Something is really starting to bug me. Bugs! As gardeners, we are offered an especially rich opportunity to enter and explore this fascinating segment of life’s total package. Yet, why do so many of us waste this bonding experience with nature? Why, pray tell, do our minds automatically default to insect word associations like: pest, infest, kill and spray? I have no problem associating those words with individual critters like the mosquito. But, must we paint with so broad a brush that virtually all insects are automatically tainted as vermin?

It is a sad reflection upon our human race that we robotically default to disliking anything we either do not understand or are unfamiliar. Inescapably, our actions have consequences; whether we see them or not. Indiscriminate killing of that unknown, creepy-crawly could very well be depriving you of beneficial residents in your landscape. More importantly, you might be removing a vital link in an unseen life-chain of nature.

Let’s take this concept to another, mostly unseen, level. Most of us also love to watch the beautiful song birds that add so much to our outdoor pleasure. Sometimes, we are fortunate enough to discover a nest of eggs. We marvel at the progression of life from egg to adult. Have you also notice that most fledgling birds are almost exclusively fed a diet of insects? Quite simply: If you don’t feed the chicks, they will die. Taken even further; eliminate all the insects (especially their larva) and you will have no birds. It is a fact that song bird populations are currently on the decline. Are you inadvertently robbing yourself the joy of having songbirds in your landscape simply because they have nothing to feed their young?

I have been reading a book by a professor at the University of Delaware who has been documenting these relationships. Although one could easily conclude that ‘going organic’ would solve the problem, it isn’t quite that simple. Douglas Tallamy, in his new book, Bringing Nature Home - How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens, delightfully examines and explains this largely unnoticed phenomenon. Although the book title may seem a little dry, I can assure you that this is a fun, engaging book to read. The book is well-written and loaded with color photos – so many photos that I find it hard to believe it sells for only $18.45.

I learned a lot from this book. Here is a guy that merely points out the unseen, obvious natural world around us that we have simply failed to notice. The book presents a positive, easily ‘do-able’ message that has you nodding your head in enlightened agreement. Thankfully, this is not just another impassioned rant from some enviro-whacko. I have endured enough of those books. They spout only doom, gloom and damnation; warning of dire consequences that never come to pass. In this case, Tallamy merely helps you observe natural relationships in your back yard that you might not have paid attention to before. I like that approach.

Bringing Nature Home has already helped me understand a few oddities that had heretofore puzzled me. For example: Assuredly not a scientific study; it just seemed like I had a lot more birds hanging around my gardens than my neighbors. Curiously, this went against the fact that several neighbors also have extensive gardens and larger trees. It turns out that native plants (something I grow) play a key role here. Professor Tallamy has done scientific surveys that clearly show native plants support higher insect populations and higher insect diversity. Quite simply; my gardens are probably supporting more insects. This additional bird food is probably bringing in more birds. Hopefully, I am also providing more food for their babies.

It turns out that many of the ‘superior’ landscape plants so many of us grow in our landscapes originate in foreign lands. The insects that feed on plants from China (or wherever) are simply not present in our back yards. This helps to explain why many of those plants display ‘clean foliage’. On the other hand, it also goes to show that there are not any insects feeding on it either. No insects – No birds.

I’ll tolerate some six-legged, ‘herbivore browsing’. (I used to call it insect damage.) Hopefully, I can enjoy a few more birds and help feed their chicks. Native plants feed bugs; which feed birds; which all feed my soul.

Tolerating a little herbivore browsing in your garden reminds me of what the folks at the Jack Daniels Distillery call the "Angel's Share".

Your idea of amnesty for the insect world reminded me of this poem.

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Familiar whine in my ear
You settle on my forearm
Prepare to pierce my skin with your proboscis
I raise my hand to strike

Wait!
What if I let you complete the cycle?
You might feed the songbird
Who cheers my day.

Your larvae might feed the minnow
Who feeds the fingerling
Who feeds the pike
Who feeds me.

You might be a meal
For the brown bat
Whose guano fertilizes
Tomatoes for my salad.

SMACK!
But not today.

by
Deborah K. Frontiera