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Hometown Habitat: Stories of Bringing Nature Home

Tuesday, May 30th | 6:00-8:00 pm

Heritage Room

Join us for a screening & discussion of Hometown Habitat, a 90-minute environmental, education documentary focused on showing how and why native plants are critical to the survival and vitality of local ecosystems.

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Please continue below for some great information and resources from the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership's Lake Tides newsletter.

The Value of Gardening with Native Plants By Patrick Goggin, Lakes Specialist, UW-Extension Lakes

People around North America are planting more native gardens. Native grasses, sedges, rushes, wildflowers, ferns, shrubs and trees bolster habitat for wildlife, conserve water and beautify our home landscapes. These native gardens can provide a natural privacy fence, offer migratory birds food and shelter and support pollinators in dire need of nectar and host plants. Native gardens are even used beyond home landscapes, such as at hospitals and mental health clinics, to aid in faster healing from many different ailments. But even with all these benefits, replacing lawn areas with natives still has its barriers. Convincing homeowners to make the switch to native plants can be a tough sell, mainly because of the perception that lawns are elegant while natives are messy.

If you would like to connect with others interested in the native plant movement or would just like to learn more about it, the Wild Ones website is a great place to start. www.wildones.org

To read more about the native plant movement, check out these books:

Planting in a Post-wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Rainer and Claudia

West Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher

The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy

If you are looking for assistance and ideas in planning and installing your own native plant project, check out these timely resources.

Gardening for Your Own Good The recently updated Healthy Lakes 350 ft2 Native Planting Companion Guide has six example planting plans: lakeshore edge, bird and butterfly, bare soil/erosion control, woodland, low growing and deer resistant. Check it out at the Healthy Lakes web site: http://healthylakeswi.com Midwestern Native Shrubs and Trees: Gardening Alternatives to Nonnative Species is a new book being published in March 2017.

This is a companion piece to the best-selling native plant guide The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants by Charlotte Adelman and Bernard Schwartz.

For more information, the full newsletter is available at:

https://www.uwsp.edu/cnrap/UWEXLakes/Documents/resources/newsletter/vol41-vol45/vol42-1winter2017websmall.pdf

Happy planting!

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About the Author

Natalie is the Deputy Director with the New Berlin Public Library...