It was a massacre. The neighborhood watched in horror as a butcher with a chain saw started hacking down the 150 year old trees with no safety ropes and no turf protectors in the most dangerous way possible. Giant tree limbs were allowed to freefall on our houses, in our gardens, and on our cable […]

My beautiful wildlife garden is a bit behind this year, but I can always count on having a healthy population of Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies.  The only host plants for this lovely creature are various species of Aristolochia.   Dutchman’s Pipevine (A. macrophylla) is native to the Eastern United States and is a fast-growing perennial vine […]

Once again Mother Nature provides.  I was back at the pond the other evening to observe if the Alligator was indeed gone, as I hadn’t seen him for days.  I watched for a while and then noticed obvious movement of the lily pads, a sign of something larger than a tadpole or a small fish.  […]

It was a typical June afternoon on the California Central Coast when I visited the Oceano Campground’s Nature Center, with sun trying to burn off the morning’s coastal fog. I wanted to see what new things were blooming for June.  I was not disappointed.  Almost immediately, I saw a whole border of the Hooker’s Evening […]

During my recent visit to Albuquerque to speak at a conference, I got the opportunity to visit the Rio Grande Nature Center, which has a wonderful native plant  demonstration garden managed by a dedicated group of volunteers. Earlier that morning, I had gone to the Albuquerque Botanic Garden because I was hoping to see some […]

  A healthy wildlife garden has about a gazillion life forms in it, and you will never see most of them — just their effects. I am speaking of the trillions and trillions of soil microbes that are needed for good growth in any garden. Microbes are not “germs!”  Microbes are simply microscopic life.  And microbes […]

I complain, I whine, I scruff my feet on the weeds, I do back-of-the-envelope math that would indicate that I will finish mulching the Japanese stiltgrass sometime in 2018, and at the end of the day, I decide it’s too hot and muggy to do anything and go back inside to the air conditioning. It […]

The other day I noticed that an upper part of my young oak was defoliated.  I grabbed the camera and sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed. Southern Pink-striped Oakworms (Anisota virginiensis pellucida) were busy noshing away.  Though young, the tree is big enough to withstand some defoliation. Oakworms aren’t worms at all, but caterpillars of […]

Like any category of plant, native vines have a place in the ecosystem. By their very nature – crawling, climbing, clinging – vines can be a bit aggressive. Understanding how they grow and what they can do for you is essential to ensuring that the plant is a happy and welcome part of your wildlife […]