Liatris spicata
Blazing star’s upright purple flower spikes provide a bright long-blooming accent in the garden in July and August. An excellent cut flower, Liatris attracts butterflies and is a good native plant alternative to purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Amelanchier laevis
Often appearing at the edge of woodlands or along stream banks, this small to medium-sized tree is one of the first to flower each spring and also provides stunning fall color. The sweet red-purple berries in June attract many species of birds. Serviceberry is a great tree for landscapes and can be utilized as a native alternative to the invasive calley pear (Pyrus calleryana).
In recognition of April as Ohio Native Plant Month, members and partners of the Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership (LEAP) will celebrate one native plant a day. Over the past 10 years the LEAP Native Plant of the Year campaign has highlighted native species that can make exceptional additions to area landscapes and gardens while reducing the threat of invasive non-native species to the region’s biodiversity. Please visit the LEAP website and join us in celebrating Ohio Native Plant Month.
The snow may be keeping us out of our gardens, but it’s not keeping us home! At least one representative of Gardenopolis will be attending each of the events listed below. Hope to see you there!
Garden as if life depends on it – Doug Tallamy, entomologist/author
This free series of talks about ecological gardening is presented by Friends of Lower Lake and Doan Brook Watershed Partnership. Partners include Gardenopolis, Gardenwalk Cleveland Heights, 2019 Cleveland Pollinator and Native Plant Symposium, and the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes.
Go Wild in your Own Yard!
Date: Thursday, February 21, 7-8:30 pm
Location: Brody/Nelson Room, Heights Library, 2345 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights
Discover what local native flowers, ferns, sedges, and shrubs will thrive in your yard to benefit insects, birds, and life on earth.
Presented by Friends of Lower Lake co-chair Peggy Spaeth.
Plant This, Not That
Date: Thursday, March 21, 7-8:30 pm
Location: Room A-B, Heights Library, 2345 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights
Learn how to deal with garden thugs that take over your garden and our natural areas. Why are non-native plants undesirable? Where did they come from and why? Examples of what to plant instead will be discussed.
Presented by Friends of Lower Lake co-chair John Barber.
Not the Last Children in the Woods!
Date: Thursday, April 4, 7-8:30 pm
Location: Stephanie Tubb Jones Community Center Room 114, Shaker Heights
More than 100 children are growing up growing native plants in the Garden Clubs of Onaway and Lomond Elementary Schools in Shaker Heights. Tim Kalan, their art teacher who planted this idea, will talk about how a community as well as healthy habitat has grown up with the gardens.
The Powerful Partnerships of Plants and Pollinators
Date: Thursday, April 11, 7-8:30
Location: Room 1-2, University Heights Library, 13866 Cedar Road, University Heights
Learn what native plants are needed to supply a rich foraging habitat for pollinators and wildlife, in addition to plant communities that provide nest sites for native bees, host plants for butterflies and overwintering refuge for other beneficial insects.
Presented by Ann Cicarella, gardener, beekeeper, and landscape architect as well as the organizer of the annual Cleveland Pollinator and Native Plant Symposium.
Stewardship in our Backyards
Date: Monday, April 22, 7-8:30 pm – Earth Day
Location: Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, 2600 South Park, Cleveland
Join us to learn how the Nature Center maintains our natural areas in an urban environment and easy steps you can take at home to be a good earth steward. In our modern day, leaving nature “to take its course” isn’t enough to preserve healthy habitats. Mother Nature needs a little help from her friends. We’ll talk about the challenges, tools and techniques used to keep our habitats healthy. We will also discuss recent and upcoming projects at the Nature Center.
A Q&A session at the end will provide you with the opportunity to ask Nick Mikash, Nature Center at Shaker Lakes Natural Resources Specialist, your stewardship-related questions. A short hike will follow the presentation.
Garden History: Thomas Jefferson – Landscape Architect
Date: Sunday, February 24, 2-4 pm
Location: Holden Arboretum
Cost: $5 members, $20 nonmembers
Speaker: Greg Cada, OSU Extension
A garden history presentation using the life of Thomas Jefferson to illustrate the horticultural influences that shaped him for producing his landscape architectural and garden projects. Extensive pictures include Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, Poplar Forest and the University of Virginia. Historic garden restoration and design considerations are included.
Crooked Chronicles: A Century of River Clean Up in Cuyahoga Valley
Date: Friday, March 1, 7-9 pm
Doors open at 6 pm with drop-in tables about current environmental projects.
Location: Happy Days Lodge, 500 W Streetsboro St, Peninsula, OH 44264
Free admission; advance registration preferred
How was the Cuyahoga River transformed from a health hazard to the centerpiece of a national park? A panel of experts piece together the 100-year story within Cuyahoga Valley using historic photos, archival documents, and personal memories. Come join the discussion.
Moderated by the League of Women Voters Akron Area. Supported by West Creek Conservancy, Xtinguish Celebration, Ohio Humanities and Cleveland Humanities Festival.
Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference
Date: Wednesday, March 6, 9:30 am to 3:30 pm
Location: Mid-Ohio Conference Center, 890 West Fourth Street, Mansfield, OH 44906
Cost: $60 Early Registration, $80 Late Registration
Presentations for the day will cover a wide range of topics and include:
Missing Trees: Effects of the Loss of Ash and Chestnut on Forest Ecosystems
Glyphosate and Pesticide Safety Update
Harmful Alga Blooms in Ponds: Concerns and Mitigation/Management
The Ohio Credible Data Program: Certification Requirements and Training Opportunities
Bird Conservation in Ohio: Past, Present and Future Challenges
Using Social Science as a Tool to Inform Wildlife Management
Author Andrew Reeves Discusses the Asian Carp Crisis and Its Threat to the Great Lakes
Date: Monday, March 25, 7 pm
Location: Hudson Library and Historical Society, 96 Library Street, Hudson, Ohio 44236
Cost: Free with registration
Award-winning environmental journalist Andrew Reeves discusses his book, Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis. In his book, Reeves traces the carp’s explosive spread throughout North America from an unknown import meant to tackle invasive water weeds to a continental scourge that bulldozes through everything in its path and now threatens to reach the Great Lakes.
Ohio Botanical Symposium
Date: Friday, March 29, 8 am to 4 pm
Location: Villa Milano Banquet and Conference Center, 1630 Schrock Rd. Columbus, OH 43229
Grasslands of the eastern United States, Huffman Prairie, Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative, bogs and fens, endangered species conservation, rushes, and best plant discoveries will be highlighted at the 2019 Ohio Botanical Symposium on Friday, March 29. The event also features a media show and displays from a number private and public conservation organizations, as well as vendors offering conservation-related items for purchase. More than 400 botanical enthusiasts attend this every-other year event.
Hosts:
The ODNR Division of Natural Areas and Preserves
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History
The Nature Conservancy — Ohio Chapter
Ohio State University Herbarium
Next Silent Spring?
Date: Sunday, April 28, 2-4 pm
Location: Cleveland Museum of Art Recital Hall
Cost: Free
The Northeast Ohio Sierra Club is holding this event to commemorate Earth Day 2019.
Rachel Carson raised the red flag years ago. Pesticides were not only killing insects, but also disrupting the delicate balance of nature. Now history is repeating itself.
Laurel Hopwood, Senior Advisor to Sierra Club’s Pollinator Protection Program, will show the outstanding documentary Nicotine Bees.
Pollinator populations are declining. How does this affect our food supply? How does this affect our entire ecosystem? A panel of experts will discuss how everyone can help move things forward.
● Dr. Mary Gardiner, Associate Professor in the OSU Department of Entomology, and her graduate students have been introducing pollinator pockets throughout vacant lots in Cleveland.
● Tom Gibson, principal of Green Paradigm Partners, uses his soil building and community organizing skills to help revive neighborhoods.
● Elle Adams, founder of City Rising Farm, helps people in underserved communities learn to grow fresh local food and create opportunities in their own neighborhoods.
For more info, please contact Laurel at lhopwood@roadrunner.com
by Heather Risher
I hate multiflora rose. Hate it. With a passion. Why? In the summer of 1998, I was a field technician in a Phase I Archaeological Survey on property owned by the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The land had been residential in the 1950s, and after the airport purchased the land, the houses were razed and the area fenced in. Thanks to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, federal projects require an Environmental Impact Statement to be prepared before construction can begin. Part of an EIS is a survey for artifacts, both historic and prehistoric.
We were looking for anything of cultural significance. What we discovered were jungles of multiflora rose so thick that machetes were necessary to hack paths between our shovel tests. We spent more time traveling the fifty feet to our next test site than we did digging each pit. Crawling was frequently more efficient than walking.
For those of you blessedly unaware of multiflora rose, it is a species native to Asia, imported to the United States in the 1700s, and misguidedly provided to landowners as a conservation measure in the 1930s. Now, depending on the state you live in, it is classified as a noxious weed, a prohibited invasive species, or banned. It had been planted in the area ignored by the airport, and spread like the weed that it is.
If the vines and thorns of multiflora rose weren’t trouble enough, the mosquitoes were brutal. The ground was swampy enough to provide thousands of stagnant puddles, perfect for mosquitoes. We spent most of the summer filthy, scratched, and bleeding, surrounded by swarms of bloodthirsty beasts. Even the nonsmokers resorted to carrying lit cigarettes or cigars in an attempt to ward off the airborne attack.
That’s not to say we missed the beauty in the abandoned land. Occasionally we discovered fields of day lilies that had naturalized into a brilliance of yellow. I discovered the secret hiding place of a young fawn – twice, as the first time its terrified stumble led it directly along my transect. The air was filled with birdsong, and I’m sure I would have counted dozens of species if I had stopped cursing the thorny vines long enough to look.
Lunches were eaten outdoors, along one of the roads, usually providing a welcome respite from the mosquitoes. We sometimes spent hours waiting for airport employees to unlock the gates so we could enter or exit the property, and if we’d attempted to leave for a midday meal most likely no work would have been done that day. There is great contentment in a mushy peanut butter and jelly sandwich eaten in the sunshine after a tough morning’s work.
Despite screening the dirt thoroughly, we found very little of cultural significance in our test pits. We did, however, find things that held our interest. I once spent a long afternoon sketching a map of a foundation and a well while my very manly male coworkers cut down saplings in an attempt to determine the depth of the water.
One notable find was a field where marijuana had been grown. We notified airport officials, who called the DEA, who visited and left business cards scattered around the site. My boss had worked on other airport projects, and shared that the crew had discovered pot on each one. As airports are unwilling to shut down air traffic for helicopter surveys, flight paths are perfect places to grow marijuana. Possibly the airport employees were so reluctant to grant us access in the mornings because they knew their growing operation would be discovered.
We also discovered that the dirt near the I-X center smells of bubblegum. Decades of deicer had soaked into the ground, saturating it with an odor that wouldn’t dissipate. If the I-X center soil was disturbing, it had nothing on that of NASA-Glenn. The crew chief, a new father, asked the men to cover that segment of the survey, as he had no idea which chemicals had been dumped, and what exposure to them might do to the reproductive systems of the twentysomething childless women on the team.
We crisscrossed airport property all summer, and eventually moved on to another airport, another pipeline, another renovation. I loved that job, and cried when I left. My paycheck wouldn’t cover my student loans plus a car payment and rent. I always wanted to go back to the field, but my grandmother got sick and died, I found a better-paying office job, got married: life happened. I planted roots, which made it difficult to walk halfway across New York State, stopping to dig a hole every fifty feet. Or to drive to Maryland on a moment’s notice because the Navy wanted to remodel a golf course.
But even though that summer’s tangle has since been bulldozed and covered with asphalt, I still hate multiflora rose.
It’s true. If left undisturbed, invasive multiflora rose takes over. In Connecticut near where my granddaughters live, multiflora rose has taken over along a power line right of way; it is wall to wall multiflora rose — and where it’s not rose, there are blackberries. Both like growing in open, sunny conditions. Meanwhile, in the woods there, growing under the tree canopy, there is barberry, which is known to harbor ticks – and, as I discovered when I had one growing under a front window, also fleas.
The multiflora rose and the barberry are both invasive, non-native species and should be removed. How do you eradicate a plant that eagerly bites back? The answer, of course, is very carefully.
This is how I do it. First, armor your body with densely woven clothes. Wear gloves. Cut the canes back in short manageable sections. I yard-bag them. When you have cut them back all the way to the ground, this is the time for the careful and limited application of glyphosate directly to the cut cane surface at ground level. All it takes is a tiny, tiny amount. Check back later in the growing season for regrowth. If there is regrowth that is the time for application of glyphosate to the leaves of the plant, since, having minimized the plant’s footprint, the plant is now much smaller, and weaker. You can spread plastic or newspaper under the leaves at ground level to avoid killing anything other than the prickly thing you’re trying to kill. Again: wear gloves. Check back in a week. It can take a while for the glyphosate to reach the roots. Use the minimal amount of glyphosate necessary. Wait. Be patient. Use the same system to remove barberry. Do not spray glyphosate on rose or barberry fruits. Animals eat these.
See the Ohio Department of Natural Resources site for more on invasive species and their removal. Fire is another option.
As for blackberry, which, although native, can be invasive: blackberry can usually be controlled by mowing early in the season, before it gets tall. If you want it to produce berries, don’t mow. It fruits on second year canes. Repeated mowing weakens the plant.
by Heather Risher
I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Ohio Governor’s Residence for a tour of the house and gardens. The house is beautiful, full of Ohio furniture and handicrafts (the furniture, needlepoint, and rotating art exhibits that feature Ohio artists could be featured in their own post), but the gardens are stunning.
From the website: the Heritage Garden was first conceived in 2000 as a way to showcase Ohio’s natural history and environment to the thousands of yearly visitors to the Governor’s Residence. The garden features habitats from the five physiographic regions of Ohio. Former First Lady Hope Taft was the driving force in building the gardens (as well as stitching many of the needlepoint pieces inside the house). In my opinion, she and her team did a wonderful job of creating a welcoming garden representative of the entire state. I wanted to sit on one of the benches or swings and knit or read for several hours.
Our garden tour guide was Guy Denny, who is currently the Board President of the Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association (ONAPA) after leading the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves for several years. Guy worked closely with Mrs. Taft on the prairie garden (as he maintains his own prairie in Knox County), but he also shared a wealth of information about the garden in general.
The Governor’s Grove is in front of the house, where each governor since William O’Neill has planted a tree.
There’s a woodland shade garden, and a pergola with water features that provide habitat for turtles. (If you look closely in the first picture, there’s a turtle head behind the rock in the center.)
When we toured at the end of July, the prairie sunflowers were in bloom. There are several helianthus species in the garden, including the threatened Ashy sunflower (helianthus mollis).
In 2011, the Heritage Garden was designated a monarch waystation.
Towards the rear of the property, there’s a medicinal garden and a Johnny Appleseed tree.
Along the side, there’s a greenhouse and vegetable garden. There is a solar array that provides backup power to the greenhouse and carriage house.
Circling back to the house, there’s a kettle bog with cranberries and pitcher plants.
I strongly encourage readers to schedule a tour and take a Tuesday road trip to Bexley, just east of Columbus, to visit the house and gardens.
If you can’t make the trip, the Columbus Dispatch produced a video tour of the residence, available on youtube:
by Heather Risher
Doug Tallamy recently spoke as part of the Conservancy for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Lyceum series. His talk was titled, “Restoring Nature’s Relationships at Home,” but really he focused on the food web, particularly the importance of insects.
Gardenopolis readers know the importance of planting native species, but Dr. Tallamy focused on a large and diverse group of animals we rarely consider: insects. We talk about planting native species to provide food and habitat for birds, but we don’t necessarily think about what birds eat other than fruit and seeds.
While birds appreciate the seeds, suet, fruit, and sugar water we provide, much of their diet consists of insects, particularly caterpillars that feed their young. According to Tallamy, 96% of terrestrial birds depend on insects. Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and other invertebrates eat insects, too. We landscape for birds when we should be landscaping for insects.
Insects are fundamental to animal life. Everyone depends on insects, from other invertebrates up through humans. Yet the abundance of invertebrates has declined 45% globally since 1971. A large part of the problem is the preponderance of non-native species in our gardens and public spaces. Insects have had millenia to adapt to (specialize on) native species, yet merely a few hundred years to adapt to species introduced to the area. Non-native species don’t support many insects: novel ecosystems don’t have evolutionary history.
Dr. Tallamy and his students studied insect diversity on native species vs non-natives, and the results were alarming given birds’ reliance on caterpillars. An oak tree might host 400-500 species of caterpillars. An ash tree can host nearly 100 different ash specialists. A Bradford pear provides a home to only a few individuals. Take a look around your home, and it’s likely that you can see at least one Bradford pear. They’re everywhere!
A recent visit to the Cleveland Botanical Garden supported his claim: I saw very few insects throughout much of the garden. The Virginia Bluebells? Covered in bees! I witnessed a bumblebee mating flight near one patch.
Many people panic when they see caterpillars on their trees and shrubs. Dr. Tallamy suggested a 10-step program: Take 10 steps backwards and your “bug problem” will disappear. He reminded the audience that leaves should have some holes, otherwise the plant isn’t supplying energy to the ecosystem.
I strongly encourage readers to peruse Dr. Tallamy’s site, or perhaps this interview. He reminds us of the importance of contributing to our local ecosystem rather than harming it.
Think of your property, your little piece of the world, as being part of your local ecosystem. The way you landscape your property — the plant choices you make and the amount of lawn you maintain — will determine whether your property is enhancing your local ecosystem or destroying it. As Roy Dennis says, “Land ownership is more than a privilege, it’s a responsibility.”
The Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation both have search engines to help people find plants native to their area. Landscape for insects as well as birds!
by Elsa Johnson
How about that the majority of butterflies found in Ohio hibernate here – and you can help them (and other insects).
How? By building a butterfly log cabin (I know, I know – it sounds like a special syrup to put on pancakes, but it’s not). By doing so you provide a place for non-migrating butterflies to hibernate, either as chrysalis, as an adult butterfly, or as caterpillars.
Here’s how (directions taken from www.backyardhabitat.info – for more detail visit this site):
You will need logs. About 2 feet in length; anchoring wood posts for the sides – and some way to drive them into the ground; and some sort of waterproof covering or tarp, one for the bottom and one for the top.
Here are some of the butterflies that overwinter as chrysalises: Tiger swallowtail, Eastern black swallowtail, Spring azure, Pipevine swallowtail, Spicebush swallowtail, Zebra swallowtail, Silver spotted skipper, and Giant Swallowtail.
As adult butterflies: Mourning cloak, American painted lady, Tortoise shell, Eastern comma, and Question mark butterfly.
And, as caterpillars: Giant spangled fritillary, Wood nymph, Easter tailed blue, Pearl crescent, Viceroy. Silver checkerspot, Red spotted purple, American copper, and Orange sulphur.
Next week brings two events that might be of interest to Gardenopolis readers.
On Saturday, April 14 at 10 am at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Jim Bissell will share “Seed Banking Stories from the Museum Herbarium” with the Kirtlandia Society. Coffee and Conversation begins at 9:30 am. All are welcome, and admission is free.
Our own Elsa Johnson is the featured reader at Art on Madison for the POETRY + reading series on Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:30 pm. The aim of this reading series is to shine the spotlight on a single writer, providing them with the platform and time necessary to present a body of work and to connect with their audience. The doors open at 7:00 pm. POETRY + is free and open to the public.