Planting TREES for Pollinators

Today was 100K TREE DAY in TN. Handy Hugh had ordered 25 TREES and promised to plant them this weekend. TN has a goal of planting a million TREES this year, so we are helping. I picked them up Friday, expecting them to be… well bigger. They were tiny little ones in one little bag. We received 5 Golden Tulip Poplars, 5 Redbuds, 5 American Plums, 5 Red Oaks and 5 Virginia Pines. When I told my brother, Randy, about this day, he said,

“I always believe that planting trees is the greatest gift one can give to the planet…..I have always thought that when a person removes a tree they should plant two trees in its place…thus I have  planted hundreds of trees and delight when I hear of others doing it together in a conscious effort  thanks for sharing and enjoy the planting.” Randy McCurd
y, just the Gardener at Laulima

Handy Hugh has designed, mapped out and designated a number of “GARDENS” for each kind of Butterfly and has done his research so he knows what kinds of TREES, Plants and Flowers they need through their whole cycle. These are spread out in the different areas of our Motherland. So these new TREES fit in perfectly with his plan. He spent the day digging and planting 20 of them; 14 on the 3 acres we call 42, and 6 in the back part of Momsy’s land where she has given us permission to use for our Pollinator Habitat Project. He says tomorrow we will hike to the top of the wooded hills to find the “bare spots” to plant the 5 Virginia Pines.

I was busy in the GREENHOUSE, cleaning and preparing the Flowers for their grand entry out into the SUN this next week. With one cold night tonight, everyone went back in and got tucked in for the night. I also put some extra mulch around the newly emerging Hyacinths to protect them. The rest of the week is predicted to be like mid to late Spring already. One local man, who was about to till his garden, said that he isn’t being fooled. He is going to put out Onions and Cabbage and wait until all danger of frost is over before putting out the rest. That has typically been April 15th around here. He also said that sometimes when we have this kind of warm weather now, then later in Mar and even April it can turn back into WINTER for a few weeks. It is hard to be cautious when it is so gorgeous and warm outside…

What I did earlier this week to support this project was research & find out the best support for our new TREES survival and thriving. I found an amazing website, Smiling Gardener and learned about how certain fungi supports plants in a most important way. I ordered both the endo and ecto mycorrhizae. It came very quickly and this is what we sprinkled over the roots of each TREE before planting. The whole website is fun to explore with much great info on ORGANIC & SUSTAINABLE GARDENING. I had decided that I need to learn more about what to do to feed and nourish all my plants so they can become really healthy and more resilient to the pests. Make sure to check out the items on the sidebar. You can learn a lot about some important things about GARDENING. I learned some pretty fascinating things about the PLANT-PEST relationship on his website. I will write more on that later.

Right at sunset, Hugh took me on a tour to see where they are now living so I could document the moment. He showed me the new American Plum Grove, then the someday to be RED OAK WOODS, then on to the Golden Tulip Poplar Grove, two of them lining the road to help set the boundary there. This is all on our 3 acres we call 42. His plan is to put in many TREES to support even rare or endangered Butterflies. To entice some here that haven’t been seen before. Planting TREES makes him so happy! BEing able to be part of a much bigger picture to support our POLLINATORS makes ME HAPPY!