We moved into our current home, Smithfield, NC back in November of 2019 after 22 years living in Charleston, SC. To say it was an upgrade is an understatement!! The house is bigger and the yard is much bigger! As you may or may not know, I tend to deal with and grow a multitude of plants, flowering, fruiting, etc. The only issue I had with the yard when we moved in was its lack of biodiverse fauna and insects. There were LOTS of Crape Myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.) which is an inside joke on me and a bunch of other miscellaneous plants, but nothing of real punch or interest. The yard was pretty much a blank slate, and other than mosquitoes, there were not many different insects.
My plan was to change both of those things!
So, I got to work, introducing my Citrus trees, my Camellias, and a huge array of other plants. When I do happen to find a neat volunteer plant or receive plants either as gifts or from plant swaps, they are introduced into the yard. Things are DEFINITELY starting to come together! The biodiversity I am beginning to create is amazing. As a disclaimer, YES, ALL of the following pictures were taken in our yard within the past three months!
How many people become excited to see this kind of damage?
I DO!
This is a leaf from a Redbud (Cercis canadensis) and the damage was done by a Leafcutter Bee. The following excerpt was taken from the University of Florida Website. "Leafcutting bees are important native pollinators of North America. They use cut leaves to construct nests in cavities (mostly in rotting wood). They create multiple cells in the nest, each with a single larva and pollen for the larva to eat. Leafcutting bees are important pollinators of wildflowers, fruits, vegetables, and other crops."
That, to me, is AWESOME NEWS!! So as my fruit trees begin to flower, I have some native help in pollination. This goes along well with the pollinator bed that I created. It is an ongoing project, planting seeds and other flowering plants that all the different bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies enjoy. I have bee houses placed throughout the yard to assist as well. Here is an example of what I mean. Do you see the three different wasps in this picture?
In case you are wondering, the flowering plant is Eupatorium serotinum, also known as Late Boneset or Late Thoroughwort. This is just a small sampling of what I am witnessing on a daily basis out there. Bumblebees, Mason Bees, Flies, and Honeybees are also in abundance now, plus I get pretty butterflies and caterpillars.
So the pollinators are coming along. The whole build it and they will come theory is oh-so-true! But, what about taking care of the nasty bugs, scales, thrips, mealies, and aphids? Coming right up!
Meet two more of my friends in the garden, an Assasin Bug and one of the many different kinds of Lady Beetles I have seen.
I have literally never seen so many different kinds of lady beetles in one place. I do not know if they are all native or not ( I didn't ask for passports), but they are eating things so I am not overly concerned. There have been 6-spotted, plain no spot orange ones, and at least a couple of the twice stabbed ones. The last one literally has two black marks on its back like it was stabbed twice.
In the Arachnid world, I have seen a couple of different critters, but I think my favorite ones (I have seen at least a half dozen of these throughout the yard) are the Green Lynx Spider.
She just laid an egg sac, so that means more spiders!! Yippee!!
Even Dragonflies were scarce when we moved in, not anymore.
Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, we lived in Charleston for 22 years. I thought I had a pretty diverse yard there. Of course, they have a mosquito abatement program, and that, unfortunately, eliminates all of the good bugs too! In the entire time we lived there, I only ever saw one Praying Mantid and NEVER saw any Lighting bugs. I know they are usually pretty well concealed, but I actually have already seen a mantid.
The lightning bugs are done for the season, but when they are in town with their awesome light show, I LOVE to just sit and watch them again, just like I did in my childhood.
My ultimate goal is to eliminate as much of the lawn as I can, either by flower/veggie gardens or by the shade from the vast amounts of food-producing trees I intend to, or have already planted. The fruit food forest will be a reality if I have anything to say about it! I appreciate ANY help I can get from the different critters Mother Nature has to offer. I think it is coming along quite nicely now, don't you!?
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!
My e-mail is [email protected] or friend me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/darren.sheriff.50/
Happy Growing!
Darren