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Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

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141–150 of 214 posts

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#141
post #25
post #3

After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and see all sorts of bees, butterflies, mo…

Native plants may be easy; but by that measure, invasives are where its at. :D That said, bringing down trees is always odd to me. Definitely bring down any that pose a risk to your house. But otherwise, seems more effort than it is worth. I should probably be a lot better at pruning, as that is a ton of work. And, while intellectually I know the answer is that you are unlikely to kill the tree, I am always worried a…

Trees can also be quite dead and need to come down without much external visible issues.

https://treeandneighborlawblog.com/ Has interesting stories tangentially related to tree duties.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont want coyotes and bobcats around my house. neither does anyone who has pets or livestock. There's a reason they were pushed out. We still have owls and other birds of prey. We have raccoons and they are annoying and can damage property.

> We have raccoons and they are annoying and can damage property. Nothing a .22 can't fix, surely?

You basically have to hit them multiple times and keep shooting night after night if you don’t eliminate the food sources.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#143
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is generating the activity. I disagree. Native plants are great, but so are tomatoes or some bell and habanero peppers.…

I was distinguishing plants from crops. I think it's perfectly fine to be growing non-native vegetables and fruits that you'd like to eat or sell.

They have the same downsides you identified for plants.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#144
post #19
post #3

After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and see all sorts of bees, butterflies, mo…

Yeah, I also don't understand appeal of "just a square of land filled with immaculate lawn and not much else. It's essentially space wasted for nothing.

Some of us like to have a bit of open lawn for outdoor activities that need some space. I've still got dozens of trees, shrubs, wildflowers and such, but there's an area of just grass that is really nice to have. I can't remember the last time I saw a lawn around here that didn't have a boatload of additional plants as well.

I assume this must happen in other parts of the country/world, or it's a meme.

If you want to go completely wild with your own back yard, I understand, but I don't see the appeal of that either.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#145
post #59
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Native plants may be easy; but by that measure, invasives are where its at. :D That said, bringing down trees is always odd to me. Definitely bring down any that pose a risk to your house. But otherwise, seems more effort than it is worth. I should probably be a lot better at pruning, as that is a ton of work. And, while intellectually I know the answer is that you are unlikely to kill the tree, I am always worried a…

I'm still not totally certain how to "manage" the trees in our yard. We are in a quite woody area with huge trees. I contacted an arborist place last year and plan on paying them to come out and teach me about the trees on my property. The previous owners cutdown some huge trees, but luckily mainly concentrated on the trees that were super close to the house. It's possible remaining trees could hit the house, and the…

Fallen trees killing people is not unheard of.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#146
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a neighbour who did a permaculture front yard that was ridiculously beautiful, but unfortunately the tall grasses etc became a haven for rodents which caused problems for multiple neighbours. Sometimes there are good reasons why a regular grass yard might be ok.

That's an example of part of the problem though. By originally cutting everything down and destroying the ecosystem, it pushed out the predators that would keep the rodents in check. We have rodents here for sure, but there are also foxes, coyotes, fisher cats, hawks, raccoons, bobcats, and owls.

The real problem is living close to your neighbors and wishing you could escape things that entails.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#148

When I bought a place in the LA area, the house had neatly trimmed lawns and flowers planted with perfect spacing around the borders in both the front and back yards. Over the past twenty years, it's been converted into a wild, exuberant mix of flowers, fruit trees, and native plants. We do irrigate with drip-lines. We have a lot of butterfly host plants, and it is now a veritable Disney-film-happy-place filled with…

Thank you for do your small part in improving biodiversity.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#149
post #3

After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and see all sorts of bees, butterflies, mo…

> I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is generating the activity. I disagree. Native plants are great, but so are tomatoes or some bell and habanero peppers.…

Is it fair to call it personal opinion if it's also the ecologist consensus viewpoint?

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#150
post #3

After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and see all sorts of bees, butterflies, mo…

You should write a book, or at least blog, about the experience. This would be good reading and much appreciated to some of us. I'd definitely read.
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