Here comes a meadow!
by Molly Robertson
On April 26th, at our Spring Into Nature Earth Day event, families from the community will be helping the Darien Nature Center create a meadow habitat. We will plant the meadow on the hill between the parking lot and the sidewalk and around the sensory garden in a grass-covered area. We know that green grass, with little to no weeds, has become a symbol of a well-tended home. However, grass has no ecological benefits and does not support biodiversity. Doug Tallamay, a renowned entomologist from the University of Delaware, says, “Grass lawns do not do any of the things we want a landscape to do: sequester carbon, manage the watershed, support a food web and pollinators.”
Lawns require lots of water, mowing, fertilizers, and pesticides and don’t provide habitat or food for local wildlife and insects. Tallamay points out that if you added up all the lawns in America, it would total more than 44 million acres! What would happen if all of us with a grass lawn converted a small portion, say 25%, to native trees, flowers, and grasses? The benefits to the planet’s biodiversity would be enormous; 11 million acres of native plants would likely reverse the current biodiversity crisis across our nation. If only we could all think about our lawns a little differently.
In honor of Earth Day, our staff and families from the Darien community are planting a meadow. The meadow will provide a critical habitat for pollinators and other wildlife and will manage the erosion on the hill. The native plants of the meadow will also support the food chain. Did you know a single nest of chickadee babies will eat 6000-9000 caterpillars before they leave the nest? Caterpillars only feed on native plants, so local birds will struggle to feed their young when grass is everywhere you look. Our meadow habitat will support caterpillars and other insects, who will, in turn, support all the birds and wildlife throughout the food chain.
Fully establishing the meadow will take time–about 3 years–but we are excited about all the critters it will attract. This beautiful meadow, once fully established, will be a haven for local wildlife and a source of inspiration for others to set aside a portion of their yard for native plants. We hope this project will inspire a shift in how we view our lawns, encouraging us to see them as potential habitats for local wildlife. If you are interested in learning more, stop by and chat with our meadow enthusiasts, Victoria Heyne and Lindsey Devito.
If your family wants to help plant the meadow, follow the link below to register for our Spring into Nature event on April 26th. We will provide the necessary tools and guidance, so all you need to bring is your enthusiasm and love for nature.
