Educator, Naturalist, Author
The South Tour included private wildlife gardens on Cape Island (south of the Cape May Canal): Cape May, Cape May Point, West Cape May, and Lower Township.
You can also see gardens that were included on the Mid-County Tour and on the North Tour.
Hi Gang,
Happy New Year! I am excited to share the dates (below) for my popular series of 5 property-owner, “Gardening for Wildlife” workshops (pdf). They’ll be held in March 2013, the perfect time to shake off winter and begin planning and planting (or enhancing) your property and wildlife garden.
Native plants and wildlife-friendly practices are the key and will be emphasized and detailed throughout.
I present a zillion one- to two-hour programs each year and maybe you’ve attended a few of these. I love teaching them, but (with only one or two hours) they are more one-sided presentations, me sharing fun natural history information and images with you, the audience.
These workshops offer the opportunity to be far more in-depth and interactive and are more likely to empower you, take you to the next level.
Sign up today and begin getting ready for the workshops. Draw a rough sketch of your yard, indicating structures (and hardscapes like driveways, decks, etc.), existing habitats (lawn, forest, lone trees, shrub islands, gardens, bird feeding station, brush pile, etc.), and mark NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST on the sketch. Take time to note the sun’s path through your yard and where the sunniest areas are. Bring a wish list of the elements you want to add as well as the elements you need to work around.
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Time: 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 pm.
Where: The March 2, 3, 9, & 16 workshops will be held at the Cape May Bird Observatory Center for Research & Education, 600 Rt. 47 N, Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 (and include a site visit to Sutton’s nearby wildlife gardens). The March 23 workshop will be held at the Nature Center of Cape May, 1600 Delaware Ave., Cape May, NJ 08204 (and include a site visit to a Cape May wildlife garden).
Limit: 20 participants; preregistration is required (through NJ Audubon’s Nature Center of Cape May, 1600 Delaware Avenue, Cape May, NJ 08204; 609-898-8848).
Cost/workshop: $35 member of NJ Audubon Society, $45 nonmember (includes handouts).
Sign up for all five workshops for a discount: $125 member, $150 nonmember.
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On September 23, 2012, I watched one of the very last Red-spotted Purples in the garden. It danced around the Beach Plums and I thought it must be laying eggs. I looked closely at leaf after leaf, zeroing in on the very tip where Red-spotted Purples carefully lay their jewel-like egg, but could find none.
As I scrutinized the leaves I spotted a different treasure than expected – a teeny-tiny caterpillar silking a bit of leaf to the branch and silking the leaf curled shut.
I stepped back from the Beach Plum, looked at the bush as a whole, and noticed other similar leaves . I knew just what I was looking at, though I’d never seen one before – a nearly completed HIBERNACULUM, where a partially grown Red-spotted Purple caterpillar would winter, hopefully safely.
Learn about the complete life cycle of the Red-spotted Purple and how they survive the winter in my latest column at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens, where fellow long-time wildlife gardeners share what we’ve learned over years of sometimes painful trial and error.
This is the 21st year I’ve been leading these tours of private backyard wildlife gardens. And they just keep getting yummier and yummier!
Be sure to mark your calendars with the following dates & plan to join me on one, several, or all NINE of the 2012 “Tours of Private Wildlife Gardens” that I will again be leading for NJ Audubon’s Nature Center of Cape May.
Alert your friends, family, neighbors, … anyone you’re trying to HOOK on wildlife gardening!
These wildlife-friendly gardens offer so many ideas in the way of design, use of space, plant combinations, native plants that are lovely AND beneficial to wildlife, “chocolate cake” nectar plants, key caterpillar plants, great native shrub ideas, “how to” create your own meadow ideas, garden accents and features like misters, dragonfly ponds, arbors . . .
Imagine getting a glimpse into private backyard wildlife gardens, interacting with the artists who created them, having each and every garden and wildlife question answered, and enjoying it with a group of fellow wildlife gardeners.
Enjoy a SNEAK PEAK (South Tour, North Tour, Mid-County Tour) into some of the gardens we’ve visited in the past.
More butterfly and hummingbird gardens are tucked into Cape May County than probably anywhere else in the country. Mid-July is the time of peak butterfly diversity and numbers. Gardens look completely different from one month to the next (so seriously consider all 9 tours). Learn the magic combination of native nectar plants and caterpillar plants that makes a garden especially attractive to butterflies. Design ideas and new wildlife plants will be showcased while tour participants are entertained by a blizzard of butterflies and hummingbirds.
At the peak of Ruby-throated Hummingbird migration, we’ll savor an array of diverse gardens that have hosted nesting hummingbirds since May and are now drawing in dozens of migrants. Native nectar plants, healthy insect populations, water sources, and adequate cover are key elements of each garden.
At the peak of Cape May County’s world-famous fall Monarch migration, tour diverse gardens that have hosted Monarchs since May. Each features native nectar plants and as many as five different kinds of milkweed (used by Monarchs for egg laying to create the next generation). Expect clouds of Monarchs and other butterflies, Monarch eggs, caterpillars, and maybe even a chrysalis. The complex Monarch migration will be both explained and enjoyed.
Gardening naturalist and author, Pat Sutton, leads these tours, which include her own garden in Goshen (North tour). Bring lunch since the group will eat in one of the gardens.
If some of you are keen to create a butterfly & hummingbird garden, be sure to download the article & plant list I wrote / created:
Limit: 25 per tour. Nine Tours / Cost per tour: $30 members (NJ Audubon), $40 nonmembers.
(Join three tours at a discounted rate of $75 members, $100 nonmembers.)
These tours require preregistration with payment.
You may register by phone at 609.898.8848 with a credit card or send payment to the Nature Center of Cape May, 1600 Delaware Avenue, Cape May, NJ 08204 (noting which tours and full names of registrants).
NCCM reserves the right to cancel programs, and refunds are available only if NCCM cancels the event. Walk-ins are welcome on a space-available basis. Become a member of NJAS and receive discounts in the gift shop and on many programs.
Hi Gang,
The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Ginny Smith did a feature on my efforts over the years to teach about Gardening for Wildlife, titled “One Woman’s Wild Life” (November 11, 2011).
Have a fun read & pass it along to others you know who are keen on wildlife gardening, and some you may hope to hook on the joy of it.
Happy Gardening!
Pat
Hi Gardening Friends,
Our spring garden was a show stopper with clouds of blooming Wild Columbine, Coral Bells, and Coral Honeysuckle and of course Ruby-throated Hummingbirds galore.
Now it’s bursting at the seams as all the other perennials fill out and bump into each other. Common Milkweed and Butterflyweed are in full bloom and pulling in many butterflies. And many, many other perennials are about to pop . . . just in time for this year’s “Tours of Private Wildlife Gardens.”
This is the 20th year I’ve been leading these tours of private backyard wildlife gardens. Yowee!
Be sure to mark your calendars with the following dates & plan to join me on one, several, or all NINE of the 2011 “Tours of Private Wildlife Gardens” that I will again be leading for NJ Audubon’s Nature Center of Cape May.
Alert your friends, family, neighbors, … anyone you’re trying to HOOK on wildlife gardening!
These wildlife-friendly gardens offer so many ideas in the way of design, use of space, plant combinations, native plants that are lovely AND beneficial to wildlife, “chocolate cake” nectar plants, key caterpillar plants, great shrub ideas, “how to” create your own meadow ideas, garden accents and features like misters, dragonfly ponds, arbors . . .
Imagine getting a glimpse into private backyard wildlife gardens, interacting with the artists who created them, having each and every garden and wildlife question answered, and enjoying it with a group of fellow wildlife gardeners.
Enjoy a SNEAK PEAK (South Tour, North Tour, Mid-County Tour) into some of the gardens we’ll be visiting as I include photos of different gardens over the course of the summer.
More butterfly and hummingbird gardens are tucked into Cape May County than probably anywhere else in the country. Mid-July is the time of peak butterfly diversity and numbers. Gardens look completely different from one month to the next (so seriously consider all 9 tours). Learn the magic combination of native nectar plants and caterpillar plants that makes a garden especially attractive to butterflies. Design ideas and new wildlife plants will be showcased while tour participants are entertained by a blizzard of butterflies and hummingbirds.
At the peak of Ruby-throated Hummingbird migration, we’ll savor an array of diverse gardens that have hosted nesting hummingbirds since May and are now drawing in dozens of migrants. Native nectar plants, healthy insect populations, water sources, and adequate cover are key elements of each garden.
At the peak of Cape May County’s world-famous fall Monarch migration, tour diverse gardens that have hosted Monarchs since May. Each features native nectar plants and as many as five different kinds of milkweed (used by Monarchs for egg laying to create the next generation). Expect clouds of Monarchs and other butterflies, Monarch eggs, caterpillars, and maybe even a chrysalis. The complex Monarch migration will be both explained and enjoyed.
Gardening naturalist and author, Pat Sutton, leads these tours, which include her own garden in Goshen (North tour). Bring lunch since the group will eat in one of the gardens.
If some of you are keen to create a butterfly & hummingbird garden, be sure to download the article & plant list I wrote / created:
Limit: 25 per tour. Nine Tours / Cost per tour: $30 members (NJ Audubon), $40 nonmembers.
(Join three tours at a discounted rate of $75 members, $100 nonmembers.)
These tours require preregistration with payment.
You may register by phone at 609.898.8848 with a credit card or send payment to the Nature Center of Cape May, 1600 Delaware Avenue, Cape May, NJ 08204 (noting which tours and full names of registrants).
NCCM reserves the right to cancel programs, and refunds are available only if NCCM cancels the event. Walk-ins are welcome on a space-available basis. Become a member of NJAS and receive discounts in the gift shop and on many programs.
For more details & how to register.
For more details & how to register.
For more details & how to register.
Hi Gang,
I’m looking forward to teaching a series of programs about:
The programs will be held at:
These programs are FREE.
Bring questions, photos, and stories of your own to share.
Topics & dates follow:
To learn more, go to the Cape May County Library’s Calendar.
Hope to see some of you there!