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WUWM's Susan Bence reports on Wisconsin environmental issues.

Want more biodiversity, less grass in your yard? Wisconsin conservation group shares tips

Jennifer Phillips-Vanderberg with the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory suggests taking a step by step approach - learning to live with some weeds and crowding out others with native plants.
Susan Bence
/
WUWM
Jennifer Phillips-Vanderberg with the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory suggests taking a step by step approach. Learning to live with some weeds and crowding out others with native plants.

Take a stroll, drive or pedal down a city street and you’re bound to see a variety of yards — from the classic American “every blade of grass green and trimmed” style to what might appear more weed than a lawn.

So what if you’re a person who wants something more on a manicured side, without relying on the chemicals often required by that type of lawn? WUWM checks in with the Port Washington-based Lake Michigan Bird Observatory.

Extended conversation with Jennifer Phillips-Vanderberg, Lake Michigan Bird Observatory director.

Jennifer Phillips-Vanderberg had a diplomatic challenge on her hands when she rolled up to my yard on a recent sunny afternoon. It was a sea of weeds — some tall and imposing, others just plentiful!

Phillips-Vanderberg, who heads the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory, didn’t miss a beat. “We mowed our lawn just right before Memorial Day and ours would have seemed similar to yours,” she says.

When she was hired three years ago, Phillips-Vanderberg wanted to find a way to create more habitat for birds of course, but more broadly to bolster the biodiversity that all creatures rely on.

The Neighborhood Habitat Improvement Project was born "To help people do what scientists know is good to do: plant native plants, reduce chemical usage and protect habitat, and build projects around that. We work with a lot of communities," Phillips-Vanderberg says. "It's really exciting that we're now expanding, basically, along the entire Lake Michigan corridor."

That’s great, but what about my weedy patches of earth?

“One of the big things we talk with people about is you have to be comfortable with how you see your lawn. There’s a lot of opportunities to see how it can contribute to pollinators … that still tolerate some mowing but can do some good at the same time,”

What about creeping Charlie, the ground grabber with purple flowers?

That can’t be doing habitat any favors. Yanking it out, Phillips-Vanderberg says, is not the answer. “It sends out runners and each can live on its own,” she says.

One approach she says is smothering the stuff.

“Put layers of cardboard down and mulch and leave it for a growing season. It should be dead under there. The other option … is to plant some more aggressive native ground covers,” Phillips-Vanderberg says. Such as heal-all, a member of the mint family.

 Heal-all
Courtesy of Jennifer Phillips-Vanderberg
Heal-all

“That stays low and are dense enough they can suppress some weeds and still support pollinators at the same time,” Phillips-Vanderberg says.

She advises taking a step by step approach.

"For most people, it's taking one chunk that might be a little overgrown and turning into something you're comfortable maintaining, at a level you're comfortable maintaining it," Phillips-Vanderberg says.

Phillips-Vanderberg says these asters provide native ground cover and help control weeds.
Wikimedia Commons
Phillips-Vanderberg says these asters provide native ground cover and help control weeds.

The big-leafed aster is among her favorite recommendations. “It can suppress weeds. You can have a big patch [of asters] and reduce weeding,” Phillips-Vanderberg says.

She’s also big proponent of trees: native ones.

“How about a native maple rather than a Norway maple? It does a lot of good for insects and birds. Birds eat a lot of butterfly and moth caterpillars. Trees are a top habitat. Consider a native tree,” Phillips-Vanderberg says.

Allon Bostwick has embraced the tree message on his two-acre parcel in Port Washington.

“It takes 35 years for an oak tree to produce an acorn. So, I don’t think I’ll ever see an acorn, but I feel good about it because I planted seven oak trees in my yard this year. Someday my legacy’s going to be the oak trees,” Bostwick says.

Allon Bostwick blends native perennial plants with others he loves, and only pulls dandelions that get in the way of multiple flower beds throughout his two-acre lot.
Susan Bence
/
WUWM
Allon Bostwick blends native perennial plants with others he loves, and only pulls dandelions that get in the way of multiple flower beds throughout his two-acre lot.

Bostwick lives in the house he grew up in. His mom was an avid gardener.

"If we ever came in the house and said I'm bored or I have nothing to do, that didn't last long because she gave us a dandelion digger or a spade, and she made us go out and weed the gardens for her. And she taught us how to plant... I really had a great mentor in my mother," he says.

In those days, the Bostwick family used chemicals to feed the grass and kill the weeds. Those days are over.

Bostwick uses clover, a non-native, but effective plant to help crowd out weeds in his lawn.
Allon Bostwick
Bostwick uses clover, a non-native, but effective plant to help crowd out weeds in his lawn.

“Wherever I have a bare spot any more I put some topsoil and I seed it with clover,” Bostwick explains.

Clover is not native, but it's a low grower and crowds out weeds. "And if it's a big area, a combination of clover and grass seed. And as you can see, I have dandelions in my yard," Bostwick says.

He pulls the occasional dandelion, but only if they pop up within his many islands of perennials. “The nice thing is, you don’t have to replant every year, just wait and see what comes up,” Bostwick says.

He intersperses annuals among his perennial plants.

"I put in the Black and Bloom Salvia. I have it here and over there. It's wonderful for hummingbirds. It's not a native, and it's an annual, but hey, the hummingbirds love it," he says.

Bostwick may be eclectic in his plant choices, but the retired physician is adamant about steering clear of pesticides and herbicides.

“The way I see it, if you wouldn’t put it on your breakfast cereal in the morning because it’s potentially dangerous, why would you put it on your yard,” Bostwick says.

A sign near one of his newly planted oak trees reads "no pesticides, no herbicides, save a bee and yourself."

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Susan is WUWM's environmental reporter.
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