With spring well on its way, we are eager to get our hands in the dirt and start planting. While we wait for our herbaceous plants to grow green and strong, we have opened our May Woody Sale, featuring everything from groundcovers to tree saplings! Place your order online and schedule plant pickups …
Bringing Nature Home
Here’s what bloomed in April at our sanctuaries
Believe it or not, flowers have been blooming all month at our sanctuaries in southern Maine. These earliest blooms can be divided into two groups: the earliest blooms, mostly trees or shrubs, geared towards wild-pollination, and the first ephemeral wildflowers, herbaceous species that take …
Planting Staghorn Sumac
Spring snowstorms can be a challenge for everyone. For humans ready to put away shovels and snowblowers, storms can be a real annoyance. For early migrant birds looking to feed on insects, blizzards can be a real threat. In the thick of a snowstorm in late March 2024 I witnessed a large flock of …
Natural climate solutions offer hope in addressing climate change
If you are reading this blogpost on the Maine Audubon website, you likely: know about climate change and that we are already seeing its effects in the landscape all around us; realize that humans are the historical cause, the greatest ongoing contributors, and the source of all future threats …
Susannah Lerman talk to focus on the potential for yards to increase biodiversity
In a recent groundbreaking study titled "Humanity for Habitat: Residential Yards as an Opportunity for Biodiversity Conservation," Dr. Susannah Lerman and her team of professional ecologists and conservationists have unveiled a paradigm-shifting perspective on urban biodiversity. Published in the …
Here’s how Swida Dogwoods provide nesting habitat for so many birds
Our 2024 Bringing Nature Home Plants of the Year, the Swida dogwoods, are an important group of plants for many reasons, but they are especially significant for a number of songbird species that nest in Maine. Red-osier, Silky, and Gray Dogwoods all form hedges and thickets in wetlands and field …
Announcing the Bringing Nature Home plant genus of the year!
Following on last year’s popular introduction of a Plant of the Year, this year we have expanded our choice to name a Plant Genus of the Year: Swida, or shrubby dogwoods! The botanical name for shrubby dogwoods is Swida, recently changed from Cornus. They are part of the Cornaceae family, which …
Bringing Nature Home in February: Bird feeding, seed sowing, book reading, and more!
Bringing Value to your Winter Landscape with Native Plants: With the recent snowstorms across Maine, backyard birders may have noticed an increase in activity at their feeders. However, many concerned birders have reported decreased numbers at their feeders this winter. Fear not! The primary reason …
Want to grow your own native plants?
Did you miss out on our Native Plants Festival and Sale this season, or get so hooked that you want to learn more about growing native plants? We have many ways you can learn more about native plants at upcoming events this fall and winter! Collecting and sowing seeds from native plants is one of …