Personal tools
You are here: Home → Learn → More Ways to Learn → For Kids → Families
Site Map
 
Document Actions

Families

last modified November 23, 2009

Fun for families

Tips to Make Your Landscape More Bug-Friendly

Whether you are an urban gardener with a windowsill, Spider Weekendor a rural gardener with acres of landscape, New England Wild Flower Society invites you to provide an oasis for wildlife. Go Green!

  • Plant native plants, including trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. They are better adapted our local ecosystems and support populations of native wildlife.

  • Invite beneficial insects to your garden by planting known “host plants.” Some insects form very specific relationships with individual plant species (“host plants”). For example, monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed. If you plant it, they will come! Make your own landscape a sanctuary for them, even if you only have a windowbox or container in an urban setting.

  • Avoid the use of pesticides and herbicides, as they often kill beneficial insects as well as the “pest.” However, when dealing with invasive plant species occasionally an herbicide may be necessary, as they are the greater threat.

  • Garden sustainably by using “compost teas” made up of organic kitchen and yard waste. Use natural fertilizers, such as compost, rather than chemically enhanced varieties. This practice encourages healthier soils.

  • Tolerate imperfection. When you invite insects into your garden, you are also inviting their appetites: do not be surprised if you find evidence of bugs nibbling your leaves.

  • Stagger your blooming plants, so that you will continue to attract pollinators throughout the growing season. Herbivory can be beautiful—like lace.

  • Leave a corner of your yard wild: let the grass grow, and allow those leaves to lie. This provides a safe haven for native bugs and plants.

  • Vary the height and leaf cover within your garden to create a more diverse canopy, as well as both sunny and shady habitats.

  • Allow dead trees and logs to stand, unless they pose an immediate threat. Many creatures use these for their homes, from bark beetles to pileated woodpeckers.

  • Provide housing for native birds and bees if you don’t have dead wood on your property. Building a bee house or bird house is surprisingly easy!

Resources

Check out these great books and websites for both kids and adults!

 

Plant Books

  • Brian Capon. 2005. Botany for Gardeners. Covers the entire breadth of botanical science in concise, clear terms that anyone can understand and enjoy. Timber Press.
  • Douglas Tallamy. 2007. Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens. Presents why you should grow native plants in your garden to support wildlife. Timber Press.
  • Fritz Haeg. New Edition to be released, spring, 2010. Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn. The Edible Estates project proposes the replacement of the domestic front lawn with a highly productive edible landscape. A variety of landscapes are explored. Metropolis Books.
  • William Cullina.  2000. Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada. Comprehensive overview of wildflowers provides a great introduction to native plants plus an encyclopedia of plants. Many photos. Houghton Mifflin Company.
  • Michael Pollan. 2008. In Defense of Food. What we should eat comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Penguin Press.
  • Tim Matson. 2006. Landscaping Earth Ponds. How to site, design, shape, and plant these beloved fixtures of rural landscapes—and make them fit your property and your life. Chelsea Green Publishing.
  • Lawrence Newcomb, illustrated by Gordon Morrison. 1777. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Ingenious key system for quick, positive field identification of the wildflowers, flowering shrubs and vines of northeastern and north-central North America. Little, Brown.
  • R. M. M. Crawford. 2008. Plants at the Margin: Ecological Limits and Climate Change. Beautifully illustrated, thoughtful study of the effects of climate change on plants in marginal areas. Cambridge University Press.
  • Jeff Lowenfels. 2006. Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web. a readable soil food web primer that begins by explaining the players in the soil food web from nematodes to fungi and culminates in a "how to" discussion of maintaining the soil food web. Teachers who include biogeochemical cycles in their curricula will appreciate the integration of science and practical application provided by the authors. Timber Press.
  • Ken Druse. 2004 The Natural Habitat Garden. A celebration of gardens that feature native plants. Timber Press.
  • Russ Cohen. 2004.  Wild Plants I have known and Eaten. The book contains basic information about foraging for both the amateur and more-skilled alike. Above all, the book celebrates nature, inspires and makes foraging fun. Essex County Greenbelt Association.

 

Bug Books

  • Boring, Mel. 1996. Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies: A Take-Along Guide. NorthWord Press.

  • Cottam, C. and H.S. Zim. 1987. Insects: Golden Guide Series. Golden Books.

  • Drexler, B. 2004. BUGOLOGY : A Guide to Bug Discoveries Through the Seasons New England Wild Flower Society.

  • Facklam, Margery. 1996. Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars. Little, Brown and Company.

  • Hamilton, Kersten. 1997. Butterfly Book: A Kid’s Guide to Attracting, Raising, and Keeping Butterflies. John Muir Publications.

  • Hunken, Jorie. 1994. Ecology for All Ages: Discovering Nature through Activities for Children and Adults. Globe Pequot Press.

  • Jackson, Donna M. 2002. Bug Scientists. Houghton Mifflin Company.

  • Kneidel, Sally. 1994. Pet Bugs: A Kid’s Guide to Catching and Keeping Touchable Insects. John Wiley & Sons.

  • Leahy, Chris. 1987. Peterson First Guide to Insects of North America. Houghton Mifflin.

  • Lowe, Cheryl. 2000. Butterfly Gardening in New England. New England Wild Flower Society.

  • Ross, Elsohn. 1995. Rolypolyology: Backyard Buddies. Carolrhoda Books, Inc.

  • Snedden, Robert. 1997. What is an Insect? Sierra Club Books for Children. 

  • Stokes, D., L. Stokes, and E. Williams. 1991. Butterfly Book: An Easy Guide to Butterfly Gardening, Identification and Behavior. Little, Brown and Company.

  • Wilson, Christina. 1998. Insects: National Audubon Society First Field Guide. Scholastic Inc.

  • Wright, A.B. 1993. Peterson First Guide to Caterpillars. Houghton Mifflin.

  • Incredible Insects: Ranger Rick’s NatureScope. 1998. National Wildlife Federation, Learning Triangle Press.

 

 

Bug Web Sites