Creating and tending to a garden, no matter how small, can be so healing and renewing! Especially for those of us who live in the city, even having a few potted flowers and plants on a small patio has the potential to bring much joy. Besides having colorful nature to gaze upon whenever you look out the window, you may find that, depending on the types of flowering plants and shrubs you have, you may receive frequent visits from butterflies, hummingbirds, and other birds who come to sip nectar.

Here is an article from Popular Science about how we can attract more butterflies into our gardens.

Butterflies drink more than nectar—here’s how to turn your yard into an oasis

These beautiful insects like to get a little dirty.

BY KRISTINE NEMEC | UPDATED SEP 3, 2021 2:23 PM

Tiger swallowtails are among the more common butterfly species to use watering areas. Courtesy of David Mizejewski

With heat waves becoming more common across the US, butterflies are just some of the many wild creatures that may not be getting enough fluids and nutrition. Butterflies, as books and television have shown us, obtain a lot of their hydration from flower nectar. Yet sipping water from muddy soil, known as puddling, provides key nutrients for reproduction that nectar can’t provide.

“It’s mostly male butterflies who puddle, and you often see them in large groups,” says Nathan Brockman, butterfly wing curator at Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens. The more males at a location, the more likely other males will stop to see if there’s something they should be getting. Watering areas are often muddy soil or… other sources of fluid.

David Mizejewski, naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation and author of Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife, said many people “have an image of butterflies being magical creatures that flit around drinking flower nectar.” In reality some butterflies sip liquid from dung, urine, and rotting fruit. Males incorporate salts and minerals from these sources or mud into their sperm. Females absorb those nutrients during mating, increasing egg survival.

By adding a butterfly-friendly watering area near your pollinator garden or flower bed, you can provide butterflies with much-needed moisture and nutrients. Try your hand at one of these three easy-to-build watering areas.

Fill a dish with soil and water

If you like the idea of a contained watering area that roughly mimics a natural mud puddle, a simple dish may be a good option for you. Find a shallow bird bath or a saucer such as the drainage dish that goes under a flowerpot. Any container smaller than the size of a standard bird bath, or 15-20 inches wide, will be difficult for butterflies to find. Add organic garden soil since soil with chemical fertilizers can harm butterfly health. Mix in compost, sand, and even manure, which “sounds kind of gross but it’s got a ton of minerals and other nutrients in it,” says Mizejewski.

Next, add enough water to the mixture so it is muddy but does not have standing pools of water, which can encourage mosquitos to breed. Butterflies also have a hard time landing in water that is more than 1/4 to 1/8-inch deep and can get stuck. Place the dish on the ground or elevate it on a stand in a sunny spot in your yard.

Assemble a fruit feeder

Want to find a good use for overly ripe fruit you didn’t get around to eating? Place rotting bananas, watermelon, oranges, or apples in a shallow bowl or plate. Sprinkle some salt on the buffet to make it even more enticing. Some people add water to the dish to repel ants; if you do this, keep the water shallow, around a quarter-inch in depth. If you keep the water any deeper because it is drying quickly in hot weather, add plenty of rocks to ensure there are places for butterflies to land. Brockman also recommends adding little footholds to smooth dishes by dispensing lines of hot glue perpendicular to where the water line will be so butterflies can climb out. Don’t forget to bring your fruit feeder in at night—raccoons also like rotting fruit.

Create a muddy area in your yard

The most natural way to create a butterfly watering area is to maintain an area of exposed muddy soil in your yard. If you have an area that tends to be too wet, you could plant native wetland plants and turn it into a rain garden designed to absorb rainwater. To be most effective, the area should be roughly 5 feet by 5 feet, but “any little bit can help,” says Mizejewski. Incorporate some areas of bare soil, too. If you don’t have a low-lying wet area or don’t want a muddy spot in your yard, the soil mixture dish or fruit feeder may be better options for you.

What visitors to expect

When butterflies start using your watering area will depend: you may see them within a day, a week, or a month. None may show up if there isn’t enough butterfly habitat, like native host plants for caterpillars and nectar plants, around your yard and neighborhood.

Be prepared to also see many other types of insects such as beetles, wasps, flies, and bees visiting your watering area. All have their roles in your backyard ecosystem. For example, insects are a large part of many songbirds’ diet. Mud is a critical resource for ground-nesting native bees that use it to build a protective chamber wall for their eggs in underground tunnels. By helping native bees, you will also aid the many wildflowers, vegetables, and fruits that they pollinate.

If you want to go further, the watering area you make can be part of an oasis for butterflies, especially when combined with other habitat features such as native plants and places where adults and larvae may safely shelter, such as under leaves, brush piles, and rocks. Whatever you do, large or small, you’re sure to get a close-up view of nature. 

Kristine Nemec

Kristine Nemec is a restoration ecologist and a freelance writer and editor. When not at a computer, you may find her walking her shaggy terrier mix or cycling. Learn more about her at kristinenemec.com.

ANIMALSBUGSBUILD IT YOURSELFBUTTERFLIESDIY

(This article was first published on Popular Science, September 3, 2021)

Join the Nature Conservancy’s campaign to plant one billion trees in the world’s “critical” forests by 2025.

Here are just a few of the benefits of earth’s precious trees:

1. Trees filter toxins from the air, producing oxygen and cleaner air for us to breathe;
2. Trees clean our water through their root systems, which accounts for more than 50% of the drinking water in the United States;
3. Trees hold vast amounts of carbon dioxide, keeping it out of the air, which is good for us and good for climate change;
4. Trees are home to hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species. In Brazil alone, more than 60% of the country’s threatened species call the Atlantic forests home. Yet, only 12% of the forest remains.

Together, we can help support this amazing effort! Trees are so essential to our well-being and that of our beautiful planet Earth!

Just click the link below to plant your own tree – one in a billion!

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/plant-a-billion/

Wishing you a vibrant and spectacular day…xoxo
Project Vibrant Life

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/plant-a-billion/

A rain garden is a shallow planted depression designed to hold water until it soaks into the soil. A key feature of eco-friendly landscape design, rain gardens—also known as bio-infiltration basins—are gaining credibility and converts as an important solution to stormwater runoff and pollution. Here we’ll show you how to make a rain garden fit handsomely into a landscape and still fulfill all of its environmental functions.

Nowadays, according to the EPA, much of the rain that falls on a typical city block heads overland to the nearest pipe, washing along any crud it finds. Historically that water would have infiltrated—soaked in—leaving impurities behind in the soil and plants as it passed through to replenish the water table. Rain gardens are intended to counteract both the unnatural runoff patterns in urban and suburban areas (too many roads, too much paving, too many hard surfaces) as well as the increased crud levels found in them.

Rain gardens can work in most climates, but are most effective in regions with a natural groundwater hydrology—that is, areas with deep soils that drink in water rather than rocky areas that force rain to run overland. Most of the United States is like this. Rain gardens have gained wide residential use in cities as diverse as Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Portland, Oregon (the latter two offer utility-bill discounts for rain-garden installation). Entire towns, such as Maplewood, Minnesota, have turned to rain gardens to handle neighborhood storm-water management, plunking little planted basins down between curbs and property lines.

RAIN GARDEN DESIGN TIPS

• Think of a rain garden just like a border or foundation planting rather than a beloved specimen tree. In other words, it should not be a stand-alone feature.
• Consider all the rules of composition, screening and circulation—not just the rule that says to put a rain garden in a low spot 10 feet from the house.
• Pick a shape that works with the rest of your garden design. A rain garden does not need a specific shape to function properly so feel free to be creative.
• A rain garden can be as formal or as wild as you like—it’s all about the plant selection. Monocultural rain gardens are OK as long as that fits with your overall design. Here are some favorite rain-garden plants: Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower), Iris versicolor or I. virginica (blue flag iris), Veronicastrum virginicum (culver’s root), Carex vulpinoidea (fox sedge), Cornus sericea (red-twig dogwood), Acorus gramineus(sweet flag), and Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern).
• A rain garden doesn’t have to be separate from other plantings. Consider making a depression within a perennial bed or shrub border (especially if space is tight and you don’t have room for a larger rain garden that stands alone).
• Put in more than one rain garden for repetition and continuity. If it works with your overall design, create a little rain garden for each downspout.

“So how can we get away from a rain garden being a kidney shape plopped in the front yard?” asks John Gishnock III. My thoughts exactly, because that result is pretty common. Gishnock is owner of Formecology, a design/build firm specializing in rain gardens and native plants in Wisconsin. He has created rain gardens that are seamlessly incorporated along typical suburban driveway-to-door sidewalks; gardens below dry-laid stone walls adjacent to rustic pathways; and even a garden in the shape of a spiral galaxy (to be viewed from a lucky owner’s second-story porch). “A rain garden,” says Gishnock, “needs to look like the rest of the landscape.”

Landscape architect Jim Hagstrom of Savanna Designs in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, agrees. “We integrate rain gardens into the design,” he says, “and two-thirds of the time you won’t notice them.” His designs depend mostly on his clients’ sensibilities. Some love the wild native look of a traditional rain garden, while others favor the idea of infiltration but don’t want to see a “patch of weeds.” He has incorporated a rain garden into the center of a circle drive and devised a standing stone flow-through curb to match the house. He has created a large basin that infiltrates most water then holds the rest for pond habitat. He has built rain gardens in the centers of lawns, by dishing the landscape and ensuring well-draining soil. “You get a little pond after a rain,” he describes, “and in 24 hours it’s gone, and you have the lawn back.”

However they look, rain gardens work, helping to reduce storm-water waste by 99 percent, according to one study, and keeping runoff clean. But they can also be an integrated design element, making landscapes both sustainable and beautiful.

This article was written by Adam Regn Avidson and published in April 2019, on GardenDesign.com:

https://www.gardendesign.com/eco-friendly/rain-gardens.html?fbclid=IwAR1bw1B14vdeK6cXIk9muO0bVX5WyEwe9VAoe3riTnn2pwKtPLhjr9xqLkg

10 TIPS FOR AN ECO-FRIENDLY, LOW-MAINTENANCE GARDEN

PLANT THE PERFECT GARDEN FOR NATIVE PLANTS AND POLLINATORS

March 27, 2019

Create a garden or yard that works with nature, not against it! From attracting pollinators to choosing native plants, here are 10 ways to create a more natural, low-maintenance, eco-friendly landscape. 

1. CHOOSE NATIVE PLANTS

To foster a healthy environment in your backyard, it’s best to outfit your garden with plants native to your area. In addition to already fitting into the ecosystem, native plants will already be adapted to your climate and region. They will thrive with less care and stress, and they’ll support the health of your entire yard, too, attracting pollinators and beneficial bugs.

It’s also important to choose native plants that fit into the microclimate of your garden. Do you have tons of moist, shaded land? Choose woodland species that don’t need a lot of light. Have sunny, dry spaces to fill? Pick some sun-loving wildflowers!

Non-native, invasive plants can sometimes wipe out native species, which may harm the entire ecosystem. Read “Why Native Plants Matter” with a list of common native plants.

2. WELCOME POLLINATORS AND OTHER BENEFICIAL INSECTS

Pollinators—from bees to butterflies—are vital to our flowers and food. In fact, about one-third of every bite of food we eat stems from the efforts of pollinators!

Native bees are the most important pollinators in most ecosystems. Included in this group are mason bees, miner bees, and leafcutter bees, which are all solitary bees. Instead of living in colonies, like honey bees or bumblebees, solitary bees live on their own in burrows, reeds, or other protected areas. Learn about creating a bee house for native solitary bees.

European honey bees, while still valuable, are not native to North America and are much less efficient at pollinating than native bee species. (Native bees may be up to three times more efficient than honey bees!). Read more about native bees, the best pollinators around.

Bees aren’t the only pollinators in the garden, though. Flies, butterflies, beetles, and wasps also play important roles. In fact, while you may expect butterflies to be the #2 pollinator, flies are the ones that hold that title.

Other insects—such as praying mantises, ladybugs, and green lacewings—are fantastic at tackling pests. For example, lacewings and ladybugs eat aphids, which can decimate vegetable crops. Read “Beneficial Insects in the Garden” and see a list of the good bugs with pictures! 

A garden with diversified sources of nectar (e.g., shrubs, trees, and flowers—ideally, natives) that bloom from early spring through late fall can attract insects throughout the growing season and ultimately benefit the entire garden. For example, bright flowers such as sunflowers, candytuft, and marigolds create places where ladybugs and lacewings can shelter and lay eggs.

3. ENCOURAGE BIRDS

A healthy ecosystem invites a wide variety of wildlife to it. Many of your feathered friends will snatch up slugs, snails, grubs, caterpillars, and other pests that destroy garden plants.

• Select native plants that attract the kind of insects, berries, and seeds that birds eat. Learn more about creating a bird-friendly backyard.
• Put up bird feeders and nesting boxes (including those you have made yourself) to encourage more to visit. See how to choose a bird feeder.
• Birds also need water. Install or make a birdbath for them! It should be shallow (1 to 1.5 inches deep) and contain a few small stones or pebbles for birds to rest on.
• Don’t cut down the flowers of plants like sunflowers, coneflowers, and black-eyed susans in the fall, as their seed heads provide a valuable food source for birds in winter.

4. BE WATER-WISE

Using water thoughtfully is a very important part of an eco-friendly landscape—and makes both the garden and yard so much easier to manage! Here are tips:

• As advised above, select your plants with care! If you have a dry area, consider plants that are more naturally drought-tolerant such as lavender, sedum, Dianthus (“pinks”), and speedwell (Veronica). If you have a wet area, consider water-tolerant plants (that don’t mind wet feet) such as perennial iris, canna, and elephant’s ear and cinnamon, marsh, and holly ferns.
   
• In terms of irrigation, sprinklers waste quite a bit of water; at minimum, use sprinklers that have timers. Of course, vegetable and flowers gardens should ideally not be sprayed from overhead; this is an easy way to encourage disease. Use a watering hose and water directly at the soil level. Even better: For gardens, flower beds, trees, and other non-lawn areas, installing a drip irrigation system that puts the water right into the soil, where you want it.
   
• Harvest your rain water! A rain garden is a shallow, depressed area in your landscape with highly permeable (not hard) soil. This spot collects rain water from a roof, driveway or street and allows it to soak into the ground. Planted with grasses and flowering perennials, rain gardens can be a cost effective and beautiful way to reduce runoff from your property. Rain gardens can also help filter out pollutants in runoff and provide food and shelter for butterflies, song birds and other wildlife. See a “sun” and a “shade” rain garden plot plan.

A rain garden, situated at the corner of a parking lot, helps to catch water runoff during rainstorms. 

• Alternatively, install a rain barrel to catch water and use it on your plants. See our post about rain barrels.
   
• Mulch it! Organic mulches such as compost slow water down, so that more moisture goes into the soil instead of running off. Water does not evaporate from the soil surface as quickly, either. Mulch provides nutrients to the soil and helps suppress weeds. Mulch can be applied two inches thick in existing ornamental beds, but don’t pile it too close to tree trunks or the base of plants. Read more about the “Benefits of Mulch.”
   
• Finally, consider reducing the size of the lawn. Can some of your lawn be converted into a native wildflower meadow? If not, look into planting grasses with low watering needs in order to reduce your water use.

5. MIX IN “COMPANION PLANTS”

Are you familiar with the practice of companion planting? When paired together, certain plants improve each other’s health and yields. Usually, companion plants help ward off pests. For example, dill and basil planted among tomatoes can protect from tomato hornworms.

Also, mix flowers and vegetables together! You don’t have to choose between growing ornamentals and edibles. Many types of flowers confuse the “bad” pests and help you grow a healthier garden.

6. AVOID HARMFUL CHEMICALS

All gardens have some pests, but deter them in ways that won’t harm the food you are growing!

For example, slugs and snails can really chow down on lettuce. However, instead of spraying with chemicals, create barriers such as crushed eggshells which these soft-bodies pests tend to avoid. Put a band of petroleum jelly around containers to stop them from climbing up. Another favorite tactic: Sink tuna tins filled with beer into the ground; slugs love beer! See our Slug pest page.

From diatomaceous earth to neem oil, there are many less toxic methods available that really work. Remember that chemical fertilizers run into rivers, oceans and wetlands. Pesticides and herbicides tend to kill many more creatures than the one or two bugs we target, as annoying as they might be.

See how to get rid of garden pests naturally.

7. TRY COMPOSTING

Do you have spare room in the corner of your yard? Instead of throwing out kitchen-based scraps and yard trimmings, dispose of them in a compost pile. You’ll encourage compost-making worms and bugs that help create a rich, fertile soil for your garden within months. It’s a great way to use fallen leaves, too! 

• We have the perfect compost recipe to get things cooking. See how to compost!
• There’s also in-garden or in-situ composting, which is when you are composting directly where you’re going to grow. See more about in-garden composting.
• Ever heard of vermicomposting? Just have worms eat your garbage! It’s an easy way to recycle food waste indoors year round. See how to vermipost.
• If you have roses or ornamental gardens, consider “compost tea,” which is a natural fertilizer to help plants thrive. See how to make compost tea.

8. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

In general, caring about yourself and nature means being less wasteful with Earth’s resources. For example:

• Buy in bulk when you know you’ll need a lot of topsoil, mulch, compost, or other materials. This cuts down on plastic bags. Many garden centers will even deliver right to your yard. Also check with your city recycling center or Department of Transportation; they might offer free soil, sand, or other materials.
• Reuse, recycle, or return old plastic pots and trays. See six ways to reuse pots and containers.
• In fact, you could even make your own plant pots! See how to make biodegradable plant pots.

9. GIVE GRASS A CHANCE TO THRIVE ALONE

If you’re going to grow grass, eliminate the chemical pesticides you spread on lawns in favor of alternatives that are healthier—healthier for you, for the lawn, and for the environment.

• Start by checking the soil pH (acidity) of your lawn with a test kit available at most nursery and garden supply stores, or at your state’s cooperative extension service. Soil pH affects the ability of plants to absorb nutrients. Spread limestone to raise the pH level; spread aluminum sulfate to decrease the pH level.
• Grow grass that is suitable to your needs, not just in terms of climate and soil, but also purpose. Ask your nursery to recommend seed for grass that suits your site.
• Don’t shave the lawn down to the ground; mow it to be 2.5 to 3.5 inches tall all season. Cut it to about 2 inches in autumn.
• And, if at all possible, use a hand mower, instead of an electric or gas model. You’ll appreciate the freedom from fumes and noise and perhaps sleep more soundly after walking your property.

10. BUY GOOD GARDEN TOOLS

We’re frugal at The Old Farmer’s Almanac, but let’s not be penny-wise and pound-foolish. For example, forget about the $1 garden hose. It’s probably going to break quickly and just become another item to throw out. Vinyl hoses are generally the least expensive, but have the shortest lifespan. Rubber hoses are more expensive, but tougher, more flexible, and last longer. Also, get a brass coupling—not plastic—to cut down on leaks!

Go for quality over quantity. Do you really need to purchase every tool for every landscape use? If you use a tiller once a year, consider borrowing a neighbor’s tiller. If you have your own set of tools, lend the weed-eater out twice a year.

Also, if you have time, stop at garage sales and thrift stores. It’s amazing how many garden tools are just sitting in someone’s garage and usually the older tools are better crafted than the new ones! If you have your own tools just sitting around and unused, donate them to a neighbor or thrift shop!

WORK WITH NATURE, NOT AGAINST IT

We hope these eco-friendly ideas help you create a garden and yard that works better with nature; it’s a win-win for all of us. 

Is your garden eco-friendly? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

This article was first published on the Farmer’s Almanac website, March 27, 2019:

:https://www.almanac.com/content/plant-pollinator-garden-10-ways-work-nature

It takes courage to be real and reach out. It helps all of us when we share our experience. Here are a few tips for staying with it when the path of success takes unexpected twists and turns:

1. Make a plan that you commit to daily, or at least 5 to 6 days per week!
2. Write your plan down in an app like Evernote or do it the old fashioned way and write it in a journal. Review your plan every morning. Even read it out loud. Include a morning routine in the plan so that it’s about self care, not just business. For example, taking time for a spiritual practice, exercise , making a healthy smoothie to start the day!
3. Commit to a certain time each day that you will work on your business or project and do it to the degree that you can – it’s about progress, not perfection!.
4. Set a few goals, short term (I will finish an online class by this date; I will order my first inventory by this date) and long-term (I will reach monthly sales of $2,000 by this date; 5,000 by this date). Feel free to make one of your goals a goal that seems unachievable like $100K in sales by January 2020 – it primes the mind to achieve at higher levels.
5. Keep reaching out for support to other people in your area of interest, FB groups, etc.
6. Support and encourage yourself with “positive self talk” when you’re feeling discouraged or overwhelmed; you can write it down, too, to lock it in!
7. Read inspirational books, a little each day if possible, by people that have been hugely successful in terms of wealth and personal happiness, like Ray Dalio’s Principles; 4-Hour Work Week; Start with Why; 10X Rule; Anti-Fragile; Mind-Set.
8. Watch YouTube videos from Tom Bilyeu, Evan Carmichael, Stefan James – really good human beings who are also hugely successful.
9. Learn to meditate – 10 to 15 minutes per day of sitting quietly bringing your attention to the inflow and outflow of breath at the tip of your nose can change your life! When we still the mind, we have access to downloads of creativity, releasing unwanted/unneeded emotional/physical burdens, serenity and renewed energy to take inspired action. It’s so simple and so very powerful.
10. Eat more raw foods! Fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds are packed with nutrients, enzymes and life force. Pure energy for a clean running body! Try committing to one “raw” meal a day; or one raw day each week. It will exponentially increase your level of functioning in mind, body, and spirit.

I am struggling at this time, too, but also making progress and celebrating each new discovery. Last night felt such a wave of appreciation for this journey! I am growing so much and learning so much, not just about building my business, but about navigating my own destiny. The mind is so powerful and the heart more so. We get to exercise BOTH on this amazing journey of life. So thankful!

Infinite blessings to you and yours.

Laura
Project Vibrant Life