This outstanding article related to #NativePlants has many useful points for preparing for the next growing season and improving the #environment in general. I'll pull out some main ideas in a threaded series this week.
First up: Insects are the primary conduits for energy to get from plants to animals. And lowly caterpillars turn out to be the most important.
Our job, gardeners, is to plant more caterpillar food!
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Per the article☝️, the population of American birds has declined by 30% since the 1970s. To help, you must support the bugs that the birds need to reproduce. But only 14% of #NativePlants generate 90% of the yummy caterpillars that drive food webs!
So are you planting these?
At the link provided, you can pull up a list of what *you* need to plant in your ecoregion. Scroll down and click on your list.
[Edit: Updated link, added hashtags]
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#HabitatGardening #Gardening #Environment #Conservation #Birds #Biodiversity #Science
https://www.nwf.org/Native-Plant-Habitats/Plant-Native/Why-Native/Keystone-Plants-by-Ecoregion
When I pulled up the list ☝️for my ecoregion, I was very surprised.
The best things for me to plant/support are:
🦋 Two species of Oaks
🦋 Blueberries, Plums, Cherries
🦋 Certain Sunflowers and Asters
These could drastically improve #biodiversity in my garden and help build back bird populations!
I will be adjusting my plans for Spring planting accordingly. Please join me.
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#Gardening #Environment #Birds #Science #Nature #ScienceMastodon
More on #biodiversity and #birds: Even though butterflies and moths can be seen on any flower, their caterpillars specialize on *particular* plants. They need your help to get the #NativePlants that they consume.
🦋 See the site below for plants for your area (N.A. only for now).
🦋 One thing anyone can do is to make sure there are leaves under trees for Winter/Spring development of caterpillars.
⬆️ More caterpillars more birds! ⬆️
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Joe Wynne 🌻🚗⛰️
Red_Shirt_no2