Heirloom Annual Plants Expand Biodiversity

Annual cornflowers support biodiversity & native bees like the Brown Belted Bumblebee

The addition of annual plants to a primarily native yard offers huge benefits to pollinators, increases biodiversity and some can even feed larval caterpillars. Many annuals are native perennials from the west coast making them annuals on the east coast. A few years ago, I chose to add plenty of open pollinated heirloom annuals to…

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Green Bottle Flies: Aren’t Filthy Little Bastards

Green Bottle Flies

I find the complaint of flies as “filthy little bastards” maddening at times. Yes, this guy/gal lands on and eats dead stuff, as well as shit,- yes shit. But guess what – so do butterflies and I NEVER hear people say, “omfg, they are sooooo DIRTY.” You know why? Because butterflies are pretty so their love of filth is overlooked. While I wouldn’t want a ton of flies landing on my food – I wouldn’t want filthy butterflies on it either.

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