Native Plants with John Janick from Good Host Plants
This episode of Gritty and Green, we visit John Janick at one of Philadelphia’s only native plant nurseries to discover how to plant a native garden suitable for a Monarch. But first we go back in time – billions of years ago to explore where native plants came from.
To learn more about Good Host Plants to go https://www.goodhostplants.com/
To go down the rabbit hole and explore native plants visit:
https://homegrownnationalpark.org/
https://extension.psu.edu/pennsylvania-native-plants-for-the-perennial-garden
https://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=PA
https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/top-10-power-plants
https://pa.audubon.org/conservation/diy-garden-designs
And some of John Janick’s favorite resources:
https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/
Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants by C. Colston Burrell published by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
If you want more information about local sustainability go to https://www.greenphl.org
EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
Nat Sound: Lawn mower
MEREDITH: ON A WARM SUMMER DAY, I DROVE ACROSS THE CITY TO MOUNT AIRY.
Nat Sound: Birds with lawn mower in distance
MEREDITH: DRIVING UP THE DRIVEWAY SHARED AMONGST THREE HOUSES, IT’S VERY CLEAR WHICH IS HOME TO A NATIVE PLANT NURSERY
John: that’s another one of my favorites you can see a sweat bee on there right now. That’s butterfly milkweed. Nice low growing, it’s about the only orange blooming native plant that I know of.
Meredith: Oh you can hear the frogs
MEREDITH: JOHN JANICK’S NURSERY IS SITUATED ALONGSIDE HIS HOUSE AND IS HOME TO A MEADOW, WOODLAND AND WETLAND HABITAT.
John: so this is the, uh, it's kind of a retention basin wildlife pond, I call it a wildlife base. I went and planted about 500 wetland species. So you could hear the frogs. I have tons of probably too many green frogs and the toads come in the spring, they'll do their mating call for like three or four days and nights straight. And, you big thing. People always ask like, what do you do about the mosquitoes? If we went in the sunnier spot where you could see them flying around. But I have dragonflies, so they're the most efficient predator on earth and they eat throughout their adult and larval cycle mosquitoes. So once you have a pond and you get dragonfly larva like a mosquito, I've put in about ten wildlife ponds over the years, and whenever the dragonflies find it, you don't have to use dunks. They take care of the mosquitoes. So even with a wet summer, we could sit out here at night and no issues.
MEREDITH: SO WHILE NEIGHBORS TOIL AWAY MOWING LAWNS, JOHN AND HIS FAMILY CAN SIT OUT AND ENJOY THE NATIVE PLANTS.
John: I mean, native plants are great. If you could add a water feature, I mean, that's where you'll really see beyond the butterflies and the pollinators. Like so many things that, uh, rely on that water source. yeah, that's probably my favorite part of the property
Gritty and Green Theme music
MEREDITH: HI! THIS IS GRITTY AND GREEN AND I’M YOUR HOST MEREDITH NUTTING. TODAY WE’RE TALKING ABOUT NATIVE PLANTS – WHAT THEY ARE, WHERE THEY CAME FROM AND WHY WE GOTTA GROW MORE! AND THAT’S WHY I VISITED JOHN JANICK AT HIS HOUSE AND NURSERY IN MOUNT AIRY. BUT FIRST I WANT TO TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY TO A LIFELESS PLANET A BILLION YEARS AGO.
SO LET’S GET GROWING!
Nat Sound: ticking clock,
MEREDITH: HERE WE ARE 3.7 BILLION YEARS AGO. THE LANDSCAPE IS ROCKY WITH VIOLENT STORMS FLASHING AGAINST AN ORANGY RED SKY MADE OF A TOXIC MIX OF GASES. INSTEAD OF THE OXYGEN MOST LIFE NOW RELIES ON THE ATMOSPHERE IS MADE OF CARBON DIOXIDE, METHANE, AMMONIA AND WATER VAPOR BARELY LETTING SUNLIGHT THROUGH. YOU MAY HAVE HEARD THE METAPHORE THAT IF THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH WAS SCALED DOWN TO A 24 HOUR DAY, HUMANS WOULD HAVE APPEARED THE FRACTION OF A SECOND BEFORE MIDNIGHT. BASED ON THIS METAPHORICAL CLOCK, EARTH EXISTED FOR FIVE HOURS UNTIL LIFE EMERGED.
IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE THAT THIS PLANET WITH ITS VIOLENT STORMS AND POISONOUS AIR WOULD ONE DAY HOLD ALL THE KNOWN LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. BUT, SOMEHOW, AGAINST THE ODDS, A ONE CELLED SIMPLE CREATURE APPEARED.
THERE’S SEVERAL HYPOTHESES ABOUT HOW THIS HAPPENED – A PRIMORDIAL SOUP OF ORGANIC MOLECULES EVENTUALLY ORGANIZING THEMSELVES INTO A CELL OR PERHAPS LIFE CAUGHT A RIDE ON A METEORITE AND SEEDED EARTH. HOWEVER IT HAPPENED, THE EARTH NOW HELD LIFE – THE LAST UNIVERSAL COMMON ANCESTER OF ALL THE LIFE ON EARTH THAT HAS EVER EXISTED. IT’S FIVE A.M. ON OUR METOPHORICAL CLOCK.
ONE CELLED ORGANISMS REPLICATED, COPYING ITS DNA – ITS BLUEPRINT – BEFORE SPLITTING IN TWO. TWO BECAME FOUR. FOUR BECAME SIXTEEN. COPYING AND SPLITTING COPYING AND SPLITTING. AND SOMETIMES IN THIS PROCESS A MUTATION WOULD OCCUR. A GENE HERE OR THERE CHANGED. SOMETIMES THAT CHANGE DIDN’T MATTER. SOMETIMES IT WAS FATAL. BUT EVEN LESS FREQUENTLY, THAT MUTATION OF A GENE WOULD INCREASE THE OFFSPRING’S ABILI TY TO SURVIVE. THAT NEW MUTATED GENE WOULD GET PASSED DOWN TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. WITH ENOUGH MUTATIONS, THE OFFSPRING BECAME SO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER THAT NEW SPECIES WERE CREATED. THIS IS EVOLUTION.
ABOUT 2.7 BILLION YEARS AGO CYANOBACTERIA WERE THE FIRST TO PRODUCE OXYGEN THROUGH PHOTOSYNTHESIS. USING ENERGY FROM THE SUN THEY TOOK CARBON DIOXIDE IN FROM THE ATMOSPHERE AND RETURNED OXYGEN IN ITS PLACE.
OVER BILLIONS OF YEARS THESE TINY ORGANISMS CHANGED THE ATMOSPHERE FROM TOXIC TO HOSPITABLE – LIKE THE ONE WE HAVE NOW. WELL MAYBE NOT NOW, BUT BEFORE WE STARTED PUMPING CARBON DIOXIDE AND METHANE BACK INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. AND AS THE ATMOSPHERE CHANGED, MORE OXYGEN PRODUCING ORGANISMS EVOLVED.
IT WAS A SLOW SLOW PROCESS DRIVEN BY RANDOM GENOMIC EVENTS THAT TOOK BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF YEARS BUT LIFE CREATED AN ENVIRONMENT WORTH LIVING IN.
AND THEN ABOUT 600 MILLION YEARS AGO CAME THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION!
IT LASTED ABOUT 30 MILLION YEARS – WHICH ISN’T TOO LONG GEOLOGICALLY SPEAKING – BUT THE EARLIEST ANCESTORS OF OUR MODERN DAY PLANTS, ANIMALS AND FUNGI EMERGED DURING THAT TIME.
WITH AN ATMOSPHERE FILLED WITH OXYGEN AND NITROGEN AND THE OZONE LAYER HOLDING IT ALL IN AND STABLIZING THE GLOBAL TEMPERATURE. SUDDENLY, THE LIFE THE EARTH COULD SUSTAIN BECAME MORE AND MORE COMPLICATED AT AN UNPRECIDENTED RATE.
THE OCEANS WERE TEAMING WITH THE FIRST INVERTEBRATES ANIMALS WITH NO SPINES, LIKE SEA SPONGES AND SNAILS. AND EVENTUALLY BACKBONES EVOLVED -- VERTEBRATES LIKE FISH. IT’S NOW 8AM ON OUR METOPHORICAL CLOCK. IT WASN’T UNTIL 9:30 PM THAT PLANTS STARTED TO ROOT ON LAND. OVER MILLIONS OF YEARS FROM MUTATIONS, THE ONES THAT INCREASE SURVIVABILITY, ANIMAL SPECIES EVOLVED THAT COULD THRIVE ON LAND. IT’S 10 PM.
NOW INSTEAD OF A BARREN ROCKY LANDSCAPE WITH UNBREATHABLE AIR, EARTH WAS A LUSH EDEN FILLED WITH LIFE LIVING IN THE SEA AND ON THE LAND.
THIS LAND WAS MADE UP OF TECTONIC PLATES SHIFTING, PULLING APART AND CRASHING INTO EACH OTHER. 250 MILLION YEARS AGO THE LARGE LAND MASS KNOWN AS PANGAEA STARTED TO BREAK APART. IT’S ABOUT 11PM ON OUR METOPHORICAL CLOCK. THE TECTONIC PLATES MAKING UP THE ONE LARGE CONTINENT STARTED TO DRIFT FORMING THE SEVEN CONTINENTS WE HAVE NOW. AND, IN THE PROCESS EACH OF THESE PLATES TOOK THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS THAT LIVED ON THE LAND WITH THEM.
SPECIES WERE SEPARATED INTO DIFFERENT POPULATIONS BY MOUNTAIN RANGES AND OCEANS. AS THEY REPRODUCED ISOLATED FROM EACHOTHER, THEY EVOLVED TO SURVIVE IN THEIR NEW CLIMATE TOGETHER WITH THE PLANTS, ANIMALS, FUNGI, AND BACTERIA THEY TRAVELED WITH ON THAT TECTONIC PLATE. AS NEW SPEICES EMERGED, OTHERS BECAME EXTINCT. IT WAS THE NATURAL CYCLE OF EVOLUTION.
IT’S ESTIMATED THAT THE EARTH HAS SEEN AT LEAST 770 MILLION BUT MAYBE EVEN BILLIONS OF SPECIES. 99.9% OF THOSE ALL SPECIES THAT EXISTED ON EARTH SINCE LIFE BEGAN ARE EXTINCT.
NOW WE HAVE ABOUT 8.7 MILLION DIFFERENT SPECIES BUT WE’RE ALSO IN THE MIDST OF THE SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION. FOR REFERENCE - THE FIFTH MASS EXTINCTION WAS THE DINOSAURS – AROUND 11:40PM ON THE 24 HOUR CLOCK.
EXPERTS ESTIMATE THAT THE EXTINCTION RATE THAT WE’RE WITNESSING RIGHT NOW IS BETWEEN 1000-10000 TIMES HIGHER THAN THE NATURAL EXTINCTION RATE. WE’RE LOSING PERHAPS 1 OR 3 OR 17 SPECIES AN HOUR – THE EXACT AMOUNT IS UNCLEAR. BUT EVEN THE ESTIMATE OF ONE AN HOUR IS A LOT!
THE REASON FOR ALL THIS LOSS IS OF COURSE US. HUMANS. WE’VE CHANGED THE CLIMATE – DIGGING UP ALL THOSE GREEN HOUSE GASSES LIFE SPENT BILLIONS OF YEARS REMOVING FROM THE ATMOSPHERE. WE’VE CLEARED HABITAT THAT LIFE SPENT MILLIONS OF YEARS CO-EVOLVING. AND WE’VE INTRODUCED SPECIES IN PLACES THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE EITHER BY CARELESSNESS OR BECAUSE THEY LOOKED NICE.
ABOUT 37% OF THE 3400 SPECIES OF PLANT FOUND IN PENNSYLVANIA ARE NON NATIVE. AND THE PROBLEM WITH THESE NON NATIVE PLANTS IS THAT THEY DIDN’T EVOLVE HERE WHICH CAN BE A DISADVANTAGE BUT OFTEN TIMES THEY HAVE THE UPPER HAND. IF THEY CAN SURVIVE AND NATURALIZE – REPRODUCE ON THEIR OWN IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT – THEY’RE IN A LAND WITH NO PREDATORS. NOTHING TO EAT THEM OR KEEP THEIR POPULATIONS IN CHECK. IF THEY REPRODUCE AGRESSIVELY, THEY’LL JUST TAKE OVER.
WALK IN MANY FORESTS AROUND THE EAST COAST AND YOU’LL FIND AN UNDERSTORY FILLED WITH INTRODUCED, NOW INVASIVE SPECIES. IF A NATIVE PLANT POPS UP IN A SMALL EMPTY CORNER A DEER WILL COME AND EAT IT. AFTERALL, NATIVE DEER AND NATIVES PLANTS CO-EVOLVED IN A BALANCED ECOSYSTEM.
WITHOUT NATIVE PLANTS, NATIVE INSECTS LIKE CATEPILLARS AND BEES CAN’T SURVIVE. THIS MASS EXTINCTION INCLUDES AN INSTECTAGGADON – A CLEVER NAME SOMEONE CAME UP TO DESCRIBE THE VERY SERIOUS MATTER THAT THE PLANET’S INSECTS ARE DISAPPEARING.
SWATTING MOSQUITOES IN YOUR GARDEN IT MAY NOT SEEM LIKE IT BUT I REMEMBER AS A CHILD SOME 30 YEARS AGO DRIVING ON BACK ROADS AT NIGHT WITH A WINDSHIELD SMEARED WITH SMASHED BUG CARCASSES. THIS YEAR, NOTHING. NOT A SINGLE ONE.
WITH OUT INSECTS, PLANTS CAN’T BE POLLINATED AND REPRODUCE. BIRDS CAN’T FEED THEIR HATCHLINGS. ANIMALS THAT FEED ON PLANTS AND INSECTS DIE OUT. IT’S A WHOLE CYCLE OF ECOSYSTEM DEGRADATION.
I WANTED TO TAKE YOU ON THIS JOURNEY TO ILLUSTRATE THAT IT TOOK BILLIONS OF YEARS FOR LIFE TO CREATE A HABITABLE PLANET WITH SPECIES THAT CO-EVOLVED CREATING COMPLICATED ECOSYSTEMS OF WHICH WE ARE A PART OF AND QUICKLY DESTROYING. BUT THERE IS A LITTLE THING WE CAN DO TO HELP. PLANT NATIVE PLANTS.
FORTUNATELY, NATIVE PLANTS ARE BECOMING A BIT OF A TREND. AND FOR GOOD REASON – NATIVE PLANTS REQUIRE LESS WATER AND CHEMICALS TO GROW. THEY’RE EASY.
THEY ALSO HELP SEQUESTER MORE CARBON, REDUCING AIR POLLUTION AND THEY CAN REDUCE FLOODING. IMPORTANTLY, THEY FEED OUR INSECTS LEADING TO MORE BIODIVERSITY.
OK GREAT YOU MIGHT BE THINKING -- BUT WHAT NEXT? HOW DO I FIGURE OUT WHAT TO PLANT? WHERE TO PLANT? HOW TO PLANT? AND WHERE TO GET ALL THESE PLANTS?
WELL LUCKY FOR YOU I GOT SOME ANSWERS FROM ONE OF THE ONLY NATIVE PLANT NURSERIES IN PHILADELPHIA.
John: my name is John Janick. I am the owner and operator of good house plants. Straight species, native nursery in Mount Airy. Started at about eight years ago at Front West Theory. Had a retail space for the demo garden. Then the pandemic hit and I closed it down right when we got our new house in Mount Airy, where I had enough room to kind of do growing on the property.
MEREDITH: JOHN’S JOURNEY INTO NATIVE PLANTS STARTED IN 2010 BY HAPPENSTANCE.
John: We had just moved into our last house, also in Mount Airy.We had like a little yard and like a little 20 by 20 front yard and about 40 by 40 in the back. So I couldn't wait to do some gardening as a first time I had a garden space in Philly. Even though I have a degree in biology, like I knew nothing about the value of native species, so I was ready to head to Lowe's or Home Depot and fill up the trunk with a bunch of random like flowers and shrubs and start getting into gardening. But I noticed some like a some local forum that Audubon Society was doing Audubon at home audits in Northwest Philly. So I'm about to do my yard. And then he sign up and like they got right back to me, set up a they sent about seven or eight people to come and It was they spent like 2 hours there. It was like, that's why I do what I do today. Because of that. If I didn't see that post on a forum, like, I would have went to Home Depot that day and brought back, you know, box worms and things like that. And that would have been the end, like the end of my native plant journey before it even started. I’ve just been down the rabbit hole ever since.
MEREDITH: JOHN STARTED EXPERIMENTING PLANTING A VARIETY OF NATIVE SPECIES IN HIS YARD.
John: one of the first shrubs that planted a spice bush, as I saw with the spice bush swallowtail caterpillar like little looks like a little snake head. And I planted it in that fall I got spikes, bush, swallowtail, caterpillar. So it was like, wow. Like if you plant this stuff, like, it really works.
MEREDITH: THE BIRDS NOTICED AND HIS YARD WAS FILLED WITH BIRDSONG. HIS NEIGHBOR’S ALSO STARTED NOTICING AND ASKED HIM TO PLANT THEIR YARDS TOO.
John: But the one thing I was finding out is that like all the native plant sellers were like an hour outside the city. And yeah, just I had a friend who had like a commercial property with a half acre that wasn't being used, said, Why don't you use the space to start up?
MEREDITH: AROUND 2015, JOHN PUT IN A 22 BY 50 FOOT HOOP HOUSE TO START HIS NATIVE PLANT NURSERY. BUT GROWING PLANTS FOR A NURSERY ISN’T THE SAME AS PLANTING THEM IN YOUR YARD.
John: One of the wise words someone once told me is to, uh, to grow plants, you have to kill plants. And I killed a lot of plants. It was a lot tougher than I anticipated. Just growing plants in pots. in a tiny quart pot, like a lot of things like they run out of. They get to dry really quick on a hot day, especially if they're in the hoop house under clear poorly. There are a lot of soil pathogens and pests and things.
So many things just like labeling things with a popsicle stick and permanent marker coming back in the spring after, like, watering for a year, like it was gone. Now, I didn't know what was in the pot,
So yeah, just over the last eight, nine years, I just, you know, learned as much as I could from people who had the knowledge. And yeah, I just I really wanted there was just there was a big gap in the city like for native plants and I just wanted to get people interested and you know, that's kind of been my mission.
MEREDITH: A FEW YEARS LATER JOHN WENT FURTHER DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE AND BECAME A MASTER NATURALIST.
John: they just had some amazing speakers and like, really knowledgeable people.
MEREDITH: HE ALSO DID THE FORCE OF NATURE PROGRAM RUN BY NATURAL LANDS -- A PENNSYLVANIA BASED NON PROFIT WHERE JOHN SAW FIRST HAND THE ISSUE NATIVE PLANTS FACE IN WILD FORESTS.
John: So we're right next to a few blocks away from the second largest urban park system in the US, I think. It's like amazing words. get this beautiful natural woods in the middle of the city. But, once you take the red pill and start to know, like, what's a non-native invasive that overwhelms all the good native plants. Once you know the good from the bad you see how threatened our wild open spaces are.
It's places like, Carpenter's Woods, like an important bird area, a lot of like old growth, like oaks and things that support like 400 plus species of caterpillars, which is why the birds come to feed their young. But you see the invasives everywhere.
MEREDITH: THE INTRODUCED SPECIES TAKING OVER OUR OLDEST FORESTS HAVE A MAJESTIC AND UNSUSPECTING ACCOMPLICE – WHITE TAILED DEER. IT’S ESTIMATED THAT IN PHILADELPHIA WE HAVE 50-60 DEER PER SQUARE MILE IN OUR PARKS. FORESTS CAN TYPICALLY ONLY SUSTAIN 8-10 DEER PER SQUARE MILE. WITHOUT THEIR MAIN PREDITORS WOLVES AND COUGARS – BOTH OF WHICH HUMANS HAVE PRETTY MUCH ELIMINATED ON THE EAST COAST – THE DEER POPULATION EXPLODED. YOU MAY THINK, IT’S BAMBI – HOW BAD CAN IT BE? A FOREST WITH AN OVER POPULATION OF DEER IS A FOREST THAT IS DYING.
THE DEER PREFER EATING THE NATIVE PLANTS THEY EVOLVED WITH. WITH EACH BITE THEY CLEAR SPACE ON THE FOREST FLOOR, GIVING WAY TO INTRODUCED SPECIES READY TO SPREAD. INSTEAD OF DIVERSE UNDERSTORY THE FOREST BECOMES A NO-NATIVE MONOCULTURE – A FOOD DESERT FOR THE ANIMALS THAT EVOLVED THERE.
EVENTUALLY EVEN THE DEER, WHO ARE PART OF THIS DESTRUCTION, ARE STARVING THEMSELVES. AN ECOSYSTEM OUT OF BALANCE ISN’T GOOD FOR ANYONE. AND OUR DYING FORESTS BECOME EERILY QUIET.
John: The birds will disappear because th – draw them in there.
MEREDITH: THIS IS WHY MANY FORESTS HAVE INVASIVE REMOVAL VOLUNTEER DAYS.
John: we do like, you know, an invasive removal event. We'd get like a little tiny patch and we did a lot of work there. But like you'd see like next year that patch would start coming up and all the other spaces throughout the park that we didn't have time to get. You know, we relied heavily on volunteers. Out compete the other ones until they’re gone.
MEREDITH: THE UNITED STATES HAS BEEN PAYING OVER 21 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR TO CONTROL THE ECOLOGICAL DAMANGE CAUSED BY INVASIVE SPECIES. CLEARING INVASIVE PLANTS FROM THE FOREST ISN’T A ONE AND DONE KIND OF OPERATION. THE NEW YORK RESTORATION PROJECT ESTIMATES THAT THEIR STAFF SPENDS 230 DAYS A YEAR MANUALLY REMOVING INVASIVE VINES IN THEIR FORESTS.
John: It's just like, I don't want to say a losing battle, but our public spaces and parks, like they're so hard to keep under control. But your yard where they're how small, even if you just have planters on like a roof deck like that makes a difference. You plant it, you will get the pollinators.
So why I think it's super important people get into it on their own properties, no matter how big. I had a customer who didn't have any land but had a deck and a roof deck and he just collected just anywhere he could find them. Potter's parts like home Depot buckets, anything you could find, fill them with soil and plant and like, amazing.
Like what could grow in just the part if you could water it poked drainage holes in the bottom, but all the butterflies and everything. So like even the tiniest space, like a few planters, like you could really make a difference with pollinators.
MEREDITH: STUDIES HAVE FOUND THAT IN AREAS WHERE THERE ARE FEW PLANTS AND LOW BIODIVERSITY OF POLLINATOR INSECTS, THAT SMALL PATCHES OF NATIVE PLANTS HAVE AN IMPACT. THEY CAN PROVIDE IMPORTANT STEPPING STONES FOR REFUGE BETWEEN AREAS WITH LARGER PATCHES OF NATIVE PLANTS.
John: like the monarch populations and like super decline over the past, like 30 to 50 years.
When I was a kid in the seventies and eighties, I remember seeing monarchs everywhere. And the caterpillars like they're really distinctive. But now, I mean, I probably have a few hundred milkweed planted out there. I don't see monarchs until I just started seeing them about two weeks ago. ---- They're the ones that make the trip to Mexico.
So like, in that sense, even like you know, if you have an aster blooming, that could make a difference. Like the monarch comes there. It may have been like running on empty, but it found that Aster recharges with nectar, makes it to the next flies, makes it to the next stop. So and a lot of like specialist native, like solitary bees like could be a lot of flowers blooming, but they don't use those for nectar.
So if you're even a small part with like a certain type of plant that they're specialized on, like they'll find it and they'll use it and they'll keep it going and they'll make a hole and a piece of dead wood nearby and could get generations of that. Bee Thanks to the plants that you're planting in a small space.
MEREDITH: WHEN YOU’RE PLANTING ONLY A FEW PLANTS IN A SMALL SPACE YOU HAVE TO MAKE CHOICES ON WHICH ONES ARE MOST BENEFICIAL. SOME PLANTS HOST MANY INSECTS WHILE OTHERS MAY BE MASSIVELY IMPORTANT TO JUST ONE SPECIALIST SPECIES.
John: You could really grow anything. I mean, some of the if I had to name a few just for someone, I just want to get into natives. I don't have time to research it, but I want to plant something that's good and hearty and bulletproof, like things like purple cornflower or black eyed Susan or New England Aster. Smooth aster. It's really, really easy.
a good combination, but our plan is. Joe Pye Weed. You try opium, there's a big one hollow stem drop where you that gets like seven feet tall, but there are other shorter varieties. Those will attract all the big butterflies.
The swallowtail is monarchs and then I'll plant swamp milkweed next to that. So when you get the monarchs coming for the nectar, they have a place to lay their eggs where their caterpillars can eat on the milkweed. And swamp milkweed by itself is like a great butterfly attractor.
MEREDITH: CREATING A POLLINATOR HABITAT ISN’T JUST ABOUT PLANTING ONE NATIVE PLANT – IT’S ABOUT PROVIDING FOOD, BOTH FOR ADULTS AND LARVA, WATER, AND SHELTER.
John: Blue stem – a lot of caterpillars. You'd be surprised. But they do eat. They can feed on a lot of the native grasses. A big one is that it provides like cover for wildlife, like dense cover. But I'd say like Black-Eyed, Susan would give you the most bang for your buck, You're going to get like six months of really nice blooms starting this time of year. Butterflies. A lot of skippers love it. Really easy to grow. Anything I grow you can’t go wrong. because it's because I'm a web developer by day and it's kind of like my side passion project. just not having to rely on sales too much. I can be like strict with my mission, which it’s for the most part I grow a straight species native to the mid Atlantic a lot of the time. Most of the time I'd say sourced from local eco regions. Once in a while, I'll grow a cultivar,
MEREDITH: CULTIVAR IS A PORTMANTEAU OF CULTIVATED VARIETY. THE VARIETY PART OF CULTIVAR REFERS TO PLANTS THAT EVOLVE DIFFERENT TRAITS IN NATURE. NOT QUITE A SPECIES BUT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER VARIETIES OF THE SAME PLANT THAT EVOLVED SOMEWHERE ELSE. THEN THERE’S THE CULTIVATED PART OF CULTIVAR. THIS IS WHEN THOSE DIFFERENT TRAITS ARE SELECTED FOR NOT BY NATURE BUT BY HUMANS.
SO WHEN JOHN SAYS HE PLANTS STRAIGHT SPECIES IT MEANS THERE WAS NO HUMAN INTERVENTION IN CREATING THE GENETICS OF THE PLANTS. THE EXISTENCE OF NATIVE PLANT CULTIVARS – OR NATIVARS – IS A CONFUSING OBSTICLE FOR FOLKS JUST WANTING TO HELP OUT POLLINATORS. NOT EVERYTHING LABELED NATIVE IS IN FACT A PLANT YOU’D FIND IN NATURE LET ALONE CREATED BY IT.
John: If you got a tray of a cultivar, every plug would look the same. because with a straight species especially like open pollinated straight species from the wind or pollinators, you get a tray of open pollinator straight species say little blue stem you’re going to see different varying heights, different hues. Really diverse color and everything like that. and it’s not just the color if you think about like preserving that genetic diversity, if a blight or a disease comes in, some of them are going to get knocked out but a few of them may be resistant and preserving that will allow the species to continue where as if something comes in that affects a cultivar like they’re all genetically identical it’s going to take out all of them.
MEREDITH: AND SOMETIMES NATIVE CULTIVARS ARE JUST USELESS. MOUNT CUBA CENTER IN DELAWARE DOES TRIALS ON DIFFERENT CULTIVARS – DIFFERENT COLORS OF CONE FLOWERS, DIFFERENT HEIGHTS OF PHLOX, DIFFERENT SHAPES OF RUDBECKIA – TO SEE IF THEY ARE STILL DESIRABLE TO POLLINATORS. OFTENTIMES HEIGHT OR COLOR WON’T HAVE A BIG AFFECT BUT FLOWER SHAPE WILL.
John: if it changes the shape, like you'll see like a cornflower cornflower, like they're they have them like a rainbow of colors, like cultivar. Like it just looks great, but it doesn't provide the benefit to wildlife or pollinators just because they can't recognize it. So that's the big one. Like they look great. But a lot of times like the yeah, this is native, but it's a cultivar. It's not really providing for like the pollinators. I'm not so much of a native like extremist that like I mean if you get into natives and you want like this particular splash of color, you can't find it anywhere.
Like by all means, like plant the cultivar. If you have it mixed with other things, like it's much better than planting something invasive like a butterfly bush where you'll get the butterflies, but they can't eat the leaves. It spreads like seed, like it's invades non-native, it's invasive, it's going to take over other things. So like, yeah, I mean, if you really like a cultivar, like by all means, go ahead.
MEREDITH: ESPECIALLY IN THE SMALL SPACES TUCKED IN A WHOLEY UNNATURALY ENVIRONMENT LIKE A CITY, CULTIVARS THAT CREATE SMALLER VERSIONS OF BEAUTIFUL PRAIRIE NATIVES ALLOW US URBAN GARDENERS TO PLANT MANAGEABLE POLLINATOR GARDENS.
John: So like, if you're ready to get into this, like, I hope you like gardening because there's going to be a lot of weeding. My biggest thing I would say is, you know, small yard or something like that. Don't just plant among the weeds, like take the time. I don't use like herbicides or anything like that. I'm a big fan of smothering.
MEREDITH: IT’S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER WHEN YOU’RE PLANTING FOOD FOR INSECTS NOT TO USE CHECMICALS. YOU WANT YOUR SOIL TO BE CLEAN BECAUSE THE SPACES BETWEEN PLANTS IN NATIVE GARDENS IS A GREAT UNTOUCHED SPOT FOR GROUND NESTING BEES PARTICULARLY OVER WINTER.
John: So especially this time of year, best time to plant because the days are shorter. You plant stuff now that we get more rain, you're not going to have to water it. We're not going to get a hot like heat wave drought. So this is the time to plant like from late August through October, like best time to plant it when they get that winter under the ground. I mean the most important thing is just planting and experimenting with different plants, getting to know the plant, take pictures of it so you can go back in your photos.
I might go through and look by each year. Each year. When does something bloom? So I learn bloom times. I learn heights a lot of great like if you really like my favorite website for insect plant interactions, like all the benefits, like all the insects that use it would be a Illinois Illinois wildflowers dot com. Pretty much any species you search up in there you'll get like a really detailed description and they'll tell you like every type of bee that uses it, every type of insects that feeds on the foliage. there's a ton of resources online. there's a native alternative for everything. I actually have a book, I think it was like by the New York Botanical Garden or something like that where they there's a book I have where it shows like, here's the invasive here, the native alternatives like, like everything from them to like look sides, everything. There's a native alternative. It's just finding it like there aren't a ton of unfortunately, native nurseries everywhere.
I live in a neighborhood of people who, like, want to do the right thing. But like, you'd be surprised how few people knew, like the importance of like just how much of an impact you can make by what you plant on your property. there's a lot of things you want to change in the world, but like, you plant native plant that makes a difference. It's a great hobby and get to know your plants, take pictures of them, use the online resources, ask questions and you know, everything's out there on the Internet, YouTube videos like it's all there and do it. It's easy in the end. Looks cheaper than my neighbors, like mowing their lawns for 4 hours at a time and twice a week for whatever reason.
And I just sit back and look at my flowers and I. Awesome.
MEREDITH: THAT WAS JOHN JANICK FROM GOOD HOST PLANTS. YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIS NATIVE PLANT NURSERY ON HIS WEBSITE GOOD HOST PLANTS.COM SO ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT A HOST PLANT IS AND WHAT MAKES IT GOOD?
TO FIND OUT, LET’S JUST EXPLORE THE LIFE OF ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS BUTTERFLIES IN NORTH AMERICA – THE MONARCH DANAUS PLEXIPPUS.
NAMED FOR KING WILLIAM THE THIRD OF ENGLAND AKA THE PRINCE OF ORANGE, THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY IS EASILY IDENTIFIED BY ITS ORANGE AND BLACK WINGS. THERE ARE THREE SPECIES OF MONARCH BUTTERFLIES WORLDWIDE AND SEVERAL SUBSPECIES. IN 2022 THE MIGRATORY MONARCH DANAUS PLEXIPPUS PLEXIPPUS WAS DECLARED ENDANGERED.
THE EAST COAST POPULATION OF THIS SUBSPECIES TRAVELS UP TO 3000 MILES FROM SOUTHERN CANADA DOW THE EAST COAST TO THE VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS IN CENTRAL MEXICO WHERE THEY OVER WINTER. IN THE SPRING THE EAST COAST POPULATION TRAVELS UP THROUGH TEXAS. A NEW GENERATION IS BORN THERE AND THOSE MONARCHS TRAVEL ALONG THE SHORE OF THE GULF OF MEXICO AND UP THE EAST COAST TO AROUND VIRGINIA WHERE THEY BREED. A THIRD GENERATION FINISHES THE MIGRATION UP TO NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. THESE FIRST THREE GENERATIONS ONLY LIVE 2-6 WEEKS. BUT THE FOURTH GENERATION BORN UP NORTH LIVES NINE MONTHS – LONG ENOUGH TO MIGRATE ALL THE WAY BACK DOWN TO MEXCIO, SURIVE THROUGH THE WINTER AND TRAVEL BACK UP TO TEXAS TO BREED IN THE SPRING.
THE POPULATION OF MONARCH BUTTERFLIES MIGRATING HAS DROPPED 80% IN THE LAST 20 YEARS.
HARSHER WINTERS HAS KILLED OFF MORE OF THE OVERWINTERING MONARCHES. ERRATIC WEATHER HAS CHANGED THE BLOOM TIME OF THE PLANTS THE MONARCHS RELY ON FOR NECTAR. AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND PESTICIDE USE HAS REDUCED THE AMOUNT OF MILKWEED AVAILABLE THE MONARCHS LAY THEIR EGGS. ON.
MILKWEED AND MONARCHS – THESE TWO SPECIES EVOLVED SO CLOSELY THAT MONARCHS CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT MILKWEED. IT’S THE ONLY SPLANT THAT CAN HOST THE BABY CATEPILLARS. LOTS OF BUTTERFLIES HAVE SPECIFIC HOST PLANTS. ONE OF THE MOST OBVIOUS IN OUR GARDENS IS THE BLACK SWALLOWTAIL THAT USES MEMBERS OF THE APIACEAE FAMILY INCLUDING PARSLEY, DILL AND FENNEL TO RAISE THEIR CATEPILLARS. IF YOU’VE FOUND YOUR HERB GARDEN DECIMATED SEEMINGLY OVERNIGHT YOU’VE BECOME A NURSERY FOR OUR NATIVE BLACK SWALLOW TAIL BUTTERFLIES.
UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE MONARCH, MILKWEED DOESN’T HAVE A RELATED PLANT WE READILY GROW IN OUR HERB GARDENS.
IN FACT, MILKWEED IS TOXIC TO A LOT OF BIRDS AND MAMMALS CAUSING ISSUES IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, KIDNEYS AND MUSCLES. BAD NEWS FOR OTHER ANIMALS – LIKE FREE RANGING LIVESTOCK – BUT THE MONARCHS HAVE EVOLVED TO USE THIS TOXIN TO THEIR ADVANTAGE.
EACH FEMALE MONARCH LAYSY 100-300 EGGS IN HER LIFE IF SHE CAN FIND A SUITABLE NURSERY – OR MANY. THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA’S MONARCH LAB ESTIMATES THAT EACH CATEPILLAR NEEDS ONE MATURE MILKWEED PLANT.
IF SHE HAD HER WAY, THE MAMA MONARCH WOULD LAY ONLY ONE EGG ON THE UNDERSIDE OF ONE LEAF OF EACH MILKWEED PLANT. THIS EGG SITS HIDDEN FOR 3- 5 DAYS. AND THEN THE CATEPILLAR – OR LARVA – EMERGES -- A LITTLE GRAY CREATURE WITH A BLACK HEAD ABOUT THE LENGTH OF A STAPLE. OVER 11-18 DAYS THE TINY CATEPILLAR EATS THE MILKWEED INJESTING THE TOXINS AND ABSORBING IT INTO ITS BODY. EATING MORE AND MORE MILKWEED THE CATEPILLAR BECOMES TOXIC ITSELF – A GOOD DETERRANT TO PREDATORY VERTEBRATES LIKE BIRDS.
AS IT GROWS TOO LARGE FOR ITS SKIN IT MOLTS, CASTING OFF THE OLD SKIN AND DISPLAYING A NEW PATTERN. THE TIME BETWEEN THESE MOLTS ARE CALLED INSTARS. IN SOME BUTTERFLY SPECIES THESE INSTARS CAN LOOK VERY DIFFERENT – LIKE IN THE BLACK SWALLOWTAIL THE FIRST INSTAR LOOKS LIKE A BLOB OF BIRD POOP WHILE THE LAST INSTAR IS BRIGHT GREEN WITH BLACK STRIPES AND ORANGE SPOTS.
AFTER THE MONARCHS CATEPILLARS HAVE GROWN 100 TIMES THEIR SIZE AND ARE IN THEIR FIFTH INSTAR THEY MOVE INTO THEIR NEXT PHASE OF LIFE – THE CHRYSALIS. SOME TIMES PEOLE REFER TO THE CHRYSALIS AS A COCOON BUT THEY ARE ACTUALLY DIFFERENT. COCOONS ARE TYPICALLY MADE AROUND THE INSECT – THINK MUD OR SILK. THEY’RE SOFT AND POROUS.
A CHRYSALIS IS FORMED FROM THE CATEPILLARS BODY AND IS HARD.
WHEN THE MONARCH CATEPILLAR IS READY TO PUPATE – FORM A CHRYSALIS – IT CRAWLS AWAY FROM ITS MILKWEED BUFFET, FINDS A BRANCH AND ATTACHES A LITTLE PAD OF SILK TO HANG UPSIDE DOWN FROM. THE CATEPILLAR DOESN’T FORM THE CHRYSALIS AROUND ITSELF – MUCH LIKE THE MOLTING PROCESS WHERE OLD SKIN BROKE AWAY REVEALING THE NEW SKIN, THE CRYSALIS EMERGES WHEN THE CATEPILLAR MOLTS FOR THE LAST TIME. ONCE THAT SKIN HARDENS INTO A BEAUTIFUL EMERALD ORNAMENT.
THEN THE CATEPILLAR DIGESTS ITSELF, BREAKING ITS BODY DOWN INTO CELLS AND PARTS OF CELLS – A GOO READY TO TRANSFORM. SOME OF THE CELLS ARE IMAGINAL CELLS SET TO BECOME PARTS OF THE ADULT BUTTERFLY. THESE CELLS USE THE PROTEIN IN THE GOO AS ENERGY TO DIVID RAPIDSLY INTO WINTS, ANTENNAE, LEGS – ALL THE THINGS THAT BUTTERFLIES HAVE THAT CATEPILLARS DON’T.
THE MOST WILD THING – TO ME AT LEAST – IS THAT RESEARCHERS HAVE FOUND THAT THE SPECIES THEY HAVE STUDIED THE ADULT BUTTERFLIES ACTUALLY REMEMBER THINGS FROM WHEN THEY WERE CATEPILLARS. SO THAT GOO INSIDE THE CHRYSALIS IS ACTUALLY SENTIENT.
AFTER 8-14 DAYS THE EMERALD CHRYSALIS TURNS TRANSLUCENT SHOWING THE MONARCHS NEW ORANGE WINGS INSIDE. THE MONARCH STARTS TO SPLIT THE CHRYSALIS OPEN AND WITHIN SECONDS EMERGES STRETCHING AND EXPANDING ITS WINGS AND ABDOMEN. IN ABOUT AN HOUR IT TAKES ITS FIRST FLIGHT.
WHILE ITS DIET WAS SEVERLY LIMITED TO JUST MILKWEED WHEN IT WAS A CATEPILLAR, THE ADULT MONARCH FEEDS ON NECTAR FROM LOTS OF DIFFERENT FLOWERS.
RESEARCHERS FROM CORNELL UNIVERSITY HAVE FOUND THAT PERHAPS LATE BLOOMING FLOWERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT TO THE MIGRATORY MONARCH’S SURVIVAL THAN MILKWEED. THIS IS BECAUSE A CONSTANT NECTAR SOURCE is VITAL WHEN THE ADULTS ARE TRAVELLING BACK DOWN TO MEXICO.
SO TO SAVE THE MONARCH WE DO NEED TO PLANT MILKWEED BUT THAT’S NOT ALL. YOU WANT TO CREATE A NATIVE HABITAT – ONE STOP TO SUIT ALL OF THE MONARCH’S NEEDS. AND THE BEST PART OF DOING THIS IS THAT IT HELPS MORE OF OUR NATIVE POLLINATORS AND INSECTS.
TO START, GIVE THEM A SNACK WITH VARIETIES OF NECTAR PRODUCING FLOWERS – GOLDEN ROD, BLAZING STAR, ASTERS AND CONE FLOWERS. PROVIDE THEM WITH A NURSERY FILLED WITH HOST PLANTS – MILKWEED FOR THE MONARCHS, FENNEL FOR THE BLACK SWALLOWTAILS, VIOLETS FOR THE FRITILLARIES. GIVE THEM A ROOM AT THE INN WITH SHRUBS OR LONG GRASSES FOR BUTTERFLIES TO HUNKER DOWN IN THE RAIN. AND OF COURSE A WATERING HOLE – A SHALLOW DISH OF WATER WITH PEBBLES PROVIDING A LANDING SPOT.
BUTTERFLIES ARE COLD BLOODED AND NEED WARMTH TO FLY SO PLANT YOUR BUTTERFLY GARDEN IN A SUNNY PLACE AND DO NOT NOT NOT NOT USE FERTILIZERS OR PESTICIDES. A BUTTERFLY GARDEN IS ONLY DOING ITS JOB WHEN IT IS GETTING DEVESTATED BY CATEPILLARS AND OTHER INSECTS EATING IT.
YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXACT SPECIES TO PLANT FOR YOUR GARDEN ON THE GOOD HOST PLANT’S WEBSITE. THERE ARE INNUMERABLE RESOURCES ONLINE AND I’LL PUT A FEW OF MY FAVORITE RESOURCES IN THE SHOW NOTES.
YOUR LITTLE BUTTERFLY GARDEN MAY BE JUST THE OASIS THAT A MONARCH NEEDS TO GET TO ITS NEXT STOP ALONG ITS 3,000 MILE MIGRATION. AND EVERY MONARCH THAT MAKES IT HELPS ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF THE SPECIES FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR JOINING ME ON A JOURNEY OF EVOLUTION AND THROUGH A LIFE CYCLE. AND A SPECIAL THANKS TO JOHN JANICK FOR INVITING ME INTO HIS HOME TO SHARE HIS WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GROWING NATIVE PLANTS.
THIS IS THE FINAL EPISODE OF THIS SEASON OF GRITTY AND GREEN! I HOPE YOU HAVE LEARNED A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT GROWING A GARDEN IN A CITY OF ROWHOMES AND HAVE BEEN INSPIRED TO CREATE MORE GREENERY AROUND THE CITY.
I’LL BE BACK NEXT SPRING WITH A NEW SEASON AND PERHAPS POPPING BACK THROUGHOUT THE WINTER WITH SPECIAL EPISODES SO STAY SUBSCRIBED!
GRITTY AND GREEN IS PRESENTED BY GREEN PHILLY.
IN COLLABORATION WITH COOL GOON PRODUCTIONS.
IT WAS WRITTEN, DIRECTED AND EDITED BY ME, MEREDITH NUTTING.
THEME MUSIC BY KAZUYA
IF YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY GO TO GREENPHL.COM