Let Arbor 'Day' be every day in pollinator-welcoming sites

The Earth is in the spotlight this week, culminating with an Earth Day celebration on Satur-day, April 20 at Farmin Park. Many area entities will be present with displays and information, with music, good food and after-winter camaraderie for all ages.

Come join the celebration and afterward, consider taking a moment to look at some of our local nurseries for inspiration for your landscape.

When I was a little girl in the 1930s-1940s, it was the custom to always plant a tree on Arbor Day. Our family always did, and whether a fruit-bearing, ornamental or transplanted evergreen from the nearby woods, it was a festive, meaningful l thing for us.

With Saturday’s fete of Arbor Day, we are reminded of the truly life-saving gifts of our arborvitae — trees and shrubs — with their mixed blessings of shelter, food and beauty in the outdoors. Whether in nature’s wild or our own contrived landscapes, these trees and shrubs are necessary for the health of the environment as well as life itself for the creatures which are dependent on them.

When we grow native plants and their cultivars they provide food such as pollen, nectar, nuts, cones, berries and seeds — not to mention the lovely flowers that attract many of them in the first place.

Too, when growing these in our landscape we provide protective cover for wildlife, which we can augment by artfully placing (or leaving in place) hollow logs and rocky piles in our yards. These can serve as places for raising young (if you wish to accommodate that) and providing water with a small pond or birdbath is a terrific asset, as well.

In short, to me Arbor Day represents revering the entire ecosystem as begun by Mother Nature eons ago: An interdependency of flora, fauna and water for a healthy perennial relationship. No matter how small our growing area, every little oasis of healthy life is vital in this time of massive bird, bee and butterfly die-off due to the deluge of next-generation pesticides unleashed by agrichemical giants like Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta.

Bayers’ Neonics absorb into the plant’s tissue, turning the plant into a tiny poison factory that emits toxins all the way from its roots to its nectar killing a host of beneficial insects — ranging from bees and butterflies to ladybugs and dragonflies.

This indiscriminate poison is persistent, remaining in the soil for years. When one considers that more than 70 out of 100 major crops are pollinated by bees, not to mention the abundance of flowers and vegetables that bees pollinate in millions of backyard gardens across America, it is more than chilling.

Our only recourse is to use organic methods at all times and let the heroic beneficials do their work in safety.

Note: A word of caution with a reminder of a dangerous plant that’s toxic on its own: If you’re considering a Yew shrub, be sure to purchase only the native Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia).

The look-alike Japanese Yew (Taxus custidata), is deadly, and responsible for the deaths around north Idaho of deer and elk in alarming numbers. Its soft-needled branches and bright red berries are pretty and appealing and little children (as well as dogs, cats, raccoons, etc.,) might covet those pretty but poisonous berries and their seeds — which incidentally are toxic to many other creatures.

This column’s current series on shrubs and small trees may be of help in making some landscsaping decisions.

Valle Novak writes the Country Chef and Weekend Gardener columns for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at bcdailybee@bonnercountydailybee.com. or by phone at 208-265-4688.