Going Native: 3 Easy Actions with Ecological Landscape Design’s Missy Fabel
Going Native is our gardening series highlighting the contribution of native plants to building resilient landscapes. MyRye.com will introduce you to native plant experts that will tell you ways to get started with a small garden patch, a complete property or just a few garden containers.
Today we speak with Missy Fabel of Ecological Landscape Design.
MyRye.com: What are three of the easiest things every homeowner can do on their property to lower their environmental impact and create a welcoming environment for pollinators and other wildlife?
Fabel: Pesticide and habitat loss are perhaps the biggest drivers of insect and songbird decline as well as overall poor ecosystem health. Three easy ways to improve the health of your landscape is to eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides, leave your leaves and plant a diversity of native plants (and shrink your lawn in the process).
- Do not use pesticides or herbicides
- Leave the leaves. Many insects and pollinators overwinter in the leaf litter. Leaving your leaves in garden beds and under trees provides critical habitat as well as improves soil health.
- Plant native species. Choose a variety of native trees, shrubs and flowers to provide nectar and pollen from spring through fall. Skip the cutback in the fall, letting seeds remain for overwintering birds and small mammals and hollow stems for overwintering insects.
- Reduce lawn and remove competitive non-native species that cause environmental harm.
Also read: Going Native: Ecological Landscape Design’s Missy Fabel and our Going Native series.
