Planting with a Purpose How Your Landscape Makes a Difference Why Should We Care? We are part of the environment

• Increased development of urban & suburban area

• Closer to nature than ever We are supported by the environment

• Food, water, air, recreation, energy, medicine, natural resources, building materials, etc.

• Need a healthy environment to be able to continue to utilize these resources What makes a healthy environment?

• Healthy ecosystems What makes a healthy environment?

• Biodiversity What makes a healthy environment?

• Biodiversity What makes a healthy environment?

• Resilience to pests and diseases

• Non-fragmented

• Reclaiming habitat What can we do?

• Plant more plants!

• Create life rafts

• Eliminate invasive species

• You are a tool for conservation! Benefits!

• More greenspace

• An entertaining garden 

• Great way to get kids outside

• Feeling of contributing to a greater cause Plants Trees

• Host plant for: • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ( glaucus) • Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio Troilus) • Cecropis Moth • Promethea Moth

• Nectar source for bees

• Beneficial

• Supports many others Oak Chinkapin Quercus muelenbergii

• Host plant for: • Gray Hairstreak Butterfly (Strymon melinus) • Many beneficial insects

• Nesting places, cover, and shelter for wildlife

• Acorns for squirrels and small mammals Paw Paw Asimina triloba

• It is the ONLY Host plant for: • Zebra Swallowtail

• Nesting places, cover, and shelter for wildlife

• Attracts and fruit bats

• Pollinated by flies Serviceberry Amelanchier ssp.

• Host plant for: • Striped Hairstreak • California Hairstreak • White Admiral • Western Admiral • Two-Tailed Tiger Swallowtwail • Viceroy • Small-Eyed Sphinx Moth • Blinded Sphinx Moth

• Attracts Cedar Waxwings Tulip Tree tulipifera

• Host plant for: • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail () • Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio Troilus)

• Seeds are eaten by cardinals, goldfinches, and chickadees

• Significant nectar plant for bees Black Gum Nyssa sylvatica

• Host plant for: • Hebrew Moth

• Fruit feeds small species including the American robin

• Nectar for pollinators Shrubs Spicebush benzoin

• Host for Spicebush Swallowtail

• Fruits provide food for wildlife

• Great plant for replacing invasive Arrowwood Viburnum Viburnum dentatum

• Provides dense branching for nest building

• Feeds: • American Crow • Fish Crow • Blue Jay • American Raven Chokeberry Aronia ssp.

• Host plant for Coral Hairstreak

• Berries feed many bird species Elderberry Sambucus ssp.

• Fruits provide food for: • Bird species such as ruffed grouse, eastern bluebird, northern cardinal, gray catbird, American robin, wood thrush, red-eyed vireo, cedar waxwing, and white-throated sparrow and more • Records of eastern box turtles eating fruits

• Attracts variety of beneficial bees and insects

• Fruits and flowers are edible Perennials Milkweed ssp.

• Host plant for Monarch Butterflies

• Attracts wide range of pollinators

• Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

• Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

• Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) Coneflower Echinacea ssp.

• Attracts pollinators

• Seeds feed birds such as Goldfinches

• Many medicinal uses • pain reliever, anti inflammatory, a treatment for toothaches, coughs, colds, and sore throats Cardinal Flower Lobelia ssp.

• Attracts hummingbirds, hummingbird moths, and butterflies

• Big Blue Cardinal Flower (Lobelia siphilitica)

• Red Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) Blazing Star Liatris spicata

• Seeds feed goldfinches

• Attracts wide range of pollinators & beneficial insects, including Bleeding Flower Moth Goldenrod Solidago ssp.

• Host plant for over 100 species of caterpillars and moths

• Late season nectar source for pollinators

• Seeds provide food for birds Herbs

• Support many beneficial insects • Dill

• Fennel

• Lovage

• Oregano

• Cilantro

• Chamomile • Parasitic wasps- eat aphids, beetle eggs, bagworms, gypsy moth caterpillars, tent caterpillars, sawfly larvae, squash borers, tomato hornworms, scales

• Ladybugs- eat aphids, lace bugs, scale, spidermites, psyllids, adelgids

• Soldier Beetles- eat eggs & larvae, aphids, mealybugs

• Lacewings- eat aphids, lace bugs, scales, mites, whiteflies, mealybugs, & more

• Tachinid Flies- eat cucumber beetles, cutworms, japanese beetles, sawfly larvae, squash bugs Annuals • Support many beneficial insects

• Nectar source for pollinators • Cosmos

• Sweet Alyssum

• Verbena

• Daisies

• Sunflowers • Ladybugs

• Lacewings

• Minute Pirate Bugs- eat aphids, lace bugs, spider mites, thrips, leaf hoppers, psyllids, whiteflies

• Parasitic Wasps

• Syrphid Flies

• Soldier Beetles

• Tachinid Flies Creating and Maintaining Creating and Maintaining

• Use diverse plant material • Combination of annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, herbs • In general, plant more plants!

• Provide habitat • In addition to plants, add in logs, sticks, driftwood, shallow dishes of water, ponds, etc. • “Leave the Seeds”

• Use chemicals responsibly

• National Wildlife Federation Certified Garden • Certify your garden! “A simple beetle finding its way through the tall grasses, the bee that hums from flower to flower, the wood thrush singing requiem at sunset, a colony of smiling flowers with their poetic charm, a sturdy tree in the winter landscape silhouetted against the sky and telling the story of many ages, a brook with a bit of rock protruding over its edge upon which a plant climbs in a daring way to receive a little sunlight that simmers through leafy boughs– each is a world by itself, full of mystery, charm, and beauty.”

- Siftings by Jens Jensen Thank You!