Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

Monarch butterflies that you see right now are the last generation of the year. This is the generation that will live up to 9 months! (rather than 2-4 weeks) and migrate 2000+ miles to overwinter in a tiny forest area in Mexico that they have never been to before.

Here is a great video that shows their lifecycle:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGmobCkApO0

This past spring, when the Monarchs were migrating north from Mexico, they found terrible drought conditions in Texas. Texas is a critical stop for the Monarchs in this relay of life. Finding little by way of nectar and host plants, the Monarchs pushed further north and we saw this tired generation showing up in gardens here in April and May to lay their eggs and give their last hurrah.

Throughout the summer and now in early fall, reports of Monarchs have been low. When this last generation of the year heads to Mexico, Monarch Watch will do a count to see what the population looks like.

If you would like to help Monarchs, you can plant a Monarch Waystation this fall. Contact us and we’ll send you a seed kit while supplies last. More information about monarch waystations can be found here. Once you have your waystation planted, be sure to register it with Monarch Watch and get involved with the community!

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy is active in a number of coalitions across the area.  Coalitions are a great way to bring together diverse groups of people and organizations with differing perspectives to address local issues.

One coalition that we support is the Choose Clean Water Coalition, and given that hurricane Irene is coming our way and we’re about to see a lot of water, I thought I’d highlight that here today.

The Choose Clean Water coalition brings together people and nearly 200 organizations from Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, working together to help everyone in the region choose clean water.

You can follow the work of this coalition through Facebook, Twitter, and through Podcasts, as well as through the website which summarizes key issues.

Clean water is truly one of the very few things we cannot live without, yet here in the US we certainly take it for granted. 

Here in Loudoun, we live in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and some serious work needs to be done to restore the habitat and thereby the water that runs through our communities.

If you’re interested in learning more about water quality and getting your feet wet locally, check out our Stream Monitoring Program.  It’s a lot of fun!

You may remember that last Novemver we did a habitat restoration project at Freedom Park in Leesburg by creating a rain garden filled with all sorts of wonderful native plants. 

Well, we went back this year with a great team on volunteers to do a bit of weeding and upkeep. Here’s the report from Joe and you can check out photos from the event in our Facebook Gallery:

When we got there all of us were impressed with how well the Freedom Park Rain Garden has done since we helped put it in last year.  Not only was almost everything we planted thriving, there were also a lot of invasive alien plants that didn’t belong. This left our team of 13 volunteers with a lot of work to do. 

While it was warmer than we had expected because of the intensity of the sun and harder work than several of us had anticipated, we finished the task by 6:30 pm.  We removed 31 large bags of invasive plants and spread 40 bags of mulch around the remaining shrubs and perennials. We did this to help stop the invasive plants from coming back and to retain moisture and prevent soil erosion around the remaining plants plants.

It was also incredible to see all those native pollinators as well as honeybees nectaring on all those plants we had planted.

National Wildlife Federation recently published this article entitled, “Backyard Habitat: Making Dollars and Sense in Your Yard.”

http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Gardening/Archives/2011/Making-Dollars-and-Sense.aspx

Fall is a great time to plant new trees and shrubs around your garden. It’s also a great time to sow seeds for perennials that will come up in the springtime.

Check our Gardening for Wildlife Plant List  for native plants that will bring your landscaping to life!

Make a difference this spring helping with these habitat restoration projects:

Branching out at the Lovettsville Park, Saturday, April 30 from 10 am to noon
Celebrate Arbor Day and help plant 100 trees and shrubs at the Lovettsville Park.  Wear your boots, work gloves, and bring a shovel.   Please call the Lovettsville Community Center at 540-822-5284 to register.

Leesburg’s Town Branch Riparian Buffer, Wednesday, May 11, 4 to 7 pm
Over the past two the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, working with the Leesburg Environmental Advisory Committee/Watershed Committee and the Piedmont Environmental Council, have planted over 500 trees, shrubs, and native perennial plants along Town Branch next to the Bowling Alley on Catoctin Circle.  On Wednesday, May 11, from 4 to 7 pm, we will replace some of the shelters, and weed and mulch around some of the shrubs and perennials.  If you are interested in helping please contact Joe Coleman at jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org or 540-554-2542.

Freedom Park Rain Garden, Saturday, May 21, 9 am to noon
Last fall, the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, working with the Leesburg Watershed Committee, and several town departments, planted a rain garden at Leesburg Freedom Park at the corner of Tolbert Lane and Evergreen Mill Road.  On Saturday, May 21, we are going to expand the rocky entrance to the rain garden, plant about 72 perennials, and do some weeding around the plants e put in last fall.  If you are interested in helping please contact Joe Coleman at jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org or 540-554-2542.

 Questions about any of the above? Contact Joe Coleman at jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org or 540-554-2542.

Phillips Farm, Saturday, April 23 from 9 am to noon

In the past two years, hundreds of volunteers from the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and the Waterford Foundation have planted over a thousand trees and shrubs along the South Fork Catoctin Creek and removed a tremendous quantity of non-native, invasive plants. 

To celebrate Earth Day we will, on April 23, from 9 am to noon, continue removing and controlling the invasive alien plants along the Catoctin. 

We could really use your help for this important project! If you’re interested in helping please contact Joe Coleman (jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org or 540-554-2542) or Margaret Good (mgood@waterfordfoundation.org or 540-882-3018). 

We will meet at the mill. Please wear protective clothing, waterproof shoes, and bug spray.  Bring clippers if you have any.

Learn more about the Phillips Farm in Waterford. Read about our past Habitat Restoration events

As we head into the warmer days of spring, many of us will be getting out our spades, trowels, garden gloves and knee pads, ready to dig in the dirt!

As we select plants, we have a choice – native or non-native.  When I first started gardening, I was astounded to learn that the majority of the plants sold in nurseries were actually from Asia, and while there may be some pretty plants, it’s so much more fun to look past just the pretty and look at the big picture of how wildlife and plants evolve and develop together.

By selecting plants that are native to our area, you can provide wildlife and our habitat writ large with greater benefit.

To help with selecting plants this season, we’ve put together a Gardening for Wildlife Plant List.  You can download it in it’s entirety or use our search feature to create specific lists that you can then go shopping with.

We also have other information and resources to learn about gardening for wildlife that you can use.

We had almost 200 people come to our program last Tuesday [photo album], where Dr. Tallamy talked about how the choices we make in planting around our homes can make a huge impact on the populations of birds, butterflies, and other wildlife.

What an absolute inspiration!  Personally, I plan to plant 3 oak trees this spring to add to the mix of black cherry, birch and other trees around our house.  I’m also excited to get into the garden and make sure my host and nectar plants for butterflies are in prime form – ready to be gobbled up and enjoyed by caterpillars (who in some cases will be gobbled up by birds).

“Garden as if Life depended on it” — When Dr. Tallamy signed my book, he included that inscription, and I can’t think of a better, more succinct message.  Let’s do it! Because it does!

Dr.Tallamy’s website has an excel spreadsheet that you can download that shows which plants will bring the greatest wildlife benefit to your yard.  Use this, along with our Gardening for Wildlife Plant list and other materials.

Let’s talk with our neighbors and start converting our wastelands of lawn into thriving rich habitat of native plans – they’re beautiful and exciting! Let’s Bring Nature Home!

If you missed the program, keep an eye on his website for upcoming lectures and check out his book.

If you’re going to have a garden or landscaping around your house, Go Native! 

Native plants are not only more beautiful than the species that come from china and elsewhere (the typical nursery stock) but also provide greater benefit to our local wildlife because plants and animals evolve together.

Native plants survive more easily here because they’re prepared for our weather conditions and soils. This means less work, more enjoyment for you.

You can stock up on all your native plant needs by coming to the Native Plant Sale at Rust Sanctuary in Leesburg on April 9.

Take a look through our gardening for wildlife plant list if you want to learn about some of our local natives and the wildlife that depend on them.

Check out the websites of the vendors below who will bringing plants to the sale. Or, give them a call and get some advice on good plants for your yard. Now is the time to Go Native!

Native Plant Sale! at Rust Nature Sanctuary

April 9, 2011 from 10am to 5pm
802 Childrens Center Rd., Leesburg, Virginia 20175

To look over the plants that each nursery carries or to place an order ahead of time(all nursery stock is not present) please visit the websites below:

Hill House Farm and Native Nursery
www.hillhousenativeplants.com
hillhousefarmandnativenursery@yahoo.com

Nature-By-Design
www.nature-by-design.com
randee@nature-by-design.com

I saw this publication posted on one of the local listservs that I follow and thought it was a good one to share.

While it says Delaware in the title, most of the plants listed in here are also native to our area so it’s a nice reference for Mid-Atlantic states. 

I especially like how it has not only color photos and descriptions of plants but also the different types of beesthat will be attracted – not just honey bees but also leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, orchard mason bees, bumblebees and more.

Bees are so important to our entire ecosystem, and as one person put it, “Bees are not optional.” 

Through our gardening and our nature explorations we can both learn about the wide variety of bees and the roles they play around us.

You can download the publication here.