1 minute read
Kicking Grass: Native plantings foster environmental health
BY ROY HEILMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
For more than 50 years, Earth Day has fostered awareness and action for the health of the environment. In that time, it has served to encourage large-scale efforts, like national and worldwide advocacy as well as localized work, in acts as simple as planting a tree.
Advertisement
Other suggestions for homeowners include “Planting native species and pollinators to support biodiversity and beautify your outdoor living space.” This is not a new idea; homeowners have been incorporating, and even replacing their lawns with, native plants for years.
Seasonal spring cleanup cycle
Dynamic Recycling employees gather and sort a variety appliances and electronic devices during a recent collection event held in conjunction with the annual RITE of Spring (Really into the environment) event at Wildwood Elementary School. Along with appliances and electronic devices, area residents also were able to drop of paint and other household chemicals. The City of White Bear Lake and White Bear Township are joining forces this year for a “Trash to Treasure Day” on Saturday, April 29. Residents of the City and Township who wish to participate should place items they no longer want on the curb at the end of their driveways, clearly marked as “FREE.” The City of White Bear Lake also hosts a spring cleanup from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first Saturday in May, but household hazardous waste is NOT accepted at that event . Find more information at ramseycounty.us/residents/recycling-waste/ or whitebearlake.org.
Turf grass common to residential lawns promotes chemical use and supplemental watering, while offering no ecological value. Implications are far reaching, touching on groundwater and surface water quality, the pollinator crisis, and more. Converting lawn space to native plantings can help solve all of those problems, often with added benefits.
Native plants—especially those from the tallgrass prairie— require little to no watering to thrive. Their root systems reach deep into soils (some over 10 feet), which make them highly resistant to droughts. Placing them in the hottest, driest parts of a yard can reduce or even eliminate watering needs.
SEE NATIVE PLANTINGS, PAGE 9A
