NATIVE GARDENING

Planting for birds, bees and butterflies

Story and photos by Mary Bernath

Bees are in trouble.

Monarch butterflies were placed on the endangered list in 2022.

Perfectly mowed lawns, while neat and pretty to look at, don’t help their situation. But a pollinator garden does.

That is why a growing number of gardeners are converting a portion of their lawn or garden space to native plants and shrubs. They are planting to please the bees, bugs, butterflies, and birds that stop by for a bite.

The key word in this type of gardening is “native.” That means, according to Master Gardener John Patrick Colatch of Milton, “plants that were here in Pennsylvania when Europeans first arrived.”

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) puts the current count of native plants at 2,100. By the year 2000, according to its website, nonnative plants numbered 1,300, or 37% of the total number of Pennsylvania plant species.

Not all non-native plants are bad, but some are invasive, crowding out essential native plants. And Pennsylvania’s insects and other pollinators know what they like and often shun the interlopers. That makes gardens filled with native plants worth the extra effort.

One good plant to choose is butterfly weed, also known as milkweed, which is especially popular with Monarch butterflies. “But you have to do your homework,” said Stephanie Fullmer of Riverside, “to be sure you plant the right kind of milkweed. It must be ‘common’ or ‘swamp,’ and not an exotic variety, or the butterflies won’t go to it.”

You also want to avoid butterfly bush, whose name sounds promising but which is actually an exotic and a nuisance. “Butterfly bushes are beautiful,” said Colatch, “but you have to cut off their flowers right after they bloom to keep the plant from spreading.”

Native trees provide a home for countless insects and their larvae. An oak tree can host as many as 350 species of caterpillars, while the non-native gingko hosts just one. Given the fact that, according to Cornell University, it takes 7,500 caterpillars to feed just one clutch of black capped chickadee babies, the oak is a crucial player in raising both baby birds and the butterflies that hatch from the caterpillars.

One beautiful exotic, the Tree of Heaven, has become a true villain, because it is to blame for the spotted lanternfly wave that is sweeping Pennsylvania and nearby states. It was brought to America around 1700 and is planted throughout our area as an ornamental. Native to China and Japan, it has lured the spotted lanternfly here. “It is a perfect example,” said Colatch, “of how when you introduce the wrong kind of plants you attract the wrong kind of critters.”

Fullmer began planting her three-quarters of an acre for the birds and insects about 15 years ago. When she moved to her home in Riverside, it had mostly a mowed lawn with a few trees, but she converted one area at a time to specialty environments. She now has a shade garden, a hummingbird and butterfly area, a bog garden, and a wild area filled with a large stand of goldenrods and other “wild” plants.

“To get a pollinator garden started,” she said, “you first have to eliminate a patch of grass. It won’t look beautiful that first year, but it will keep getting better.”

One resource she relies on is a book called “Native Meadowscaping,” published by Indigenous Landscapes. “It describes the whole process of converting a big patch of grass to a native garden and what to watch for as the garden matures, plus gives detailed information on each native plant.”

Colatch, too, started out with nothing but mowed grass and one tree when he moved to Milton in 2012. When he retired as chaplain at Bucknell University, he was looking for something new. “My mom loved flowers,” he said, and his own interest took off once he enrolled in the Master Gardener program.

Colatch’s guru is Doug Tallamy, an entomology professor at the University of Delaware, who wrote an inspirational book called “Bringing Nature Home” in 2007 on how to sustain wildlife with native plants. His “Homegrown National Park” organization is a grassroots call-to-action to regenerate biodiversity, according to the HNP website.

Colatch’s two thirds of an acre draws goldfinches and butterflies and bees to his plantings, and they especially love his coneflowers (Echinacea). Both he and Fullmer admit they need to manage the other animals they attract. “You have to be ready for lots of different critters,” Colatch said. Naturally, he has squirrels, and deer. Besides these, Fullmer attracts snakes and toads and has possums and raccoons passing through, as well as an occasional bear who goes after the bird feeders.

“Anytime you feed the birds, you will attract others,” said Colatch. He puts the bird feeders near native shrubs, so the birds can escape predators when necessary.

There Is A Lot To Learn

Once you decide to do native gardening, there is a lot to learn. Here is where the PA Master Gardener Program sponsored by the Penn State Extension can help. Suann Leighow, Master Gardener Coordinator for Columbia, Montour, and Northumberland counties, and Sabrina Holmes, Coordinator for Union and Snyder counties, boast a combined total of more than 70 active Master Gardeners. There are another 400 in training across the state in this year’s class, said Leighow.

Candidates meet on Zoom every week, October through the end of March. In addition to 2.5 class hours each week, Master Gardeners must commit to 50 hours of service. Training involves both book-learning and hands-on. Holmes recalls that in her class in landscape design, “we had to design a garden to plant outside the extension office in Mifflinburg.” In 2022, her group of Master Gardeners added a pollinator garden of mostly native plants.

One big project of the Master Gardeners of Northumberland County was to lend their expertise to

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TheBloomsburg/BerwickHwy. 570-784-2234 Mon., Tues.,Thurs. 10-7 Fri. -Sat. 10-8 |Closed Weds. &Sun. www.plazahouse.com help Kulpmont Borough start a pollinator garden to honor area veterans and to serve as an outdoor educational nature center for local schools and the community. With help and support from the Northumberland County Conservation District, local schools, and local businesses, the garden went from concept to completion in just two years. “The site was just a slab of snowy ground at our first meeting in January 2020,” said Master Gardener Paula Angel, who coordinated the effort. But it all came together quickly, with workdays to plant trees and perennials, install bee houses and bird houses, label the native plants, and erect the Iwo Jima sculpture created by welding students at the Northumberland County Career and Technology Center. Last summer’s drought made clear that this year’s priority must be installing a good water source on site. “The best thing about the garden,” said Angel, “has been the community involvement. People are always asking questions and wanting to help.”

Another pollinator project for the public is the garden at Montour Preserve, which was totally redone in 2020. It now features native plants like coneflowers, milkweed, cardinal flowers, dogwood, and winterberries, along with a section devoted to common herbs.

“Each of our Master Gardeners has a niche,” said Leighow, “and Carol Burke is our pollinator specialist.” The Montour Preserve garden was revived mostly through her efforts. Burke says that once established, a garden like this doesn’t take much time, beyond a little weeding. “You add a little bit, take out a little bit each year,” she said. One challenge she faces is a fat groundhog who likes to eat the coneflowers before they come up.

“Why do we need a pollinator garden at the Montour Preserve?” she asks. “To educate the public on the importance of some little insects that do so much.” During national pollinator week, June 20-26, she plans to hold an event called “The Power of Pollinators” for the public at the Preserve. Last year’s event drew 120 participants.

Even PennDOT is joining the pollinator push with their new “Adopt and Beautify” program, which recruits volunteers to adopt a roadside to plant and maintain with pollinator plants. This supplements their long-standing litter pickup program.

To start a pollinator garden at home, attitude is key, according to Sabrina Holmes. “You need to get that perfect picture out of your head,” she said, “and let nature take its course. One possibility is simply letting a part of your yard go, and it will turn into meadow.”

If the slightly messy look bothers you or your neighbors, she suggests posting a sign that says, “We’re feeding the bees.”

Everyone wants at least some mowed yard, but Holmes suggests letting the clover and dandelions grow among the grass. Colatch agrees. “Clover in your yard will help bees and insects, and it fixes nitrogen in the soil.” He also suggests inserting native plants and flowers between rows of vegetables for pollination.

Sowing wildflowers is another approach. Fullmer says to be sure to read the list of plant varieties on mixed packets of wildflowers, though. “They may say ‘native’ but you don’t know ‘native to where?’ The seeds could be entirely wrong for Pennsylvania.”

Gardeners who want to totally convert an area have a bigger job. Often it’s good to choose a spot that is hard to mow anyway, like a rocky area or wet spot or steep slope. And then, you need to think about sun vs. shade. The state conservation site, www.dcnr.pa.gov, offers excellent guidance with their “Native Garden Templates” for shady/ sunny/dry/moist in all combinations. Their “Landscaping with Native Plants” is also full of useful information. A pollinator garden needs to provide food, water, and shelter for the many critters who stop by. Leighow finds the Penn State application for “Pollinator Friendly Garden Certification” to be especially useful to ensure you’ve done everything you need to do. “It’s not easy to get certified,” she said, “but just filling out the application is an excellent shopping list to keep you on track.”

Planting A Pollinating Garden

When planting the garden, you need to think in terms of three levels, according to Colatch. Flowering perennials are the first level, then shrubs, and then trees. The certification application asks gardeners to choose a variety of flower shapes and sizes and to avoid hybrids, “especially double flowers, which may not have pollen and nectar.” They also recommend at least five plants of each variety, spaced close together in clusters. Blooming seasons are also important, so that you have something always in bloom from spring to frost.

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One surprising detail is that pollinators have color preferences. According to Colatch, “We shouldn’t just plant to please ourselves. We might like lots of red, but only the hummingbirds see red. For the critters, it’s best to plant white, yellow, and purple.”

Fullmer notes that “native perennials don’t require much fussing.” Her biggest job is setting out the plants, watering, and then mulching. “Mulching is my demise,” she said, “but it’s good for the plants and good for me, too, since it cuts down on watering and weeding later.”

At the end of the season, she lets dead plants and seed heads stand till spring, since insects overwinter in the stems, birds snack on remaining berries and seeds, and toads and other critters bed down in piles of leaves and stems. Her winterberry shrub feeds her birds in the cold months, the winter birch tree in her yard is a prime wintertime hotel for insects needing shelter.

Water is the final requirement — a bird bath, a nearby stream, a small pool with running water, even a saucer filled with water. Colatch has put a small waterfall into a hill that is hard to mow, with a pool below to catch the water. He stresses that birdbaths need to be cleaned every other day, and that it is good to put a rock in the water for hummingbirds to perch on. At Montour Preserve, Burke keeps a plant saucer with small stones filled with water. “Pollinators need a place to ‘puddle’,” she said. Bees also need water to make mud for their homes.

Starting a pollinator garden of your own is as involved or as simple as you want it to be. Once established, no doubt it will expand as you keep tweaking it. Lots of help is available both online and in books. Frequent webinars and classes are offered by Penn State Extension, and the Master Gardeners are always available to help with questions. They set up tables at farmers’ markets and fairs, where you can bring questions and samples and get help, or you can contact them anytime by phone or email at the County Extension Offices.

As a Master Gardener, Carol Burke feels she has learned so much and is still learning. “That’s why I love the program,” she said. “No one knows everything about everything. If we don’t know the answer, we have the tools to find the answer and get back to you.”