Where the Wild Things Are: Designing
for Pollinators
Dan Jaffe, Propagator and Stock Bed Grower
• An undisturbed landscape is often toted as the ultimate in wildlife value, but what can we actually do?
• Designed landscapes can be altered to make them more wildlife friendly • In the past the message
was… • Remove the lawn • Remove all non-natives • Plant only native
species
So what are we doing here today?
So what can we really do? • SCALE means everything
• The Blackpoll warbler is a site specific species that lives in stunted northern spruce fir forests
• It is considered of special concern in Massachusetts
• It needs a spruce/fir forest
So what are we doing here today?
So what can we really do? • SCALE means everything Changes in management
• Talk to your neighbors, connect habitats,
• Recognize the value of mature trees
• Identify weeds and their importance
• Avoid chemicals • Plant in masses • Plant selection
So what are we doing here today?
So what can we really do? • SCALE means everything
There is great power in large numbers of people making small changes
So what are we doing here today?
• Oxford dictionary: A wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants
• Webster’s dictionary: a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth
What is a Weed?
Weeds?
Lets grow some weeds!
Viola pedata • Bird’s-foot violet
• The regal fritillary makes its
home in meadows where
an abundance of violet’s
can be found
What can you do?
• Viola riviniana var. purpurea
versus Viola labradorica
• Viola walteri and ‘silver
gem’
Weeds? Viola spp.
• The mourning warbler makes its home in forests with a thick understory of Rubus species
• The early hairstreak adults feed on the flowers of Rubus
• Ring-neck pheasants, ruffled and sharp-tailed grouse, wild turkey, northern bobwhites, woodcocks, blue jays, tufted titmice, veeries, wood thrush, robins, catbirds, thrashers, cedar waxwings, yellow-breasted chats, scarlet tanagers, cardinals, grosbeaks, rufous-sided towhees, sparrows, orioles, grackles finches, chipmunks, raccoons, squirrels and so forth…
Weeds? Rubus spp.
• R. allegheniensis (blackberry)
• R. hispidus (creeping dewberry)
• R. idaeus (red raspberry)
• R. occidentalis (black raspberry)
• R. odoratus (flowering raspberry)
Rubus odoratus
• Evergreens and most thickly branched deciduous species will do just fine • Leucothoe fontanesiana • Physocarpus opulifolium • Philadelphus inodorus • Itea virginica
• Tree cavities, old stumps, piles of rocks and logs are all shelter spots • Think twice before
“cleaning” up your woodlands
Shelter in the Landscape
Black cherry • Fruit’s are great for passing birds and
humans alike
• Promethea moth, small-eyed sphinx, wild cherry sphinx (and P. americana), banded tussock moth, black-etched prominent, spotted apatelodes, yellow-necked caterpillar, tiger swallowtail, cecropia moth, saddleback caterpillar moth (Prunus spp.), io moth (and P. americana), striped hairstreak (Prunus spp.), red-spotted purple (Prunus spp.)…
Weeds? Prunus serotina
Weeds? Parthenocissus quinquefolia
Virginia creeper, creeping woodbine
• Summer berries are an important food source for many bird species
• Host plant for Abbott's sphinx, Pandora sphinx, Virginia creeper sphinx, White-lined sphinx
White lined sphinx
Abbott’s sphinx Pandora sphinx
Weeds? Parthenocissus quinquefolia
Weeds?
• Makes a great bonsai/potted specimen
I want pretty!!!
• Set up habitats based on desired plant species • Meadow
• Lupinus perennis • Sassafras albidum • Ceanothus americanus • Monarda fistulosa
• Pipevine swallowtail • Hummingbird and snowberry clearwings
• Asclepias tuberosa • Wetlands
• Lindera benzoin
How to build your own wildlife meadow
Agastache foeniculum
• Anise hyssop
• Sun to part sun
• Dry to average soils
• Edible leaves make a great
tea
• Can be grown from seed or
divisions
• Supports a myriad of bees,
flies, butterflies and birds
Plants worth growing
Plants worth growing
Pycnanthemum
muticum • Broad-leaved mountain
mint
• Sun to part sun
• Average to moist soils
• Bee magnet
• Edible leaves are great as a
tea or as seasoning
• Can be grown from seed or
via divisions
The Eupatorium group
Ageratina altissima
• Sun to part shade
• Average to moist
Eutrochium fistulosum,
maculatum, purpureum
• Sun to part shade
• Average to wet
• All three species closely related
and can be treated in a similar
fashion
• All are great for bees and
butterflies
• Best grown from seed
Plants worth growing
Grasslands and meadows
Monarda spp. (Bee balm)
• Great for birds, bees, and humans
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot) • The star for herbal/edible uses as well as
wildlife • Floral feeders: Bumblebees, pipevine
swallowtail, hummingbird clearwing, snowberry clearwing, ruby throated hummingbird
• Foliage feeders: hermit sphinx, gray marvel, pyralid moth, Coleophora monardae.
• Seed feeders: American finch, field sparrow, dark-eyed juncos
Monarda punctata (spotted bee balm)
Grasslands and meadows
Monarda punctata
• Asclepias spp. (Milkweeds)
• Host and nectar sources for both
the Monarch butterfly (Danaus
plexippus) and the Queen
butterfly (Danus gilippus)
• Full sun and dry sites is the
general thought (A. syriaca)
• There are exceptions
• “Our” species
• A. incarnata (Swamp
milkweed)
• A. purpurascens (Purple
milkweed)
• A. syriaca (Common
milkweed)
• A. tuberosa (Butterfly Weed)
Grasslands and meadows
Asclepias syriaca (common
milkweed)
• Immature flowers are edible and
very tasty
• Monarch, milkweed tussock
moth, tiger swallowtail and black
swallowtail
Asclepias purpurascens (purple
milkweed)
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly Weed)
Asclepias incarnata (swamp
milkweed)
Asclepias variegata (white
milkweed)
Meadows: Asclepias spp.
Black swallowtail
Milkweed tussock moth
Dry Meadow Perennials Agastache foeniculum Allium cernuum Antennaria spp. Aquilegia canadensis Aruncus dioicus Asclepias spp. Ionactis linariifolia Baptisia tinctoria Callirhoe spp. Campanula rotundifolia Chrysopsis villosa Coreopsis verticillata Dicentra spp. Echinacea spp. Eryngium yuccifolium Geranium maculatum
Helianthus mollis Heliopsis helianthoides Lupinus perennis Monarda punctata Opuntia humifusa Penstemon digitalis Pycnanthemum tenuifolium Ratibida spp. Rudbeckia spp. Solidago spp. Vernonia letermannii Viola pedata Moist Meadow Perennials Amsonia spp. Boltonia asteroides Chelone glabra
Conradina verticillata Eutrochium spp. Filipendula rubra Gentiana clausa Liatris novae-angliae Liatris spicata Lobelia spp. Marshallia grandiflora Monarda didyma Monarda fistulosa Phlox paniculata Physostegia virginiana Polemonium spp. Pycnanthemum muticum Scutellaria spp. Symphyotrichum spp. Vernonia noveborense
Native Meadow Plants Which Support
Butterfly, Moth and Other Insect Species
This list available upon request
Woodland species
Lindera benzoin • Young leaves and twigs can be
used to make tea, • During the revolutionary war
Americans used the berries in place of allspice and the leaves and twigs in place of tea
• Though many birds will eat the fruits of Lindera, veery and wood thrush appear to search them out
• Host for the Promethea moth and the spicebush swallowtail
Spicebush swallowtail
Plants worth growing
Corylus americana • American hazelnut
• Sun to part shade
• Seeds are great raw or cooked and feed numerous wildlife species (especially grouse, turkeys, woodpeckers)
Corylus cornuta • Beaked hazelnut
• Forest edges, part shade to shade, moist to dry soils
• This is the secondary host for the early hairstreak
Plants worth growing
Corylus americana
Alnus spp. (Alder) Aronia spp. (Chokeberry) Gaylussacia brachycera (Box
huckleberry) Rhododendron spp. Rhus spp. (Sumac) Salix spp. (Willow) Swida spp. (Dogwood) Ulmus spp. (Elm) Viburnum spp. Campsis radicans (Trumpet creeper) Isotrema macrophyllus (Dutchmen’s
pipe) Vitis spp. (Grape)
Other Great Understory Woodies
Huckleberry sphinx Gaylussacia brachycera
Viburnum nudum
• Planting for wildlife can be complicated but there are a number of simple steps that anyone can take to make improvements in their garden
• Plant more natives
• Remove invasives
• Ensure sources of water
• Provide shelter/nesting sights
The Simple Message
Huckleberry sphinx
Hummingbird clearwing
Gaylussacia brachycera
Viburnum nudum
Pipevine swallowtail
Isotrema macrophyllus
Aronia spp., Amelanchier spp. and Vaccinium spp.
• Let’s kill two birds with one stone by both removing invasive species and planting pollinator friendly native species
• All three above species are edible to humans and pollinators alike
• They all bloom in the spring, fruit in the summer, and flame in the fall
• They all act as host species for important wildlife
• They are all easy to grow and…
• They all look fabulous in the fall (and other times as well)!
“Burning bush”
Amelanchier canadensis
Aronia melanocarpa
Questions?
Dan Jaffe
Photo credits • Massachusetts Butterfly Club: A
Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association
• Wikipedia • Massachusetts Division of
Fisheries and Wildlife Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Wildflower.org)
Additional Reading
• Attracting Native Pollinators. The Xerces Society Guide • The Book of Field & Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and
Wildflowers of Eastern North America. John Eastman. • The Book of Forest and Thicket: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of Eastern
North America. John Eastman. • The Book of Swamp & Bog: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of Eastern
Freshwater Wetlands. John Eastman. • Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native
Plants. Douglas W. Tallamy. • Growing and Propagating Wildflowers. William Cullina. • Massachusetts List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern
Species. Mass.gov • Native Ferns, Mosses, and Grasses. William Cullina. • Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. William Cullina. • The Natural Habitat Garden. Ken Druse. • The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition. Rick Darke.