A lot of the time, human intervention is less effective than letting nature take its own course. So, this year, why not honour Mother Nature by giving her free rein over (some, or all) of your garden?
Instead of endeavouring to achieve perfectly manicured lawns and pristine landscaping, imagine instead an oasis overgrown with beautiful flowers that support the birds, bees, and butterflies with their wild seeds and pollen - all with little watering, fussing, or fertilizing from you.
This enchanting scene can become a dreamy biodiverse reality if you commit to planting native (or, depending on where you are, climate-appropriate) plants.
The best way to attract pollinators is to select plants that will support them. Usually, this means rejecting exotic plant species from far flung countries as these won’t be recognized as food sources by the native pollinators that have grown and evolved alongside native plants.
According to Doug Tallamy, a professor of entomology at the University of Delaware and author of Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, non-native plant species disrupt the food chain and are potentially harmful to the ecosystem.
“Plant choice matters,” he declares. “The plants we choose to landscape our properties (with) should be determined by how much life can live there.”
Plus, native plants are generally acclimated to your region, so they won’t require as much maintenance.
In the US, visit Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center: Choose your state, growing conditions, and desired plant attributes, and view database results of appropriate native plants. Browse recommended plant species by state. For the UK, the RHS is a good source of information and they recently suggested Brits should be planting more lavender and sun flowers. Apologies to readers elsewhere! But google should be able to tell you your local reliable source for more information.
Today's OGN Sunday Magazine articles
Queen Elizabeth II: A few days after her 96th birthday, let's celebrate England's longest serving monarch with a dozen of her wise and insightful quotations.
Magical Mushrooms: These mycological treats provide us with a whole range of nutritional benefits. Here are three good reasons to eat more mushrooms.
Big Stick: EU has passed new laws to force big tech to rein in illegal online content or face massive fines.
More Good News Articles: A round up of last week's most popular stories (and most watched video), just in case you would like to catch up.