It's a bug's life

Our first thoughts about rewilding Willow Greens Farm focused on making the area as attractive as possible to local wildlife. It looked pretty attractive to us already and after all, one of the underlying principles of rewilding is simply to leave the land alone. Could it be that doing nothing would magically result in an increase in our wildlife population? We envisioned ourselves sitting outside on a summer’s eve, bunnies cavorting in the yard and foxes waving “hello” as they sauntered past. Deer would peek through the windows, eschewing the azaleas to thank us for the lovely grass. 

Well, if you think ignoring the land sounds too good to be true, you’d be right. Rewilding isn’t quite that easy, but a few targeted actions can make a world of difference. Contrary to our original notions about attracting our favorite furry species, we learned we need to start small. Really small: with insects. This includes “popular” species like bees, butterflies, and ladybugs, as well as ants, beetles, and grasshoppers. Insects form the link between plants and other animals in food webs: they eat things, and they are eaten by other things. It’s a simple fact that baby birds rely on a diet made up solely of insects, regardless of what they might eat as adults. Stimulating the insect population at Willow Greens Farm would strengthen the entire ecosystem.

Source: Deciduous Forest Biome

Clearly we needed to learn more about how this all works. One of the leaders in this field (pun intended!) is Doug Tallamy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. Tallamy is an expert on how insects interact with plants, and how these interactions, in turn, affect wildlife diversity. His book, Nature’s Best Hope, is an inspiring introduction to this topic with lots of practical steps that any homeowner can take.

At the same time, we also met with a representative of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy to discuss strategies like reducing the land devoted to lawn, increasing the native plant population, and enriching our meadow with native grasses. She helped us identify some of the worst offenders on the property: invasive species like Oriental Bittersweet, English Ivy, Japanese Stiltgrass, and Tree of Heaven. She also recommended a slew of resources on removing invasives and choosing native plants, including these two guides:

After her visit I took inventory of the ornamental plants in the Terrace Garden and other beds around the property. Most of these were planted years ago, before the benefits of native plants were understood. It wasn’t too surprising to find that about two-thirds of our ornamentals are non-native and some are considered invasive (I’m looking at you, Liriope spicata). But some are beloved favorites: plants like hostas, hibiscus, and peonies. What’s a gardener to do? We’re certainly not going to rip everything out and start over. We will probably always have some non-native plants, but as we refresh and expand the garden there will be opportunities to add native species, shifting the native/non-native balance over time.

So, having developed a loosely-structured plan for the ornamental spaces, we turned our attention to ways to reduce our lawn and enrich the meadow. More experts were consulted, plans were made, and some of those plans have even come to fruition. Watch this space.