Ten Things All Backyard Stewards Should Know
An educated backyard steward is a more successful one—for you and the wild things.
Knowledge is power. To maximize your success, every backyard steward should have a grasp of the following:
The physiographic province where your property is located (go here to find out) and its basic characteristics.
Your soil type (or types), available using the USDA interactive tool.
The latest USDA Plant Hardiness Zone for your property.
The Latin names of native plants on your property and in your area. Knowing them avoids the confusion of common names, and Latin names often impart additional information. A good resource is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website.
The names of native animals that reside on or pass through your property, especially arthropods (i.e. insects) and birds.
Birdsong identification. Try Cornell’s Merlin app.
Invasive and noxious non-native plants that threaten your local ecology. There are many resources. Try the Invasive Plant Atlas and your local agricultural extension service.
How to plant a tree that will outlive you.
Native landscaping best practices and good choices for native wildlife.
Natural herbicide and pesticide options. The Envirobond website has some formulas. BUT note that even natural products can have adverse effects on native plants and animals. Check out this Xerces article “8 Pesticide Myths Every Gardener Should Know” before using any kind of pesticide.
Few people have full command of all the above information—even fewer at a granular level. I once asked the great Horticulturalist Dr. Richard Lighty to identify a sedge out in the field, and his response was to note that he is not a sedge expert and there are literally four thousand species of sedge. It made me feel better about my much more extensive ignorance.
Fortunately, these days we have all the knowledge of humanity at our fingertips. We may not have time or inclination to memorize all the facts above, even for our own properties, but we can look it up! An educated steward is nature’s best friend.
Perhaps a native Pennsylvania blackberry plant (Rubus pensilvanicus) gets started at the edge of the barn meadow:
Chokeberry (Aronia spp.) flowers profusely in the lawn bed by the house:
Here’s a close-up:
A potential woodpecker housing complex in the woods above the big pond:
As predicted, daisy fleabane (Erigeron spp.) is coming on strong:
