Xerces Society-Red List-Butterflies

Not only the monarch's survival is threatened , but numerous butterflies and moths in the US have been identified as vulnerable, imperiled and possibly extinct by the Xerces Society.

The table below provides a summary of the status and distribution of  Xerces Society Red Listed butterflies of North America. Scientific Name	Common Name	Red List Status			USA
Agathymus evansi	Huachuca Giant Skipper	I			AZ
Agathymus mariae (complex inc. gilberti)	Mary’s Giant Skipper	DD			NM, TX
Amblyscirtes linda	Linda’s Roadside Skipper	V			AR, IL, KS, MO, OK, TN
* Apodemia mormo langei	Lange’s Metalmark	CI			CA
Atrytone arogos	Arogos Skipper	V			AL, AR, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, KS, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OK, PA, SC, TX, WY
* Boloria acrocnema	Uncompahgre Fritillary	CI			CO
Boloria alberta	Alberta Fritillary	V			MT
Calephelis borealis	Northern Metalmark	V			AR, CT, IL, IN, KY, MD, MO, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, VA, WV
Callophrys comstocki	Desert Green Hairstreak	I			AZ, CA, CO, NV, UT
†  Callophrys irus	Frosted Elfin	I			AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV
Callophrys lanoraieensis	Bog Elfin	V			ME, NH, NY
* Callophrys mossii bayensis	San Bruno Elfin	CI			CA
Celotes limpia	Scarce Streaky-skipper	V			TX
Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri	Miami Blue	CI			FL
Erora laeta	Early Hairstreak	V			GA, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV
Erynnis persius persius	Persius Duskywing	I			CT, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT, WI
†  Euchloe ausonides insulana	Island Marble	CI			WA
* Euphilotes battoides allyni	El Segundo Blue	CI			CA
Euphilotes baueri	Bauer’s Dotted Blue	I			AZ, CA, NV
* Euphilotes enoptes smithi	Smith’s Blue	CI			CA
Euphilotes mojave	Mojave Dotted Blue	I		BN	AZ, CA, NV, UT
Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti	Sacramento Mountains Checkerspot	CI			NM
* Euphydryas editha bayensis	Bay Checkerspot	CI			CA
* Euphydryas editha quino	Quino Checkerspot	CI			CA
†  Euphydryas editha taylori	Taylor’s Checkerspot	CI			OR, WA
Euphydryas gillettii	Gillett’s Checkerspot	V			ID, MT, UT, WY
Euphyes bayensis	Bay Skipper	V			MS, TX
Euphyes dukesi	Dukes’ Skipper	V			AL, AR, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, NC, OH, SC, TX, VA
Euproserpinus euterpe	Kern Primrose Sphinx Moth	CI			CA
Fixsenia [Satyrium] polingi	Poling’s Hairstreak	I			NM, TX
* Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis	Palos Verde Blue	CI			CA
* Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus	Schaus Swallowtail	CI			FL
†  Hesperia dacotae	Dakota Skipper	I			IA, IL, MN, ND, SD
* Hesperia leonardus montana	Pawnee Montane Skipper	I			CO
†  Hesperia ottoe	Ottoe Skipper	V			CO, IA, IL, IN, KS,MI, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE, OK, SD, TX, WI, WY
Hesperopsis gracielae	MacNeil’s Saltbush Sootywing	V			AZ, CA, NV, UT
* Icaricia icarioides fenderi	Fender’s Blue	CI			OR
* Icaricia icarioides missionensis	Mission Blue	CI			CA
* Lycaeides idas lotis	Lotis Blue	CI (PE)			CA
* †  Lycaeides melissa samuelis	Karner Blue	CI			IL, IN, MI, MN, NH, NY, OH, WI
* Manduca blackburni	Blackburn’s Sphinx Moth	CI			HI
Mitoura hesseli	Hessel’s Hairstreak	V			AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, RI, SC, VA
* Neonympha mitchellii francisci	St. Francis’ Satyr	CI			NC
* Neonympha mitchellii mitchellii	Mitchell’s Satyr	CI			IN, MI, OH
†  Oarisma poweshiek	Poweshiek Skipperling	I			IA, IL, MI, MN, ND, SD, WI
Papilio joanae	Ozark Woodland Swallowtail	V			AR, MO (KY?)
Polites mardon	Mardon Skipper	I			CA, OR, WA
Problema bulenta	Rare Skipper	I			DE, GA, MD, NC, NJ, SC, VA
Problema byssus	Byssus Skipper	V			AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TX, WI
* Pseudocopaeodes eunus obscurus	Carson Wandering Skipper	CI			CA, NV
* Pyrgus ruralis lagunae	Laguna Mountains Skipper	CI			CA
Satyrium kingi	King’s Hairstreak				AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, TX, VA
* Speyeria callippe callippe	Callippe Silverspot	CI			CA
Speyeria diana	Diana Fritillary	V			AL, AR, GA, IN, KY, MO, NC, OH, OK, SC, TN, VA, WV
Speyeria idalia	Regal Fritillary	V			AR, CO, CT, DC, DE, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SD, VA, VT, WI, WV, WY
* Speyeria zerene behrensii	Behren’s Silverspot	CI			CA
* Speyeria zerene hippolyta	Oregon Silverspot	CI			CA, OR, WA
* Speyeria zerene myrtleae	Myrtle’s Silverspot	CI			CA
Stallingsia maculosus	Manfreda Giant-Skipper	I			TX

* Species that are listed under the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Red List of Butterflies and Moths Status Definitions

PE — Possibly Extinct: Missing; known from only historical occurrences, but still some hope of rediscovery.

CI — Critically Imperiled: At very high risk of extinction due to extreme rarity (often 5 or fewer populations), very steep declines, or other factors.

I — Imperiled: At high risk of extinction due to very restricted range, very few populations (often 20 or fewer), steep declines, or other factors.

V — Vulnerable: At moderate risk of extinction due to a restricted range, relatively few populations (often 80 or fewer), recent and widespread declines, or other factors.

DD — Data Deficient: Inadequate information to make an assessment of its risk category, either through lack of knowledge of population size, threats to it, or to taxonomic uncertainty of the validity of the taxon.

Continuing decline in monarch numbers

Twenty years after the signing of NAFTA with its environmental accords to protect migratory species, the Monarch migration, the symbol of the three countries’ trilateral cooperation  is at serious risk of disappearing. The number of Monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico has plunged this year to its lowest level since studies began in 1993, just 56 percent of last year’s total, which was itself a record low. A recently released report by the World Wildlife Fund, Mexico's Environment Department and the Natural Protected Areas Commission blames the dramatic decline on the butterflies' loss of habitat due to illegal logging in Mexico's mountaintop forests and the massive displacement of the milkweed plant it feeds on in the US. The black-and-orange butterflies now cover an area of only 1.65 acres in the pine and fir forests west of Mexico City, compared to 2.93 acres last year and more than 44.5 acres in 1996.

The monarchs’ migratory freeway runs through the Great Plains. As they flew north from Mexico in early 2012, months of near-record heat sapped their endurance and skewed their migratory patterns in ways that limited their ability to reproduce.Unusual springtime cold in Texas  in spring of 2013 delayed the butterflies’ northward migration, causing them to arrive late in areas where they would normally have bred weeks earlier.

The loss of habitat is a far more daunting problem. Monarchs lay their eggs only on milkweed, and patches of the plant have rapidly disappeared from the Great Plains over the last decade. As corn prices have risen, in part due to the government mandate to add ethanol to gasoline, farmers have planted tens of millions of acres of idle land along the monarchs’ path that once provided both milkweed and nectar.
And they have switched to crops that are genetically engineered to tolerate herbicides wiping out milkweed that once sprouted between rows of corn and soybean. So the monarchs must travel farther and use more energy to find places to lay their eggs. With their body fat depleted, the butterflies lay fewer eggs, or die before they have a chance to reproduce.

While monarchs are one of the more visible victims of the habitat loss, a wide variety of pollinators and other insects, including many that are beneficial to farmers, are also disappearing along with the predators that feed on them.

(There is also another smaller migration route that takes butterflies from the west to the coast of California, but that has registered even steeper declines.)

So what can we do?

Visit these websites to find out about more about organizations committed to helping the monarchs:

The Monarch Joint Venture (MJV) is a partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic programs that are working together to support and coordinate efforts to protect the monarch migration across the lower 48 United States.

http://www.monarchjointventure.org/

Monarch Watch is an educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas that engages citizen scientists in large-scale research projects. Monarch Watch gets children of all ages involved in science. Their website provides a wealth of information on the biology and conservation of Monarch butterflies

http://monarchwatch.org/

To begin to restore habitats for monarchs, pollinators, and other wildlife, Monarch Watch has initiated a nationwide landscape restoration program called “Bring Back The Monarchs.” The goals of this program are to restore 20 milkweed species, used by monarch caterpillars as food, to their native ranges throughout the United States and to encourage the planting of nectar-producing native flowers that support adult monarchs and other pollinators.
This program is an outgrowth of the Monarch Waystation Program started by Monarch Watch in 2005. There are now over 5,000 certified Monarch Waystations – mostly habitats created in home gardens, schoolyards, parks, and commercial landscaping.
We need a comprehensive plan on how to manage the fragmented edges and marginal areas created by development and agriculture since it is these edges that support monarchs, many of our pollinators, and the many forms of wildlife that are sustained by the seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, and foliage that result from pollination.

http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/

Moving for Monarchs: The Awakening

from Moving for Monarchs 

It is time to awaken... The world's majestic monarch butterflies are disappearing. Join the movement to reverse this trend. Move with us..

http://vimeo.com/82450284

"Connect to your garden passions and heritage this winter"

Gold 'n' Country Gifts

Bob Zimmer writing for the Press Gazette urges us to get inspired with the wonderful ways to bring nature indoors by visiting some of these locations in NE Wisconsin.  He suggests florists and greenhouses also carry a selection of green plants and natural accent elements to get you started on your journey into indoor gardening:

* 1000 Islands Environmental Center, Kaukauna (natural displays)
* Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, Green Bay (natural displays)
- Caan Floral and Greenhouses, Sheboygan (floral and greenery, natural elements)
- Cedar Ridge Crafts & Gifts, Neenah (natural decor)
- Charles the Florist, Appleton (floral and greenery, natural elements)
- Cottage Garden Farm, Waupaca (natural decor)
- Evolutions in Design, Wausau (floral and greenery)
* The Flying Pig, Algoma (natural decor)
**Gardens of the Fox Cities, Appleton (sadly closed 1/14)
* Gold ’n’ Country Gifts, Weyauwega (natural decor)
- Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve, Appleton (natural displays)
* Go Wild with Birds, Neenah (natural décor)
**Green Bay Botanical Garden, Green Bay (natural displays and amazing natural holiday tree)
- Haentze Floral Co., Fond du lac (floral and greenery, natural elements, classes)
* Heckrodt Wetland Reserve, Menasha (natural displays)
* Hobby Lobby, Wausau, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Green Bay, Oshkosh, Appleton
- Hounsell’s Greenhouses, Fond du lac (floral and greenery, natural elements)
* JoAnn, Appleton, Fond du lac, Green Bay, Oshkosh, Wausau, Plover
- Jung Garden Center, Stevens Point (floral and greenery)
- Lensmire’s Village Gardens, Plover (natural décor, floral and greenery)
- Lowney’s Landscaping/Gathered Earth, Appleton (classes, décor, natural elements)
* Memorial Florists and Greenhouses, Appleton (floral and greenery, natural elements)
* Michaels Arts and Craft Stores, Appleton, Green Bay, Wausau
- Navarino Nature Center (classes, natural displays)
* Paine Art Center and Gardens, Oshkosh (natural displays)
* Restoration Gardens, Sheboygan (floral and greenery, natural elements)
- Riverside Florist and Greenhouses, Appleton (floral and greenery, natural elements)
- Robinson Florist and Greenhouses, Kimberly (floral and greenery, natural elements)
- Schmeekle Reserve, Stevens Point (natural displays)
* Schroeder’s, Green Bay (floral and greenery, natural elements)
* Swanstone Gardens, Green Bay (classes)
- Sterling Florist, Neenah (floral and greenery, natural elements)
- Twigs and Vines Floral, Appleton (floral and greenery, natural elements)
* The Vintage Garden, Appleton (natural decor)
- Woodland Dunes Nature Center, Two Rivers (natural displays)
-  Wildbird & Backyard, Appleton (natural décor)
* The Wreath Factory/Otter Creek, Menasha, Plymouth (natural décor, floral and natural elements,
      classes)

*   have visited in past
**member-visit frequently
-   looking forward to visitng soon

Marking my calendar for the upcoming Rooms of Blooms at the Paine

I am thinking I should mark my calendar and make plans to visit the “Rooms of Blooms: The Fifth Annual Greater Fox Valley Floral Show” to experience the breathtaking wonder of flowers as art. The annual “Rooms of Blooms” presentation celebrates the art of floral design within the exquisite settings of the historic Paine estate. The show features over one hundred artistic fresh floral creations by the most talented designers in the region. The beautiful floral creations are inspired by the ambiance of the Paine and artworks on display.

I enjoyed a similar event a number of years ago at the Memphis Flower Show at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. There seem to be quite a few of these types of events popping up across the country providing an opportunity to view unique floral displays designed to complement a variety of pieces of art. 

Toward Harmony with Nature Conference presented by Wild Ones Fox Valley Area - Keynote Speaker

Guided by the philosophy of Lorrie Otto . . .,

“If suburbia were landscaped with meadows, prairies, thickets, or forests, or combinations of these, then the water would sparkle, fish would be good to eat again, birds would sing and human spirits would soar.”

Wild Ones continues to lead the natural landscaping movement as we explore, teach, and change the practice of gardening in our communities and around the country to using native plants.

The keynote speaker for the 2014 Wild Ones Fox Vally Area conference was Doug Tallamy who made 2 presentations to the attendees:

The Value of Having Native Plants in our Yards

Doug Tallamy

Doug Tallamy's message:

   "By favoring native plants over aliens in the suburban landscape, 

    gardeners can do much to sustain the biodiversity 

    that has been one of this country's richest assets."

He points to a model advanced by Paul and Anne Ehrlich in 1981 as one of the earliest attempts to justify complex over simple ecosystems.

"In most cases an ecologist can no more predict the consequences of the extinction of a given species than an airline passenger can assess the loss of a single rivet. But both can easily foresee the long-term results of continually forcing species to extinction or of removing rivet after rivet. No sensible airline passenger today would accept a continuous loss of rivets from jet transports. Before much more time has passed, attitudes must be changed so that no sane passenger on Spaceship Earth will accept a continuous loss of populations or species of nonhuman organisms."
-Extinction: The Causes and Consequences of the Disappearance of Species by Paul and Anne Ehrlich

Tallamy suggests Peter de Ruiter's Jenga metaphor improves on the Ehrlich's airplane.  The role of any given species in maintaining the stability of its ecosystem is similar to the role individual blocks play in keeping the Jenga tower from tumbling down, so that almost any species can play a keystone role under the appropriate circumstances.

Biodiversity runs the ecosystems that support us, determine the carrying capacity of the earth and our local spaces. It is biodiversity that generates oxygen and clean water; that creates topsoil out of rock and buffers extreme weather events like droughts and floods; and that recycles the mountains of garbage we create. With human induced climate change threatening the planet, it is biodiversity that will help suck carbon out of the air and sequester it in living plants.

Creating Healthy, Biodiverse Neighborhood Corridors

Doug Tallamy

"Today's gardeners are so concerned about the health of their plants that they run for the spray can at the first sign of an insect. Ironically, a sterile garden is one teetering on the brink of destruction. It can no longer function as a dynamic community of interacting organisms, all working smoothly to perpetuate their interactions. Its checks and balances are gone. Instead, the sterile garden's continued existence depends entirely on the frantic efforts of the gardener alone."

We have fragmented the habitats that support biodiversity by the way we have landscape our cities, suburbs, and farmland. Because isolated habitats cannot support populations large enough to survive normal environmental stresses, we should reconnect viable habitats by expanding existing greenways, building riparian corridors, and by changing the landscaping paradigm that dominates our yards and corporate landscapes.

Tallamy promotes planting native species that support and produce more insects than alien plants and therefore more animals that rely on insects in the food web. As exotic ornamentals leap the garden fence and out-compete the native plants, many creatures are starving to death because they did not evolve with the exotics and simply can’t eat them.  

Woody plants supported more species of moths and butterflies than herbaceous plants, native plants supported more species than introduced plants, and native woody plants with ornamental value supported more Lepidoptera species than introduced woody ornamentals. Tallamy provides rankings provide that provide a relative measure that will be useful for restoration ecologists, landscape architects and designers, land managers, and landowners who wish to raise the carrying capacity in mid-Atlantic by selecting plants with the greatest capacity for supporting biodiversity.

Favorite woody plants for mid-Atlantic butterflies and moths. 

Common Name	Plant Genus	Butterfly/moth species supported
Oak	Quercus	534
Black cherry	Prunus	456
Willow	Salix	455
Birch	Betula	413
Poplar	Populus	368
Crabapple	Malus	311
Blueberry	Vaccinium	288
Maple	Acer	285
Elm	Ulmus	213
Pine	Pinus	203
Hickory	Carya	200
Hawthorn	Crataegus	159
Spruce	Picea	156

Favorite herbaceous plants for mid-Atlantic butterflies and moths. 

Common Name	Plant Genus	Butterfly/moth species supported
Goldenrod	Solidago	115
Asters	Aster	112
Sunflower	Helianthus	73
Joe pye, Boneset	Eupatorium	42
Morning glory	Ipomoea	39
Sedges	Carex	36
Honeysuckle	Lonicera	36
Lupine	Lupinus	33
Violets	Viola	29
Geraniums	Geranium	23
Black-eyed susan	Rudbeckia	17
Iris	Iris	17
Evening primrose	Oenothera	16
Milkweed	Asclepias	12
Verbena	Verbena	11

(Tallamy and his colleagues are working on developing similar rankings for other areas of the country to encourage selection of plants that support broader numbers and species of insects to feed the other animals that depend on them for survival in the food web.  He hypothesizes that many of the plants most topping ranking charts for the mid-Atlantic will top rankings in other areas of the country.)

I look forward to Douglas Tallamy's new book, The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden, written in collaboration Rick Darke to be published later in spring of 2014.

The Living Landscape promises to help gardeners learn how to create the biodiverse home landsccape promoted in Tallamy’s award-winning book Bringing Nature Home.

Toward Harmony with Nature Conference presented by Wild Ones Fox Valley Area

Assisted Migration:  Can Landscaping with Native Plants Help hem Find New Sustainable Locations?

Jim Reinartz

Climate change is expected to alter future environmental conditions rapidly; parts of the current range of many native plant species will not remain suitable to sustain their populations. Plants have colonized new ranges in the past (e.g. following glaciation and in response to a hotter, drier period 7,000 years ago), but during those migrations, the rate of natural climate change was much slower than what we anticipate in the coming decades and the landscape was not as fragmented into small, isolated populations of native species, hindering the natural gene flow that maintains genetic diversity.

Jim asks us to consider whether thoughtful landscaping with native plants might help in some way to reduce the loss of genetic diversity associated with habitat fragmentation, and to help plants migrate to suitable habitat in a changing climate.

Wisconsin’s past climate changes and projected future changes:

• Warmer winter and nighttime temperatures
• Frequent hot summer days, heat waves and dry period
• Earlier last spring frost date and later first fall frost dates extending the growing season 

Change in Annual Average Temperature (F)
1950-2006

• Increased frequency and intensity of precipitation
• More rainfall during winter and spring
• Less snow - lack of consistent snow cover may make conditions more difficult for survival of some plants through the winter

(Note: Short term variability (weather) and extreme events cannot be projected)

Climate models forecast that Wisconsin’s temperature will increase in all four seasons, with the greatest increase in winter. The models project precipitation increases in fall, winter and spring. The combination of warmer temperatures and changing precipitation patterns suggests that we will see a significant increase in the amount of winter precipitation falling as rain rather than snow and that freezing rain is more likely to occur. The magnitude and frequency of precipitation are also projected to increase in spring and fall.

Jim was particularly concerned with the impact of climate change on Wisconsin's "tension zone", the geographic area that marks a change from Southern Broadleaf Forest to Northern Mixed Forest , with species from both areas intermingling in the zone.

Wisconsin Tension Zone

A pronounced tension zone in Wisconsin stretches in a loose S-shape from Burnett County in the north all across the state, ending in Racine County in the south. Wisconsin’s tension zone marks the crossover between the Northern Mixed Forest related to the forests of northeastern Minnesota, northern Michigan, southern Ontario, and New England and the Southern Broadleaf Forest like forests you’d see in Ohio and Indiana. The tension zone is marked by a climatic gradient, with cooler, moister conditions to the north and relatively warmer, drier conditions to the south. Up to the 1800s, these southern conditions were more favorable to higher populations of Native Americans—and they were a greater cause of fire, both purposeful and accidental. This maintained more open conditions in the south.
You’ll know you’re in the tension zone when you’re heading north and … oaks that are dominant in southern Wisconsin, such as Bur, black and white, meet up abruptly with red and white pine as well as paper birch and tamarack swamps that are more characteristic of the north. Shagbark drops out completely and bitternut hickory becomes much less common. You’ll start seeing some birds that are absent or relatively uncommon in the south: common loon, ruffed grouse, osprey, common raven, white-throated sparrow and purple finch. You’ll also encounter northern mammals: snowshoe hare, porcupine, red squirrel, black bear and timber wolf.

Adaptation actions being discussed to address the predicted impacts of continuing climate change include:

• resistance adaptation actions are defensive actions intended to resist the influence of climate change, forestalling impacts and protecting highly valued resources
• resilience actions improve the ability of ecosystems to return to desired conditions after disturbances
• response or facilitation actions help facilitate the transition of ecosystems from the current to new conditions

Jim's presentation focused on a controversial proposal being debated in the conservation community, assisted migration involving moving plants and animals geographically ahead of the projected wave of climate change. Rather than being a resistance or resilience action, assisted migration would be considered a facilitation action and therefore perhaps be considered for the long term. Because we lack basic biological information about many species, including those that are rare, assisted migration may create more problems than they solve.

Remembering one of Wiscosin's most beloved gardening mentors

 Shelly Ryan

 1956-2014

'Wisconsin Public Television is saddened by the death of Shelley Ryan, longtime host and producer of The Wisconsin Gardener.

During her 21 years hosting the beloved gardening how-to show, Ryan inspired thousands of gardeners across the state to express their creativity in their own homes, gardens, lawns and landscapes...
...With her always-friendly demeanor, good humor and inquisitive nature, Shelley became a television mentor for so many people over the course of two decades on The Wisconsin Gardener – encouraging them to get their hands dirty and explore innovative new ideas in their gardens. She created the show after becoming a Master Gardener through the University of Wisconsin-Extension and realizing that Wisconsin’s gardeners could benefit from a program focused on the attributes of horticulture that are specific to our state.
'Through her work on television and in the community, Shelley Ryan became a friend to everyone with a green thumb and those of us who hoped we could develop one,” WPT Director of Television James Steinbach said. “With The Wisconsin Gardener, Shelley created and cultivated a program that taught us all something new in every segment and motivated gardeners new and old to become better stewards of all of our natural spaces. I learned so much by working closely with Shelley for the past two decades. All of us at Wisconsin Public Television, and all of her viewers, will miss her enthusiasm, passion, vast knowledge and – more than anything – friendship."
As Shelley traveled the state to explore Wisconsin’s most beautiful places, she made lasting connections with professional and amateur horticulturists, gardeners, landscapers and outdoor educators that she shared as important resources with her audiences.
Early in the television show’s run, providing in-person access to those resources would inspire the creation of Wisconsin Public Television’s Garden Expo – an event that now draws nearly 20,000 gardeners to Madison each February to uncover the latest in gardening techniques, tips and information.
Shelley retired from her role as host of The Wisconsin Gardener in 2013 after completing work on the show’s 21st season. At the time she shared news with her fans that her cancer had returned...
...Shelley’s work on The Wisconsin Gardener lives on in the hundreds of hours of television that she created, recipes she shared and informational resources she mined – much of which is available online as a lasting resource that is still used regularly by gardeners across the state.'

http://video.wpt.org/program/wisconsin-gardener/

Seedheads in the winter garden

While some gardeners prefer to do their clean-up in the fall, if you wait until spring to cut back sturdy perennials such as sedum, false indigo, bee balm, and coneflowers, their slender their dried flowers and seed heads can provide interesting shapes and textures in the winter garden, catching falling snow and providing food for the birds.

Ornamental grasses left unsheared provide delicate texture and color against a stark white blanket of snow. In addition to their color and texture, taller ornamental grasses add movement to the winter garden.Some ornamental native grasses for winter interest are northern wild oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), switch grass (Panicum virgatum), prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepsis), and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium).  They should be cut to the ground in the spring before new growth resumes.  I prefer to do my garden clean-up in early spring as I anxiously venture into the garden to hunt for and monitor the first signs of spring beginning to sprout.

Trees & shrubs with colorful berries

Trees and shrubs with nutritious berries add sparkle to the landscape attracting birds with beautiful displays of spring flowers, fall colors, and fruits.

American cranberry bush viburnum (Viburnum trilobum) has white springtime flowers, maple-shape leaves that turn bright colors in autumn, and red fall berries. Brown Thrashers, Cedar Waxwings, and other birds feast on the long-lasting fruits, which serve birds well in tough winters. It grows 8-12 feet tall and wide but can be kept smaller with pruning. Zones 2-7.

Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) is a good shelter plant for birds. Blue muffin  is a compact, rounded, deciduous, arrowwood viburnum shrub that typically matures to 3-5’ tall and as wide. White flowers in flat-topped cymes appear in mid to late spring. Flowers give way to pea-sized blue berries that attract birds in late summer. Ovate dark green leaves (to 3.5” long) turn attractive shades of orange to burgundy-purple in fall. Plant near other viburnums to ensure good pollination. It is native to areas of North America. Zones 3-8.

Chokeberries (Aronia arbutifolia) are enjoyed by Brown Thrashers, Cedar Waxwings and other songbirds. Chokecherries grow 6-10 feet tall in sun or part shade and tolerate moist and dry sites. It spreads by suckering and is a good choice for a hedge. This shrub is indigenous to areas of North America. Zones 4-9.

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) is a fast-growing, quick-spreading shrub indigenous to parts of North America. It offers ferny leaves that turn bold red in fall and clusters of furry dark red fruit that hold on through the winter, supplying a variety of birds including robins and vireos. It grows 15 feet tall. (Note: Staghorn sumac may be too aggressive of a spreader for most gardens. Be sure to plant it in a spot where it can create a thicket.) Zones 3-8.

Crabapples (Malus selections) are often grown by gardeners for the ornamental value of their prodigious spring blooms, however their fruits are the apples of birds' eyes. To attract the greatest variety of songbirds, select cultivars with small fruits that hang on through the winter. Zones 4-8

Highbush blueberry (Vaccinum corymbosum) is a dense shrub that grows 6-12 feet tall and produces delicious berries for cereal, muffins, and blueberry pies. Bluebirds, robins, gray catbirds, and many other birds take their fair share, too. This North American native offers good eye appeal, as well, thanks to its bright red-orange fall color. Plant it in sun or part shade with well-drained, acidic soil.

Serviceberry (Amelanchier selections) fruits are devoured by robins, thrushes, and other birds. Various types range from 4 to 25 feet tall, but all offer pretty springtime blooms and great fall color. Most are native to North America.  Zones 4-9, depending on type.

Shrub roses, will develop glossy hips, if left undeadheaded.