A Butterfly Brief

 This week the U.S Fish and Wildlife announced the proposal for adding the monarch butterfly to the threatened species list. I know what you're thinking - finally!! Like many animals, the monarchs face many threats but even more so as a migratory butterfly. Habitat loss in breeding, migratory and overwintering habitats are one of the biggest threats to these treasured insects. Since the 1980's the eastern population has declined 80% and the western population 95% with the western population at a 99% chance of going extinct by 2080! The proposal would include protecting critical habitat for the Monarch in California. Habitat that has been on the decline at a rapid pace. 

There are shocking statistics on land lost in the United States.  Over 150 million acres of grassland once existed and now a sad 5% of that remains. In Pennsylvania around 153,000 acres of grassland covered the state. That number is now down to a mere 640 acres!

What is happening to the land? Agricultural development, urban sprawl, climate change and invasive species all are impacting grasslands and in turn all the creatures that inhabit or feed on this land. Grasslands are important for carbon sequestration and soil stabilization with many of these plant communities providing food to pollinators and wildlife and nesting habitat for many birds. 

Longwood Meadows

Grasslands are rich in diversity. A rare prairie in Pennsylvania, Jennings prairie in Slippery Rock, has around 225 native plants growing in the 20 acres and is home to the endangered massasauga rattlesnake. The environment supports the snake by providing habitat for amphibians and rodents which the snake consumes. The 225 plants support numerous pollinators, including the monarch and many bumble bees. A sea of purple covers the land in July, the blazing stars a real treat to see. This was once a common sight, but sadly habitats like are now rare and threatened by development. 

Jennings prairie

What can we do to help? The proposal will be posted on December 12, 2024 in the Federal Register found here followed by a 90-day comment period. Get the word out and get your voice heard! Moving in this direction will not only benefit the monarchs, but many other species who depend on these habitats. I hope it can also bring to light the many other animals that are threatened by habitat loss and climate change. And as alway, plant natives and grow some milkweed! 

Resources:

Rare prairie

NPR

Fish and Wildlife

Grasslands

Grasslands, Meadows and Savannas

The Fall To-Do...or not Not-To-Do List

It's the time of year when the flowers start fading and we see more and more...brown. But is the brown really that bad? At the Community Center I am looking to embrace the brown. 

Leaving the stems of fading flowers up does a number of beneficial services for the environment as well as adds winter interest. The seed heads of many plants in the garden provide food for wildlife. The gold finches came in groups of 4-5 in August and feasted on the seeds of Echinacea. Late summer is their typical breeding time due to the abundance of seeds this time of year, hence why we typically see so many of them around August. They are mainly granivorous (feed on seeds) and appreciate us leaving seed heads up for them! Learning more about birds is something i'd love to do in order to be a better gardener for wildlife. Leaving up seeds also lets the plants reproduce! This is a great way to let your garden evolve naturally. 

Our native grasses also produce seed that can be left up all winter and I LOVE to use grasses in plantings. Not only do they act as groundcover and provide year round interest but they are also wonderful habitats for wildlife and food for seed eating birds. I leave all warm season grasses such as Schizachyrium (little bluestem) up until March.

The bees appreciate the stems too. Around 30% of our native bees nest in stems of plants - typically the pithy (soft tissue) stems of many native perennials plants such as goldenrod, joe pye weed, mountain mint, and monarda.  The more hollow the stem the better as bees will move down horizontally. 

A good practice to help them out is to leave some stem!  

This is also where it is up to the gardener and what they think looks good. If stems are very unattractive you can cut back now to 6-24 inch if you don't like how it looks. Otherwise leaving more attractive stems up for winter interest and cutting back to varying heights between 6-24 inches in March is easy enough to do. Plants that don't leave interest or support bees can always be cut back to tidy the garden. 

Earlier in the year

The hollow stem of Joe pye weed

So what the heck is there to do then? Cut backs and removals can be done to any diseased or damaged plants. Monarda tends to get powdery mildew for example so they can go if they have it. 

 Fall is a great time for planting! The soil is still warm which helps with better root growth and typically plants experience less shock. However, this year it's be unseasonably warm and the month of October has been one of the driest in history making planting even a tough task this Fall. It's still an okay time to do so as long as you can keep plants watered as they root before we hopefully experience cooler temperatures. I've added plants to the sign bed at Sumneytown/202 and to Jenkins Parlor - can't wait to see them in the Spring!

It's also bulb planting time. I've been planting some but the majority will be going in the second week of November and on, when temperatures appear to be stabilized with lows consistently in the 40's - but who knows! This Fall has been a wild card and at some point I just gotta get the bulbs in. 

The risk of planting too early with such warm weather is the bulbs will have enough time to root (great we want this) but also even think it's time to send up some shoots. They can then become damaged by winter weather and leave not much for the Spring. Mulching them or planting deeper than normal could help mitigate this issue with the confusing weather but waiting longer would be better. I'm sure many people have gotten their bulbs in already as October and November are usually the best months to do so! Give them some mulch and fingers crossed we get some consistent weather soon! 

Lastly, it's a good time took look at your gardens and evaluate how well they did and if anything should be tweaked. Is there enough blooming in the Fall? What did well and what didn't do well? Should I add more of this or that? How can I fill any empty spaces? Was enough going on each season? This is a great reason to take lots of photos throughout the growing season or/and take notes. My notes contain many things: add more of this, move that, too dry there, add compost, etc etc.

 I take photos of the same gardens throughout the year to see how they progress. At Central I noticed the asters looked great in the Fall but was also pleasantly surprised to see Callirhoe involucrata (wine cups, purple poppy mallow) still blooming and looking amazing next to Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Raydon's Favorite' (Aromatic aster). It was a pairing I didn't expect but love!

Some progression photos are seen below. Spring/Summer and into Fall. There is always something going on which I am super happy about! 

Another example below of the sign bed at Meetinghouse. Overall I am really happy with how it turned out! Blooms throughout the year was the challenge using only perennials but I think the chosen plants were a success. The only issue was with the phlox that was continuously dug up by some critter. 

Did you get any of these Fall tasks done? Any bulbs you're super excited about? I know I can't wait for the Spring already - the life of a gardener! 

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**I've been working on this blog on and off for a few weeks and suddenly we are leaving Fall and going into Winter apparently! And we got an 1 inch of rain last night! **

Paw-sitivley Delicious

Pawpaw - Asimina triloba

What do Osage Oranges and Pawpaws have in common? Megafauna seed dispersal! Large fruit such as the Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) and Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) show evidence they evolved to be eaten and dispersed by megafauna such as Giant Ground Sloths and Mastodons. Today humans and smaller mammals do the job. Pawpaws were also widely consumed by Indigenous Americans who also used the bark to make rope and other tools. 

Pawpaws forming in July at Chanticleer

A small tree with a unique fruit, Pawpaws are native to eastern North America. It's amazing that this tropical tasting fruit in the Custard Apple family (Annonaceae) grows wild here and is North America's largest fruit! Members of this family are typically found growing in tropical climates and include plants such as ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata), a popular essential oil.  

If you've ever tried the fruit of a Pawpaw the taste is best described banana meets apple meets pineapple? Or at least that's how I would! They are sweet with a creamy texture that I look forward to enjoying every September. 

On the job perks while weeding under a Pawpaw at Chanticleer

Once ripe these don't store long, eat or bake with asap!

There is a small patch planted close to the dog park - five trees that might not look particularly exciting but at various stages of the seasons I find they are.  The flowers are a unique maroon color that face downward. Pawpaws need pollen from other trees in order to produce fruit. But who the heck is pollinating these unusual flowers? When I see flowers of this color that aren't "showy" I think of non-traditional pollinators such as flies and beetles and that is exactly who pollinates Pawpaws. 

There are five trees planted here at Foulkeways

The maroon flowers attract flies and beetles! 

The trees are typically found as an understory tree in moist, rich woodlands and on the edge of floodplains.  In cultivation they are grown in full sun to encourage more flowers and fruit. The leaves are large - up to 12 in. - with a glossy texture and in the Fall they turn a bright yellow. They really do look more tropical than most of our native trees with slight resemblance to a Magnolia tree such as cucumber magnolia - Magnolia acuminata. 

Woods in Maryland with pawpaws primarily as the understory trees

Around mid-June is when fruit will start to be seen on the trees - I eagerly checked ours in mid-June and to my delight they had many clusters of fruit! From the beginning of September and into Fall is when the fruit begins to ripen. I was always told, like our native persimmons, to get them when they are on the ground so you know they are ripe. They will feel soft to the touch like an avocado and have more of a bruising coloration. 

A successful forage!

I'd love to keep adding more native edibles to the property. Maybe some persimmons, hazelnuts would be cool too! Any suggestions? Do you have any memories with pawpaws or fun recipes? How would you describe the taste? Share below! 

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