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If you’re like most well-intentioned gardeners, you may think a lot about planting the “right” plants to nourish pollinators and other wildlife with nectar, pollen, seeds, and fruit. But have you given much thought to the habitat of those animals?
In addition to sustenance, beneficial insects and creatures need a safe home to rest, hide, breed, and pupate.
One area important to their lifecycle is around the base of trees.
“We talk about the importance of (native) trees in creating caterpillars that run the food web,” Doug Tallamy, entomologist and bestselling author of “Nature’s Best Hope” and “Bringing Nature Home,” told me the last time we spoke.
“But those caterpillars fall from the tree and they pupate in the ground. And how we create the landscape beneath those trees determines whether those caterpillars survive or not,” he said.
Giving the caterpillar a ‘soft landing’
So, how are we landscaping under our trees? Raise your hand if your grass grows straight up to their stems.
Instead, Tallamy says, “We want undisturbed areas where we’re not walking on, which means (planting) beds around our trees. If you’re mowing or walking under them, you’re crushing all those caterpillars.”
Caterpillars provide food to birds, which provide pest-control services in our gardens by feeding thousands of insects to their young each year. Caterpillars are also an important food source for reptiles and spiders. And they themselves eat garden pests like aphids.
Later in life, they transform into moths and butterflies, and become important pollinators for flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Creating a so-called “soft landing” for them, as well as providing habitat for native bees, fireflies, beetles and other beneficial insects, is essential to a healthy ecosystem. And it’s easy to do in two simple steps.
how to do it
For starters, let the leaves rest directly under the trees, where they fall. Those pupating caterpillars will get cozy in their natural blanket, and you’ll get a break from raking.
Next, plant groundcovers and other plants beneath the tree’s canopy, which is the upper area that extends from branch tip to branch tip along the width of the tree. “Choose plants that will support the food web, sharing the most energy with other living things,” advises Talmy.
This means selecting ferns, woodland phlox, sedges and other native groundcovers, shrubs and perennials.
To find out which plants are best suited for your area, plug your ZIP code into the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder, according to Talmy’s research.
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Jessica Damiano writes a weekly gardening column for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt newsletter. You can sign up for weekly gardening tips and advice here.
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For more AP gardening stories, visit https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.