How to Grow a Bug-Safe Garden Anywhere
Habitat loss is a major factor in the decline of insect populations worldwide, and this trend, according to one group of researchers , could lead to “catastrophic collapse of natural ecosystems.” For example, the population of monarch butterflies has declined by 99.4% since the 1980s – a sharp decline that has prompted wildlife advocates to list them as officially endangered. While the monarch may be the charismatic megafauna of the insect world, other, less photogenic species are believed to suffer the same fate.
Here’s where you come in: even in small amounts, native grasses and wildflowers can provide essential shelter and food for a wide variety of wildlife, especially insects. No matter what kind of outdoor space you have to work with – be it a large backyard or a small window box – there are flowers, bushes, and herbs you can grow to support a wide variety of wildlife.
Conservationists are doing their best to mitigate in many ways the impact of human development and habitation on insects and other wildlife. For example, green corridors are physical spaces designed to support wildlife in places where there is no wilderness, such as cities or large suburbs.
But you don’t need to have an entire green roof at your disposal to create an insect-safe garden.
“Even one aster,” a purple flower associated with a daisy, “in early fall, when insects are most numerous, can make a difference,” says Benjamin Vogt, garden designer and author of New Garden Ethics. a book on how to bring our lives back into balance by cultivating more savagery in our artificial environment. Vogt has also produced online tutorials on gardening for the benefit of wildlife.
The most important thing is to acquire plant species that grow in the part of the world in which you live, because these are plants that are needed and needed by local insects. Vogt recommends people start by checking out Plant Native , an online directory of local plant nurseries run by the state.
Marnie Majorelle, founder of green roof design company Alive Structures and landscape designer for Kingsland Wildflowers at Broadway Stages , a half-acre rooftop garden and wildlife habitat in Brooklyn that was home to over 45,000 arthropods (read: beetles) and 19 species birds – suggests going to local garden centers to see if they have native plant species, and if not, convince them to order some.
Below are more details on how best to deal with bugs in the space you have, depending on what you are working with:
If you only have a window box or enough outdoor space for a few small pots
“Native annuals – plants that complete their life cycle in as little as one year – are the best choice for attracting bees, butterflies and other pollinators in a small space,” says Marjorrel. Pollinators are some of the most important insects vulnerable to habitat loss and pesticides, and even small patches of food and shelter can help combat the effects of fragmentation when large, adjacent areas of wildlife are shattered into smaller and smaller chunks as a result of development and other invasions … …
You may need to replenish your garden every spring, but buying annuals is also the quickest and easiest way to create a beautiful pollinator garden. And you can experiment with different plants every year.
Nicky Jackson, Project Manager for Kingsland Wildflowers, recommends filling your tiny New York garden with colorful flowers (both annuals and perennials) such as Bee Balm, Echinacea, Mist Flower, and Black-eyed Susans that will attract bees and butterflies. Majorelle offers a bright red Phlox drummondii . Small pots or window boxes will need to be watered regularly because the soil is not deep enough to hold rainwater, but native plants tend to be more viable and resilient in their natural environment than non-native plants.
If you have room for large pots on the patio or rooftop
To make your garden truly isolated, you can grow native perennials – plants that will return year after year with little or no maintenance. The asters that Vogt recommended are a good example.
More space also means larger plants, if you so desire.
“Flowering bushes are beautiful because they are big and you only have to take care of one thing, not many,” says Majorelle. Most are low maintenance, requiring only a small amount of plant food and light pruning; instead, some flowers bloom twice a year or bloom in the spring and produce brightly colored foliage in the fall. Majorelle recommends fothergilla bushes or even blueberries (you’ll have to plant several if you want to eat multiple berries yourself).
If you want your plants to really thrive, Majorelle says you can’t skimp on container size, especially with larger bushes and shrubs. There is no hard and fast rule – it will depend on the size and variety of plants – but you may need one to three feet of soil. Smaller pots and boxes may not provide sufficient protection for perennials during the cold winter months – you need the soil to be deep enough to keep the roots from freezing.
If you have a small garden
Regardless of where you live in the United States, a suitable plant is one of the many varieties of milkweed, a flower essential for the reproduction and survival of the monarch butterfly.
“A lot of people think they have problem yards because there is a lot of clay or the soil tends to hold a lot of water,” Jackson says. “But there are euphorbia species that love wetlands, such as tree pits on sidewalks.” For such dysfunctional household plots, she offers marsh euphorbia, which has beautiful dusty pink flowers.
You can find local milkweed suppliers on the Xerces Society Milkweed Seed Finder site because your local home warehouse is unlikely to sell them.
“Native herbs can be unpretentious and beautiful, especially when used in large quantities,” says Majorelle. While these herbs require little or no maintenance once rooted, the key is to keep invasive weeds in your garden under control so they don’t crowd out your native plants.
The good thing is that the best you can do is not water or fertilize the native grasses and flowers – they can withstand a little drought, but the weeds will go into the city along with water and fertilizer if you provide them.
Two varieties of widespread indigenous herbs that Vogt recommends are the small blue stem, which grows in much of the United States, with the exception of California, Nevada, and Oregon, and sididac gram, a native herb that ranges from Argentina to southern Canada.
Finally, if you have a lawn of any size
“The less lawn we have, the better,” says Vogt. Lawns consume valuable resources such as water and require significant energy consumption for maintenance, such as mowing; they do not provide much needed habitat for insects or other wildlife; Treating lawns with pesticides and fertilizers further damages vulnerable pollinators and other insects.
“Consider unused lawns good candidates for a bed retrofit — even in dry shade, there are tons of native plants that will thrive and bloom throughout the season,” says Vogt.
There are two basic steps to getting rid of your lawn and replacing it with a beautiful meadow: kill the grass; and seeds of local flowers and herbs. There are many ways to kill a lawn; Vogt recommends renting a turf cutter ($ 100 a day or less from most major hardware stores) and just tear it up.
“I even had success by stressing the lawn for a year – no water, no fertilizer – and then cleaning it the next fall, shoveling straw and sowing a special flower mixture,” says Vogt. “After 2-3 years, the lawn will usually be unnatural if the mixture contains aggressive native flowers and grasses.”
Majorelle recommends Pretty Darn Quick Seed Blend, a mixture of prairie flowers and herbs that takes the guesswork out of planting a large area.
However, even with a “damn fast” mixture, such a large project takes time and patience – two to three years to see the flowers bloom.
“If you put them in, they will come”
As you may have found in wayward cockroaches that find a reliably full puddle of water in a dish drain; or a trail of ants making their way to and from a mysterious sticky spot on your floor, beetles are good at finding food, if any.
“If you plant him, they will come,” Jackson says. “This is our experience.” Since the completion of the Kingsland Green Roof in 2017, she and her New York City Audubon colleagues have observed a gradual increase in the number of species, both types and varieties, visiting the roof. One way to find out that the green roof has become a haven for insects is to collect them, place cups of soapy water, and record the results; others are due to the fact that the roof is increasingly visited by birds and bats, attracted by the number of small snacks and main dishes.
You can use apps like iNaturalist to track insects (and their predators) attracted to your garden. The great thing about planting a pollinator garden to support insects is that these benefits will radiate through the food web, strengthening the ecosystem from the bottom up. Today is a ladybug and a bee; tomorrow east phoebe or northern mockingbird.