butterflies Archives - Sustainable Saratoga

Get to know the Climate and Energy Committee

Caroline Rothaug — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 14:51:40 +0000

Discover the vibrant world of Sustainable Saratoga’s committees, each dedicated to a unique aspect of community sustainability: Zero Waste, Urban Forestry, Land Use, Climate and Energy, and Pollinators. Whatever your passion, you’ll find a place to make a difference.

Let’s get to know the Climate and Energy Committee

by Laura Faulk, Chair of the Climate and Energy Committee and member of the Board of Directors

As the climate crisis intensifies, the work of the Climate and Energy Committee continues to grow. Through education, advocacy, and action we work to protect human health and the health of our planet by reducing energy consumption and facilitating the transition to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels, the burning of which is the leading driver of climate change.

Part of our work focuses on reducing emissions from transportation, which is the leading cause of climate harming emissions in Saratoga Springs. In partnership with Skidmore College, we host EV Car and E-bike Shows that offer community members a chance to talk with EV and E-bike owners and dealers and view a variety of makes and models all in one place. We are currently supporting the City of Saratoga Springs Clean Energy Communities EV Campaign which educates residents about the benefits of owning electric cars and connects them with state and federal savings that can reduce the purchase price of EVs by as much as $9,500.

Buildings are the second largest source of emissions in the city. On our website you’ll find a comprehensive guide to reducing building emissions and home energy costs. The article has links to information on federal Inflation Reduction Act and state and utility savings opportunities that will help you reduce your energy bills as well as your carbon footprint.

This summer you will find us staffing Sustainable Saratoga tables around town including some Saturdays at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market and at the Saratoga Automobile Museum’s Cars on Union event. We hope you’ll stop by to say hello and learn more about our work!

Visit the Climate and Energy Committee pages for more information on our work

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Get to know the Pollinator and Native Plant Committee

Caroline Rothaug — Wed, 08 May 2024 15:31:14 +0000

Discover the vibrant world of Sustainable Saratoga’s committees, each dedicated to a unique aspect of community sustainability: Zero Waste, Urban Forestry, Land Use, Climate and Energy, and Pollinators. Whatever your passion, you’ll find a place to make a difference.

Let’s get to know the Pollinator and Native Plant Committee

by Dianna Goodwin, a founding member of the Committee

The Pollinator and Native Plant Committee is Sustainable Saratoga’s newest committee. Started at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2021, the committee is heading into its 4th growing season. You might know us through the No Mow May signs you see scattered around town this time of year.

Our signature event is our annual native plant sale, Pollinator Palooza, held this year on Saturday, June 1, from 10 to 3. We sell indigenous flowering plants that act as adult and/or larval food sources for our native bees, butterflies, beetles and birds. Our committee members pot up the plants and grow them out for two months before we offer them for sale at the Palooza. Many other organizations like Saratoga Plan, Capital Region Wild Ones, and the Southern Adirondack Audubon Society have informational tables at the Palooza. Come and browse the offerings, listen to music from the Saratoga Springs High School fiddlers, and take home new, hard-to-find native plants for your garden.

Pollinator Palooza attendees shop for native plants and learn about protecting pollinators and their habitat

We also engage in community education, outreach and advocacy. We have a pollinator garden at the Children’s Museum at the Lincoln Baths, are planning a Hellstrip Heroes program and a Leave the Leaves campaign. We are trying to protect and promote biodiversity, encourage rewilding and native landscaping, and teach sustainable gardening practices. You can get more information and read some of our past gardening posts on Sustainable Saratoga’s pollinator web page HERE.

If you are a gardener or a wildlife enthusiast, come join us. We are always looking for new volunteers and new projects. You can reach out to us at pollinators@sustainablesaratoga.org.

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Plant Safe Spaces Under Your Trees

Caroline Rothaug — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 17:02:20 +0000

By Dianna Goodwin

If you are planting a tree this spring or working on landscaping around existing trees on your property, consider the needs of pollinators and other small creatures who live in your yard.

Give them a Soft Landing

“Soft landings” are natural landscapes designed for the area under the shade of a tree that take the survival of critters like fireflies and bumblebees into account. Insects need habitat for shelter and egg laying. In nature, that habitat is often under trees. If you think about a natural forest floor, it is covered with decaying plant parts like leaves, twigs, and rotting logs. Collectively, this forest floor covering is known as “duff”. You can create a healthy and ecologically significant microhabitat under your suburban trees by leaving the leaves and twigs that falls from a tree under the tree’s dripline (that is, under the circumference of the canopy above) and planting a diverse array of native shade plants in the natural flower bed that results. The duff provides a soft landing for insects seeking a vegetative substrate or connection with the ground for hiding from predators, pupating, finding moisture, or, in the case of many ground bees and beetles, excavating small burrows for egg laying.

Keep it natural

In order to create a soft landing for wildlife, you need to avoid conventional gardening practices like mowing under the trees, putting down landscape cloth, and adding “neat” wood chip mulch. Wood chip mulch creates an impenetrable barrier for insects trying to reach the ground. And never, ever apply any chemicals to a soft landing natural garden bed, or any pollinator garden. Don’t use insecticides or fungicides or herbicides or fertilizers. The native plants are nourished by the decaying leaves and do not need any other artificial input. Avoid damaging your tree’s roots: start planting about 3 feet away from the tree trunk. Plant seeds or small plugs which require minimal digging. Heather Holm’s website provides detailed information on how to create a Soft Landing bed.

Tiarella cordifolia, Creeping Foamflower

Antennaria plantaginifolia, Pussytoes

Lobelia cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

Go native

It is important to use native plants that have been grown without insecticides in your soft landing bed. Avoid cultivars since they are usually less attractive to insects and birds than the original native plant and may provide inferior food rewards for pollinators and sap suckers. Sustainable Saratoga will be selling a number of native perennial shade plants that are suitable for a soft landing bed at the Pollinator Palooza Native Plant Sale on June 1, 2024. Plants anticipated to be offered in this year’s Palooza that will do well under a shade tree are included in this list.

You can also buy native plants online from Prairie Moon or from local native nurseries like Wild Things Rescue Nursery or Catskill Native Nursery. Do not buy plants from any nursery or big box store unless the plants are certified to be grown without pesticides. American Beauties plants are sold in nurseries throughout the region and are safe for wildlife. All other nursery plants are suspect and should not be placed in soft landing gardens as they may be death traps for insects.

Perfect for them and easy for you

Soft landing beds are easy to maintain once established. They don’t need raking or watering or spraying. You just leave them alone and enjoy the show.

Anemone canadensis, Canadian Anemone

Resources

See Heather Holm’s website for more information. Download a printable PDF including plant list.

Find more resources on our Pollinators and Native Plants pages

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