where the wild things are: designing for pollinators

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 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 can we really do? • SCALE means everything

There is great power in large numbers of people making small changes


• 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


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


• 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


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)


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)


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


Corylus americana • American hazelnut


• 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


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

[email protected]

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)

mailto:[email protected]

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.

where the wild things are: designing for pollinators

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