The Power of One: A GreenBridges™ Story

by Debbie Boutelier

(Editors’ note: This article originally appeared in a recent HSA newsletter. It has been edited for clarity for this post.)

In a recent GreenBridges™ presentation, I mentioned the power of one several times. I’d like to share a short story about how the power of one worked in my GreenBridges™ garden. My garden was certified a number of years ago, and I have been slowly incorporating more native plants into my landscape. (We all NEED a reason to buy more plants, right???) 

When COVID hit, and we all had to stay home more, I decided it was time to kick my garden projects into full speed and actually complete those projects that had been in the planning stage for a while. (I’m not going to admit how long they were in the planning stage, so don’t ask!) I made a pledge to myself at that time that at least 90% of the plant material to finish these projects would be natives. I knew a lot of our local natives, but it was so much fun researching the lesser known species and then actually finding them. 

Fast forward to this past spring. When the weather started warming up, I noticed more pollinators busy in the garden collecting nectar from the early blooming plants. THEN, I noticed the number of butterflies that were enjoying my garden. Oh my gosh, for several weeks, I would go out into the garden and literally feel like I was in a butterfly house at a botanical garden! The butterflies swarmed around me as I worked in the beds. It made my heart so happy! I wish I had made a video, but I was living in the moment. There were different swallowtails, gulf fritillaries, skippers, hairstreaks, Eastern tailed-blues, sulfurs, American painted ladies, viceroys, buckeyes, and some I did not recognize. I enjoyed their presence immensely. Even though that period was totally glorious, I still have good numbers of the winged beauties visiting daily. 

My granddaughter and I enjoyed raising swallowtail and gulf fritillary caterpillars this summer. We  released 47 swallowtails and nine fritillaries. The swallowtails slowed down after having eaten every morsel of parsley, dill, and fennel in my garden. I saw more fritillaries at that time of the season as they voraciously attacked the passionvine. By the end of the summer, those vines were leafless, but that’s fine with me. I know they will be back next year to provide for the new generations.

I also need to mention the bees. They have also immensely enjoyed the bounty in the garden. Earlier in the season, my granddaughter and I stood under the Vitex trees while they were blooming and listened to the buzzing. The trees were alive with movement and sound! Even though the Vitex agnus-castus is not native to our country, it is still welcome in my garden for the amount of nectar it provides for the winged visitors.

Though just about over, this has been a spectacular gardening season. I truly believe that each of us can make a difference right where we are. The effort is so worth it!

It is easy to get your garden to be a certified GreenBridges™ garden. The application is on The Herb Society of America website: https://www.herbsociety.org/get-involved/greenbridges-initiative.html  Just answer a few questions and take a few pictures to send with the application. We are actively building green bridges across communities, towns, cities, regions, and the entire country. Let your power of one join with the rest to make a huge difference for our native plants and pollinators.

Photo Credits: 1) Pipevine swallowtail (Alabama Butterfly Atlas); 2) Monarch butterfly caterpillar (Christopher Upton, US National Arboretum); 3) Gulf fritillary (TexasEagle, CC BY-NC 2.0); 4) Bee on Echinacea flower (Christopher Upton, US National Arboretum).

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Debbie Boutelier is The Herb Society of America’s GreenBridges™ Chair and HSA Past President. She is an Alabama Advanced Master Gardener and has studied the medicinal uses of herbs for many years, completing a three-year intensive study of the medicinal aspect of herbs at the Appalachian Center of Natural Health. Debbie now teaches nationally and presents seminars and workshops on the many aspects of herbs, organic gardening, nutrition, and other garden related topics. Debbie’s herb passion has led to the creation of her small cottage herb business, Rooted in Thyme Apothecary.

What Can One Person Do?

By Bonnie Porterfield

As you drive along State Rt. 91 in Hudson, Ohio, you pass a community park, Darrow Road Park. As long as I’ve lived in Hudson (38 years), it’s just been there, nothing really to look at. An occasional pick up football game on the lawn near the parking lot and a few people using a trail, but nothing more notable, until this past year, when I noticed a sign posted near the parking lot with a picture of a beautiful meadow.

Around the same time, our local garden club put together member garden visits with limited numbers of attendees due to Covid. The featured garden that piqued my interest was a pollinator-friendly garden. What an inspiration! The owner had transformed her whole yard into a haven for all kinds of pollinators using native plants, trees, and shrubs. During the tour, she mentioned the Friends of Hudson Parks (FOHP) and described what they were doing with the Darrow Road Park to restore it as a pollinator meadow. This led me to the FOHP’s website for further information.

As it turns out, there was one woman with a strong interest in pollinators that got the ball rolling. She had attended programs by the Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association in 2019, as well as visited some previously restored native habitats. These were the inspiration for her idea of transforming Darrow Road Park into a more pollinator-friendly meadow that she brought before the Hudson Park Board. Her perseverance with the Park Board proved successful! This, in turn, led to a collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Private Land Division, the Hudson Park Board, and Friends of Hudson Parks.

After much work behind the scenes, the restoration of this 6-acre park began in June 2020, with the first phase consisting of removing native spring flowering plants. These plants found a temporary home in local gardens to be returned to the newly restored meadow in the spring of 2021.

During the following month, large woody invasive trees and shrubs, along with invasive grasses, were removed. FOHP members and community volunteers gathered in August and dug out hundreds of native plants amongst the invasive weeds and moved them to the Hudson Springs Park Monarch Waystation Garden. FOHP members also found monarch eggs in the field, which they hatched off site, and returned them to the milkweed plants at the Monarch Waystation Garden. Many of these eggs became caterpillars, formed chrysalises, and emerged to join the migration south.

US Fish and Wildlife biologists removed the remaining weeds and cold season grasses in August and September. Then in October, they tilled the meadow for late fall/early winter seeding. After the first frost, the meadow was “frost seeded” by the USFW biologist. (For a description of frost seeding, click here.) In early spring 2021, the field was mowed to cut back invasive grasses and to encourage native plant root growth. First growth from the 2020 frost seeding should be well under way. Since this is a 3-year project, the meadow will be managed under the direction of the USFW biologist.

Restoring this area to a more pollinator-friendly site will increase wildlife biodiversity and provide a beautiful meadow for wildlife and the surrounding community. In the future, as I drive past this park, I will enjoy the beauty of this new pollinator meadow and realize that one woman, with a group of like-minded individuals, can make a difference in our communities by bringing man and nature together to create amazing Green Bridges.

To learn more about The Herb Society of America’s GreenBridges™ Initiative, go to https://www.herbsociety.org/explore/hsa-conservation/greenbridges-initiative/greenbridges-initiative.html.

Photo Credits: 1) Darrow Road Park Projected Meadow sign; 2) Darrow Road Park “meadow” prior to June 2020; 3) Monarch Way Station sign. All photos courtesy of the author.

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Bonnie Porterfield is a forty year Life Member of The Herb Society of America and a member of the Western Reserve Unit.  She has served in many roles during that time including two terms as Great Lakes District Delegate, Unit Chair, Co-Chair of the Western Reserve Unit’s first symposium and member of the GreenBridges™ and Library Advisory Committees.  She is an avid herb gardener, reader, learner and supporter of local efforts in reestablishing natural areas that promote native plantings.

People, Plants & Pollinators: The Herbal Connection

by Debbie Boutelier, Past President of Herb Society of America & GreenBridges^TM Chair

As people we connect with other people, places and things every day. We have powerful relationship connections that we don’t even think about. But, these essential connections nurture our emotional and physical health. We need our connections.

Nature is an important connection we may not think about  – the sun coming up in the morning, the birds singing as you walk to work, the foods you eat, the mosquito buzzing around your head, the flowers that smell so nice in your yard, and so on. These connections, especially among people, plants and pollinators are crucial to our very existence. We must nurture them so they – and we — will flourish.

Until recently many people considered insects to be pests. But they are so much more: they are pollinators and without one-third of the world’s crop production would disappear.  Bees and butterflies are the most commonly known pollinators but wasps, flies, moths, ants, beetles, hummingbirds and other birds and even bats are responsible for pollinating plants. Every time one of these creatures visits a flower to gather nectar, they also gather pollen which they move from plant to plant as they forage. Plants and pollinators need each other.

 

People need the plant-pollinator connection for food. And so, people must nurture plants and pollinators to perpetuate the cycle and help all members flourish. There are easy things each person can do to support this successful connection.

• Cultivate a native plant. The most widely accepted native plant definition classifies native plants as species growing in the United States before European settlement. HSA’s unique perspective is herbs, so we advocate incorporating native herbs in your gardens.  Native herbs offer a multitude of uses and advantages. In addition to the nectar, many herbs also serve as a host plant to provide food for insect larva. Native herb plants come in all sizes: trees, shrubs, garden plants and even groundcovers. An abundant and diverse array of flowering plants is the most important element of a quality pollinator habitat. Native plants are considered the best choice because of their abundance of nectar and pollen in addition to being low-maintenance, generally pest-free, drought-tolerant, erosion-control, sources of food and shelter for wildlife and naturally beautiful.
• Choose plants that will bloom over a long period. Have some plants that bloom early, some mid-season and some late season to provide pollinators with a continuous food supply. Don’t be in a hurry to clean up your garden in the fall. Leave the seed heads to provide food over the winter.
• Provide watering stations. Fill a shallow container with fresh water for the birds and other pollinators year round.
• Shrink the size of your lawn. Plant native trees and shrubs in large beds to support pollinators and to reduce the workload of maintaining a large lawn.
• Reduce the chemical pesticides and herbicides used on your yard or consider going organic. Not only will the pollinators benefit, but so will the children and pets. A healthy garden with the appropriate plant species and an abundance of pollinators will support natural beneficial insects—reducing the need for pest control.

• Consider getting your yard certified as a GreenBridges^TM garden. The Herb Society of America offers our GreenBridges^TM program to create opportunities for the safe passage of plants and pollinators. Visit the website at herbsociety.org for more information and an application. Once your garden is certified as a GreenBridges^TM garden, you will receive a plaque for your garden, a certificate, newsletters with information about native herbs, and have access to a member’s only Facebook page.

Together we can create a network of GreenBridges^TM gardens across the country that will nurture the people, plant and pollinator connections that we strive to protect. From the small garden of containers on a patio to the large home garden, every garden is important in the network and can offer respite, food and water to the pollinators and plants.

New Signs Announce GreenBridges Garden Certification

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

Among the various things I am planting in my garden this year is a GreenBridges Garden Certification sign. It’s attention-getting and, I hope, will spark discussion of its meaning. That way I can educate others on the importance of bees and other pollinators. And, maybe even inspire them to choose pollinator-friendly plants in their gardens.

The 8.5- by 11-inch signs — developed by HSA’s editor/designer Brent Dewitt — are durable all-weather PVC. Carrying the new logo, these colorful signs are included in membership to to GreenBridges Certification.

The GreenBridges Program encourages native, pollinator-friendly gardens that offer safe passage and help avoid habitat fragmentation. Each GreenBridges garden is a link in the chain across the nation, providing safe movement for the plants and pollinators that help maintain healthy ecosystems.

Call me a bee-vangelist and I’ll wear the label proudly. While honey is a sweet product of bees, these busy little guys are important to agriculture as a whole. That’s because more than two-thirds of the food we eat depends on their role as pollinators. Alas, many bees, butterflies and other pollinators are suffering from loss of wildflower habitat, pesticide poisoning, and more. Imagine what that could mean to our food supply?!

Can’t imagine? Just google it and you’ll find more than you can read over lunch.

To qualify for the GreenBridges Program (and receive the sign) I’m saying “good-bye” to the wisteria vine that’s hiding my yellow siding and amping up my coneflower collection. When that’s in place I’ll fill in the HSA application with a description of my gardens and garden practices, pay a fee, join the movement and feel good.