Paradigm Shift [NOT 9/7/23]

9/7/23 brightersideoflife 23
image of hummingbird about to drink from red trumpet flower
Not my picture, I'm not that skilled. Thank you Missouri Dept of Conservation for this picture.

Hi, friends! Happy Sunday! I hope your weekend is going well.

What’s rocked your world lately?

I read Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy last week and it’s still percolating through my brain.

So the main idea is that if you have a yard, you can add some native species that are keystone species. Keystone species support a fuckton of insects which support a bunch of birds. He calls this the homegrown national park, the idea that we can bring nature back in the spaces we own because most land in the US isn’t national parks/protected areas/etc.

Not gonna lie, the idea of planting things for caterpillars was such a paradigm shift for how I think about outdoors. I grew up in a condo, so outdoor space was *someone else’s problem.* When I moved to my house, my first paradigm shift was oh shit rainwater management. I did a bunch of rainscaping and now I have lovely flowers and shrubbery in the back yard. The rule for the organization I did it with was that you had to use native species or native cultivars, so that was easy. Also there’s basically no maintenance most of the year as these natives are scrappy and don’t need to be babied.

My second paradigm shift was oh shit bees. Like we all know about bee colonies collapsing, but at least in the Midwest, we have tons of native bee species that are solitary lil buzzers that wouldn’t be in a hive anyways to notice. I was watching the native flowers just covered in bumblebees, which ignored the white clover all over the lawn that the honeybees snacked on. So I did another flower section in my front yard, and I planted some goldenrod since it was described as a great end of the season pollen source when other things weren’t blooming. I had some other (not native to Missouri) flowers that bloomed in September that used to be a hot commodity for bees. Nope, not anymore. Those bees ignore them for the goldenrod about 10 feet away. That goldenrod is buzzing literally with pollinators.

So, third paradigm shift is caterpillars. Songbird populations are deceasing. Even lil scrappy ones like sparrows. We put up bird feeders and enjoy seeing them. But the issue is feeding populations vs breeding populations. And it takes a few thousand caterpillars fed to lil babies to raise them. Caterpillars are squishy little nutrient sources, they can’t feed sunflower seeds to chicks. We have gotten rid of so many trees and shrubs that host a bunch of moth and butterfly species, so the birds aren’t raising their babies nearby. And even the keystone species that remain (if you’re in the continental US, chances are high that oak species are keystones), we over-manicure lawns and get rid of the leaf litter etc that the insects need.

I very much appreciated a clear, productive way that an individual can do good things to help. Like we are told oh better recycle while knowing that our oceans are filled with plastic. So much of the environment-focused advice given to us as individuals feels like we’re trying to bail out a sinking ship while water is still filling it up.

So anyways, next project is to solar-kill a section of grass on the side of the lawn and put in more host species plants and prairie grasses.

If you are in the US and interested in seeing which plants support the most insect species, there’s a cool website in the book where you enter your zip code and it produces a list for you!

https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/Plants

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23 Comments

  2. apropos of nothing im just throwing this one out for a mate of mine

    rest in peace whilst you can man…coz one day ill die too and fuck all that peace up

  3. In New York we have this very strange ecosystem problem. I was at a party once (here we go again) where one of the attendees was with the Parks Department. I fell in love with her immediately, and I think she felt the same way about me. But we were both married, both of us to different men, so that wasn’t going to go anywhere.

    Anyway, she said that New York sidewalks are mostly lined with London plane trees. They’re very common in cities. They’re indestructible, apparently. But the problem with them is their root system is incredibly strong. So they can and will rip up gas and sewer lines, and water lines, and electrical connections.

    I forget which species she said the city was looking into planting instead, but that was a while ago, it must have been under our last competent administration, Bloomberg, so I don’t know if this was ever followed up. I know that now, to deal with the increased amount of post-Covid trash, the city has removed trash cans so that there are fewer to empty. This does not result in cleaner streets, oddly enough.

    The subways actually pulled a stunt like this. In New York you can eat and drink whatever you want underground. Supposedly liquor, tobacco, pot, heroin, this is all forbidden, but everyone ignores it because nothing is enforced. They started removing trash cans in the stations, believing that would get people to remove their trash with them. Then it would go into these disappearing sidewalk trashcans. Being the anarchic animals that we are, people just threw trash onto the tracks, which caused evermore track fires, which made service even worse than it was.

    It’s not fun living in a George Saunders short story.

    • There’s no version of reality where getting rid of trash cans would reduce trash. Deep sigh.

      A handful of high litter highway exits and entrance ramps in St Louis had trash cans added to them, with the idea that if people at a stop sign can just toss trash out the window and there’s a trash can there, they might use it. I wouldn’t say the litter is gone, but the trash cans are used so at least some people are not throwing shit indiscriminately out the window.

  4. As far as natives, I love Lonicera Sempervirens, the native US honeysuckle

    https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=d990

    It’s tough as hell, looks good, and hummingbirds love it.

    This is another native I like. It took a while to really take hold, but it’s getting good roots.

    https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=282481

    Joe Pye Weed did great from the first year I put it in, and it’s not actually weedy. Swallowtails love it.

    https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=c740

    And butterfly weed is finally getting established. It took a while, but now it seems solid. Also not really a weed, and looks great. Monarchs like it.

    https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b490

  6. Our yard is a nice mix of native plants, herbs & veggies, fruits, & hummingbird/bee attracting flowers.  I take no credit for anything other than hops & grapes.  My wife has been outside getting her yard therapy all weekend to get a break from her dad heading the wrong direction in his battle with Father Time.

  7. The Xerces Society has pretty pollinator garden signs. It lets people know what you’re trying to achieve with your landscaping and hope inspires others to do the same.

  8. I’ve made peace with the weeds in my lawn. Instead of spending time and energy I really don’t have killing them, er, weeding them out or nuking them with chemicals I’ve decided to just keep my lawn trim.

    It looks like shit compared to the putting green lawns, but I rarely need to do anything except cut it regularly. Also they are native plants including dandelions. Sometimes I see regular bees buzzing about so it helps a little. The only chemicals I use now is the weed killer on my stone walkway to keep it clear from the really stubborn weeds.

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