How to Encourage the Little Things that Run the World in Your Yard and Garden

Insects and other invertebrates like spiders, centipedes, and earthworms provide invaluable ecosystem services for free. Some decompose dead plants and animals, thus insuring the recycling of nutrients. Others pollinate. Some clean up dung and others provide soil aeration. All are a major part of the food web of nature.

For example, bees and other pollinators are essential to the reproduction of most flowering plants, including many vegetables, fruits, and nuts. I like to watch bumble bees visiting our tomato blossoms and southeastern blueberry bees pollinating our blueberry bushes. When wildflowers like ironweed, salt and pepper bush, calico aster, and purple coneflower are in bloom, bees, wasps, beetles, butterflies, and pollinating flies actively work the flowers for nectar and pollen in our butterfly garden.

Spicebush swallowtail on purple coneflower. Photo by Janeen Langley.

Native ants aerate the soil. Bessie beetles are active in the decay process and can often be found in rotting logs in shady areas. Dung beetles are fun to watch as they make a ball of animal poop to roll away to their homes. If you are lucky enough to have a pond or creek nearby, dragonflies will grace your yard. They are fierce predators. In their larval form, dragonflies eat copious amounts of mosquito larvae.

It is very important to set aside large acreages of parkland to serve as reservoirs for invertebrate diversity. In Florida, we have a conservation and recreation lands acquisition program called the Florida Forever that acts as a blueprint for conserving our precious natural resources. Florida Forever and other similar programs protect thousands of acres of habitat and can preserve natural ecosystems for generations.

However, since farmland and urban and suburban areas make up roughly 95% of our land use, it is just as important for citizens to make changes in the way we manage our yards and local parks. What we do in our own yards can make a big difference locally to our invertebrate populations. Here are three things you can do.

Spicebush caterpillar on sassafras. Photo by Donna Legare.

First, increase the percentage of native plants in your yard. Native plants have unique ecological relationships with native insects. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation reports that 96% of songbirds rear their young on insects, most of which are feeding on native plants. Attract pollinators by planting wildflowers. You can extend the season by including carefully chosen non-native flowers that extend the blooming season such as pentas, African blue basil, salvias, Mexican sunflower, and many others. Herbs like Greek oregano and rosemary are also good.

Secondly, give up pesticides or at least be super selective in how you use them. Control weeds by mowing or weed whacking with a string trimmer periodically rather than relying on herbicides. Hand weeding is good exercise!

Lastly, improve habitat. Woodland beds should have a forest floor of leaves and pine straw, as well as some areas of exposed soil for nesting non-aggressive solitary ground bees. Rotting logs and downed twigs and brush provide habitat for invertebrates. If you have a tree removed, consider leaving a small snag that will rot over time. Create brush piles here and there. Small piles can be tucked neatly under shrubbery.

A bee on a purple coneflower. Photo by Donna Legare.

I once discovered an overwintering bumble bee in an old flycatcher nest inside a large gourd. When I clean out my bluebird nest box, I place the old nest at the edge of a woodland bed on the ground. These are sometimes used by bumble bees. Areas of weak lawn, especially in the sun, may be used by non-aggressive miner bees which are usually seen in late winter or early spring in our area.

Why bother? A yard rich in invertebrates will be rich in birds and other wildlife. For me, it is very satisfying to see butterflies, moths, caterpillars, beetles, solitary wasps and bees, honey bees, bumble bees, pollinating flies, doodlebugs (ant lions), native ants, jumping spiders, crab spiders, golden silk spiders, centipedes, and all sorts of invertebrates that I cannot begin to identify in our yard. We have worked the last 27 years to increase the biodiversity of this small city lot that surrounds our home. I would encourage everyone reading this to take a more relaxed attitude about the neatness of your yard and make room for invertebrates!

Garden to Table: Lemon Scented Herbs for Tea and More

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm has an intense lemony scent, but the flavor is surprising sweeter than the scent leads you to expect. Well draining soil in a pot with part sun should keep your lemon balm growing well. Frequent harvesting will result in bushier plants. The little white flowers are very popular with bees. Lemon balm leaves are often used to flavor and decorate sorbets. They are also a nice accent with fruits and vegetable dishes.

Lemon Verbena

Of all the lemon scented herbs, lemon verbena has one of the truest lemon scents. Lemon verbena prefers full sun and well draining soil. It has a somewhat messy growth habit, but frequent harvesting will keep the plant in shape. The leaves are used for teas and to season poultry, seafood and vegetable dishes and even dessert.

Lemon Grass

Lemon grass is the lemon scented herb that gives so many Thai dishes their distinct flavor. Lemon grass is a tender perennial with bulbous stems and lemon scented leaves. Lemon grass is very drought resistant, once established, and thrives in full sun. It is a bright colored ornamental grass, growing about 3-4' in height. It can be grown in containers, but does much better when directly planted in the ground.

Sweet Lemon Mint

Makes a wonderful herb in teas, sauces, syrups or add fresh leaves to potatoes, fruit salads, soups and stuffings. Plant in full sun or light shade or sun; prefers well-drained, compost-rich soil. Best to grow in large pots— like most mints, if planted in the ground it can become invasive.

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Sweet Lemon Mint & Lemon Verbena Tea

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup of fresh sweet lemon mint leaves rinsed, lightly packed (about 20 leaves)

1/2 cup of fresh lemon verbena leaves, rinsed, lightly packed (about 10-15 leaves)

2 cups of water

METHOD

Heat water: Bring a pot of fresh water almost, but not quite to a boil.

Pour over mint and lemon verbena in tea pot: Put the mint and verbena leaves in a teapot. Pour the hot water over the leaves. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Strain into tea cups.

For a cold brew do not heat water. Steep leaves in water in the refrigerator for 8 hours.

Gardeners Can Contribute to the Health of our Streams and Lakes

Florida Native Plant Society members examine the large mulched and planted beds that slow down the flow of rainwater in Legare’s front yard. Photo by Jody Walthall.

We had a challenge when we first moved into our house, which was built on a slope and landscaped in the 1960s with large lawns, both front and back. Fortunately, the water from the road above us is blocked by a curb. All rain falling in our front yard used to run across the lawn quickly and passed under our house, along with rainwater flowing from the roof. Needless to say, our crawl space below our house was often damp and musty, and the soil was eroding in the backyard from rainwater pouring off the roof during storms.

This water passed through our back-neighbor’s property, moved across the next road, and into what used to be Tallahassee Creek, but is now a major drainage ditch running along Trescott Drive into Laguna Pond. It then passed under Centerville Road in a creek that passes along Native Nurseries’ property. Here it can overflow into a large woodland swamp. Eventually this water makes its way to Lake Lafayette and then to the headwaters of the St. Marks River, until it finally reaches Apalachee Bay. In addition, water in Lake Lafayette also finds its way through sinkholes that connect to the Floridan aquifer and Wakulla Springs. This is our watershed. Every property in Tallahassee is part of a watershed that eventually carries water to the Gulf or to our aquifer.

Meanwhile, this fast-moving water is picking up all sorts of pollutants such as fertilizer, insecticides, and herbicides, as well as pollutants from roads. This has a negative effect on invertebrates that live downstream, and eventually fish, birds, and other wildlife.

When we purchased our house over 25 years ago, we started to solve our drainage problems by slowing the flow of rainwater so that a good percentage would be soaked into the soil rather than running off. We reduced the size of our lawn, establishing large mulched and planted beds. The roots of the many trees and shrubs absorb much of the water that seeps into the ground.

A rain garden can slow the flow of water. Photo by Donna Legare.

We terraced parts of yard. We built hardly noticeable berms of soil covered by lawn that now channel the front yard water away from our house. We added gutters with downspouts and piping to divert water from the roof to appropriate spots. One downspout empties into a rain garden filled with blue flag iris, swamp milkweed, swamp mallow, cinnamon fern, Senecio, and Virginia sweetspire – all plants that can take periodic inundation. Rain gardens increase the amount of water that filters into the ground, recharging groundwater into our aquifer that supplies our drinking water.

We now have a very small lawn in the backyard, just enough to provide a surface for ‘getting about’ leading to a small woodland of native trees, shrubs, ferns, and wildflowers, all underlain by lots of leaf mulch and a pine straw path that winds through the woodland.

It’s all about slowing the flow of water and protecting our very valuable soil. Slowing the flow of runoff helps prevent pollutants such as silt, fertilizers, and pesticides from washing off your yard into storm drains and eventually into local water resources.

It is also about not using pesticides and fertilizer too often or inappropriately. Our lawn is satisfactory and blends in with the neighborhood. If you were to look closely, you would notice that it is actually a ‘meadow lawn’ – a combination of St. Augustine sod and many tiny weeds and wildflowers that are kept mowed so it looks green and serves as a healthy surface for walking upon or playing on for our children (in days bygone). I occasionally use a small amount of organic fertilizer on weak spots to encourage the sod and even use an occasional shot of herbicide to target non-native and very invasive plants such as Glechoma (creeping charlie) and running dwarf bamboo. The native, but pesky, rattlesnake weed is just mowed down with the rest of the weeds when we mow the lawn.

Although we have had very little precipitation recently, summer storms are on their way. Remember that every chemical you use on your lawn and garden can find its way into downstream bodies of water and into our aquifer. Slow the flow, limit fertilizer use, and be very careful with pesticides.

For a more in-depth explanation, read the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation publication from the Fall 2017 issue of Wings Magazine, How our Gardening Choices Affect the Health of our Waterways by Aimee Code (https://xerces.org/2018/02/22/how-our-gardening-choices-affect-the-health-of-our-waterways/).