Conservation Gardener

The Importance of Knowing your Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:02:00 +0000

Every Monday is like Christmas at my house. That's when I get to pick up my weekly box of fresh vegetables from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

I love this model of farming!

Plus, I've had the opportunity to meet my farmers. Last summer, the cooperative hosted many gatherings at the individual farms. We could go to the farm and see how things were done and meet our farmers. I could ask questions, have conversations, and learn a lot about organic farming. You certainly can't do that at the grocery store!

Read the rest of this article at Birds and Blooms Blog The Importance of Knowing Your Farmer

Doug Tallamy is Bringing Nature Home

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:57:00 +0000

For many wildlife gardeners Doug Tallamy wrote the bible of gardening for life. Bringing Nature Home is a ground-breaking book that has promoted a new paradigm for gardeners around the country.

In Bringing Nature Home Tallamy has laid out the best argument for the use of more native plants in our landscapes that I have ever seen. If we want to create the most welcoming habitats in our gardens for wildlife we must increase the proportion of native plants.

Invasive Species Awareness Week

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:19:00 +0000

Is English Ivy Swallowing up your house like the photo above? Are you fighting a losing battle trying to control the Chinese Wisteria smothering your arbor? How about that Bishop’s Weed that kills off your spring ephemerals?

All of these are invasive plants. And, because this week is National Invasive Species Awareness week, I thought it would be good to pass along some great resources to help you deal with these plants in your garden....
Invasive Species Awareness Week

Tree Swallows Return

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:15:00 +0000

Tree Swallows Return

Tree Swallows are one of my favorite birds because they are one of the earliest birds to return from their southern wintering grounds. When I see my first Tree Swallow I truly know that the warmer, sunnier days of spring really are coming.

How to Attract Monarch Butterflies to Your Wildlife Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:38:00 +0000

I was thrilled to see my first Monarch Butterfly of the season this year while in Austin, TX to visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. And it reminded me that I want to create a more welcoming habitat for Monarchs in my Pennsylvania wildlife garden this year.

It’s really easy to welcome Monarch butterflies into your wildlife habitat garden by adding more milkweed for them, because female Monarchs will only lay their eggs on milkweed plants. It’s the only plant that the caterpillars can eat.

How to Attract Monarch Butterflies to Your Wildlife Garden

Doug Tallamy on Invasive Plants

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:17:00 +0000

We’ve been talking a lot about invasive plants due to a recent rash of research proclaiming that invasive plants are actually beneficial.

This has given nurseries the idea that they can continue selling these plants with no responsibility for any damage to natural ecosystems because “the scientists gave them permission.”

Some nurseries have even taken this a step further and are gleefully saying “See, Doug Tallamy was wrong about that whole native plant business.”

Doug Tallamy on Invasive Plants

The Early Spring Wildlife Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:05:00 +0000

So many exciting happenings in the early spring wildlife garden! Tree frogs are singing, birds are getting ready to nest, butterflies and native pollinators will soon emerge. Are you ready?

The Early Spring Wildlife Garden

Wildlife Gardening with Pat Sutton

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:56:00 +0000

South Jersey area people, don't miss this opportunity to learn to create a wildlife habitat garden that will attract hummingbirds, butterflies, dragonflies and birds. Pat Sutton is an excellent teacher and her workshops are not to be missed!

Wildlife Gardening with Pat Sutton

Welcome Northeast Wildlife Gardeners

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:32:00 +0000

Welcome Northeast Wildlife Gardeners

That's my first post as the Northeast Reporter for the brand new Birds and Blooms blog. I am so very excited about this opportunity to talk about birding and wildlife gardening with this new audience. Drop by and let me know what you think!

Embarking on a New Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:29:00 +0000

It is my great honor to have been chosen as one of six regional reporters for the new Birds and Blooms Blog. I'm really excited about this opportunity to connect with such a large audience with an interest in creating a welcoming wildlife garden to attract birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife to your garden.
Find out all the details at Ecosystem Gardening on Birds and Blooms Blog. Come on by and introduce yourself!

Where to Find Me Now

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 06:44:00 +0000

Ecosystem Gardening is dedicated to teaching you to garden sustainably, conserve natural resources, and create welcoming habitats for wildlife so that you will attract more birds, butterflies, pollinators, insects, and other wildlife.

Beautiful Wildlife Garden--Redefining Beautiful.
Learning to see the beauty of nature and wildlife in our gardens and the world around us.

Find me on Twitter @CB4wildlife

And my Facebook Page: Ecosystem Gardening

I've Moved

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:02:00 +0000

All further updates to this site can be found at Ecosystem Gardening

Vacation, a Superfund Cleanup Site, No Internet Access

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Life has been so hectic lately. First, my laptop had to go the the black-hole hell of the Geek Squad support hospital because my wireless card had stopped working. After being without it for three weeks, an inept but apologetic employee called to tell me that while my laptop was back from the black hole, somehow they had managed to drop it, breaking the screen, and now needed my permission to repair the damage that they had caused. What? So now I've been without it for another week with no idea when it will be returned in working condition to me. Seems like really poor customer service to me!

During this time, I was fortunate to spend a week in the mountains of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Fall migration is well under way, especially the raptor migration at Hawk Mountain with kettles of Broad-winged Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles, Coopers Hawks, warblers, and Monarch Butterflies all making their way south. The Monarch above was found while hiking up the trail to the peak of Hawk Mountain.

We stayed with friends at a house owned by their friend in Palmerton, PA, and had a great time traveling around the area and observing the wonders of migration. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that Palmerton is the site of one of the first and largest EPA Superfund Sites!

I had not planned to be offline for a week as I had gotten a USB "aircard" for the little netbook that is my computer until the Geek Squad releases my laptop from captivity. What I did not know, however, is that aircards are only useful if you're getting a phone signal. These mountains of Pennsylvania are notorious for dead zones, dropped calls, roaming unknown networks, etc. So, despite my best intentions I was offline for that period of time. It's amazing how many emails, RSS feeds, twitter posts, etc. can pile up in a week!

My travails and vacation aside, HAPPY FALL! Go out and enjoy migration and let us know what you're seeing here in the comments.

Rain Barrels make a difference

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Water conservation is a primary goal of Conservation Gardening, where we strive to manage rainwater where it falls--in your garden. Stormwater runoff creates many harmful impacts on the environment, including flooding, streambank erosion, and a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Read more about Managing Rainwater in the Conservation Garden here, and also Resources for Water Conservation for the Conservation Garden.

Rain Barrels are an excellent way to begin to practice water conservation in your garden. Watch this video to see how easy it is to install a rain barrel:

Pat Sutton Talks about Butterfly Declines

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Pat Sutton is an amazing naturalist and educator with a passion for teaching people to create welcoming habitats for wildlife in our gardens. Her own garden is a beautiful testament to this passion, as it is always full of swirling butterflies, diving hummingbirds, gorgeous Goldfinches, acrobatic dragonflies, and all manner of other life.

This year, however, Pat has noticed that butterfly numbers have declined precipitously from past years. Pat is a founding member of the North American Butterfly Association and has participated in their annual butterfly counts for more than 20 years. This years counts are showing an alarming trend to fall-offs in butterfly numbers by more than 50 percent. Watch as Pat discusses this issue:

More about Pat Sutton:

Hummingbird Migration in Full Swing

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:26:00 +0000

This is my favorite time of year. The weather is delightfully cooler, the Monarchs are migrating, and my favorite Hummingbirds gather in my yard for several days at a time before moving on to their long migration down to the tip of Florida and then across the Gulf of Mexico.

I love watching the hummingbirds territorial disputes over the feeders, and changing from juvenile plumage into the beginnings of their adult plumage, especially when the males begin to get their red throat. It is totally amazing to me that these tiny little birds can make a 600 mile flight across and Gulf of Mexico and back again each year.

The Chickadees and Tufted Titmice are back in force after their nesting season, Carolina Wrens are much more visible, and I await with anticipation the return of the White-throated Sparrows from their Boreal breeding grounds.

I was in Lewes, DE for the weekend and observed large congregations of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Little Blue Herons gathered together in the marshes. It is thrilling to see a flock of 50 or more Great Blues winging their way through the almost-nighttime sky.

I love this time of year because so many species are in motion, some going away and others coming back. Migration really is a miracle of nature, played out year after year in a continual cycle.

Favorite things of summer

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:49:00 +0000

We got over 1 1/2 inches of rain overnight, and although it is slightly cooler, it's still really humid. The sticky, sweaty, hard to breathe kind of humidity. But that did not stop several tenacious Eastern Tiger Swallowtails from spending some time in the garden today.
There is also some Black Swallowtails, some Summer Azures, and some Monarchs. Today's bird list includes Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Robin, Carolina Wren, House Finch, Mourning Dove, Rock Pigeon, Catbird, Mockingbird, and two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Yesterday there were 3 hummingbirds. It's the time of year when I'm constantly wondering if they have decided to begin their amazing migratory journey.
Still in bloom: Joe Pye, perennial sunflower, cup plant, pink phlox, white phlox, indian paintbrush, and ironweed. The goldenrod is nearing bloom but has not yet.

Goldfinch Eating Heliantus Seeds

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Well, I was asked for this photo so here it is, an American Goldfinch female eating seeds of Helianthus, native sunflowers.

Today was one of those days when I found myself enormously grateful for the rain that finally cooled off the unrelenting sticky heat. Temperature in high 90s and humidity in high 80s or 90s all week now. The kind of heat that has you all sweaty as soon as you get out of the shower. Almost makes me feel like what was the point of the shower.

I have at least 3 hummingbirds in the garden right now. One is a juvenile male who is just beginning to get his lovely red gorget. He's overflowing with testosterone and thinks that he owns all of the feeders, so he rushes around and dive-bombs any other hummer trying to get to a feeder. He can't possible protect all of them, but boy does he ever try! This show is much better than TV.

There seems to be a new hatch of Summer Azures. These are teeny blue butterflies about the size of your thumbnail. But they are all over my Eupatorium purpureum (Joe Pye Weed). They are so tiny you have to watch closely to spot them, but they are simply gorgeous!

What critters are in your garden today?

If you Build it, take two

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Sevilla Brown) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:26:00 +0000

Another example of the adaptibility of birds in finding ways to meet their needs in a human-dominated environment. This cactus wren outside Tuscon, Arizona has discovered a very smart way to get a drink and cool off.

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, (which is hot enough to feel like Arizona today) the temperature was 97 degrees in the shade with 100% humidity, which kind of feels like trying to breathe in a swimming pool.

I was lethargic, the dogs were lethargic, and so even were the hummingbirds, which normally spend a large part of the afternoon fighting over control of the feeders. It was hard to move, hard to even think.

About 8pm the sky suddenly turned black and a huge thunderstorm broke with violent wind. Trees dropped their branches all around us, but just as soon as it had swept in, it was gone. And with it the horrible heat, leaving a cooling breeze in its wake.

One gift of today was that the Goldfinches have returned from their nesting activities and are now greedily sucking down the seeds from the native sunflowers (Helianthus). They always disappear from the garden when they nest, and I am so excited when they return.