Your Yard is Your Pollinator Garden!

There is a growing buzz about pollinator gardens, and more and more people are joining the Pollinator Pathway. That’s great news for pollinators, who face growing threats to their survival. When we think about pollinators and pollinator gardens what comes to mind is the showy flowers where we are most likely to personally see these wonderful bees, butterflies, birds (including hummingbirds) and other magical creatures. But without the host plants that pollinators need to complete their full life cycle, and without the habitat conditions they need to survive – and thrive, they will never make it to the showy flowers at all. The truth is that all of the corners of your yard, and all of the ways you maintain your space are intertwined in their importance for pollinator health. Along with incorporating those showy, nectar rich flowers that are certain to make for great pollinator photo ops, be sure to consider the following elements as equally, and sometimes even more important to your Pollinator Paradise! (Continue Reading by Clicking Below)

Hedgerows - What They Are And Why You Need to Plant One Today -

A hedgerow is a beautiful, beneficial and resilient addition to your yard, it can make the living world around you come alive. Have you ever seen pictures of farm fields in England or elsewhere in Europe that have trees and shrubs growing around the edges of the pasture or crops? These borders are hedgerows, a strip of densely planted trees, shrubs and other plants to form a living border.

A hedgerow is not the same thing as a hedge! For example, it is common to see a row of arborvitaes planted as a screen. This is a hedge, not a hedgerow. A true hedgerow features multiple plant species, often including a mix of shrubs and even small trees. Flowering perennials are often incorporated at the edges. Hedgerows are not one linear section of plants but rather are staggered plantings in two to three rows often stretching to as much as six to ten or more feet wide. How you place and stagger the plants is really up to you. Some people place the tallest plants at the back while others place them in the middle. What is important is to select a diverse array of plants that can thrive in similar growing conditions and that offer an array of wildlife benefits.

Hedgerows were historically planted as barriers between fields, and as tools to keep livestock contained. But in recent years they have broken onto the scene of even fine garden design. Often located at the edges of properties they allow naturalistic design to be incorporated even into more formal landscapes. More importantly though, ecologists are embracing them as valuable ecosystems in their own right. In a human-dominated world, they serve as critical havens, corridors and connectors for wildlife. These densely planted spaces, often at the edges and connection points between properties offer shelter, cover, nesting sites and safe crossing sites for all sorts of wild visitors. When you build these hedgerows from native plants you also support pollinators, songbirds and other beneficial creatures with essential food sources in a time of shrinking natural resources. There is an old saying "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" - we think a better expression would be "Healthy Hedgerows Build Back Vital Connections in Resilient Communities". Maybe not as catchy, but certainly more timely.

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Prickly Ed's Cactus Patch

 6 Barneyville Road,

Barrington, RI 02806-2715

(401) 248-4785

Please note, use the address above for mailing or for GPS but the Plant Farm Stand/Native Plant Emporium is located in Swansea, MA directly next door to the address listed above. Just look for the flurry of activity and the driveway to the big red barn.