Native Plants and Beneficial Insects

Would you like your garden to be filled with butterflies, bees and birds?

Come and learn how at our presentation by Sandra Linnell, ‘Native Plants and Beneficial Insects” June 29 beginning at 10:00am. Ms. Linnell will discuss what plants thrive in our area and how they support our local ecology.

The growth of cities and their accompanying urban sprawl have fragmented and transformed ecologically productive land to lush lawns and decorative ornamentals to enhance property values. The remaining isolated natural areas are not large enough to support wildlife, however that trend is turning.

Native plants are those that occur naturally in a region. Research by the entomologist Doug Tallamy has found that native oak trees support over 500 species of caterpillars whereas ginkgo, a commonly planted landscape tree from Asia, host only 5 species of caterpillars.

Plants available in nurseries are often species chosen for their exotic interest and they not only sever the food web, but some have shown invasive behavior, outcompeting native species and degrading habitat in the remaining natural areas.

Sandra Linnell is the Community Horticulture Program Coordinator at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties. She has experience in growing natives, herbs, and flowers from seed from her previous employment working on farms and greenhouses.

This program will be held outside in the back garden of the NCFL, weather permitting. If necessary we will meet upstairs in the Library. Signup for this event at [email protected].

Live & Learn programs are supported, in part, by grants from the Fund for Columbia County, a fund of the Berkshire Taconic Foundation and the Bank of Greene County.