Biodiversity can be as close as your own garden space

Biodiversity can be as close as your own garden space

A program hosted by the Amenia Garden Club on Saturday, Feb. 22, was moderated by Garden Club President Ken Monteiro in conversation with Michelle Alfandari of Sharon, co-founder of the Homegrown National Park biodiversity movement.

Photo by Leila Hawken

AMENIA — Gardeners don’t stop being gardeners in winter, as evidenced by the enthusiastic turnout for a winter gardening talk held at the Amenia Free Library on Saturday, Feb. 22.

About 45 aspiring and accomplished gardeners gathered to view a film about the Homegrown National Park movement, a grass-roots conservation effort to regenerate biodiversity by planting native plants and battling invasive intruders across the nation.

Co-founder of Homegrown National Parks in 2019, gardener Michelle Alfandari of Sharon, Connecticut, shared ideas that could be incorporated into local yards and gardens to advance toward a solution that would quash invasive species and encourage natives. The resulting climate benefit is to wildlife species that thrive in an environment of biodiversity.

Alfandari founded HNP in collaboration with Professor Doug Tallamy, Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware’s School of Agriculture. Both manage a Biodiversity Map that invites all gardeners to register on the map their native plantings, whether acreage or even a patio pot, seeking to turn the national map green with biodiversity.

Each property owner is encouraged to pursue four objectives: support the food web to support habitat — invasives detract from that web, but an oak tree helps — sequester carbon from the environment, manage the watershed, and support pollinators. Plant choice matters.

Relationships with nature are collaborative, not adversarial, the film advised.

“How do you get people inspired?” Alfandari asked hypothetically, noting that once people have direct experience, they are well on their way.

A grassroots organization, HNP now boasts more than 140,000 acres and 250,000 followers on social media, Alfandari said. As a grassroots movement, the organization is not limited by regulations.

“Trying to convert lawn into meadow is complicated,” Amenia Garden Club President Ken Monteiro observed, suggesting instead that gardeners look under existing trees on their property and create native beds under those trees. The strategy will lessen lawn mowing and protect beneficial insects that may drop down from the trees. Caterpillars are extremely beneficial and an important food source for birds.

From the audience, local gardening expert Maryanne Snow Pitts suggested leaving a rectangle of lawn unmowed. Another gardener shared his experience with finding goldenrod and Queen Anne’s Lace appearing in his rectangle.

All agreed that the fad of leaving the entire lawn unmowed has proven to be unpopular with neighbors.

Once invasives are removed, native plants will be encouraged to move into the space, Alfandari agreed.

Audience questions soon gravitated to methods for removing invasive plants, something of interest to everyone, while noting the problem that birds often nest in invasive overgrowth.

Debate ensued about the use of Roundup or Glyphosate with arguments on both sides.

Concluding the event, Monteiro asked the audience to provide suggestions about the local function of the Amenia Garden Club and its place within the community.

For more information about HNP, go to www.homegrownnationalpark.org. And to learn more about the Amenia Garden Club, go to www.ameniagardens.org.

Latest News

Village will not pursue local ICE law; police say they will cooperate with federal agencies

Village of Millerton and Town of North East residents crowded into the NorthEast-Millerton Library annex to have their voices heard on police policies regarding immigration enforcement for the Tuesday, July 29, Village Trustees meeting.

Photo by Aly Morrissey

MILLERTON — After a packed public meeting brought immigration enforcement to the forefront of village politics on Tuesday, July 29, trustees signaled they will not pursue a proposed local law aimed at limiting police cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Local police, for their part, said they would fully cooperate with federal agencies — including ICE — tempering hopes for the kind of change some residents had called for.

Keep ReadingShow less
Deputies respond to downtown Amenia political dispute

Kimberly Travis, right, during the early days of her daily "No kings" anti-Trump administration protests at downtown Amenia's Fountain Square in front of the Bank of Millbrook on Saturday, July 5. Travis has become a regular fixture on downtown Amenia after weeks of the daily protests.

Photo by Leila Hawken

AMENIA — Dutchess County Sheriff’s Deputies broke up a political dispute between two Amenia residents at Fountain Square in downtown Amenia on Tuesday, July 15.

Kimberly Travis of Amenia was conducting her daily “No Kings” anti-Trump administration protest at Fountain Square at 1:15 p.m. when Jamie Deines of Amenia, a candidate for Town Board in the Nov. 4 election, approached her.

Keep ReadingShow less
Oblong Books to celebrate 50 years with block party bash

Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton's Main Street in 1985.

Photo provided

MILLERTON — To celebrate its golden milestone, Oblong Books is throwing a “good old-fashioned block party” this Saturday, Aug. 9, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on South Center Street in Millerton. The free, family-friendly event will feature live music, food trucks, raffles and entertainment for all ages.

While the festivities mark 50 years since the founding of Oblong Books, co-owner Suzanna Hermans sees the party as something more. “We want to celebrate our friends, neighbors and generations of customers who have kept us here for 50 years,” she said. “It’s a thank-you to the people of Millerton, in particular, without whom we’d never be here.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Inside the Hitchcock estate after one year on the market

Opulent furnishings and decoration ranging from Asian statues and paintings to Gulf Oil gas station signs adorn the mansion at the Hitchcock Estate.

Photo by Charlie Greenberg

MILLBROOK — After decades of infamy and just over a year on the market, Millbrook’s Hitchcock Estate continues to exist in relative mystery.

After a notorious few years in the 1960s, little has been heard about the estate recently — a stealthy departure from its past. The appearance of last year’s listing provided the first glimpse inside the property in nearly a decade.

Keep ReadingShow less