Category Archives: POLLINATION

Tree plantings and other events

October 2, 2020PERTINENT, POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST, PRESERVATIONHeather Risher

Tree planting information by Laura Marks

The weather has turned autumn cool and moist, so many tree planting opportunities are coming up. Here are a few. Please lend a hand and your expertise if you are able and want your hands in the soil. Please remember to wear a mask to any events you attend.

Saturday, October 3
10:00AM Canterbury and Bradford, Cleveland Heights
Royal Heights neighbors are working to improve landscaping along the Bradford Rd cinder path. They are working from Canterbury towards the west while Peggy Spaeth and John Barber are working from Taylor Rd eastward. Trees will be planted this Saturday and the neighbors reached out asking for help from Heights Tree People. Check out the rebuilt historic WPA stone pillars that mark the pathway at each street!

Monday, October 19
1:30 PM Washington Blvd, CH
We have requests for 7 trees to be planted in the block of Washington Blvd from Lee to Cottage Grove. It seems like a great opportunity for a HTP to plant together. These trees will all be planted on private property, not treelawns.

We have begun planting! Last week Margy, Kathy, Bill, and I worked with Western Reserve Land Conservancy to plant 17 treelawn trees on E130 street between Shaker Blvd and Larchmere. In addition, Bill and I have planted several trees in Cleveland Heights in the past week.

Over the summer we accumulated a list of about 50 trees to plant this fall. In addition, I am working with the City of Cleveland Heights to get permission for us to plant a tree on vacant lots in the City; there are 177 vacant lots, not all are appropriate for a tree, however most are. If you want to join us to plant, please let me know your availability and we will welcome your help.

I could also use a second person to help do a tree inventory of Taylor Rd between Cedar and Fairmount. The Cleveland Heights Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) is about to recommend that the speed limit on Taylor Rd be reduced and consistent at 25 MPH. One way to reduce actual car speed is to have fully planted treelawns. The TAC requested I count availability of treelawn tree planting sites.

If you know Heights friends and neighbors who want trees, please get them to sign up for one. The best way to do this is to have them contact me at this Heights Tree People email address. (heightstreepeople AT gmail DOT com)

Laura Marks

Other events, compiled by Elsa and Heather

Upcoming virtual events

Cleveland Museum of Natural History Discover-E
Fall Foraging with Jeremy Umansky of Larder: A Curated Delicatessen and Bakery
October 5, 7 pm
http://1023.blackbaudhosting.com/1023/DISCOVER-E-Fall-Foraging-with-Larders-Jeremy-Umansky

Kirtland Bird Club
How a CLE Birder-Photographer aids conservation efforts in Colombia
October 7, 7:30 pm
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-a-cle-birder-photographer-aids-conservation-efforts-in-colombia-tickets-112905912624

Cleveland Museum of Natural History Explorer Series
Discovery… Technology… Hope
Lecture with Dr. Dawn Wright, Chief Scientist, Environmental Systems Research Institute
October 14, 7 pm
https://1023.blackbaudhosting.com/1023/Explorer-Lecture-Series-Virtual—DISCOVERY-TECHNOLOGY-HOPE

Living with the Anthropocene
October 14, 10 pm
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/living-with-the-anthropocene-webinar-tickets-120320171873

20th Annual NAPPC Conference
October 20-22, 2020
https://www.pollinator.org/nappc/registration

LEAD for Pollinators Conference
October 24-25, 2020
https://leadforpollinators.org/registration/

Nature Underfoot by Dr. John Hainze
November 2, 10 pm EST
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nature-underfoot-by-dr-john-hainze-registration-117436976157

Streaming anytime

OSU ZoomBees Pollinator Webinar Recordings 2020
https://u.osu.edu/certify/zoombees-webinar-recordings-2020/

Important Late Summer and Early Fall Plantings to Aid Pollinators and Migratory Species
Presentation given by Judy Semroc at the bi-monthly LEAP meeting
https://vimeo.com/458967411/a07cd72ee0

Kiss the Ground
Film about regenerative agriculture, available on Netflix
https://kisstheground.com/
https://www.netflix.com/title/81321999?

A Tale of Two Plant Families

July 10, 2020POLLINATION, POPULAR INTERESTRC Wilson

by RC Wilson

A few years ago, my buddy Karl and I were sitting in on a college class called “Local Flora”—Ohio lets senior citizens audit university classes. The teacher asked, “Which plant family do you think is the biggest, by number of species?” My buddy, who is hard of hearing, asked me, in a loud whisper, to repeat the question. I am hard of hearing too, so you can imagine how that worked out. Our answer was “Asteraceae,” the daisy family. Here in the temperate zone, they are everywhere you look. “Good guess,” said the teacher, “but the answer is Orchidaceae, the orchids.”

We don’t have a lot of species of wild orchids here in Ohio. What has me thinking about this question now, as I watch various daisy family members bloom, is that I am currently working on a book of pollination poems by Ohio poets. These two plant families have such different approaches to pollination. Pollination, as you probably know, is how plants have sex. Some just hope the wind blows some pollen in the right direction. While simple and effective, this method takes a lot of pollen. I remember parking under some pine trees in Georgia for a couple weeks, and when I came back my windshield had a pollen layer about an inch deep. Wind pollinating plants waste an awful lot of pollen, and pollen takes energy to produce. Orchids and daisies use a much more efficient (and kinky) process. They rely on a third party, an animal, to carry a little pollen from one flower to another. All the pretty colors and intoxicating odors we associate with flowers are devoted, not to us, but to these little animal partners in the plant’s three-way sex party.

Orchids, which mostly live in the tropics, have some notoriously secret assignations. Many species of orchid rely on a single species of insect or bird for pollination. They hide their precious nectar for the one true partner who will carry the pollen to, and only to, another orchid of that species. In South America, there are hummingbirds with long curiously shaped beaks that coevolved with orchids who have long curiously shaped blossoms. Lesser birds and insects need not apply. Only the blessed one will do. Wow! If humans needed hummingbirds to have sex, what a strange world it would be. I blush. I wonder. Maybe, in a spiritual sense, really good sex does involve some cosmic hummingbird, but I digress.

The daisies, on the other hand, have a “come one, come all” approach to their insect pollinators. Sometimes our purple coneflowers (echinacea) look like Hopkins Airport, with various bees, flies, and butterflies jostling each other as they land or take off. Instead of hiding one pot of nectar like an orchid, the daisy family splits the nectar between many florets. Take the giant sunflower. What looks like a single big flower is actually a complicated arrangement of small florets. Around the outside are the “ray florets”, spreading out like flower petals, like the rays in a drawing of the sun. inside the circle of ray florets is a large convex disc, covered with disc florets. Each of these disc florets has its own nectary, its own ovary, waiting for pollen from the leg of a visitor. Each disc floret has the potential to produce a seed for us to roast. And oh, how the bugs love these things, from the smallest aster to the biggest sunflower, they stop and visit floret after floret on the big nectar vending machine.

Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia — This Zinnia is one of 23600 species in the family Asteraceae. Zinnias are native to Mexico, so this monarch may feel right at home on this flower. We won’t see these guys much until later this summer.

So, who has the better strategy, the orchids or the asters? It depends. Rainforests are ancient and complex ecosystems, with many thousands of plant, animal, fungi, and microbial components, constantly cycling nutrients, passing the love from one level of the system to another, and hardly spilling a drop. One of the ironies of burning the Amazon to make farms or grazing land, is that the resulting soil is disappointing. All the nutrients were in the system, and little makes it down to build topsoil. In a rainforest there are many specialists like the orchid and its hummingbird. The orchid approach to pollination has served it well for ages, but this kind of specialization may be less useful when the forests are burned down.

Here in Ohio, where we burned the forests down a couple centuries ago, the asters seem to have a good plan. Lay out row after row of nectar bearing florets, turn on the landing lights and invite anything with wings, and even a few crawlers, to come join the party. “Let the orgy begin,” says Elsa Johnson, one of the poets in the aforementioned book. Yes, plants are doing it, day and night, right out in the open, the dance of life.

Pollinator Symposium 2019

September 26, 2019PERMACULTURE, POLLINATION, PRACTICEElsa Johnson

text by Elsa Johnson, photos by Ann McCulloh

A brief summary follows of the talk by the keynote speaker at the 2019 pollinator symposium — Larry Weaner: Breaking the Rules / Ecological Landscape for Small Scale Residential Properties.

The biggest take-away from Larry Weaner’s talk for this Gardenopolis writer/editor was the difference, as he saw it, between traditional landscape design – which he described as seeing the garden as separate plants in ‘designs’ — and a contemporary response of seeing the landscape as an ecology, as an evolving restoration. That traditional garden scale, says Weaner, doesn’t work, and, indeed, many of his examples were of large scale projects, though the process is workable at any scale, as one picture of his own backyard patio showed.

What is meant by seeing a landscape as an ecology? Such an approach begins with native flora because one needs native flora (supplying food, water, cover) to attract native fauna – no; not talking about our backyard deer. Rather, he gave the example of putting a stick over water to draw in dragonflies, an example that begins to bring an awareness of nature’s micro-scale natural complexity and inter-connectedness. Within this context, however, he stipulates that the client’s level of comfort – he calls it ‘happiness’—with this concept, dictates how far to push. It is a different kind of order, one that by its very nature changes over time.

This is a key point: Natural compositions do not remain stable over time.

An aside here – what garden designer/artist/architect does not have a client or clients who expect their landscape to remain static, like a living room that’s been decorated and expected to forever remain just-so?

Forget ‘proper spacing’, said Weaner. Forgo mulch – which has no value at all for animals — in favor of suppressing weeds with dense planting. Allow natural succession. Plants go – if you allow them – where they want to grow. Knowing this one can use targeted disturbance to achieve design by removal. Notice where and how each plant grows. There is a learning curve: one plant teaches you about many. Species can be planted as seed sources that will find their own places to grow – and not necessarily where you planted them. Weaner stresses habitat fidelity over imposed design – use plants that have traditionally grown together.

Become aware of micro habitats in site design. There are plants that Weaner calls ‘generalists’, and then there are ‘specialists.’ Knowing the levels of disturbance, for example, offers opportunity to use plants like cardinal flower whose seeds will migrate to disturbed areas. This is ‘design’ that allows the landscape to be a series of evolving compositions, multi-layered evolving composition, over time.

Go ahead. Break the rules.

After lunch I attended a breakout session lead by John Barber, who spoke on planting native plants for birds. Want birds? Here’s what to do: provide clean and safe water; plant native trees and shrubs; never use insecticides (95% of birds feed their chicks insects) or rodenticides (hawks eat rodents — you end up killing the hawk also); and never ever let your cats outside.

Further, bird feeders, says Barber, have no real positive impact on birds, and winter survival is not actually improved by winter feeding. Additionally, the foods you are providing may have a large carbon footprints. Feeders also may concentrate birds unnaturally, making it easier to spread diseases. Additionally, feeders bring blue jays and grackles. Both are baby bird predators of cup nests birds.

Instead of bird feeders, plant native plants. They have co-evolved with native birds, are adapted to the environment, are more nutritious, and, once established, require less maintenance. Birds have highest nesting success when at least 70% of the plants in a landscape are native. In the fall avoid the nursery and landscape maintenance model of landscape care—i.e., early fall cleanup. Leave plants up longer; leave some litter, logs, and bare earth.

Barber recommends the book Planting Natives to Attract Birds to Your Yard, by Sharon Sorenson.

And finally, did you know that Virginia creeper won’t make berries unless it climbs? — Neither did I.

The last speaker I heard was Susan Carpenter, Senior Outreach Specialist at the Wisconsin Native Plant Garden, who spoke on creating and maintaining Pollinator habitat. This was a dense fast talk and I was not able to get much of it down on paper. She said, however, that it is all accessible on line at https://go.wisc.edu//pg8340.

Sorry not to report on Przemek Walczak’s talk Restoring Bell’s Woodland, or Sam Droege’s talk Native Bees: Protecting our Urban Pollinators. I was obliged to miss these.

A Short Trek, a Great Experience: Secrest Arboretum

August 14, 2019PERIPATETIC, POLLINATION, PRESERVATIONLois Rose

by Lois Rose

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to join Master Gardeners and others in an all day seminar at Secrest Arboretum, entitled “How Plants Mate”. Needless to say it attracted a good crowd.

We spent a lot of time indoors at the new tech- savvy center getting the low down on the intricacies of stamens and pistils and bracts and the myriad mechanisms of mating in the plant kingdom. At the end we saw plant parts exposed under the microscope—imagine an eight -foot high pistil, glistening on the screen…a huge ovary—well you get the idea.

But even without the in depth explanations this was a beautiful day in the arboretum, where restorations after the tornado have been highly successful.

This lovely space is only an hour and a half away, and is season by season full of a large variety of carefully curated shrubs, trees, perennials. Our hosts were the Curator, Jason Veil, and Ann Chanon, ANR educator in Lorain County and an authority on buckeyes.

Ann Chanon with Aesculus x carnea ‘Fort McNair’

I hope this little article will tempt you to take out your botany textbook and delve into the many wonders in your garden that are just below the surface.

Exbury hybrid azalea Rhododendron ‘Golden Pom Pom’

Rhododendron ‘Gibralter’ Exbury hybrid azalea

Cornus alternifolia (white “petals” are bracts, small “true” flowers are in center)

Calycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’ hybrid sweetshrub

Langton Road Pollinator Pocket Update

August 8, 2019PERTINENT, POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST, PRACTICETom Gibson

by Tom Gibson, photos by Laura Dempsey

GardenWalk Cleveland Heights featured a successful pilot project: 11 36 sq.ft. pollinator pocket gardens on Langton Road. The gardens combine a steady flow of blooms, low maintenance, (relative!) deer resistance, and attractiveness to pollinating insects. The goal was to enhance both immediate neighborhood attractiveness and community spirit.

Those goals appear to have been realized. Madeleine Macklin, the Langton resident who helped lead the effort, conducted an informal survey of those homeowners who participated. She reported: “Many of the people walking in the neighborhood often stop to chat about the beauty of our street. Some just give ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs.’ But I am often told that their stress, depression, anxiety levels have gone down from sharing, and experiencing the beautiful flowering plants on our street.”

The design component of this project: each homeowner had a voice in individual site selection. The challenge was, for the sake of visual unification, to find a not too broad range of mostly native plants that were adaptable to a quite broad range of growing conditions, and were visually showy. Almost everyone received one or more hibiscus moscheutos, with its spectacular dinner plate style blooms.

The next step will be to raise enough additional funding to extend the pollinator pocket project to other streets in the Noble Neighborhood. Green Paradigm Partners, which conceived and executed the project, is discussing expansion of the project with key scientific partners and foundations.

Photos are courtesy of Laura Dempsey. More of Laura’s work can be found on her website, ldempsey.com. She is open to new clients and opportunities.

Gardenopolis Around Town

February 18, 2019PERTINENT, POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST, PRESERVATIONHeather Risher

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!

Bringing Nature Home

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.

Other Ohio Events

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

Events Not to be Missed!

August 28, 2018POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST, PUNCHYElsa Johnson

The first full week of September promises to be a busy one!

First, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is hosting its annual Conservation Symposium. This year’s theme is Biodiversity: Life in Balance, and boasts a lineup of excellent speakers on fascinating topics. The symposium itself takes place all day on Friday, September 7, and field trips and workshops are offered on Thursday and Saturday. Gardenopolis is particularly looking forward to the American Chestnut Workshop.

Next, on Saturday, September 8. Gardenopolis will be hosting its annual Garden Party. Look for invitation details in your email if you’re a subscriber; if you don’t subscribe check out the details on Facebook, or send an email to gardenopoliscle@gmail.com to be included.

We hope to see you in September!

Food Forest Surprises—Mainly Good

July 5, 2018PERTINENT, POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST, PRACTICETom Gibson

by Tom Gibson

This strange spring–just above freezing for much of April and early May and then, wham!, summer—has my back yard food forest proliferating in unexpected ways.

The big burst has been berries. Service berries, spice berries, currants, black raspberries, elderberries are almost doubling their output. I speculate that the cool-but-above-freezing weather kept early flowers at their pollen producing peak far longer than usual. The most delicate are definitely the very early spice berry blooms, which typically get frozen dead almost immediately upon opening by the next day’s cold snap.

These green berries will turn red in the fall and are great and-all-spicey cooked with apples.

Another surprise has been my pawpaws. As longtime readers of Gardenopolis Cleveland may remember, I have had to hand-pollinate the flowers to get fruit production. The pawpaw co-evolved, not with the non-native honey bee or even the native bumblebee, but with blow flies and other insects who are attracted to blooms offering the gentle smell of poop. Thus the need to get out my little water color brush and agitate pawpaw blossoms like a nectar-hungry blow fly.

But this spring’s long cool and sudden warm caught me too busy to respond. I was able to give my water color brush only a few outings. I was resigned to a lackluster harvest. And I was especially resigned to getting no harvest from branches any higher than 8 feet. I just could not bring myself to haul out a ladder—even with the above-average number of purple blooms—and go into the treetops agitating pistils and stamens with my brush.

Then the surprise: fruit that formed where it has never formed before, high up in the trees.

I can only speculate that the number of blooms reached a critical mass producing enough scent to attract blow flies.

But that leaves a question: How will I harvest them? Pawpaw harvest is almost as labor-intensive as pollination and why pawpaw production is best suited to the obsessive home gardener. Typically, I squeeze each fruit to see whether it is soft enough to ripen on its own inside on a window sill (thus avoiding competition from possums and other critters). Now I’ll have to wait until they fall.

This spring also brought an ugly surprise: the predations of the four-lined plant bug (Poecilocapus lineatus). They usually spend a short time in my garden, sucking chlorophyll, and leaving brown spots. But then they disappear. I typically ignore them and the plants resume their green growth.

Not this year. They’re all over, as evidence by brown spots wherever I look, and seem to be staying longer than ever.

I’m regretting not trying to remove them early on with organic soap.

I’m tempted to trim off the brown-speckled leaves, but am resisting that impulse for fruit-bearing plants. As shriveled and ugly as the leaves appear, they still seem to be doing their main job of producing sugars that give the plant enough strength to produce fruit. See this goji berry flower and its ragged leaves.

If I cut the leaves, I’ll eliminate the fruit!

Any similar garden experiences you have had, dear readers, with our unusual spring?

Consider the Food Web

May 18, 2018PERTINENT, POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST, PRACTICEHeather Risher

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!

What might you not know about butterflies?

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.

Choose a sheltered location – on the southeast side of an evergreen, for example. Almost every yard has some sort of out-of-the-way spot where this could be done.
Start by placing one piece of tarp on the ground. Then place 2 long 4 foot logs sections in one direction on top of the tarp – these 2 logs sections will keep the rest of the structure off the ground and insure air circulation
Next, place a layer of logs going in the opposite direction. Then add third layer of logs going in the opposite direction to the second layer. After driving your supporting side stakes into the ground, continues building layers in opposite directions until you have a ‘log cabin’ about 3 feet high.
Place a tarp on top and anchor it down with a few more logs. The tarp keeps the crevices dry.

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.

Pocket Gardens Planned for Noble Neighborhood

April 4, 2018PERMACULTURE, PERTINENT, POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST, PRACTICE, PRESERVATIONTom Gibson

by Tom Gibson

Originally published in the Heights Observer.

Can concentrations of pocket gardens help rejuvenate neighborhoods? That’s the question a coalition of Cleveland Heights partners is trying to answer. They are working with neighbors on Langton Road, just off Quilliams Road in the Noble neighborhood, to install 10 pocket gardens this spring. The gardens will consist of either native perennials or a tree surrounded by Russian comfrey and other plants that suppress weeds and provide extra fertility.

“We want to provide sustainable beauty,” said Barbara Sosnowski, who heads the beautification committee of Noble Neighbors, a local activist group. “That means that any garden we plant should look as attractive after four years as it does after one.”

Sandy Thompson, Mani Pierce and Tom Gibson plant a plum tree in the Oxford Community Garden. [photo by Barbara Morgan]

If the effort succeeds, the group intends to take the Langton Road model and apply it elsewhere in the neighborhood. “The exciting thing about this project,” Sosnowski added, “is that it is intended to be scalable. If we succeed with 10 private residences, we can succeed with 50, and so on.”

Noble Neighbors’ partners in the effort include the Home Repair Resource Center (HRRC), Cleveland Heights High School, Rust Belt Riders and Green Paradigm Partners. HRRC will provide classroom space and instruction for the Langton Road neighbors, high school students will provide paid help with construction of the garden plots, Rust Belt Riders will provide specialized compost, and Green Paradigm Partners will provide landscape design and community organizing help. Funding will come from grants and crowd funding via IOBY Cleveland. Look for the Noble Neighborhood pocket garden project at www.ioby.org/campaign/cleveland.

To address the problem of long-term maintenance, the group has devised a three-pronged plan. At the horticultural level, the group has selected plants that grow well in Northeast Ohio. It will test soils for mineral deficiencies that attract noxious, high-maintenance weeds, such as bindweed, and then add mineral amendments to correct those deficiencies. Compost with high fungal content, which reduces the need for watering during droughts, will be applied.

At the immediate neighborhood level, the beautification group is asking homeowners to take a two-session course at HRRC on plant selection and care. The intention is to bring immediate neighbors together on a common project and create a greater sense of neighborhood spirit and purpose.

At the broader neighborhood level, the support and participation of Noble Neighbors and Heights High, among others, is intended to raise the project’s community profile and foster its success. “We are employing a number of approaches to community revitalization,” said Brenda May, a leader of Noble Neighbors. “We see this project as one way to make pocket gardens a signature of the neighborhood, thereby enhancing both local identity and property values.”

The effort has attracted wide support. Cleveland Heights Mayor Carol Roe, herself a Noble resident, called the effort “an innovative approach to building community spirit that comes at just the right moment of upswing in the Noble neighborhood.” Kay Carlson, president and chief executive officer of the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, said, “We find the project’s combination of cutting-edge biology and creative community involvement promising and likely to have much wider application.”

Watch for more information as the project progresses.

GARDENOPOLIS Cleveland

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