typhlonectes: How To Turn Your Yard Into an Ecological Oasis  Replacing grass with even a few p

typhlonectes: How To Turn Your Yard Into an Ecological Oasis  Replacing grass with even a few plants native to your region can save insects and the ecosystems that depend on them. For years, Toni Genberg assumed a healthy garden was a healthy habitat. That’s how she approached the landscaping around her home in northern Virginia. On trips to the local gardening center, she would privilege aesthetics, buying whatever looked pretty, “which was typically ornamental or invasive plants,” she says. Then, in 2014, Genberg attended a talk by Doug Tallamy, a professor of entomology at the University of Delaware. “I learned I was actually starving our wildlife,” she says.The problem, Tallamy explained, is with the picky diets of plant-eating insects. Most of these bugs—roughly 90%—eat and reproduce on only certain native plant species, specifically those with whom they share an evolutionary history. Without these carefully tuned adaptations of specific plants, insect populations suffer. And because bugs themselves are a key food source for birds, rodents, amphibians, and other critters, that dependence on natives—and the consequences of not having them—works its way up the food chain. Over time, landscapes that consist mainly of invasive or nonnative plants could become dead zones…Read more: https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/how-turn-your-yard-ecological-oasis Whole article is great, makes some excellent points, including a discussion on lawns.Just wanted to throw in this native Carex as a lawn alternative - Carex pensylvanica.Here’s what Hoffman Nursery says about it:“Pennsylvania Sedge has narrow, low-growing foliage that forms a lush green carpet. Our most popular native sedge, it makes a fine lawn alternative or ground cover. It spreads slowly by rhizomes and is most effective when planted in masses. Carex pensylvanica is perfect for woodland gardens or shady areas; however, it doesn’t mind being planted in sun in cooler climates if it gets sufficient moisture. This petite, eight-inch beauty flowers in May.Carex pensylvanica is a great pollinator plant, supporting several caterpillar species. In the wild, it provides shelter and nesting material for birds. It is semi-evergreen and drought tolerant once established. This graceful little sedge is found in meadows or forest floors from Maine to Alabama and into the Dakotas. It performs best where cool summer nights provide relief from heat.“Now, it can’t take foot traffic quite like grass, but also it doesn’t require mowing, except maybe once a year. Part shade to shade. Zones 4-8.Native range, more info, and more pictures from Prairie Moon -- source link

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