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| Cat Mint |
Back to the wild: how 'ungardening' took root in America
"Washington (AFP) - Retired union organizer Anna Burger lives by a busy road just a minute's walk from a metro station in the US capital Washington, but every morning she wakes up to a birdsong symphony.
Butterflies, squirrels and even the occasional deer also come to visit the tree-covered property that she has cultivated with a focus on native species that provide nesting space and nourishment for the local wildlife.
Well-manicured grass lawns have long been associated with the American Dream, but a growing "rewilding" movement now seeks to reclaim yard space for nature."
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GJ -
The article had a bad slant but I am glad it was published. People are so used to the green grass look that they do not consider growing flowers, herbs, and shrubs in the front yard.
No one wants to eat one food all day, every day. God's creatures are no different. Grass alone provides little for insects and birds to enjoy, and the relatively shallow grass roots do not add as much to the soil as other plants do.
When the front yard is mostly done next year, it will be a combination of:
- Rose bushes
- Bulb flowers
- Shrubs - spirea, clethra, crepe myrtle, chaste tree
- Mints - bee balm, cat mint, mountain mint
- Hummingbird plants - Joe Pye, bee balm, hosta
- Butterfly plants - Joe Pye, butterfly bush, yarrow
- Beneficial and bee host plants - daisies, feverfew, mints, borage
Some plants are all purpose, like Joe Pye, which attracts everything and dragon flies.
Most plants double up - the ones attractive to butterflies are also appealing to hummingbirds. Or like bee balm, attractive to hummingbirds and bees.
A variety means plants is always blooming, so the scene is animated by the air-borne life fed by the productive plants growing in healthy, toxin-free soil.
Ranger Bob, when he was not feeding Sassy, asked, "Why are you not over-run with insect pests?"
I said, "Because every pest is food for beneficial creatures. They balance each other." One study showed that planting borage (so easy to grow) will increase the total of beneficial insects. Most householders overlook those flying specks, but they are the main characters in reducing garden destruction.
Daisies are so common, so easy to grow. I want more bunches of them. The moment they bloom, beneficial tachinid flies land on them.
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| Bee balm is... |
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| a double threat. |
