, the European gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar). This spring has been particularly challenging with significant outbreaks, and I review both localized and landscape level control methods...
As promised, I continue to share the happenings of the monarch chrysalis reared in the store. It was a girl, and she was beautiful! I pick up where we left off with Monday with Martha #59, describing the amazing complexities...
This video describes in detail how best to sanitize your wild bird feeding stations. It's our responsibility as good environmental stewards to make sure our bird feeders and baths are cleaned regularly to reduce the risk of spreading avian and...
This week I'm providing info on two important, related topics: the mysterious bird disease being reported in neighboring states and how to keep your bird feeding and watering stations as safe as possible for our feathered and furry friends! This...
