Ever since I moved into my little old house a few years ago, I’ve been slowly picking away at fixing up the yard. What started as bare, sandy dirt in the backyard now has some sparse grass and a few, limited plantings.
But frankly, I have no idea what I’m doing. I understood the soil and the rain back home in Oregon, but this sandy coastal stuff with monsoon summers? I have no idea. But nature knows, and so do the lovely folks at the NC Cooperative Extension. So I invited four of them to come by my house and tell me where I’ve gone wrong.
Evan Mauk was my primary guide. He says, "We are ambassadors for the Nature at Home program at NC State, New Hanover County Extension Program. And our whole goal is to encourage and educate homeowners in the ways of growing plants that nurture animals and pollinators and other wildlife."
The program costs $30, and it’s possible to become certified as a good habitat for wildlife through the program. But the experts are also happy to help you get there, if you’re struggling like I am. I point out one of my attempts to plant a native plant: a desiccated tumbleweed of a bush in my front yard.
They were unimpressed by some of my plantings. What had been growing there before I moved in, on the other hand, turned out to be native Yupon Holly, according to Wendy Weidenhammer.
"It'll see berries, they'll turn red or orange later on in the fall. And it's a native plant, and it will provide food for birds and things in the winter time. So this is a really good guy," Weidenhammer says.
It’s snuggled right up next to an American Elm tree, which is apparently a happy spot for it. I take them into my backyard, pointing out the Virginia Creeper and Morning Glory climbing up the wall — both native vines. And I showed them my proudest garden bed: canna lilies, camellias, native Blue Mist flowers, and elephant ears. Not all native, but it’s coming together.
Evan Mauk says they have to check each of the five layers of habitat for native plants. "We talk about canopies, which are the tall trees. We talk about understories, which are trees that are like less than 30 feet, I believe it is. Then we talk about the shrub layer, herbaceous shrubs. The layer under that would be the perennials and other herbaceous plants that come back every year, and then the ground covers.”
When I get my report back a few weeks after the visit, I find, to my surprise, I meet almost all the criteria to have my home qualify as a good habitat! Except... I've got this horribly invasive from my neighbor, English Ivy. I tell them I think I need a flamethrower or something to get rid of it.
Evan all but agrees. "It's very difficult to get rid of, but yes, it's invasive.”
Even worse, there’s Kudzu coming from my other neighbor’s yard. It’s an Airbnb on one side and an abandoned house on the other.
Colleen Higgins tells me I've got my work cut out for me. "You're gonna have to make a stand and stand here. I hate to say it.”
Luckily, they provided some tips for eradication a few weeks later. There are more invasives too — some ground cover called Florida Bettony, which has these weird little white segmented nodes underground where they pop up.
I was so close to getting certified as a good habitat: Somehow I bungled my way into having three layers of the forest with at least 30% native plants. And my slightly neglected yard has lots of beneficial elements for little critters: leaf litter on the ground, replacing turf with garden beds, and piles of brush that can make homes for little friends.
But I failed on one important front: the invading invasives from my neighbors cover too much of my yard. Once I fight that back, and maybe plant a few more natives, I’ll be officially certified under Nature at Home.
After that slog, I decided my guests deserved a treat, so I showed them my neighbor’s absolutely beautiful garden, filled with butterflies flitting among black-eyed Susans and butterfly bushes. They ooh and aah at the monarchs and the caterpillars munching on seeds.
They assured me that with some hard work over a year or two, I could have a beautiful, low-maintenance, native garden to match. And with their report in hand, I have just the strategy to do it. And as Evan told me: autumn is a great time to plant.
