insects & worms Archives - A Way To Garden

best practices around mosquitoes, with nancy lawson

margaret — Sat, 17 May 2025 18:44:44 +0000

THE FIRST ISSUE of “American Gardener,” the newly redesigned member magazine of the American Horticultural Society, arrived recently, and in it are lots of good reads—including an article by Nancy Lawson, a.k.a. The Humane Gardener. She writes about the folly, and hazard, of falling prey to the promises of those mosquito-control services you’re probably seeing advertised about now—and where mosquitoes fit into the bigger environmental picture, anyhow. (Above, a 1905 illustration of mosquitoes in the Culex genus by E.A. Goeldi; image from Wikimedia Commons.) Nancy Lawson, whom you may know as “The Humane Gardener”—the title of one of her books—is a naturalist and habitat consultant based in Maryland. Nancy promotes animal-friendly planting strategies and challenges us to sharpen our awareness that we are not alone out there, but actually just one part of a much bigger picture. Nancy’s more recent book is called “Wildscape.” Plus: Comment in the box near the bottom of the page to enter to win a copy of Nancy’s book “Wildscape” (affiliate link). Read along as you listen to the May 19, 2025 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or […]

The post best practices around mosquitoes, with nancy lawson appeared first on A Way To Garden.

beauty meets biodiversity in the gardens of chanticleer

margaret — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 22:18:06 +0000

ANYONE WHO has heard of, or even better visited, Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania knows that it’s home to some of the country’s most exceptional examples of horticultural creativity and innovation. A multi-year biodiversity survey of the Chanticleer property has revealed that it’s also home to more than 1,000 species of insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and even fish, who apparently all agree that it’s quite the attractive and compelling space. A garden’s biodiversity and how it can inform us to fine-tune our plant choices and horticultural practices was the topic of my conversation with Bill Thomas (below), Chanticleer’s executive director and head gardener, and Matthew Sarver, founder of Sarver Ecological, which conducted the just-published diversity survey at the renowned public garden in Wayne, Pa., from 2020 through 2024,. I heard about what they’ve learned and what those insights are inspiring next in the gardens at Chanticleer. (Above, a sweat bee gathers pollen on a Caryopteris at the garden.) Read along as you listen to the March 17, 2025 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here). biodiversity meets beauty […]

The post beauty meets biodiversity in the gardens of chanticleer appeared first on A Way To Garden.

coping with invasive jumping worms, with brad herrick of uw-madison

margaret — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 17:56:20 +0000

THE QUESTION “What do I do about the Asian jumping worms that are destroying my soil?” has outpaced what was the most common thing I was asked, year in and year out, for decades as a garden writer—the relatively simple challenge of “How do I prune my hydrangea?” Now gardeners from an ever-widening area of the country are voicing this far more troubling worry about an invasive species that seems to be on a mission of Manifest Destiny. They are present in about 38 states and several Canadian provinces. Today’s guest, ecologist Brad Herrick from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, has been studying jumping worms for a decade and is here to share the latest insights. Brad is the ecologist and research program manager at the UW-Madison Arboretum, where the staff first noticed the destructive handiwork of Asian jumping worms in 2013. He explained what tactics and products have been explored by researchers to try to limit the spread, and whether we should keep mulching and improving our soil as we always have despite their presence, and more. Read along as you listen to the Sept. 11, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You […]

The post coping with invasive jumping worms, with brad herrick of uw-madison appeared first on A Way To Garden.