|
|
The ground is warming. Red-winged blackbirds are staking out their territories in a wetland near you. It must be time to tidy up our gardens! Not so fast. The same folks who have been telling us to leave our leaves--namely, scientists at places like the Xerces Society and National Wildlife Federation--implore us not to cut down our plant stems. What looks like messy litter to us turns out to be palatial accommodations for bee larvae, and I really appreciate this nifty graphic from the Xerces Society that explains this habitat feature so well. They even offer it as a "Save the Stems" PDF to download and share, and they give more tips about when to do your spring clean up. Hint: not just yet.
|
|
Instead, you can bird proof your windows! At our community gathering on March 23, Leigh Altadonna from Wyncote Audubon and Bird Safe Philly shared the sobering statistic that over a million birds a day die in the United States when they fly into glass. Leigh explained simple methods for breaking up the
|
|
|
|
At our fun and festive gathering, we also heard from Hayden Remick of Remick Native Landscapes about the nuts and bolts of creating habitat with native plants. Thanks to everyone in the Journeywork community who ventured out in the steady rains of a March Saturday to trade seeds and talk habitat!
|
And now it is April, National Poetry Month. A poet gave us the name of this organization, and he urged us outside as "ever the spring's invisible law returns/with grass and flowers and summer fruits and corn." I hope to see you as the spring returns at any one of the events below, or several!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In addition to our planting events in Lower Gwynedd and Jamison, we are offering training for volunteers who will help Pollinator Palooza participants next month when their plants arrive. More volunteer dates are being added in April and May--if you want to know the latest, sign up for our volunteer mailing list.
|
|
Spring brings so many ways to volunteer!
- Saturday, April 6, 9:00-12:00 in Lower Gwynedd
- Sunday, May 5, 1:00-4:00 in Jamison
- Thursday, May 9 or Friday, May 10 from 5:00-6:00 at Gwynedd Friends Meeting--training for Pollinator Palooza volunteers
- Sunday, June 2, 1:00-4:00 in Lower Gwynedd
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
GET STARTED THIS SPRING:
Tips (And Help!) for Creating Healthy Wildlife Habitat in Your Yard
Journeywork is collaborating with Wyncote Audubon Society to offer this seminar at four different locations. I will share tips for starting small, explain how to sheet mulch, and offer guidance about hardy, native, deer resistant plants and where to buy them. I will also explain Journeywork’s volunteer model to help private landowners remove invasive species and install native plant gardens on their properties.
|
|
This program is being sponsored by the Wyncote Audubon Society with the support of cohosts in Montgomery County and Philadelphia including Pennypack Environmental Center, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Plymouth Meeting Friends, and the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust. Choose one and bring a friend!
|
|
7:00 PM, Tuesday, April 2, 2024
|
|
Pennypack Environmental Center (PEC)
|
8600 Verree Road, Philadelphia, PA 19115
|
|
7:00 PM, Thursday, April 4, 2024
|
|
Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (SCEE)
|
8480 Hagy's Mill Road, Philadelphia, PA 19128
|
|
7:00 PM, Tuesday, April 16, 2024
|
2150 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
|
|
7:00 PM, Thursday, May 2, 2024
|
|
Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust (PERT)
|
|
2955 Edge Hill Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Where to go for native plants
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Edge of the Woods Nursery
|
|
*Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve Nursery
|
|
*Redbud Native Plant Nursery
|
|
*Izel Native Plants—online resource that consolidates the inventories of wholesale growers for retail purchase
|
|
|
*The Women’s National Farm & Garden Association—Ambler Chapter Native Plant Sale, May 19, 11:30, Twining Valley Park
|
|
|
|
|
Help our friends at the LandHealth Institute restore some woods in West Philly
|
|
|
|
The LandHealth Institute and PA Master Naturalist, Marion Rector, are working to restore a small urban woodland in West Philadelphia. This woodland will be used to teach neighborhood children about trees and wild spaces. Volunteer workdays are scheduled for this Spring—two Sundays: April 14th and May 5th from 1pm to 3pm. Volunteers will remove invasive species, finish mulching the trail through the woodland and remove industrial debris (which will be upcycled to create art/sculpture on the site). Soon LandHealth will be planting native trees thanks to a grant received from Weavers Way Environmental Committee to purchase trees!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Journeywork won another grant!
|
Journeywork was selected as a Project Partner by the Xerces Society and will receive a 2024 Habitat Kit of 1,100 plants and two shrubs to continue our work creating a meadow at Plymouth Meeting Friends School.
|
|
|
|
Stay tuned for volunteer planting dates at the end of May/beginning of June!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I recently enjoyed a visit with the second grade at Willow Dale Elementary in Warminster. We talked about Maria Sibylla Merian's work with butterflies over three hundred years ago and plants that second graders can add to their yards to attract butterflies and moths today. If you want to read about Maria, you can buy a copy here. Proceeds support Journeywork.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Journeywork is offering native plant grants to schools, municipalities, and other nonprofit organizations. Please email paige@journeywork.org if you are interested!
|
|
|
|
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!
|
|
Our wish list
|
|
|
Follow us on social...
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
