How to balance beauty, wildlife value, and your garden workload
Gardens are habitats, but the degree to which they support local wildlife depends on how we plant and manage them. Our plant choices determine who visits, stays, or passes by as creatures look for food, shelter, to nest, and lay eggs. When and how we decide to clean up leaves or cut plants back affects life cycles of salamanders, bees, birds, moths, and butterflies. Learn how to create habitat in the garden year-round, while balancing your workload and garden aesthetics.

Co-sponsored by The Friends of Faneuil Library and The Brighton Garden Club. See their flyer here.

Email FriendsofFaneuil@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link.

Members, we hope you’ll join us for the next Q&A session live on Zoom!

For each monthly session, Heather McCargo, WSP’s founder, and Anna Fialkoff, program manager, will answer your questions for one hour over Zoom about any aspect of growing native plants. Join us for a cozy evening that brings our membership community together face-to-face.

Members, please watch for our email Sunday, February 13, to register for the session.

We need a minimum of 70 percent native plant biomass in our landscapes to safeguard wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and mitigate the effects of climate change, according to entomologist Douglas Tallamy. Native Plant Trust’s partner, Wild Seed Project, recently launched an initiative that motivates people to meet this threshold through a holistic approach called rewilding. Whether you have farmland, a yard in the suburbs, or a shared urban garden, this webinar will teach you how to rewild in 10 action steps.

Learn more and register through Native Plant Trust here.

With leaves down and the bones of the garden revealed, winter is a great time to evaluate and prune native trees and shrubs for their structure, form, health and vigor. Plus, frozen ground and hibernating wildlife ensure little disturbance to birds and insects while tromping around planting beds. Join Wild Seed Project program manager Anna Fialkoff for a two-hour pruning workshop at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm in Falmouth. Start in the classroom with an overview of basic pruning principles and tools, then head out into the garden for demonstration and hands-on experience.

Learn more and register through Maine Audubon here.