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When I think about my first feelings of awe at nature's wonders, my mind's eye travels to an Alabama backyard at dusk, a mayonnaise jar in one hand and a metal lid pricked with holes in the other. Lightning bugs captivated me as much when I was five as they do today. This summer, though, it feels like I have seen the number of blinking lights decrease as I see the number of Mosquito Shield signs increase in the yards I pass by throughout Montgomery County.
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This is baffling to me. With all of the documentation about the hazards of pesticide use, I don't understand why families would feel more safe by exposing themselves to harmful chemicals. I wondered whether Mosquito Shield was marketing itself as "child-safe" or "pet-safe" and looked at their website. They do not discuss the issue of safety at all--for children, pets, or beneficial insects. With a little more digging, I learned why: in 2016, the Attorney General of Massachusetts required Mosquito Shield to change their advertising practices and pay penalties after stating that their sprays were safe and contained EPA-approved chemicals (which they do not).
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As noted on the Massachusetts state website, "The assurance requires the companies to refrain from using the terms “pet friendly,” “kid friendly,” and “environmentally friendly” in their advertising. Mosquito Shield and its associated companies apply pesticides of the chemical class known as pyrethroids with backpack sprayers in outdoor common use areas such as yards, pools, decks, and patios to reduce the number of mosquitoes in the target areas.
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Studies show that there are potentially serious neurological and oncological risks associated with the insecticide that is used in these backyard sprayers, despite the widespread assumption that it is relatively safe. These chemicals are toxic by design, and their application must be carefully controlled."
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According to the Xerces Society, the World Health Organization urges the targeting of adult mosquitoes only if there is a disease outbreak. Why? Because it isn't even the best way to kill mosquitoes! The spray only affects the particular mosquitoes it happens to reach at the time of spraying, not the mosquitoes that fly into the yard later, and in the meantime, those chemicals can harm beneficial insects and the birds that eat them. It is much more effective to prevent mosquitoes from laying their eggs in the first place by removing standing water. If you have a water feature (to attract lightning bugs, which also lay their eggs in water) use Mosquito Dunks to target mosquito larvae. When you are outside, wear DEET-free mosquito repellant. If you want to educate others with a different kind of sign in your yard, you can get a "Pesticide-Free Zone" sign, adorned with a ladybug, from Cynthia Kreilick of Non-Toxic Springfield.
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With habitat loss and pesticides as the biggest threats to beneficial insects, let's create more of the first and greatly reduce the second. One of the easiest tips for making your yard friendly to lightning bugs: don't mow so much. You can spend that mowing time outside watching the lightning bugs instead and enjoying two of summer's other great pleasures--brought to us by the bees--watermelon and peaches!
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Ecological Landscape Tour on Saturday, August 12 from 9-12:00
As part of the Greening Sacred Spaces series of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Foulkeways Retirement Community and Gwynedd Friends Meeting are hosting tours of their sustainable land use projects on Saturday, August 12. Come see what’s growing at Foulkeways from 9:00-10:30 and at Gwynedd from 10:30-noon. The tour at Foulkeways will begin at the community center and include a pollinator garden, a bird blind with new deer exclosures, and a resident’s home garden. Residents will also describe their forest restoration, meadow, and no mow projects. The Gwynedd Friends tour will highlight native plantings in the burial ground, the community garden, a hedgerow restoration, and a rain garden.
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Come to one tour or both! Registration is preferred but not required.
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We are ready for young gardeners who want to make a difference!
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Thanks to a grant from Weavers Way Environment Committee, Journeywork has plenty of tools for young people to learn about native planting alongside their caregivers and teachers. If you lead a youth group or after school club or class, we can help you design and implement a planting project.
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Need advice?
If you have a native planting project in mind in your yard and want ideas or advice, Journeywork can help! We offer a one-hour consultation for $50.
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DIY workshop
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Get ideas, encouragement, and next steps to make it easy to add native plants to your land at our first DIY workshop on Saturday, August 19 from 10:00-11:30 in Gwynedd. The fee is $75 or $50 if you bring a neighbor.
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spotlight on two great plants
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for shade
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This is a beautiful deer-resistant plant with large evergreen leaves and white flower spikes that attract native bees and hummingbirds. It grows in part sun and full shade, spreads 3-4 feet, and stands 1-2 feet tall.
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for sun
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An excellent groundcover, wild petunias grow a foot tall, thrive in a variety of soils in sun or part shade, and are deer resistant. They reseed easily and will fill in a space in a couple of seasons.
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If Journeywork inspires you to sheet mulch, start seeds, or plant some native plants in your yard, please send us a picture! Let's celebrate and support each other!
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Our wish list
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Rubbermaid bins with lids for storing gloves and tools
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clean, gently used 5-gallon buckets
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