A Safe Haven for the "Bs"

It took me a while to understand this. Each year, I see fewer and fewer birds, bees and butterflies in my garden. What was wrong?

To be honest, I haven't fixed it, but I am creating a pesticide/herbicide free half-acre where these creatures can come for food without being poisoned.

“I found out about Wisconsin's Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection Pesticide Registry. By registering my address with this agency, any commercial pesticide/herbicide companies must call me before they treat my neighbors' yards."

Thanks to registering my yard with the DNR as an organic landscape, I am able to take precautions to protect the caterpillars I am raising. This has reduced the incidence of "green death" dramatically. One man from a tree company helped me cover my Milkweed to protect it from the spray he was applying to a crabapple tree in my neighbor's yard.

I learned to keep my Milkweed plants healthier by watching for parasites and signs of the Black Death, which is caused by a virus.

I can tell you, it isn't easy being green!