Bright green grass standing proud and tall — but not too tall — has long been a mainstay of the archetypal suburban lawn. The Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady would like to gently challenge that idea.
ECOS hopes to encourage not just the planting of native species but baby steps that make your yard a place for pollinators to thrive. To jump-start this mission, it has partnered with a local nursery to offer starter kits featuring plants native to the area.
The kits, sold by Ballston Spa’s Jessecology, feature 22 plants. There are two different options, one for shady spots and one for sunny spots. The kits cost $308 dollars.
“We're trying to encourage people to buy these, especially for Mother's Day,” said ECOS member Sarah Celik. “I have people I know that go out and spend $300 on annuals, begonias and other nonnatives. If they could instead spend $300 on these — all perennials, you know — so once you start them, hopefully they will get turned on to the excitement of seeing all the insect life and the birds that they support and everything else around these.”
To drum up excitement for the program, ECOS will be installing a pollinator garden at the Niskayuna town pool on May 5. Additionally, the organization will raffle off one of the kits, allowing a budding gardener to try the method free of charge. Contact gvscott07@verizon.net to enter the drawing.
The starter kits are beginner-friendly, with the biggest challenge likely being overcoming the societal influences of what a lawn should look like. The standard of vivid green grass dates to the 1960s, when color television became widely available and golf tournaments could be seen on TV screens, Celik said.
The story goes that when Americans were exposed to the meticulously manicured courses in Augusta, Georgia, they felt things heat up.
Pictured is a section of Cathi Butryn's garden dedicated to butterflies.
“We also started to think that there's this tremendous social pressure to keep up appearances for the neighbors, like people feel guilty when they don't have what they've grown up with as the image of . . . what a yard is supposed to look like,” Celik said.
The problem is, those lawns are a lot more pleasing to the eye than to plant life.
The pesticides and herbicides required to preserve pristine conditions are a catch-22 of cultivation. By spraying the grass, homeowners keep critters away and the grass picturesque. However, animal life — including creepy-crawly bugs— is a sign of a job well done and a garden well planted. A lack of those critters might seem convenient but is not conducive to healthy earth.
“It's a bit of a vicious cycle. If you don't have the pollinators to pollinate plants then you don't have as many native plants doing well. And if you don't have the native plants, then of course you can't support all these pollinators,” Celik said. “Pollinators, in turn, support all the songbirds and things, this whole web of life right on up to all the mammals and us with our foods. So it really is an important issue.”
Celik plans to set up her own kit soon. For now, she has begun to make small changes supporting plant and animal life on her property, embracing any blights to the expected aesthetic along the way.
One simple change Celik recommends is resisting the urge to rake up the piles of leaves synonymous with an upstate autumn. Instead, let the decay crunch under your feet as the earth absorbs all the carbon goodness.
“Leaving the leaves is critical. It's where all these insects nest,” said Celik.
Tree stumps are another form of plant matter that is typically removed from yards. However, the decomposing wood and the fungi growing on it are great for the soil beneath, Celik added.
Celik, a Niskayuna resident, kept her community in mind when working with Jessecology and other ECOS members to design the kits.
“We picked out six species for each one that are likely to give success and that are good with the Niskayuna, Schenectady clay soils, that will do well with rabbits eating them,” Celik said. “We've really tried to get a selection with different colors, textures, that's aesthetically pleasing, too.”
Cathri Butryn of Schenectady is another resident who’s turned over a new leaf — while leaving the dead ones, of course — in regard to her garden.
A butterfly lands on a flower in Cathi Butryn's yard.
One of her tips is to let weeds be.
“I have milkweed. Milkweed is the only crop that monarch butterflies will lay their eggs on … so I have my yard filled with milkweed,” Butryn said. “A lot of things that are called weeds are actually very beneficial.”
Butryn’s garden boasts some flourishing flowers, too. Black-eyed Susans and lupine provide pops of color in the warmer months.
On May 4 at 10 a.m., ECOS will host the Ed Kautz Porch and Pollinator gathering, where members will meet, then walk to Butryn’s home to observe the garden. To participate, simply show up at 1231 Keyes Ave.
The goal of the Jessecology kits is to make native gardening more accessible. They provide beginners a “recipe,” as Celik says, allowing them to ease into the process.
Celik noted that this doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Baby steps are still steps and can give pollinators a boost.
She pointed to some favorites in her garden, such as a Japanese maple and a weeping willow, both native to eastern Asia.
“You can do small things, but with many yards that adds up to a huge impact,” Celik said.
