Stopping Slugs There are places on this Earth that support slugs and snails that are large enough to smother, with their slime, nestling birds in their nest. Most of us, however, only get to complain about our triflingly tiny, inch-long species as they decimate seedling beds and feast in our vegetable gardens. It is when […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Jan 2004)"

Confrontation with Dow’s Confront While compost is usually seen as a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers, many communities were surprised to find that their local compost supplies were contaminated with the herbicide clopyralid, making compost toxic to many plants, including asters and goldenrods. Clopyralid, the active ingredient in Dow Chemical’s herbicide Confront, is mobile in […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Nov 2003)"

Martha discovers Natural Landscaping with Natives!! The July 2003 issue of Martha Stewart Living, had a very complementary article on Lorrie Otto and her native garden in Milwaukee with excellent photographs. It included the contact information for all the Wild Ones chapters (except South Carolina’s Foothills Chapter; did they run out of space?). I wonder […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Sept 2003)"

Dune Restoration Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge in northern California has a great diversity of wetland habitats in and adjacent to the Bay: seasonal wetlands, salt marsh, tidal mud flats and channels, open water, and uplands. The refuge exists primarily to protect wetland habitats for migratory birds that stop over by the hundreds of thousands […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2003)"

Ecoregions and Robert Bailey of the U.S. Forest Service Every now and then I leaf through past issues of the Wild Ones Journal (which you can do easily if you put all your past issues in 3-ring binders on publication hangers, available from Donna VanBeucken), and revisit an issue that impresses the socks off me. […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (May 2003)"

Making Friends and Influencing People Reeser Manley, who teaches landscape horticulture at the University of Maine in Orono, is launching an interesting research project in collaboration with Marjorie Peronto, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Horticulturist. Peronto and Manley believe, “Horticulturists are becoming increasingly interested in creating regionally unique landscapes that are environmentally friendly, landscapes that […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (March 2003)"

Kentucky Native Plant Symposium Portia Brown, Louisville Kentucky Chapter and secretary of the national Wild Ones Board of Directors, reports back from the Kentucky Native Plant Symposium that wild Ones Natural Landscapers was recognized favorably in several contexts. The symposium included federal, state, and local agencies as well as companies that are involved in some […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Nov 2002)"

Some backyard visits in Columbus, Ohio During the recent Wild Ones annual meeting and conference in Columbus, Ohio, Wild Ones Vice-President Mariette Nowak visited with several members of the Columbus Chapter who have designed and planted their yards specifically to attract birds and wildlife. Marty and Craig Preston, charter members of the chapter, have little […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Sept 2002)"

Dandelion: Friend or foe? It seems that the lowly and much maligned, alien dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) does benefit the soil in which it grows. It prefers to root in decalcified, poor soil. Its strong taproot then breaks into the soil and, from below the hard pan, brings up calcium and other minerals, which become available […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2002)"