Category: Wildlife Garden

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Cape NativeScapes, a new Native Garden Design Co. in Cape May Co., NJ

Hi Gang,

Many of you know that for 25+ years I led tours of private wildlife gardens in Cape May and Cumberland Counties, including my own now-49-year-old native plant wildlife habitat.

These tours were windows into a new world of gardening for many who had previously gardened with one thing in mind, pretty flowers. Tour participants stepped into oases swimming in butterflies and other pollinators, a blizzard of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, warbler fallouts in spring and August (fall), wildlife ponds full of breeding frogs and dragonflies, munching Monarch caterpillars on stands of native milkweeds, a host of other butterfly and moth caterpillars on their native host plants, and much more. These tours were a way to capture the heart of would-be wildlife gardeners and I am so glad I had the opportunity to organize and run them. I know these tours successfully hooked many tour participants who went home and rethought their own garden spaces. Many went even further and became involved in their community open space areas, by encouraging and/or planting native plant gardens at public sites, in parks and in school yards.

I will never forget meeting the new Assistant Manager of the Cape May NWR, Virginia Rettig, in 2004. She had just moved to Cape May County and went out of her way to introduce herself to me. She boldly stated that her goal was to have her own yard on one of my tours. And that she did.

In no time Virginia had converted her yard of lawn to lovely, densely-packed native plant gardens in the front yard and beautiful, many-layered shade gardens under tall oaks in the back yard. Her gardens were added to my “Mid-County Tours” and always a highlight! You’ll find some fun photos of Virginia Rettig’s gardens in those early years (along with others on the “Mid-County Tours”) on my website HERE.

Well, many years later now, I am delighted to share that Virginia Rettig has created a new business, Cape NativeScapes. And I can not recommend her highly enough. I will let Virginia’s words speak for themselves:

Cape NativeScapes
a NEW Native Garden Design Company in Cape May County, NJ

Cape NativeScapes was recently launched in Cape May County, NJ. The purpose of the business is to provide design and installation services to create gardens using native plants at residential sites, specifically in Cape May County.

Owner Virginia Rettig recently retired from a 30-year career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and most recently was refuge manager at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Galloway, NJ. In addition to her expertise as a habitat manager, and her love of nature, Virginia has a long-held passion for native plants. “Once you understand how these plants interact with, attract, and sustain wildlife, you see how important it is to not only use native plants, but to arrange them in a way that maximizes their benefits for as many animals as possible,” she stated.

Virginia has been creating wildlife habitat gardens for nearly 35 years for herself, family, and friends and now intends to bring that knowledge to homeowners. Southern New Jersey, and Cape May County in particular, is critical for myriad animals. The birds and insects that migrate through the county rely heavily on all available vegetation. While there is a fair amount of protected land in the area, homeowners, as stewards of their own properties, can provide additional habitat connecting preserved lands.

“Migratory birds rely on native trees and shrubs for food and cover. Dragonflies, bees, and butterflies need open areas with places to perch, feed on nectar and even overwinter in their various life forms. We can make those habitats in our yards pretty easily,” Virginia asserted. What may be needed, however, is the knowledge and skill to design and maintain those sites, and that is where Cape NativeScapes steps in.

The design process starts with an on-site consultation that includes analysis of sunlight direction, soil type and moisture, and thorough discussions about the homeowner’s goals. Clients are given the information from the visit even if they do not pursue a project with the company, and the consultation fee is applied as credit if the homeowner moves forward with design and installation.

Virginia states, “while native gardens and habitats are much less work than traditional lawns, they still require periodic upkeep. Cape NativeScapes provides a monthly maintenance plan along with a full-color guide with information about each plant that is installed to teach and support the client. I am very interested in empowering native plant wildlife gardeners!” A variety of maintenance packages and services are also offered by Cape NativeScapes.

For more information:
Cape NativeScapes

Contact Virginia Rettig
to schedule a site visit:
virginia@capenativescapes.com

 

Happy Wildlife Gardening,
Pat

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FREE LOAD of Wood Chips (Cape May County residents)

Hi Gang,

For years we have gone to Dave Parker’s company, Treeworks, when we need arbor work. And for many of those years, they have generously dumped a LOAD of fresh wood chips for us when we need to refresh our wildlife garden path.

Every 3-4 years our wood chip paths turn to rich soil and sprout so many plants that we need to scoop up that lovely soil and replace it with fresh wood chips. Yesterday, Treeworks kindly dumped a LOAD of FREE Wood Chips for us to do just that!

Our partial LOAD yesterday (the truck was not totally full) was about 5-6 cubic yards of wood chips.   Here are photos of our free LOAD of Wood Chips.

When talking earlier this month with Dave Parker to learn when his crew would be in Cape May County, NJ, and when they might have a load of fresh, unadulterated wood chips for us, he shared that if others would like to make a similar arrangement, they should call his office.  Details follow.

Please understand that Treeworks can not deliver small amounts of wood chips . . . we are talking a LOAD, a truck full, or a truck partially full.  Maybe you don’t need a full LOAD of wood chips, but maybe you have a friend or two to share them with. So, consider having the load dumped at one of your homes, and all of you interact and benefit from these free wood chips.

FREE WOOD CHIPS

Call TREEWORKS office
609-463-8733

Ask to be put on the list
for a load of Wood Chips
Share your name, contact info,
& snail mail address
(i.e. where you want the
load of wood chips delivered)

Don’t expect them in a day or a week,
but they will come through for you!

When they are delivered
we’ve always tipped the delivery person
as a thank you!

Happy Wildlife Gardening,
Pat

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Leave the Leaves

It is common sense to LEAVE THE LEAVES.  After all, no one rakes them up in the wild.  When we walk a nature trail through a natural area, we do not need to fight our way though mountains of leaves, do we ? !  “Let Nature be the Guide,” Larry Weaner‘s mantra, is spot on when it comes to leaving the leaves.

If you like birds, leaf litter is your friend.  Our leaf litter strewn property is a mecca for birds year round, including winter.  We’ve hosted several American Woodcock each winter.  No matter how severe the winter is, they’ve been able to probe down through our abundant leaf litter into the thawed ground under this thermal blanket of leaves and find one earthworm after the next.   Frozen hard, raked bare properties are devoid of feeding opportunities for American Woodcock or American Robins. Too, many normally secretive birds like Hermit Thrush settle in to our yard and are regulars in garden corners with abundant leaf litter.  It is great fun to watch them kick and toss leaves aside to find snack after snack.

I had great fun working on and researching this topic for a program that I’ve given a number of times now.  It has triggered so many “Ah HA!” moments from  audiences and I pray resulted in many more leaves left to do their job.

In this post I have shared the excellent resources that helped me and can help anyone and everyone understand the value of fallen leaves.  Read them, study up, digest the information, value and cherish fallen leaves as much as I do, and join those of us working to educate others.

First you’ll want to read Doug Tallamy’s book, The Nature of Oaks.  This book richly covers the benefits of oaks and all their leaf litter.  If you’ve never heard Doug Tallamy speak about this topic, attend a presentation or google “Doug Tallamy Youtube Nature of Oaks” and watch one of his presentations that occurred in your region.  Be sure to listen until the Q&A session when attendees ask the very questions on your mind, like “But, what am I to do with all my Oak leaves?”  “Won’t they kill my grass?”  etc.

My own woods have very few large oaks.  But since we cleared out the invasives (Multiflora Rose and Japanese Honeysuckle) in 2009, many many Southern Red Oaks and 5 Willow Oaks have been planted there by Blue Jays.  Some of these oaks are taller than me now.  I look forward to mountains of oak leaves as these oaks mature.   The deciduous trees and shrubs of my woods include Common Persimmon, Black Cherry, Black Locust, Black Walnut, Sweet Gum, Red Maple, Dwarf Hackberry, Winged Sumac, Arrowwood Viburnum.  These all produce abundant leaf litter, but their leaves break down quickly and by spring I see bare ground.  Doug Tallamy shares that oak leaves take longer than other leaves to break down (3 years) and that is why oak leaves are so beneficial and support so much life!

So, each fall between late October and mid November I carve out time to visit cul-de-sacs near me looking for mountains of oak leaves that have been raked neatly to the curb to be carted away like trash.  I take empty trash cans, a rake, and garden gloves.  I can fit 4 trash cans into my car.  Fall of 2025, in 6 runs I collected 24 trash cans of oak leaves.

I use these collected oak leaves to bury my woodland spring ephemeral areas with oak leaves.  Since I’ve been doing this I haven’t had to weed my woods in the spring.  My spring ephemerals easily bust through the leaves, while weeds can not.  Too, the many fall-blooming, shade-loving asters and goldenrods that I’ve planted  in my woods have flourished and spread.  It is a win win.

If you like this idea, be cautious and selective; i.e. collect leaves from yards with large oaks and do not collect leaves from yards with problematic invasives that you could be bringing in to your own yard via seed heads.

While you’re at it, read all 4 of Doug Tallamy’s books.  They will change the way you think and act !

Since Doug Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, he has shared the top native plants used by butterflies and moths as host plants to create the next generation. Tallamy refers to these plants as the “Keystone Native Plants.”  He has partnered with many other organizations, like National Wildlife Federation, to share Keystone Native Plant information across the country.

For an annotated list of the Keystone Native Plants for your area, go to the National Wildlife Federation Garden for Wildlife website.  Here you’ll find ten different “Keystone Native Plants” Ecoregion handouts (as of November 2025), with others undoubtedly planned. This plant list should be the backbone of your plantings. If you live in southern New Jersey like me, scroll down to “Eastern Temperate Forests – Ecoregion 8″ (which covers nearly all of the East).

Oaks are the top Keystone Native Plant! Then Black Cherry and Beach Plum. Then Willows. Then Birch. And so on. These are the trees that are supporting many, many hundreds of butterfly and moth species. Value these trees and their fallen leaves.

You will have made your trees “Ecological Traps” if you instead rake up the leaves, bag them, and send them away (along with all the life they hold and support).

Heather Holm’s 3 books on pollinators of our native plants are beautifully illustrated and packed with natural history information, including where and how our pollinators survive the winter . . . many do so in leaf litter!

Visit Heather Holm’s website and click on the link “Resources” to see her many beautifully illustrated and presented native plant lists, pollinator fact sheets, and posters (many of which are free to download).  These materials will further help you understand life cycles of our pollinators and teach others!

Also on Heather Holm’s website, click on her project “Soft Landings.”  Soft Landings is all about leaving the leaves and planting layers of diverse native plants under Keystone trees and shrubs rather than maintaining lawn that needs to be mowed.  This simple switch to gardening under your keystone trees with shade-loving perennials and understory shrubs provides safe sites where the hundreds of species of butterflies and moths using these Keystone trees and shrubs might complete their life cycle and survive when their caterpillars drop to the forest floor to pupate down in the warmth and safety of the leaves.  The downloadable free poster, “Soft Landings” tells the story beautifully. It should convert kids of all ages (yes, I’m talking about big kids too . . . adults) to leave the leaves where they fall.

You’ll certainly want to read Max Ferlauto and Karin T. Burghardt’s enlightening, fact-filled study, “Removing autumn leaves in residential yards reduces the spring emergence of overwintering insects,” in Science of the Total Environment, March 20, 2025.  Among many other things, they documented that “raking leaves reduced Lepidoptera species (butterflies and moths) richness by 40 % and abundance by 45 %.   You’ll also want to listen to the Margaret Roach (“A Way to Garden”) interview with Max Ferlauto, “Calculating the impact of leaving the leaves.”  (many thanks to Garden Gang member, Carole Tebay, for alerting me to this study and Margaret Roach’s interview)

The Xerces Society’s post, “Leave the Leaves,” is an excellent read addressing those fallen leaves as “free mulch” and  helping to answer questions people have, like whether or not to shred their leaves.  The Xerces Society also sells a very attractive Leave the Leaves SIGN, that might help trigger conversations with neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family, conversations that might help them “get it!” and finally understand.

One more excellent resource to better understand why you want to leave the leaves is the booklet “Life in the Leaf Litter,” by Johnson and Catley, published by the American Museum of Natural History and available on their website as a free download.

Shade Gardening in Your Leaf Litter

Once you’ve read all these terrific resources about just how important leaf litter is, begin shade gardening in leafy spaces on your property . . . in under your trees and shrubs (rather than continue to mow these areas) or along a path through your woods.

Shade-loving perennials will color your leafy spaces in the early, early spring when spring ephemerals bloom and in the fall when the many shade-loving, fall-blooming perennials bloom.  Through the summer months the fall bloomers will add a lovely layer of green to your leafy areas.

To help you along your way with SHADE GARDENING, go to my resources on this topic and learn what has survived and thrived in my shady spaces.  Remember to use as many Keystone Native Plants as possible!

Now with all the time you have available because you are NOT raking your leaves  (nor bagging them up and sending them away), dive in to all this reading and help convert others to LEAVE THE LEAVES!

I thank you and wildlife (fireflies, bumble bees, so many butterflies & moths, etc.) thanks you!!!

As I mentioned, I have an information-rich program on this topic that is illustrated with beautiful photos of so much wildlife that benefits from abundant leaf litter.  If you’d like me to share it with your group via ZOOM, contact me by replying to one of my Garden Gang alerts.

If you have any comments, I’d love for you to be able to leave them in the “Comments” box at the end of the post. But unfortunately, that part of my website is no longer working.  Go Daddy just told me I needed to sign up for their $80/month “Word Press Premium Support” to resolve that.  Jeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz . . . one more expense I can not afford.

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How to Create a No-Fuss Wildlife Pond

Hi Gang,

I am looking forward to sharing one of my favorite programs at the next meeting of the SE Chapter of the Native Plant Society of NJ on Monday, November 17th! Details follow:

The next meeting of the
Southeast Chapter of the
Native Plant Society of New Jersey
is coming up

WHEN: Monday, November 17, 2025
7:00 p.m.
(FREE: all are welcome, members & nonmembers)

“HOW TO CREATE A NO-FUSS WILDLIFE POND”
by Pat Sutton

WHERE: Stockton University
101 Vera King Farris Drive
Galloway, NJ 08205 (in Atlantic County)
Unified Science Center
Room 346 (on 3rd floor of Unified Science Center)
— same building, but one floor higher than this past spring & last fall —

ABOUT Pat’s PRESENTATION
“How to Create a No-Fuss Wildlife Pond” by Pat Sutton

Pat shares:  my two wildlife ponds have evolved these many years from a large hole where I laid a fancy-schmancy waterproof sheet / pond liner that within a few short years sprung a hole (and ended up as an “almost” bog) to the two pre-formed, kidney-shaped ponds I have and love today. I am sold on these pre-formed ponds because they are easy peasy to install, will last forever, and have provided me great joy and study opportunities. My presentation will walk folks through all the mishaps I’ve encountered and resolved, so hopefully I’ll spare new wildlife pond folks these same false steps.

Frogs, toads, and dragonflies all need freshwater ponds for egg laying to create future generations. Even a tiny pond will attract and support them. Learn what a true wildlife pond is and how simple it is to create – with no need for running water, filters, fish, and all the fuss. Pat Sutton will share the basics of how to create a wildlife pond and, even more importantly, how to maintain it so that wildlife benefits. Learn which native plants to add to the pond (and which problem plants to avoid). Don’t make the same mistake that others have made by creating a pond for exotic fish that supports little else. In a true wildlife pond, expect to attract and watch the amazing life cycle of huge Common Green Darner dragonflies or count a growing population of Leopard Frogs, Green Frogs, and Gray Treefrogs that find your pond as if by magic. Look forward to the child-like wonder and joy of looking for and finding young Gray Treefrogs that have emerged from your very own pond and taken up residence on insect-rich, native nectar plants in your garden! Create it and they will come!

Note:  Pat Sutton’s handout “How to Create a No-Fuss Wildlife Pond” can be found on her website HERE along with many of her other educational, native-plant-focused handouts.  Even if you can not attend Monday evening, this handout will help you greatly! 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Parking Tip: See the Stockton campus parking link below. The closest parking spots are in Lots #4 and #5, which share the same entry off Vera King Farris Drive, the main drive on campus. Parking Lot #5 is made easy to spot by the mural of two ospreys on the Sports Center wall.

Click HERE for Map & Directions to Parking for the Unified Science Building at Stockton’s Galloway Campus

Happy Wildlife Gardening,
Pat

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Hair Cuts Needed For Some Native Perennials

Hi Gang,

I was not in the garden much this spring due to an unexpected 5-day hospital stay.  Boy-oh-boy did the garden get ahead of me quick.  During a recent and rejuvenating stroll through I could see that the Groundhog (that has discovered our salad bar) has been busy.

It especially enjoys asters, but hasn’t been too selective nibbling on just about everything.  Hmmmmm, I wonder what the garden will look like this year?

If you don’t have a herd of rabbits or a Groundhog or hungry deer, this is the time of year to get out your clippers and give your asters and a few other fall-blooming perennials a HAIR CUT .  I cut back New England Aster, Common Blue Wood Aster, Smooth Blue Aster, and Tall Sunflower (my stands of White Wood Aster often do not need haircuts).

Why haircuts, you might ask?  It is quite simple.  If you want New England Asters and other fall-blooming perennials bushy and full of flowers when they bloom, they need haircuts now, otherwise by fall they will be so top heavy that they are likely to flop over from the weight of flowers on long, unbranched stalks.

Thirty plus years Karen Williams, owner of Flora for Fauna (native plant nursery), shared this sage advice with me about maintaining one of my favorite native perennials, New England Aster, and I’m about to share it with you.  Though this post is for folks with plants that are several years old and flourishing, not for brand, spanking new plants that have just been put into the ground this year.

NEW ENGLAND ASTER
2 HAIR CUTS: (roughly) Memorial Day & 4th of July

Blooming New England Aster is a magnet for Monarchs and other pollinators, here on October 2nd in my garden

New England Aster can get very tall and top heavy by the time it blooms in the fall. And the last thing any of us want is for its lovely spread of glowing purple flowers, nectar, and joy to be laying on the ground come fall.

To help it grow into a many-branched, bushy plant instead of a tall, gangly, top-heavy plant, all you need to do is to give it 2 hair cuts on or around the 1st two holidays of the growing season: Memorial Day and 4th of July. Of course these dates are not single-day events, but roughly when you want to give New England Aster its hair cuts.  Too, you can be the judge if you need to do your hair cuts earlier, or even if the 2nd haircut is needed.  Know that you can jump start the process by several weeks to a month some years!

As a wildlife gardener I don’t clean up and toss the cuttings, but instead leave them lay on the ground at the base of the plant.  That way any caterpillars that went for a tumble with the cuttings can climb back onto the plant and continue to munch.  Doug Tallamy (author of How Can I Help?, Bringing Nature Home, Nature’s Best Hope, and The Nature of Oaks) shares that 100 species of butterflies and moths lay their eggs on our native asters in this ecoregion, making asters one of the TOP Keystone Native  Plants used by butterflies and moths for egg laying.  Don’t be surprised if some of your cuttings take root and become additional asters!

New England Aster in need of its first haircut, otherwise this plant will certainly flop come the fall blooming period
New England Aster after its first haircut.  I cut a good foot or two off the top of each stem (hedge trimmers work great . . . no need to be fussy and cut stem-by-stem).
13 days later, the New England Aster is already branching heavily where each stem was cut.

Around Memorial Day, I cut each stem 1/2 (or 2/3) off (or about a foot or two off the top, depending on how tall it is, if that is easier for you to remember). I use big shears and just chop  away. What happens next is that each cut plant stem sends out 2 or more new shoots where it has been cut, in other words it branches and becomes more bushy!

E. Cottontail caught in the act of giving Common Blue Wood Asters a hair cut on May 28th one year

Some of my asters get regular haircuts  from plentiful E. Cottontails (they must think our yard is one large salad bowl crafted just for them).  I’ve planted the lovely fall-blooming, shade loving Common Blue Wood Aster, Symphyotrichum cordifolium, under our Tulip Tree and in our woods.  Despite hungry rabbits it has flourished and spread into other beds, our meadow, the perennial garden, and elsewhere and that pleases me.  It is so plentiful that it keeps the rabbits busy and away from most other asters.   We’ve fenced our yard, so deer are not an issue for us.  But other gardeners share that deer routinely give their asters hair cuts.  Our visiting Groundhog arrived in 2020 with the Pandemic.  It has been an “on again, off again” garden visitor, disappearing for months at a time only to return and appear quite at home . . . like this late April and May.

If needed, around 4th of July, I give my plants their 2nd hair cut (not back to the 1st cut, but cutting back some of the new growth since Memorial Day). You may want to be more creative for this hair cut and cut the many stems in your plant different lengths. For instance, give the stems in the foreground more of a hair cut, the stems in the middle less of a hair cut, and the stems in the back just a little hair cut. This way your plant stems will bloom at different heights.

You may find that some plants haven’t grown as tall as others, so you may choose to pass on the 2nd hair cut for some plants. If so, you’ll find that these plants will bloom earlier. This staggers the blooming period so that you have New England Aster nectar, color, and joy far longer in your wildlife garden.

Sutton fall gdn-w-sig
My garden on September 27th full of mounds of blooming asters, thanks to hair cuts earlier in the year.

A bit more advice: once given hair cuts, New England Aster has “ugly legs.” The stems below the 1st haircut look “not so nice” . . . the leaves darken and fall off and the stems are quite bare. So you’ll want to have other perennials in the foreground blocking that view, so you’re not looking at ugly bare legs.

You can give 1-2 haircuts to some other fall-blooming perennials that grow tall and flop, so they’ll instead branch and become more bushy:
Goldenrod
Sedum
Sunflower

I love Tall (or Giant) Sunflowers and so do the Monarchs when they are migrating through in the fall
But if I’ve forgotten to give Tall (or Giant) Sunflower the 2 haircuts, it can be a beast to prop up or tie up, and keep from falling over, as you can see
Seaside Goldenrod chopped back after its 1st haircut. As it continues to grow I often spot stems I missed, grab the clippers and take care of business

For some summer-blooming plants that grow too tall for your garden, you can give them one haircut around Memorial Day, forcing them to branch, become bushier, and bloom lower. I sometimes do this with some of my favorite summer nectar plants so that I have an easier time seeing and photographing pollinators on them:
Culver’s Root
Garden Phlox (I tried this for the 1st time in 2023)
Ironweed
Joe-pye-weed
Sneezeweed
Blue Vervain
various Bonesets

Culver’s Root responding to its haircut, branching nicely!
I gave the Culver’s Root stems in the foreground a haircut, but left the back stems untouched.  This way the untouched stems will bloom on time and the  branching stems (due to a haircut) will bloom a bit later, and so the plant will offer nectar for a longer period

You can always experiment on other fall-blooming perennials that have flopped in your garden. If you’re not sure how hair cuts will turn out on plants other than those I’ve mentioned, try giving a hair cut to one stem ONLY (or if you have several plants of Cut-leafed Coneflower, for example, in your garden, give one of them hair cuts so you can compare results with your uncut plants). Then see how your plant reacts and whether you like the results.

Don’t hesitate to ask a question, but please use the Comment Box at the end of this post, so others can benefit from your question and my answer.  Maybe scroll down through previous questions; you may find that your question is already answered.

Happy Wildlife Gardening,
Pat

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The Wildlife Gardener is BACK

Hi Gang,

I am often asked to recommend someone who can help with invasive plant ID and removal, design, native plant choices, and even creation of a wildlife garden, pond, and / or meadow.   “The Wildlife Gardener” (Josh Nemeth and Dustin Welch) right here in Cape May County was always my “top of the list” recommendation.  I trusted them to “do right” by their customers.  They knew native plants.  They grew native plants.  They were passionate about wildlife gardening utilizing native plants most important to wildlife.  They understood design, fun plant combos, and which plants would work best in different settings.  And they worked hard!  They created many, many, many gardens and wildlife habitats here in South Jersey for over ten years.

In 2023, Josh Nemeth moved to New Mexico to become the state’s District Resource Manager for the SW Region.  Of course he loves it, working outside, and he liaisons between land users and the state land office.  Then in 2025, Dustin Welch had an opportunity for a full time job with Natural Lands in Cumberland and Salem Counties as their Assistant Preserve Manager.  I was so happy for both of them to have full time jobs, health benefits, and outdoor jobs (something they both excel in).

At the same time, I was at a loss, especially when asked to recommend someone to help with the creation of native plant gardens.  And rightly so.  I have heard far too many horror stories.  I especially love the one where a woman in Avalon (or maybe it was Stone Harbor) lined up a local nursery to re-landscape her property with native plants for butterflies and hummingbirds.  When she returned from her winter quarters she found Butterfly Bush and a ton of other non-natives and even invasive plants covering her property.  And believe you me, she had paid a pretty penny for this redo.  She called the nursery owner and expressed her dismay at all the non-natives and other “junk” plantings.  He replied, “They’re native, they’re everywhere!”  So in his mind he had done nothing wrong!  That is the sad reality.  Business owners are jumping on the band wagon, offering their services, but they are clueless about native plants, habitat gardening, avoiding neonics, etc.  Many even have their crews dig up Milkweed and other native perennials and toss them into the trash.  They plant horrific invasives like Purple Loosestrife and Rugosa Rose (don’t get me started, I just found it planted at a “new” open space park at Norbury’s Landing).  They use leaf blowers, mulch volcanoes, take away leaves, and charge for mountains of icky treated wood mulch, etc.  When done, their landscapes  are dead zones, far from wildlife friendly.

Well, I am thrilled to share that I am no longer at a loss when asked to make a recommendation.  The Wildlife Gardener is BACK!  Dustin and Brittany Welch are now collectively operating as The Wildlife Gardener! They grow native plants on their humble acre in Goshen (Cape May Court House), NJ, for retail sale and restoration plantings. In addition, they offer consulting on wildlife habitat restoration and garden design to benefit the wildlife in your own back yard while conserving soil and water.

Dustin has been with The Wildlife Gardener since 2013; a transplant to Cape May County from Northampton County, PA. Along with Josh Nemeth, they have provided advice, design, and maintenance on many gardens throughout Cape May and surrounding counties. Dustin took over the business in 2023 when Josh and his family moved to New Mexico to pursue public land management. Dustin is an avid birder, moth enthusiast and the muscle of the operation. Now, he is passing the torch to Brittany, as he recently became Assistant Preserve Manager with Natural Lands, stewarding over 10,000 acres in Cumberland and Salem County NJ.

Brittany has worked in the conservation field for over 10 years helping landowners address natural resource challenges with sustainable solutions through conservation planning and stewardship with New Jersey Audubon and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Her love of native plants stemmed from her first job in college collecting wild seed, propagating plants and maintaining a nursery and seed collection plots through her work with Rhody Native in Kingston RI. She is excited to be stepping into The Wildlife Gardener and returning to her roots while raising their daughter and pursuing a consulting role for native gardeners, farmers, and landowners looking to address resource challenges and transform their properties to benefit wildlife.

Dustin and Brittany were married in June 2022, and welcomed Miss Isla Grace in January 2024. She is the hype ma’am, the greeter at plant sales, and brings the cheer with a little bit of chaos! Together they are embarking on a new season of The Wildlife Gardener with Brittany at the helm and Dustin providing guidance behind the scenes. They look forward to continuing to provide native plants, habitat design and conservation consulting and sharing their journey with the wonderful people of Southern New Jersey.

— The Wildlife Gardener —
To make an appointment for a consultation
please email TheWildlifeGardenerNJ@gmail.com
or call Brittany Welch at 609-706-3279

They post their retail native plant sale days on
Facebook: The Wildlife Gardener
& Instagram: NJWildlifeGardener
These dates are also shared on Pat Sutton’s Gardening Gang alerts!
If social media is not your flavor, they invite you
to reach out to have your name added to their mailing list

They had several sale days in May, with additional dates TBD in June.
They also have sales by private appointment, so if you can’t make a retail sale day but would like to browse their availability, please reach out to schedule a visit!

p.s.  If you have benefited from The Wildlife Gardener and would like to share your story, please add it in the comment section below (include your town and county).

p.p.s.  If you have found a hard-working, knowledgeable person/company to help you incorporate native plants into your landscape, or to help you with invasive plant ID and removal, wildlife garden design, creation, maintenance, wildlife-friendly spring clean-up, etc., please share your experience and their contact information (name, business name, e-mail, cell phone, city, state, and county) in the comment section below, so fellow readers can benefit and also support them.  We really need to “grow” this livelihood (wildlife garden landscaping), don’t we!

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Rainfall, How Much ?

Hi Gang,

As a wildlife gardener I’ve been tuned in to droughts and how they affect wildlife, wildlife gardens, and nectar and host plants in natural areas. Last summer’s heat dome and endless drought resulted in many of the Chocolate Cake nectar plants in my garden blooming all too quickly and going to seed, long before normal.  Forget natural areas where no one was wetting down native nectar and host plants.  They were crisped beyond recognition.  Vernal ponds are wet in the winter and early spring, then dry out by summer. Many of our vernal ponds were dry this past winter, resulting in salamanders having no place to breed. Salamanders seek these seasonally wet sites for breeding because they are fish free (fish are primary predators of salamanders and their young). Overwintering butterflies and moths in the egg, caterpillar, or chrysalis/pupa form become desiccated during lengthy stretches without rainfall. There are many, many other examples of wildlife suffering during long periods of drought.

Even native plants are affected during long periods of drought. Southern NJ has been in EXTREME DROUGHT for some time now: 2024-2025.

In 2024 my wildlife garden was on a number of wildlife garden tours. I love to share my wildlife gardens and all the wildlife they attract! But last year’s drought took the joy right out of those tours. Clay and I spent all of our free time watering, so some of our native plants would be alive to benefit pollinators and other wildlife. We did what we could, watering in triage the parts of our 1/2 acre property that were suffering the worst. It was a never ending effort. Even native trees and shrubs were dying. The garden tours were full of excited native plant gardeners and they saw lots, but they did not see the abundance I am used to and that was painful to me. During the tours I, of course, put on a smile and showcased what was surviving in our gardens and the wildlife there, but know that it was hard to be joyful when our area was being brutalized by a heat dome coupled with unending drought.

As of March 11th, southern NJ (all of Cape May, Atlantic, and much of Cumberland County) is still in EXTREME DROUGHT (that is a step beyond SEVERE DROUGHT) as you can see from the latest U.S. Drought Monitor Map (above). To follow this drought click here (updated each Thursday): Drought Monitor Map for the U.S.   You can zero in on our area, the Northeast, here: Drought Monitor Map for the Northeast.   In each you can see that southern NJ stands out like a bright RED sore thumb (Extreme Drought).

I have been curious about the rainfall in my garden for years. I’d talk with friends only a couple of miles away who were inundated with rain the night before, when all we got was a sprinkle. So, you can imagine how excited I was to learn about and become part of the “Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)” in October 2013. CoCoRaHS is made up of “Volunteers working together to measure precipitation across the nations” (US, Canada, and the Bahamas).

I submit my rainfall (or snowfall) each morning at 7:00 am from my official CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge. When I travel I am able to submit the cumulative rainfall when I return. If you live in NJ, my garden is CoCoRaHS Station Number NJ-CM-29.  Check it out!

Rainfall — How Much?
Learn exactly how much rainfall
your garden enjoyed
by joining CoCoRaHS
(Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network)

Click HERE to learn about CoCoRaHS
(you’ll find links to “sign up”
as a CoCoRaHS Volunteer Observer here too)

The only cost to you will be the purchase of
a CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge
(you can donate to CoCoRaHS annually too
if you’d like; I always do)

Here is an explanation about acceptable rain gauges for CoCoRaHS:
CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge.

Here is where you can order your CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge. Mine is the 3rd one across, “The Official original CoCoRaHS gauge,” but I see there is one other acceptable gauge now, the TROPO Gauge – the official premium CoCoRaHS gauge.

Happy Wildlife Gardening,

Pat

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Backyard Birds Attracted to a Wildlife Habitat

Hi Gang,

I enjoyed sharing my program “Backyard Birds Attracted to a Wildlife Habitat” for Jenkins Arboretum via ZOOM (so it was available to all, near & far) on February 20, 2025! And it was FREE! And I gave permission for Jenkins Arboretum to record it. I’ll share full details further down in this post, but first let me gush a bit about Jenkins Arboretum and how excited I was to present a program for them.

Some of my favorite natives in our itty-bitty restored woodlands (1/3rd of our 1/2 acre property) came from Jenkins Arboretum, propagated on-site by staff and terrific volunteers from natives in their own landscape and sold in their Garden Shop.

My heart sings when Pinxterbloom Azalea, Rhododendron periclymenoides, blooms, a South Jersey native, but one that I could not find available for sale at any of the South Jersey native plant nurseries I knew of in 2009 (when we saved our woods from Multiflora Rose and Japanese Honeysuckle). So I am forever grateful to Jenkins Arboretum for this shrub.

For the first eleven years my Pinxterbloom Azalea did not bloom and, quite frankly, I forgot I’d even planted it. But then on March 30, 2021, a shrub I didn’t recognize with large, showy buds caught my eye. I stopped in my tracks, thinking “What the heck!” I found my plant sign near its base and recalled my purchase. I kept an eye on it. On April 22nd the buds were getting close to blooming, but one-by-one the stems (and buds) were disappearing (cleanly sliced off). I quickly realized why I’d lost track of this shrub. Our abundant rabbits, who must think we’ve planted everything for them, had been repeatedly pruning this shrub of its buds (resulting in no flowers of course). That day I gathered reinforcements and circled my brutalized azalea with chicken wire (1.5′ high). April 29th flowers finally bloomed on my Pinxterbloom Azalea. Now, each spring, I eagerly and with child-like wonder look forward to these big, showy pink blooms, always busy with pollinators, and now occurring on multiple branches safely within my ugly chicken wire protection.

 

So, when Jenkins Arboretum invited me to present a program for their Third Thursday Lecture Series, I eagerly agreed. And I gave Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens permission to record this program and add it to their You Tube Channel as an educational video.  Details follow:

“Backyard Birds Attracted to a Wildlife Habitat,”
by Pat Sutton

was presented on February 20, 2025

Via ZOOM for Jenkins Arboretum and Gardens
as part of their “Third Thursday Lecture Series.”

Click HERE to see a recording of the program
and Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens’ links to additional great information

Click HERE for Pat Sutton’s Backyard Birds HANDOUT
This handout should answer questions you may have after viewing this program; it shares some of my favorite books, resources, tools, protection measures, etc. that I include in the program.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM: Create it and they will come! Pat Sutton will share accounts of the diverse wildlife attracted to the South Jersey wildscape she and her husband have nurtured for over 45 years. They have tallied over 213 bird species, 79 butterfly species, and 116 other pollinators (37 different wasps, 34 different flies, 26 different bees, 10 different beetles, and 10 different diurnal moths) in their tiny one-half-acre wildlife oasis. How’d they do it? By questioning each practice as to whether it would help or harm wildlife. Get tips on creating a backyard habitat that benefits wildlife.

ABOUT JENKINS ARBORETUM: I’ve included Jenkins Arboretum’s offerings in my “Some Sources of Native Plants” for a number of years. If you live near there and haven’t visited yet, by all means do. And if it means a road trip, I promise you that it will be worth your while. Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens, 631 Berwyn Baptist Road, Devon, PA 19333 (Chester Co.); 610-647-8870. Garden Shop (open daily: 9 am – 4 pm) sells a wonderful selection of native seeds year round and, from mid-April until late October, also sells a great selection of native perennials, shrubs, trees, and evergreen & deciduous azaleas (most all are propagated on-site at Jenkins). Check their website for their regularly updated “Plant Inventory List.” See native plants in the landscape by visiting this 48-acre arboretum and gardens with 7 different trails (each about 1/4 mile or less). Garden map & trail descriptions can be found HERE. Open daily year round (hours vary seasonally, depending on when the sun sets): March 15 – April 30 (9 am – 7 pm), May 1 – August 31 (9 am – 8 pm), September 1 – 30 (9 am – 7 pm), and October 1 – March 14 (9 am – 5 pm). FREE admission, donations recommended.

Happy Wildlife Gardening,
Pat

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An Interview with Pat on The WildStory Podcast

I am a proud member of the Native Plant Society of NJ.  I share Garden Gang alerts, when time permits, about the great work this group is doing. I have been remiss, though, in not sharing with you news of one more incredible learning opportunity from this group featuring often funny, sometimes sad, but always reflective conversations in:

The WildStory, a PODCAST of Poetry and Plants
by the Native Plant Society of NJ
Co-produced by Ann E. Wallace
PhD Poet Laureate of Jersey City
& Kim Correro
Rutgers Master Gardener & Co-leader of the NPSNJ Hudson Chapter
Each podcast also features “Ask Randi,”
questions answered by Dr. Randi Eckel
Entomologist, Vice President of Membership NPSNJ,
& owner of Toadshade Wildflower Farm

If you haven’t tuned in yet,
you can learn about and access all episodes (16 as of September 11, 2024)
of the WildStory Podcasts HERE
Listen on iTunes (apple podcasts), Spotify, or Amazon Music

I was interviewed by Ann & Kim on July 30, 2024
This interview is part of their September 11, 2024 WildStory Podcast

Follow The WildStory Podcast on Instagram HERE
to see videos and extra content

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Since we all love to learn, I knew you’d also want to know that . . .

the Native Plant Society of NJ (NPSNJ)
has a terrific library of webinar recordings
available to all
on their website
You can find them HERE
(obviously bookmark this page and visit it frequently
since new webinar recordings are added regularly)

Obviously, the NPSNJ is a great group to support as a member!

Happy Learning About Native Plants and the Critters That Need Them,
Pat

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Call Now to be Put on No Spray List

Hi Gang,

I am assuming that those of you who have signed up to get my Garden Gang Alerts are wildlife gardeners, that you garden with native plants that serve as nectar plants and host plants for our butterflies and moths, that your yard hosts many birds that feed on those caterpillars, that you welcome all beneficial pollinators, not just butterflies and moths, including bees wasps, flies, beetles, and hummingbirds. If so, your gardens concentrate a super abundance of beneficial pollinators and you are obligated to notify any agencies or private companies that do spray for pest insects like mosquitoes and ticks in your neighborhood.

I am quite flabbergasted by folks who claim that spraying does not occur in their neighborhood. Do they know that with certainty? My neighborhood alone, during this drought summer (except for these crazy rain events), has already been sprayed three times (as of July 3, 2024) by the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control. If I was not on the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control’s “Notification List,” I would never know they’d sprayed. They do it at night (between 7:00 p.m. and Midnight or between 3:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.), by truck, as they drive by.

So, please, for the well being of pollinators you’ve drawn in and concentrated (or if you keep bees, or if you garden organically), if you live here in Cape May County, New Jersey, where spraying for mosquitoes occurs regularly (in response to residents calling in and complaining), you can call and tell the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control that you do not want your property sprayed.

Call the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control
609-465-9038
Monday – Friday
( 7:00 a.m. –  3:00 p.m.)
Ask to be put on their “Notification List” / “No Spray List”
Be ready to provide: (1) your name, (2) snail mail address (street address), and (3) e-mail address (so they can notify you when spraying needs to be done in your town).

If you have called previously to be put on the “Notification List” (“No Spray List”), you will remain on this list indefinitely, unless you choose to be removed from the list by calling the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control.

If you live in another county in New Jersey, where mosquito spraying also occurs, you can call your county mosquito department too and make this same request.

Mosquito Education

Regarding mosquito issues in your neighborhood, education is key. Prevention is the first step. Since mosquitoes need to breed in stagnant water, the most effective form of mosquito control is to remove all open containers to stop mosquito larvae from surviving in them. The non-native Asian Tiger Mosquito (above) breeds readily in man-made sites: saucers under plants, tires laying around, open buckets, etc. It is the main nuisance mosquito around homes and can be avoided. Kyle Rossner, an entomologist formerly with the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control, created this MOSQUITO HABITAT CHECKLIST (click HERE) to help property owners resolve mosquito breeding sites they themselves may have created. Print this checklist and share it with any neighbors who call the Department of Mosquito Control and complain about mosquitoes or have signed on for treatments by a private company. There is a good chance they have caused the surge of mosquitoes themselves.

Be sure to also read my June 9, 2023, post:   Help! A Private Company is Spraying the Neighbor’s Yard for Mosquitoes !