I would like to share with you a walk through my pollinator garden here in Shawneetown, Illinois. Nature is awesome, it is always fascinating at the things you see if you slow down to look. As we step out the door of the sunroom onto the bricked patio to the left, we have blue salvia […]
When we moved to the south end of Burlington in 2008, I dug up almost all the grass lawn in our yard—keeping only a ten-foot diameter section where we had lawn chairs—and replaced it with native plants and cultivars. Because I was concerned by the decline in numbers and health of pollinators like bees, butterflies, […]
We chose native plants because they provide ideal habitat for countless species of wildlife including birds, insects, and pollinators such as hummingbirds and monarch butterflies. Because they are perfectly adapted to local conditions, particularly compared to turf grass, native plants require far less water, less maintenance, no mowing, and less or no chemical pesticides and […]
A great friend of mine (boyfriend at the time, still great friends) had property in the country that needed some TLC. He had an above ground pool that was taken down, but had left the deck up. He let me design a beautiful butterfly garden in that spot in March of 2011, and by August […]
I’ve always lived what I’ve considered an environmentally conscious life-style; living in a dense, urban neighborhood, biking or taking transit to work, shopping local, eating a primarily plant-based diet, recycling, composting and much, much more. I’ve kept a vegetable garden for years and recently started raising backyard chickens, (which has been fun for me and […]
In 2014, students and teachers worked together to create a monarch butterfly garden on the campus of Forsyth School in the city of St. Louis. Fifth grade big friends and junior kindergarten little friends installed 120 milkweed plants, Asclepias incarnata, about one foot apart, to serve as a food source for monarch caterpillars as well […]
This year was the first full growing season at this house with my garden of Missouri native wildflowers and plants. I couldn’t have been happier and I’d venture to say that the butterflies, bees, and birds enjoyed it as well. Sure, I like the occasional mums on my porch next to the pumpkins in the […]
I have been raising Monarch butterflies in my kitchen for years. They do not usually survive if I leave them outside on the milkweed plants in my yard. Success inside is 99%. I released seven in the spring. I had one caterpillar in July this year. Currently (8/18/2017) I have twenty-one caterpillars in my kitchen. […]
Flowers in my grandmother’s garden are some of my first memories as a toddler—and taking walks with my grandfather as he told me the names of trees and bushes—so a home garden community of plants and birds has always been essential to our family. We now are developing a Butterfly Garden and Wildlife Habitat and […]
Nestled within the thirty acres of one of the most beautiful zoos sits a small parcel of land dedicated to education, conservation and promotion of gardening at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The idea of an onsite garden had been bounced back and forth among staff for a number of years. After the completion of a […]
In 1912, Dr. Henry Forrest Libby created the Libby Museum in order to house his collection of specimens found in nature. He and his wife stuffed and mounted many of the animals and plants still present in the museum today, making them over 100 years old. Today, we continue his fascination of nature by creating […]