Pat Sutton ( L ) with wildlife gardener Mildred Morgan . I buy one of these nerveless Monarch T - shirt while I was at the Cape May Bird Sanctuary .
Many of you wildlife nurseryman will recognize the namePat Sutton . She ’s the Cape May , NJ - based naturalist who ’s developed quite a pursuit among the great unwashed interested in garden for wildlife , a group whose numbers she adds to with every class or enlistment she leads .
I could remind myself that nonnatives also help wildlife , and do other eco - armed service , too , but the native - native - native drumbeat and the excitement over the tiniest sign of butterfly stroke life I ’d witness all day by Pat and her fervent follower had ME looking down my nose at some nonnatives I might otherwise have enjoyed seeing – plants that Pat referred to as “ charge card ” and “ frou - frou . ”
Pat Sutton (L) with wildlife gardener Mildred Morgan. I bought one of these cool Monarch T-shirts while I was at the Cape May Bird Sanctuary.
Thanks to Pat , I spent much of the rest of my Cape May visit judging gardens and landscapes by my increasingly wildlife - serving standards . ( Post to fall with plenty of snark included . )
Still , I ’ll leave to experts like Pat the industrial plant lists , the observance technique , and the slap-up hired man - out of resources for the bud wildlife gardener , and cohere to the wildlife - garden angle that interests me as a blogger – how to make them look good . And I do n’t mean by a naturalist ’s standards but by MY standards and those of anyone who require their garden to await orderly enough to be recognize as a well - tended plaza – as a garden , one that neighbors might even emulate .
For case , the garden of Mildred Morgan , shown here with Pat , was jam - packed with pollinator plants but had just enough hardscape and grassy paths to make it all look intentional and care for .
Tour-goers admire Mildred Morgan’s garden.
Tour - leaver admire Mildred Morgan ’s garden .
A more dramatic case is Teresa Knipper ’s garden just across the street from the beach . It was fully developed as a traditional garden with lawn , initiation planting and molding , long before Teresa began adapting it to be more wildlife - friendly . So far , she ’s retained the bones of the garden while but widening the borders and adding more native plant , so the essence is fabulous to anyone ’s eyes . Below , what passersby see from the pavement . Lots of teaching and inspiring taking position here , I wager .
Above , Teresa welcome her guests , who obtain lots of fiddling chrysalises or egg and other sign of insect life .
Another wildlife garden that ’s beautiful to anyone ’s eye is that of Evelyn Lovitz , shown above on the left utter to circuit - goer .
observance above and below Evelyn similarly employ a turf path through border , here even larger border , and they ’re englut full of native and nonnative perennial and annuals that pollinators love .
Finally , this plant - packed back yard of oncologist Michele Uhl is made civilized and take the air - through - able by the addition of a boardwalk . There ’s also a pond in there somewhere .
Thank you , Pat , for your cognition and ebullience . You are a force out of nature and I look forward to your nextbook .
