RESTORING NATIVES IN SUBURBAN LANDSCAPES
PRESENTED BY
Sami AaronK-State Extension Master
Naturalist
Registered Yoga &
Meditation Teacher
Director of Training and Development and Certified Facilitator for The NatureProcess®
Nature-loving neighbor
Being Onto Something!!!
Sami Aaron [email protected]
THIS PRESENTATION IS AVAILABLE AT:
WWW.BEINGONTOSOMETHING.ORG
Click “Restoring Natives in Suburban Gardens” on the home page
Sample garden designs are in the handouts and
http://grownative.org/help-with-my-
garden/designing-with-natives-easy-landscape-plans/
NEIGHBORHOOD MAP
Area WAS::
• Trees
• Plants
• Soil
Absorbed,
Filtered,
Slowed
Runoff
Area NOW:
• Cement
• Roofing Tile
• Fescue
STORMWATER
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
$$$ MAY BE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR GARDEN!
First come, first served, varies by City!
$$$ per City to cost share: Design . Labor . Materials
Reimburse you for a % of cost for rain gardens, native plantings or rain barrels
Process:
• Inspections prior, during & after project is completed
• Maintained for a minimum number of years
• Application, projected schedule, map/diagram, receipts, photos
• Google your city’s Stormwater Management or Public Works
• What causes flooding?
• Proximity to nearby streamways and flow to the local rivers
• Rooftops, driveways, patios & streets
• Downspouts
• Fescue lawns
• Reduces pollution impacts on urban streams• Prevents erosion by stabilizing stream banks• Minimizes impacts of urban development• Minimizes risks of flash flooding
1. Slow the flow of water and prevent flooding
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT (BMP)
WHY PLANT NATIVES?
Source: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npstbx/files/KSMO_KnowYourRoots.pdf
Spirea / Daylily / Fountain Grass / Fescue Prairie Dropseed / Rudebeckia / Ninebark
2. Filter chemicals & toxins & slow the flow of water
59% OF OUR WATER USE IS FOR OUTDOORS!
Source: Bridging the Gap
3. Reduce: watering with city water, mowing time,
fertilizer, chemicals for weed control
REDUCE THE SIZE OF OUR LAWNS
WHO ELSE BENEFITS?
How to help?
• Restore insect breeding & feeding habitat with Milkweeds & Native Wildflowers
• Learn about decline in native bees (and honey bees) due to neonicotinoid insecticides in our local nursery plants
• 80% of flowering plants depend on pollinators; 30% of our food crops require it
Source: The Xerces Society
Monarch Butterflies Threatened:• 1990 – Estimate 1 Billion migrated to
Mexico – 45-60 acres• 2014 – Estimate of only 33 million remain
– a 90% reduction – indicator species –1.65 acres
• 2016 – Rebounded then deadly freeze in Mexico killed 1.5 million
4. Benefit declining populations of pollinators, birds &
other wildlife
REDUCE RUNOFF, RETAIN WATER
One inch of rain on the roof of a 1,000
sq. ft. building equals
• about 600 gallons of water
• add driveway and patio space =
over 1,000 gallons of water
Source: Bridging the Gap
RAIN BARRELS • Divert downspouts
• Use to water house plants
• Used to water outdoor potted plants
• Use to water gardens around house
• Lots of styles/colors/sizes
RAIN GARDENS / BIOSWALES
Depressed area holds
rainwater for 24-72
hours. Slows and
filters rainwater
before it reaches the
watershed.
INCLUDE TREES AND SHRUBS!
THEY’RE IMPORTANT HOST PLANTS
FOR CATERPILLARS
Native Oak Trees support
534 species of butterflies,
moths, and skippers.
• Willow – 456
• Cherry, plum – 456
• Birch – 413
• Poplar, cottonwood –
368
• Crabapple – 311
• Blueberry, cranberry –
288
DON’T HAVE A YARD?
PLANT IN TALL POTS ON A
SUNNY PORCH!
This Butterfly Milkweed plant is
just about 2 months old – but
note the tangle of roots!
• Use really deep pots to allow
for root growth
• Water regularly throughout
the season
• Divide and share when the
roots start to overrun the pot
GETTING STARTED
Get Ready:
Design the site
border/hardscape
dimensions
plantings
water flow & overflow
HOA restrictions / approval
Project schedule including maintenance plan
Cost estimates & permits
Preparing the soil and hardscaping
Mixture of seeds and plants, perhaps cover crop – Seed Bombs!
Typically done in the fall or early spring
May need burning or tree removal
CREATE YOUR OWN
NATIVE GARDEN IN A
COUPLE OF HOURS!
WITH NO DIGGING!
Step 1 – Select a sunny location
Step 2 – Cover area with layers
of newspaper, cardboard, or
paper bags
Step 3 – Mound garden soil 1-3’
CREATE YOUR OWN
NATIVE GARDEN IN A
COUPLE OF HOURS!
WITH NO DIGGING!
Step 4 – Layout plants – taller in
the center
Step 6 – Add mulch 2-3”
Step 5 – Put plants in the
ground
CREATE YOUR OWN
NATIVE GARDEN IN A
COUPLE OF HOURS!
WITH NO DIGGING!
Step 7 – tuck under outside
edge of paper and cover with
mulch
Step 8 – add some critters and
water in well
Step 9 – keep moist the first
year; as needed thereafter
NOW WHAT?
Maintenance:
Water weekly first year; regularly second year; during dry times only third year and after IF you want to
Mow or use weed-eater first year to keep weeds in check; after year two, mow/weed-eat once in late fall or winter only
Large area may need to be raked or cleaned up after mowing
Fencing and/or staking if desired
May need burning or tree removal – check with city
SELECTING GRASSES & WILDFLOWERS
FOR WILDLIFE
Plant for ALL SEASONS
Early – Spring - Golden Alexander, Rose Verbena
Mid-Summer – everything else!
Late - Autumn – Asters & Goldenrods
Winter – Habitat, seeds, groundcover
Plant for Multiple Reasons:
Mating
Nesting
Brood-rearing
Protection
Migration
Plant Lists and websites on hand-outs
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THESE
NEW NEIGHBORS?
Education, education, education
Learn about snakes and other “scary” wildlife
Kansas has had only one documented fatality from snake bite since 1950
Some snakebites can be painful but are easily healed with proper treatment
A little brown bat can consume 600 to 1,000 mosquitoes in a single hour.
Learn how to walk/move around them
Give them a wide swath with walkways or borders of shorter or mowed grasses
Take pictures and identify them at:
www.insectidentification.org
www.bugguide.net
Luna Moth
HOW DO YOU HANDLE YOUR
OLD NEIGHBORS?
When is a thistle welcome in
your garden? When it fills a
goldfinch’s belly! Clean edges, fencing, defined area,
educate & enlist your neighbors
WHY SHOULD YOU ENCOURAGE YOUR
NEIGHBORS TO ALSO PLANT NATIVES?
Re-planting habitat deserts
www.millionpollinatorgardens.org
www.xerces.org/bringbackthepollinators
www.monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/free-milkweeds-for-restoration-projects
Building Pollinator Pathways for Migration• Hummingbirds
• Bats
• Monarchs and other Butterflies
Visit Pollinator Pathways
www.pollinatorpathway.comMonarch Watch (University of Kansas)
www.monarchwatch.org
HOW DO YOU KNOW A MONARCH HAS BEEN
TO YOUR MILKWEED PLANTS?
• You’ll see eggs or caterpillars.
• The leaves and seed pods are
chewed up – YAY!!!
• You may see a green chrysalis
WE ARE NATURE …“… we are nature, literally, in every molecule and neuron. We
contain clay, minerals, and water; are powered by sunshine
through plant life and are intricately bound to all other species, from
fungi to marsupials to bacteria. In our lungs are oxygen molecules
breathed by every type of creature ever to have lived on earth…”
Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest:
How the Largest Movement in the World Came into being and Why No One Saw It Coming
April 2016
NATURE SUPPORTS OUR WELL-BEING
Nature-Deficit Disorder www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/06/18/AR2007061801808.html
Shinrin Yoku - Forest Bathing www.shinrin-yoku.org
Association of Nature and Forest Therapy www.natureandforesttherapy.org
SELECTING GRASSES & WILDFLOWERS Resources for selecting plants:
K-State Libraries www.kswildflower.org
Kansas Native Plant Society www.kansasnativeplantsociety.org
Missouri Wildflowers Nursery www.mowildflowers.net
Missouri Prairie Foundation www.grownative.org
Taylor Creek Restoration Nurseries (AES) www.restorationnurseries.com
Xerces Society www.Xerces.org
Pollinator Partnership www.pollinator.org
Make sure plants have NOT been treated with neonicontinoidsCheck with nursery growers and ask what their source is for their plants and seedlings!
www.beingontosomething.org/no-neonics for a deeper understanding of how to talk
to nursery centers; with guidance from the Xerces Society.
January 2017
WATCH FOR SPRINGTIME NATIVE PLANT SALES
Missouri Prairie Foundation Plant Sales Overland Park Arboretum Missouri Department of Conservation Burroughs Audubon Society Marais des Cygnes Master Gardeners Monarch Watch Powell Gardens Bridging The Gap
January 2017
I WILL GIVE THIS PRESENTATION …ANY TIME, ANY PLACE, TO ANY GROUP!
Sami Aaron [email protected]
All images (except the Monarchs) are from
my own native restoration areas!
Tell Your Friends!