EcoGardenista

  Giving Thanks for Monarchs (and Scrub Jays) After the devastating news last year that there were no monarch butterflies at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary, we were overjoyed to see these iconic insects make a comeback in 2021!   My husband, Brian, and I had to witness this miracle for ourselves, so took a drive down to the sanctuary over Thanksgiving weekend.  Pacific Grove is truly our 'happy place,' where we were married years ago and enjoyed many long weekends in the ensuing years. So on our way into town we stopped by Bookworks for some coffee and pumpkin bread, savoring it at an outdoor table and noting, with joy, the occasional monarch flitting past.  Nearby a scrub jay perched with an acorn in its beak, casting a wary eye in our direction before burying its treasure in some nearby ivy. We had just recently learned, from Doug Tallamy's "The Nature of Oaks" that jays may carry an acorn as far as a mile  before burying it. Furthermore, just one si...

Welcome, and thanks for checking in.   Have you ever noticed how sometimes one key piece of information can challenge all of your previous notions?   This happened to me this past year. For many years, I cultivated lush organic gardens, filled with  pollinator plants, ornamental flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables. Early gardens were in  Seattle and more recent ones are in the San Francisco Bay Area. I composed heavily, avoided pesticides and herbicides, and encouraged beneficial insects and wildlife . In the process, I believed I was doing all that I could to be a good steward of the earth through my garden. But I had never realized that to native butterflies, moths and other insects, my garden was a desert . I offered them a drink from imported flowers, but no native plants on which to lay their eggs, feed their young, and ensure the future of their species.   That all changed when I heard a talk by Doug Tallamy titled "Nature's Best Hope."...