Native Nut Nursery

01/16/2026

A little bit goes a long way…

Native purple coneflower (Echinacea) along your fence line feeds pollinators in summer, then its seed heads feed 30+ species of songbirds through winter. One planting, two seasons of wildlife support. Turf grass lawns provide zero food value year-round.

09/06/2025

What a special surprise! I planted whirled milkweed this year that I grew from seed and planted in early summer. The next thing I knew it was covered in Monarch caterpillars 🐛 💕. You can see they’ve eaten most of the leaves. Then I saw a chrysalis nicely camouflaged in an autumn joy sedum 😊. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it!

08/27/2025

Holy smokes! I can’t believe how many Monarch caterpillars are on the Whirled milkweed I just planted this summer. Since I just grew the milkweed from seed this spring, it did not bloom this year but the Monarchs don’t care, they just need to eat it 😋. Plant with purpose and garden for life 🦋🐝

08/23/2025

Wait…was that a hummingbird? Nope. It’s a moth! Meet the Hummingbird Moth - nature’s master of disguise and one of the coolest pollinators you’ll see fluttering around your flower garden. They love native phlox, bee balm, and milkweed. I spotted this one at the Winterthur Museum zinnia garden at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

08/17/2025

Please keep your outside lights off at night if you can, or have them on a timer. This is important for a number of creatures (e.g., lighting bugs) who need the dark to survive. Thank you 😊

Believe it or not, fall bird migration is upon those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Birds are beginning to head south, and as we celebrate bird migration season, it’s critical to remember how fatal artificial lights and skyglow can be to migrating birds. Pledge to stand with us as we call on excess lighting to be turned off to help ensure birds have safe passage. bit.ly/45diULF

08/17/2025

Talk about the birds and the bees, how about Ladybugs? I captured this video of ladybugs on Common Milkweed where there plenty of aphids to munch on. Ladybugs typically use chemical cues to find potential mates. Once a suitable mate is found, they engage in courtship behaviors, which can involve physical interactions and pheromone signaling. Male ladybugs use their genitalia to transfer s***m into the female's reproductive tract during copulation. The mating process can vary in duration depending on species. Inside the female's body, the s***m fertilizes the eggs. Fertilization usually occurs shortly after mating. After fertilization, the female lays clusters of eggs on plants, often near a food source for the emerging larvae.