{"id":1508,"date":"2016-05-24T10:04:01","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T14:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2016-06-20T12:59:12","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T16:59:12","slug":"gardening-preserve-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardening to preserve habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lesley Arrandale<\/em>
\nmail@floridanewsline.com<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My ideal used to be an English garden, with perfumed lilacs, hybrid tea roses, billowing apple trees, stately flag irises, luscious peonies, an immaculate lawn \u2014 the list goes on \u2014 most of which are downright pointless even to consider in our climate. <\/span><\/p>\n

As I learned about Florida\u2019s native plants and the animals and birds that call Florida home, it became increasingly important for me to make my yard Florida-Friendly. Vast swathes of woodlands around Jacksonville have been replaced by new highways and urban developments, and innumerable creatures have lost their homes. In addition, older trees are declining and being removed from our established neighborhoods and we have no control over habitat in the birds\u2019 wintering grounds in Central and South America. I can\u2019t help but conclude that birds like goldfinches and indigo buntings, which no longer migrate through my yard in sizeable flocks, have felt the impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what does this mean for local wildlife in gardening terms? Basically, plant what they need, in ways that they need it. Whenever we make changes to our yards, for whatever reasons, we can consider the needs of wildlife \u2014 birds, bees and butterflies \u2014 and resolve to make them more inviting. Water, food and shelter are basic requirements. Which shrubs will shelter birds? Which will supply food in leaf, flower, fruit or nut form? By layering the landscape \u2014 growing plants of different heights, from short groundcovers and perennials to large shrubs or trees \u2014 we can mimic the forest edge, the most productive of environments. <\/span><\/p>\n

Two excellent books, available from the library, are \u201cNative Plant Landscaping for Florida Wildlife,\u201d by Craig N. Huegel and \u201cThe Art of Maintaining a Florida Native Landscape,\u201d by Ginny Stibolt. Huegel describes a wide palette of plants and their particular values to wildlife. Stibolt takes things a step further, with practical ways to keep our suburban yards looking good and functioning well. While certainly not maintenance free, a native yard needs less input than a traditional landscape \u2014 for which we can be grateful! <\/span><\/p>\n

For other reliable resources, refer to the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods website:\u00a0http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/he6qyr8<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0For greater detail, see\u00a0http:\/\/edis.ifas.ufl.edu\/uw175<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently cut down a huge, hollow hickory tree which was really too close to our house. To compensate, I left a snag about 12 to 15 feet high, which we girdled in order to kill it, and I shall plant native vines around it to attract hummingbirds. In time, the local woodpeckers should find it a good source of insects and perhaps a potential nesting site. In front of the snag I envision a variety of sun loving, drought-tolerant shrubs, clumping grasses and wildflowers, which should encourage butterflies (see <\/span>http:\/\/edis.ifas.ufl.edu\/uw057<\/span><\/a>) and a wider variety of pollinators.<\/span><\/p>\n

The informal trial of grafted versus non-grafted tomatoes undertaken by some master gardeners and Extension staff is well underway. It seems the grafting technique is a little difficult; there have been some grafts which have failed due to low humidity. Commercially grafted plants and non-grafted types are doing well. The aim is to compare yields of plants grown in similar conditions. We shall see the results when the weights and numbers of fruits are recorded.<\/span><\/p>\n

As always, don\u2019t forget to check out the latest issue of <\/span>A New Leaf<\/span><\/i> newsletter (<\/span>http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/jq8q6mz<\/span>),<\/span> especially the articles on \u201cThings to do\u2026\u201d and \u201cWhat to plant\u2026\u201d Call the Extension Office at (904) 255 7450 to request an email version; if you don\u2019t have internet access you can receive a copy by mail.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Happy gardening, everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lesley Arrandale is a Master Gardener with the Duval County Cooperative Extension Service\/City of Jacksonville Agriculture Department, which is a partnership between the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF\/IFAS) and the City of Jacksonville.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My ideal used to be an English garden, with perfumed lilacs, hybrid tea roses, billowing apple trees, stately flag irises, luscious peonies, an immaculate lawn \u2014 the list goes on \u2014 most of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,4],"tags":[12],"class_list":{"0":"post-1508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-creekline-st-johns","8":"category-mandarin","9":"category-ponte-vedra","10":"tag-gardening"},"yoast_head":"\nGardening to preserve habitat - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gardening to preserve habitat - Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-24T14:04:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-20T16:59:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/\",\"name\":\"Gardening to preserve habitat - Florida NewsLine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-24T14:04:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-20T16:59:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\"},\"description\":\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening.jpg\",\"width\":1190,\"height\":1190},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gardening to preserve habitat\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\",\"name\":\"Florida NewsLine\",\"description\":\"The Newspapers Everybody Gets\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\",\"name\":\"editor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gardening to preserve habitat - Florida NewsLine","description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gardening to preserve habitat - Florida NewsLine","og_description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My","og_url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/","og_site_name":"Florida NewsLine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/","article_published_time":"2016-05-24T14:04:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-06-20T16:59:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening-1024x1024.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@floridanewsline","twitter_site":"@floridanewsline","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/","name":"Gardening to preserve habitat - Florida NewsLine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-24T14:04:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-20T16:59:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc"},"description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com Gardening can be a lifelong pleasure, but as the years have passed, I\u2019ve realized one\u2019s aims can change. My","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Gardening.jpg","width":1190,"height":1190},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-preserve-habitat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gardening to preserve habitat"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/","name":"Florida NewsLine","description":"The Newspapers Everybody Gets","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc","name":"editor","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1571,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions\/1571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}