As a landscaping general contractor, I’m naturally constantly trying to incorporate “green” ideas into my designs and projects. This is the only “place” we all have to call home, so we ought to take care of what God has given to us and protect the environment thereof.
Butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, worms, starfish, mussels, and crabs are but a few of the millions of invertebrates at the heart of a healthy environment. Invertebrates build the stunning coral reefs of our oceans; they are essential to the reproduction of most flowering plants, including many fruits, vegetables, and nuts; and they are food for birds, fish, and other animals. Yet invertebrate populations are often imperiled by human activities and rarely accounted for in mainstream conservation.
The Mid-Atlantic Region encompasses North Carolina,
Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. High regional variation in topography, soils, and climate has resulted in tremendous ecological diversity, ranging from the salt marshes and wetlands of the eastern Coastal Plain,

to the spectacularly species-rich deciduous forests and riparian communities of the Piedmont foothills and Appalachian Mountains. Corresponding to this striking diversity of plant communities is an equally remarkable range of pollinators, including nineteen bumble bee species and thousands of other species of native bees, butterflies, hover flies, flower-visiting beetles, wasps, and moths. As a group, these and other pollinators maintain healthy, productive plant communities, provide food that sustains wildlife, and play an essential role in crop production. In the Mid-Atlantic, several important pollinators, including the rusty-patched bumble bee and the bronze copper butterfly, are threatened by habitat loss, including dramatic declines in native plant communities needed to support these animals.
Now that many of us are pondering our garden beds and landscaping projects for the upcoming gardening seasons, “remember, Spring is only 29 daze and 22 hours away” maybe you may want to take a look at this list of
POLLINATOR PLANTS for the Mid-Atlantic regionfrom the Xerces Society and take a few ideas from there.
Time to go find a “gardening” catalog to peruse over. Don’t you love this time of year. At least going to the mailbox is interesting now because there are so many gardening catalogs available for “free” online.
Til next time – “it won’t be long”