Lectures and Workshops

For FULL write-up click on title

Unfolding of Pat Sutton’s 44-year-old Wildlife Garden   NEW

45-minute – Monarch Episode

55-minute – Unfolding Wildlife Garden Episode (showcasing the Importance of cover, water, native plants, and the garden through the seasons)

Leave the Leaves & Dive Into Shade Gardening Instead   NEW

Pat will help gardeners rethink the many tasks they’ve tackled without realizing how highly hazardous they are to wildlife, the very wildlife they are working so hard to attract and benefit.  She will also  showcase the many native wildflowers that so easily bust through the deepest leaf litter and light up shade gardens.

It is a Jungle Out There, LIFE & DEATH in the Wildlife Garden

Pat and Clay Sutton have witnessed some amazing natural history happenings in their 47-year old wildlife garden, some heart-warming and some heart-stopping. Be prepared for an eye-opening view into the natural world, occurrences that happen every day out in the wild but are rarely seen, unless you’ve created a wildlife garden so welcoming that wildlife feels quite at home!  Folks will learn that they can put the garden hose away when Oleander Aphids appear on their milkweed and instead take a seat and watch Mother Nature at work as a number of natural predators resolve one garden issue after the next.

How and When to Clean Up the Winter Wildlife Garden    NEW

Pat Sutton will share this program on how she step-by-step cleans up her own 47-year old wildlife garden so that overwintering insects survive and repopulate her garden, favored plants thrive and multiply, and unwelcome plants are spotted and dealt with. She’ll share many special wildlife-friendly tips, like sparing sizable and sturdy winter plant stems as native bee nurseries

Backyard Habitat for Birds, Butterflies, Dragonflies, and More!

Go GREEN by gardening with wildlife in mind.  Go NATIVE; chose to plant or protect native trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, grasses.  Learn the “how’s and why’s” of attracting birds, butterflies and other wildlife to your backyard, no matter how small.

How to Create a Pollinator Garden for Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Bees, and More!

Make your garden and yard pollinator-friendly for hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and more!  Program features wildlife gardens in southern New Jersey that have successfully transformed typical backyards into dazzling gardens ablaze and alive with butterflies, hummingbirds, hummingbird moths, honey bees, and many other beneficial pollinators.

Milkweeds for Monarchs, plant it and they will come.  Don’t plant it and someday they may not.

Learn about the many different and beautiful native milkweeds that you can plant in your own garden or in community gardens to help create a path of milkweed from Mexico to Canada that will benefit Monarchs.  Plant it and they will come!

Seashore Gardening With Native Plants

Learn about the very best native trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, and wildflowers that can survive and thrive in seashore conditions. Learn too how these same native plants are life-giving to birds and pollinators (butterflies, moths, bees, and more).

Weeds for Wildlife

Many gardeners regard anything they did not plant themselves to be a weed.  But, in reality, a weed is simply an “out of place” plant.  Learn to appreciate a wealth of plants you’d previously only thought of as weeds as Pat Sutton shares the many ways these weeds are life giving to various butterflies, birds, and other wildlife.

Shade Gardening with Natives

Extend your wildlife habitat offering by learning how to create layered landscapes of natives in shady parts of your yard.  If you are just beginning to add native trees and shrubs, Pat Sutton will share the very best natives that will enhance your habitat and benefit wildlife.

How to Make MESSY Look Good

Is your wildlife garden not living up to your expectations? Are you afraid of what the neighbors think? Are some of your native plants misbehaving? Confused by what’s what: weed or treasured native? This workshop includes tips and advice based on 40 years of wildlife gardening experience.

Lose the Lawn, Create a Wildflower Meadow Instead

Even a small meadow will make a big difference to wildlife. Learn how to convert lawn to meadow, maintain your meadow in a simple fashion over time, and make it acceptable and attractive to neighbors and visitors.  And learn about specific birds and butterflies that will benefit.

How to Create a No-Fuss Wildlife Pond

Even a tiny pond will attract and support frogs, toads, and dragonflies. 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.

Dragonfly Primer

This introduction to dragonflies (& damselflies) will cover the most common species found in Southern New Jersey, their natural history (life cycle, seasonality, what they prey on, and who preys on them), and how to identify one from another.  Learn how to attract these ferocious mosquito predators by creating a dragonfly pond right in your own yard.

Plant Wars: How to Recognize and Deal With Invasive Nonnative Plant Species

The invasion of non-native plants has taken a big toll on butterflies and moths (that need native plants to lay their eggs on) and insect-eating birds looking for butterfly and moth caterpillars.  Learn how to identify them, control or remove them, and learn of native alternatives to plant in their place.

Landscape Design With Wildlife in Mind

Sutton will emphasize designs that work with nature, not at odds with it. Choosing the right plant for the right spot (and the right site for key elements of a wildlife habitat) is key.  The program will showcase multi-dimensional, diverse, layered, and interesting-to-the-eye natural landscapes that benefit wildlife, emphasizing to “let nature be the guide.”  Typical landscaping (lawn and uniform park-like plantings) will pale in comparison.

Backyard Birds Attracted to a Back or Front Yard Habitat (Create it and they will come)

Clay and Pat Sutton have tallied 212 species of birds and 78 species of butterflies in their tiny one-half-acre wildlife oasis. How’d they do it . . . by questioning each practice as to whether or not it would help or harm wildlife.

Hummingbirds 101, All about Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and How to Attract Them

Get ready, get set for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Even if you think you know everything about these winged jewels, expect to be surprised by what you learn during this presentation.

Birds and Birding at Cape May

Based on the Suttons’ landmark book by the same name (Stackpole Books, 2006, 568 pages), this program is the in-depth result of their efforts over many years documenting and protecting the migration and the hometown that they so love. Their program will share the storied history of birds and birding at Cape May – a place where bird studies in the Americas in part began.

How to Spot Butterflies

Based on the Suttons’ book by the same name (Houghton Mifflin, 1999), this program relates their fascination with butterflies and conveys the excitement of searching for, studying, enjoying, and attracting these winged jewels.

How to Spot an Owl

Pat and Clay Sutton have studied owls in the wild for over 40 years in the Cape May area, so famous for owl migration, and wherever they travel. In their program they share their fascination with owls and convey the excitement of searching for, understanding, and enjoying these illusive and mysterious creatures — just as they have in their book by the same title (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994, now out of print).

How to Spot Hawks & Eagles

Based on the Suttons’ book by the same name (Houghton Mifflin, 1996) Clay and Pat will cover raptor basics, finding hawks and eagles both near and far, when and where to go, and finding raptors throughout the seasons.

Hawks in Flight, the 2nd Edition

Clay Sutton offers a lively presentation of the second edition of Hawks In Flight, by Pete Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton.  The instant classic, Hawks in Flight, was coauthored in 1988 by Pete Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton.  Clay will emphasize the holistic method of hawk identification, where ID’s are made on the basis of silhouette, shape, behavior, and movement, a method which goes far beyond the standard field marks.

Hawks in Flight: The Texas Specialties Edition

Clay Sutton will present this in-depth hawkwatching program based on the over 100 years of collective hawk watching experience of the three authors of Hawks In Flight.  Texas and Borderland tropical raptors are featured.  Expect the perfect primer for hawk watching anywhere in South Texas and the American West.