#milkweeds — Public Fediverse posts

#SeedSavingExchange - Learn how to create a garden that will attract #NativePollinators with #SeedSaving in mind.

Excerpt:

"Serve Up an Enticing Menu Year-Round

Flowering plants supply #pollinators like #bees and #butterflies with essential pollen and nectar. #PollinatorFriendly plants also provide a safe shelter for our hard-working insect friends. The most important aspect of any pollinator garden is diversity. Because pollinators are active from April to October, make sure you have a colorful array of continuously blooming flowers from early spring through fall and keep your plants free of pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides.

Plants should be selected based on the space they will occupy. Specifically, consider your space’s soil type, sun exposure, and moisture levels.

You may also choose to select plant species to support specific pollinators.

- To help monarch butterflies, include #milkweeds and high-quality nectar plants like blazingstars.
- To support #Bumblebees, include plants like #WildBergamot, #hyssop, and #goldenrod.
- #Sunflowers offer not only a supportive perch but also seeds to help attract #hummingbirds and other feathered friends to your garden. #Honeysuckles are also a great way to attract hummingbirds.

To ensure that the pollinators will have something to forage from spring through fall, select various natives that flower at different times throughout the growing season. Choosing plants with a variety of flower colors and shapes will also help attract an assortment of insects of a variety of sizes and foraging habits. Larger clusters of a plant species are better for attracting pollinators than several smaller clusters in and around the garden space."

Learn more:
https://seedsavers.org/learn/pollinators/

#SolarPunkSunday #Gardening #GardeningForPollinators #SeedCollection #NativePlants

#Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as #milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged.[4][5][6] Most species are

#Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as #milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides

#Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as #milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides

A variegated fritillary butterfly resting on my Eastern swamp milkweed (from earlier this summer). Very cautious and hard to approach.

:inaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/232904257

#butterflies #iNaturalist #insects #milkweeds #NativePlants #ThrowbackThursday

Scientists test #agriculture and #SolarEnergy on #Illinois #farms

Two experiments in the state are measuring which crops could grow well under these panels.

By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco
Jul 18, 2024, 2:58pm EDT

"Thousands of #wildflowers are blooming under rows of solar panels in eastern Illinois. #Milkweeds, #BlackEyedSusans and native #PrairieGrasses catch the sunlight that streams past solar panels on one end of this 54-acre property near Champaign.

"'Obviously, this setting is not perfect for the farming system,' D.K. Lee, a professor of crop sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said about the narrow space between solar panel arrays.

"But this experimental station called #SolarFarm 2.0 could help UIUC scientists determine whether the marriage between Midwestern agriculture and solar power will be a happy one. Researchers are piloting how crops such as grains and #soybeans used primarily to feed livestock grow with solar panels obstructing their full view of the sun. The counterintuitive practice is called #agrivoltaics, a nascent industry that partners solar developers looking for large plots of land and farmers looking to make additional income.

"That’s why two parallel experiments are underway here to find out what can grow and thrive under solar panels. To hit the ambitious clean energy targets set by state and federal officials, solar power will have to increase close to seven times over current capacity by 2035. That will mean millions of acres devoted to solar power — many of which could be in America’s #farmlands. But to make sure that agricultural communities aren’t left behind by the clean energy transition, scientists want to know what it will take for life to persist beneath solar panels — potentially a first step for farmers and solar power to co-exist.

"'We can only farm about 70% of the land here,' said Bruce E. Branham, professor of horticulture at UIUC. 'So we’ve got 30% of the land that would be farmed in full sun that is just vacant.'

"But in just two years and despite physical constraints, initial findings suggest that the #sorghum grain could be a promising crop to grow alongside solar panels. Branham said that so far it appears that combining sorghum with solar panels has resulted in a 59% increase in efficiency. And wildlife, including #birds and #bees, are flocking to the improved habitat. It’s a good start, but there’s still ways to go before solar farms like these are generating serious energy.

"'This is a 54-acre site, and we’re getting 12 megawatts,' Banham said. 'A lot of power plants are much, much greater than that.'

"In all, Solar Farm 2.0 produces close to 1% of the generating power of the #ClintonPowerStation, a #NuclearPowerPlant just a 45 minute drive east. But for Banham and others, this presents an opportunity to combine Midwestern row crops with solar power to generate enough energy to compete with #FossilFuels and other clean energy alternatives."

Read more:
https://www.wbez.org/environment/2024/07/18/scientists-test-agriculture-and-solar-energy-on-illinois-farms

#SolarPunkSunday #SolarFarms #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #LocalEnergy #NoNewNukes #NoNukes #SolarFarm #SaveTheFarms #IllinoisFarms #MidwestFarms #SolarSundays #Agrivoltaic

When everything around has withered, milkweed pods open and reveal their silky seeds (Climbing Milkweed, Cynanchum laeve)
#NativePlants #Milkweeds #SeedPods

I now have 10 milkweeds and 10 #yarrows that I seeded earlier this year. They are both native flowers. #Milkweeds are known to attract #MonarchButterflies They are ready to go to the ground in the Fall. My army of flowers and herbs for feeding pollinators is growing stronger.
#permaculture #naturalfarming