you have to water, fend off insects, and be vigilant about removing invasive plants. But in the interest of having your garden and your free time, too, perhaps letting nature lend a hand in your maintenance chores and not striving for per- fection are effective guidelines for growing a schoolyard garden. Strategies for native plant gar-


dening include selecting plants that are well suited for your environment, judicious pruning and weeding, and using time-honored tech- niques to tamp down the enthusiasm of over-zeal- ous insects. Choosing native plants that act as hosts for native insects and building bug hotels keep your local ecology in balance and make learning more memo- rable for your students.


Grow native plants The single biggest impact your school garden could have on your summer plans is established when you plant your garden in the first place. Growing vegetables is a sum- mer-long commitment which co uld quickly lead to total disaster if your vegetables get too desiccated. However, selecting natives that border on xeriscape (needing little to no irrigation) gives you the advantage of nurturing plants that are well-adapted to your climate. With climate change impacting gardens’ health, summer can vacillate between wet to really dry. A semi-arid plant can tolerate a little too much rain, but moisture-loving plants will die if deprived of water. Of course, irrigation systems and rain gardens can broaden the range of plants you choose, but let’s assume you don’t have those resources. The kinds of native plants that will look as happy to see you in Sep- tember as they did in June are those that have adapted over thousands of years to grow in your region. While you are enjoying your first cup of hot cocoa this fall, spend time researching which xeriscape perennial native plants thrive best in the microclimate of your school. But the exuberant


growth of a native plant will not go noticed by you alone. Little chew marks and delicate holes riddling the leaves of your plants are evidence of a wider, more profound reason to garden with natives. Your oasis of greenery is a supermarket for native insects in search of a decent meal in their desperate bids for survival. While it may at first seem undesirable to have plants that attract insects, a healthy garden made of diverse plant life will show limited insect damage. Birds, spiders, and


Page 4


other insects will lurk in your foliage feeding on your herba- ceous insects, and before long, you will support a complex food web of life. Creating food sources for our native insects is of eco- logical importance on a massive scale. Sadly, insects are experiencing an apocalypse of chilling proportions. In the last 25 years scientists have witnessed a reduction of flying insects as high as 76%.2 The loss of food sources is one of the primary reasons. Very few native insects can feed on lawn plants and ornamen- tal trees and shrubs. And they certainly don’t recog- nize fancy Asian plants and colorful cultivars that have been bred to sport outrageous leaf patterns and colors. Research done at the University of Delaware has shown that nativars (cultivars of


native plants) whose leaves were changed to


red, blue, or purple showed a three- to five-fold decrease of insect foraging.3 Recent studies by Annie White of the University of Vermont also indicate that most native insects prefer the flowers of native species over cultivars.4 Further studies are underway, but it appears that the hybridization of native plants to include favorable characteristics such as mul- tiple flowers, extra petals, and longer bloom times genetically comes at the expense of nectar and pollen production. Having plentiful insects in your garden from your stu-


dents’ perspective is more exciting, too. They will be signifi- cantly more engaged in learning about the food web if they are out in your garden hunting for examples of predation


Cathy’s A-list perennials My greatest hits list of 10 native flowering


as opposed to listening to you describe it inside the class- room. All you need is a hand lens and bug net and your students will be memorably transported into the world of the small and its complex feeding interrelationships.


perennials that grow well in the variable rainfall of


a sunny, dry meadow in Northeastern America include Penstemon digitalis (Foxglove Beardtongue), Baptisia


australis (Blue Wild Indigo), Cassia hebecarpa (Wild Senna), Echinacea purpurea (Purple coneflower), Pycnanthemum virginianum (Virginia Mountain-mint), Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan), Vernonia noveboracensis (New York


Ironweed), Helenium autumnale (Common Sneezeweed), Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England Aster), and Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Milkweed). These hardy, fast-growing perennials perform magnificently year after year and can hold their own with little to no care.


Tough love and timely haircuts Part of the secret to a low-maintenance native garden is your attitude


towards the garden. Seeing yourself as a guardian rather than a gardener will keep you from fruitlessly striving for a


manicured garden of straight lines and perfect specimens. Holding back from weeding every unexpected seedling


from your garden will give nature time to do what


she does best: establish a flowing symphony of plants in a design that is a hundred times more beautiful than you could have planned. If you let your garden express itself naturally until you can determine what nature has in store for you,


Green Teacher 121


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52