Why how I landscape affects my neighbors

It's easier for me to see the effects my landscaping have on the Bay: more gardens + less lawn = better storm water management, less nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment, and landscaping chemicals go into the streams and then the Bay, more oysters and crabs, and less carbon goes into the air from mowing. 

But what's the effect of choosing native plants over non-native plants, besides more birds and butterflies?  Pest management is a big effect. Native plants support predatory insects, who help keep insect populations in balance--less chance of an outbreak of one species. "My" wrens feed their babies on the caterpillars on the native plants and mosquitos (yea!), making more wrens. Again, helping keep populations in balance.

We humans have a knack for throwing systems out of balance, and we are not good at managing the outcomes.  Pest management via native plant ecoscapes means less need for pesticides, all of which have negative impacts from production to use to disposal.  And less chemicals running into the Bay. And who is hurt most by polluted water and air?  The poor or CEOs?  The American yard as an instrument of social justice?


The following article by Mike Ellerbrock covers some water quality issues; what do you think of his last paragraph?

"Ellerbrock is director of the Center for Economic Education at Virginia Tech, a deacon for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, and member of EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

Water is essential for life. Clean water enhances human quality of life every day in myriad ways.
For most of us fortunate Americans, losing our household water supply for even one day is a major hassle. A precious resource, clean water is no longer an unlimited resource in most regions of the globe.
Water markets offer hope for efficient, affordable and equitable distribution. Water’s scarcity calls for collaborative management and institutional oversight.
In his recent commentary (“EPA runs amok,” June 25), 9th District U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith claims that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “is attempting to supersede the power of state and local governments” to restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
By EPA setting specific pollution discharge limits in the bay watershed for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediments from point and nonpoint sources, Griffith asserts that EPA engages in federal overreach and “micromanagement” of local jurisdictions’ responsibilities under the Clean Water Act.
With all due respect for Griffith, I am afraid that his statements muddy the water regarding the bay’s future. An important distinction lies in the responsibility for setting versus implementing the standards.

More at http://www.roanoke.com/opinion/ellerbrock-muddying-the-bay-s-waters/article_31068dad-ccf7-50de-ad65-32b51c074bce.html?mode=story

Poison Ivy - Potent native plant with lots of natural value

The Mighty Poison Ivy - warrior plant and protector species

Going Natural: Kicking the mulch habit

"I didn’t spend spring vacation in Daytona Beach taking drunken selfies with my besties—I stopped buying mulch.
I had an epiphany. Hauling home heavy plastic bags of uniformly chopped and dyed commercial mulch from a garden center and dumping them around my garden is a kind of cultural sleepwalking. It’s a failure to engage with the reality of our natural world.
Think about it: Mother Nature gives us free mulch. It’s called fallen leaves."

More of a great perspective on our trained, knee-jerk attitude toward mulch at http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/July-August-2014/Going-Natural/

Watershed Primer--what is a watershed?

What is a watershed? A recent survey of residents in Williamsburg/James City County indicated that a majority of people do not know the definition of a watershed.  Basically, a watershed is a section of land that drains to a common location, i.e., a catch basin or drainage basin.  It is all the land surrounding a body of water that-when it rains-drains to that body of water.  Land typically is located above the level of the water in streams and lakes, so naturally water flows downhill and collects in those streams and lakes.

See https://www.wm.edu/as/kecklab/watershedmonitoring/watershedprimer/index.php for the rest of the article.

Growing Native Gardens & Why They Matter--Alliance for the Bay

"There is something about natives that fascinates me. I get excited about what value they offer. The landscaping plants of my parents: English ivy, Japanese barberry, and dwarf spruce trees and Bradford pear trees from China can be thought of as statues in a garden. Meaning, as Doug Tallamy puts it, they offer very little/no benefits to the ecosystem. Not to air quality, insect life, bird communities, or soil health, and can be detrimental to other plants as they invade and take over.
But to think of the plants native to the Chesapeake Bay region, you can see the big, interconnected picture take shape. Plants like milkweed (Asclepias spp) and white turtlehead (Chelone glabra) are the sole host plants for native butterflies, monarch (Danaus plexippus) and Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton), respectively. This means without this plant, those butterflies can’t reproduce! That’s how interconnected they are."

https://allianceforthebay.org/2014/07/growing-native-gardens-and-why-they-matter/


Switchgrass and mountain mint give height and texture to the garden.


Butterfly weed, Joe-Pye weed and yellow coneflower showing shining brightly on the corner of 6th St and Chesapeake Ave in Annapolis, MD at the Alliance’s front garden.