0:04
My name is Alden, vice president of community engagement with North Carolina Wildlife Federation and uh we work
0:11
across the state of North Carolina doing the good work for wildlife and habitat
0:16
Quick agenda for the day. Uh we've got about 60 minutes for our presentation
0:23
and then time for Q&A at the end. Um, but really quickly, I want to introduce
0:28
our key staff from the city and then um, NCWF that are on the call and are
0:34
participating and sharing their time. I already introduced myself uh with North Carolina Wildlife Federation, community
0:40
engagement. Uh, I've been around for about 3 years. Um, if you live in the Charlotte area, um, you've probably seen
0:46
me doing a lot of work with our volunteers and with our chapters. I want to go ahead and introduce Vicki. if you
0:52
want to come off mute and introduce yourself. Right. I'm Vicki Aguilar. I'm the
0:57
assistant city arborist um with the city of Charlotte landscape management division. Um and basically I manage our
1:05
street tree planting program and our pollinator program along with some outreach and education activities.
1:13
Thank you Vicki. Thanks for being here tonight. Thanks.
1:19
and and Jonathan Hill also with the city of Charlotte. And I'm Jonathan Hill. I'm the director
1:25
of Keep Charlotte Beautiful. Uh so we're involved with all sorts of volunteer
1:30
activities throughout Charlotte. Uh mainly revolving around litter prevention, waste reduction, and
1:36
community greening. Thank you, Jonathan. Um just some housekeeping. Um we're going to save
1:42
questions till the end. Uh we're going to get through a cruise through a lot of material. um questions at the end. Uh
1:50
please put your questions in the chat and at the end um I will do my best to
1:55
go through and get all the questions answered. We'll act we'll answer them as a panel um and we'll do our best to
2:01
answer all of your questions. And
2:07
I think that's it. We're going to rock and roll. Um, this recording, this webinar is being recorded and those of
2:14
you guys that aren't able to attend or that want to watch it again or send to a friend, uh, we will be sending that out
2:20
in a follow-up email so you'll have access to it. So, we're here today to talk about wildlife and habitat and
2:27
particularly urban wildlife and habitat. Um, why they're why it's important. Um,
2:34
we're going to discuss some of our garden for wildlife programs.
2:39
That's the certified wildlife habitat program, the butterfly highway. Um, and
2:44
we're going to talk about the city of Charlotte ordinance and how that is um help helpful
2:51
for our conservation in the urban setting. Um, kind of for those of y'all
2:57
that don't know, we recently had an ordinance change. Um, so I'm gonna go into a little bit of that and then we're
3:03
gonna turn it over to the city of Charlotte for with Vicki for landscape management to talk about these two types
3:08
of habitats that are um eligible for exemptions and a city ordinance. Um, and
3:14
then Jonathan with Keep Charlotte Beautiful is going to discuss how to register your habitats with the city.
3:21
Um, so let's go. Let's just let's just put it
3:27
in first gear. So, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, we've been protecting,
3:32
conserving, and restoring wildlife and habitat in North Carolina since 1945.
3:38
Um, doing it a long time. Um, and we are inclusive of all wildlife interest,
3:45
whether you're a hunter, a fisher, those were our roots. But now we include everyone. Birders, pollinator
3:51
enthusiasts, wildlife gardeners, paddlers, um anyone that wants to get outside, anyone that has a vested
3:56
interest in our wildlife. Um which we all should because North Carolina Wildlife is is our public trust and we
4:04
all should have access to wildlife and habitat. And North Carolina Wildlife Federation
4:10
is here doing this good work for wildlife because well, there's a big problem. Uh, as most of you guys
4:18
probably know, we are losing wildlife and habitat from
4:25
development. Development is a huge problem, land use change,
4:32
invasive species, pesticides, climate change. I mean,
4:37
there's a you pick your poison. Uh, there's a lot of issues and threats facing wildlife and habitat. You know,
4:44
one of the big ones we want to focus on today is, you know, land use change, development, and pesticide use. I mean,
4:49
you can see some of these photos. Um, we're wiping out habitat, replacing it,
4:56
scraping off top soil, replacing habitat with homes and lawn and
5:01
non-native plants. We're our our our small farms are turning to industrialized agriculture um supporting
5:08
little habitat. there's just a bunch of threats and but that's not what this program is about. This program is about
5:14
the solutions. So I will move forward um today
5:23
and particularly uh one habit one wildlife species that's
5:28
of particular interest or one tax. So one group of wildlife are insects. Um,
5:34
some science and studies say we're losing 2% of our insects per year and
5:40
and insects are critical and the plants that support them are
5:46
critical and that's what we want to dig into. This pro this program's all about planting for wildlife, planting for
5:52
pollinators, creating habitat in your yard, creating habitat where you live, where you work, where you play. And it's
5:59
super important because that habitat is going to and we're talking about native plant habitats. We're that's what we're
6:06
talking about. We're not talking about lawns and no mowing. We're talking about reducing our lawns and replacing our
6:12
lawns with native plants. Those native plants are critical habitat for insect. They provide food, cover, places for
6:19
insects to raise young. Insects are the foundation of our terrestrial food webs. They support our birds. They support our
6:25
fishes. Um and it's caterpillars, it's pollinators. Uh pollination services are
6:32
in are 80% of our flowering plants are pollinated by um animals and insect
6:39
pollinators. And so those sustain you know our agricultural economies, our
6:45
native plant ecosystems. So, so this this habitat is so critical
6:52
and it's it's so easy to have an impact in your yard by planting native plants.
6:58
And not only do they support the insects that feed the birds and the fishes and the reptiles and so forth up the food
7:04
web, you know, you could go from an insect to a lizard to a bird to a hawk
7:11
or however you want to draw a food web in the peemont of North Carolina. Um, native plants maintain our soil health.
7:18
They keep the soil in place. They regulate storm water. They slow down storm water in our urban settings. They
7:24
reduce flooding. Native plants sequester carbon. They support clean air. Um,
7:30
native plant communities support clean water and general biodiversity of native
7:36
plants are support they're going to be more resilient to to climate change and
7:42
other and other threats. So insects and the native plants that support them are
7:47
super important. And so creating those habitats where we live, where we work, where we play is super important.
7:55
Um, and I think a lot of people know this. Anyone's read any Doug Talamy,
8:00
anyone's a native plant enthusiast on this call, y'all know that this is a big
8:05
deal. And if you go east of the Mississippi, and it's no different in North Carolina,
8:11
86% in North Carolina, of our land is owned privately.
8:16
So, we've got state parks, nature preserves, we've got um wildlife refues,
8:22
uh game lands, but we're still losing species. That's because we it's time for
8:28
all of us to be conservationist. Not just forest rangers, not just state agency, not just uh wildlife staff. It's
8:35
it's something that we all can do and we can do this on our property. It's super easy. Creating habitat, providing food
8:42
and that's native plants. Native plants, native plants. They are the number one food source for
8:48
our wildlife. Starting with the insects and the plants, the insects that eat the plants, moving all that energy up the
8:55
food web. And then wildlife needs water, cover, and places to raise young. And if you do
9:02
all this, but then you're dousing things with pesticides and herbicides and fogging your mosquitoes, um you're just
9:09
counteracting um the other things. So sustainable practices are super important. So when
9:15
we're creating pollinator habitats and and when we're creating naturalistic landscapes, we want to provide these
9:22
five things right here.
9:28
And we have several programs that support habitat in your yard. The
9:34
butterfly highway. There's over 5,000 registered pollinator pit stops on the
9:39
butterfly highway in North Carolina. These are people who are providing container pollinator gardens, a quarter
9:46
acre, a halfacre, um a church garden, a library garden. And they're putting in the host plants for the insects and the
9:53
caterpillars, the host plants for the bees, the nectar plants, the structure and the habitat and the stems for
9:58
insects to complete their life cycle. And then we have the certified wildlife habitat program. This is a program of
10:04
national wildlife federation and North Carolina wildlife federation is an affiliate. And in North Carolina alone,
10:11
we have close to 15,000 certified wildlife habitats across the
10:18
state. We actually have more certified wildlife habitats per capita than any
10:23
other state. And I believe Texas is the only state that has more individual
10:28
certified wildlife habitats. So, and these are third party honor system.
10:35
You know, you're you're pledging to provide food, cover, water, places to raise young. You're saying you're going to do this for food, this for water.
10:42
You're going to use these sustainable practices. Um, and then if you purchase one of the signs, your money is going
10:48
into conservation and you're joining a movement. You're joining thousands, hundreds of thousands of people across
10:53
the country that are um starting to move away from conventional landscaping, from
10:58
lawn and turf grass and ornamental shrubs and moving to uh a new paradigm,
11:04
a new way, a new age of gardening and landscaping, which is in harmony with nature, restoring ecological function to
11:11
the land. This is all fantastic. Like the these programs are great. There's also Homegrown National Park. You can
11:17
get on their map. Wild Ones has a certification. Native Plant Society has a certification. Um and and these are
11:24
fantastic. And what you're going to learn from the city is that if you have one of these certifications, you might
11:30
be eligible for the city's certification or you might need to take a few additional steps. But I do want to these
11:36
certifications um do not trump a certification with the city when you're looking to get the ordinance exemption.
11:44
But we would encourage you to go through these programs as well because then you'd be well on your way to register
11:49
with the city if not already meeting all the requirements of the city. But that is going to be Jonathan and Vicki going
11:55
into that. too. But as you guys might be aware of and
12:01
some of you on this on this webinar maybe have been cited by Charlotte or
12:07
maybe another city. I see some people from Wilmington. Um I see some people from other places
12:12
in the state. So everyone's saying conservation do it in your yard. And
12:18
then the city or a town or municipal government it's like citation you can't have grass that tall. Uh, well, this is
12:26
obviously a problem. Um, and it got to kind of a a for lack of better words, a
12:32
boiling point in Charlotte. This is Lula saying I he came knocking on the office door. We've I had other folks coming to
12:39
our office door in Charlotte and phone and giving sending emails and phone calls saying, "We're getting excited.
12:45
We're getting cited. We're, you know, we're trying to do this garden for wildlife." So, so we organized um we got together.
12:56
Um we got together, we looked at the the the city ordinance. This is what the
13:02
original ordinance stated. Shall be unlawful for the owner or occupant to
13:08
fail to cut overgrown grass weeds and other vegetation um
13:13
if it's over 12 in. Civil penalty. Uh, and some people had their their gardens
13:20
mowed over. Um, so we thought it was time to take action.
13:28
And what we do well as NCWF is we speak up for wildlife. And so our idea was,
13:35
if you look at the photo down in the bottom left, let's shift our priorities.
13:40
Let's move from lawns to pollinator gardens. Notice how it's not an overgrown lawn on the right side. It's a
13:48
they reduced their lawn and added wonderful wildlife friendly native plants. Um but the code as it stated did
13:55
not allow this. You know, it was not allowed by city code. So
14:02
we came up with some key messaging. The city of Charlotte's a beast city. City of Charles a certified community
14:07
wildlife habitat. Mayor's monarch pledge city. The city has all these commitments to the environment, to wildlife, to
14:14
pollinators. So why is the ordinance not reflective of that? Why are we not codifying an
14:20
allowance for this type of landscaping? So we came up with some key messaging.
14:25
We built a coalition. Um we organized all all the similar
14:32
like-minded, conservation-minded, wildlife-minded, environmental groups, neighborhoods. Um, you can see the long
14:39
list on the right of folks who sign on to our coalition. And using those king
14:44
messages, we drafted a letter and we sent it to city council to mayor
14:50
and we sent it several times until we got a meeting with the council member.
14:56
And then we didn't just send a letter from the coalition. The coalition told everyone
15:03
that they know to send your own personal emails. Long story short, we sent hundreds and hundreds of emails to
15:08
council. Um, we got their attention. We got the attention of the city. We secured meetings with key city staff um
15:16
to start moving the process forward. And then we worked with our local chapter, Charlotte Wildlife Stewards, and all the
15:22
members of our coalition to speak up. So, in addition to the emails and the
15:27
phone calls, we went to the public forums. We spoke up for wildlife. We spoke up for pollinators. We spoke up
15:35
for native plants. Um, and we had a great time. As you can see, this is in
15:40
the chamber uptown from Fourth Street. Um, and we did it again. And we did it
15:47
again. Um, and after several meetings with some key city staff and after speaking at
15:56
council, uh, they listened and Mayor Val's pledged to get the work done,
16:03
referred this issue to the housing and neighborhood services committee. Oh, I forgot to share. So, there we go.
16:10
There's me on the bottom right, Professor Dr. Sarah Gier. There's hope
16:15
on the bottom left, Charlotte wildlife stewards chapter leader and her baby. We had youth conservationist. That's Celia
16:21
on the top left. Um, so we came out. I forgot I had these slides.
16:27
We got press coalition's promoting. You know, momentum is building. The word is
16:33
getting out. People are excited. And fast forward on February 9th,
16:40
city council unanimously approved to add an exemption into the or code of
16:46
ordinances chapter 10 health and sanitation public nuisances. So what the city did was they exempted properly
16:54
maintained pollinator habitats and natural landscape and naturalistic landscapes when registered with the
16:59
city. That's fantastic. That's teeth. That's policy change because of local advocacy, because of grassroots organ,
17:07
you know, organizing, and because people spoke up for wildlife. And so, your elected officials, listen, the city
17:13
staff, listen, I will give a lot of kudos to all the city staff involved in making this happen. Um, you know,
17:19
Jonathan and Vicki, their teams, it's not easy um to change an ordinance and
17:25
then update policies and procedures in the city. and they added a what is a pollinator habitat and what is a
17:31
naturalistic landscape and Vicki is gonna dive down into those
17:37
but that's how we got here where we are today and I think that's my last slide
17:44
so this happened in February so we need to get the word out we need people to understand what this process is how do
17:50
they register what qualifies what doesn't qualify how can we support wildlife um and how can we avoid
17:56
everyone getting sided with the city. And so what I'm going to do now is turn
18:02
it over to Vicky with the city. Give me a second to share the presentation.
18:10
Just give me one second. Fly show.
18:21
Are you seeing the uh presentation, Vicki? Yep. Okay. and you can just tell me next
18:27
slide and I'll take care of that for you. Okay. Um yeah, we can uh go ahead and
18:33
hop into the next slide from this intro one. Fantastic.
18:38
All right. So, like Alden was saying, I'm going to um dive a little bit into
18:43
the um definitions that we put into the ordinance amendment. So a naturalistic
18:49
landscape means a carefully designed and intentionally maintained area vegetation
18:54
that reflects an ecosystem native to the southeastern US using regionally native
19:00
and adapted plant species. So for example, this is a picture of the Piedmont Prairie Restoration Site at
19:07
Lada Nature Preserve which is managed by Meckllinmberg County Park and Wreck. And
19:13
this area is maintained by selective removal of invasive species and
19:18
prescribed burning which kills the invading species and stimulates growth for prairie loving plants
19:26
and opens habitat for grassland wildlife. So um a lot of careful
19:31
maintenance goes into bringing this area back to the native ecosystem that used to exist you know before urban and
19:39
agricultural human disruptions. And what's cool is that they even have had
19:44
some rare native plants that have made a comeback there like the schwanitis sunflower. Not sure if I'm saying that
19:51
right. That's a hard one. Um but yeah, you can go to the next slide.
20:00
Um and so pollinator habitat is the other definition that is went into the ordinance amendment. And so this
20:07
basically means a landscape area that's designed to support pollinator species including bees, butterflies, moths,
20:14
birds. Um it consists of a diverse selection of plants primarily native to
20:19
the southeastern US that provide nectar, pollen, and habitat across multiple seasons and is maintained without the
20:26
use of pesticides to protect pollinator health. So, uh, this is mainly what I'll be talking about in the next couple of
20:32
slides, the pollinator habitat installation design and maintenance. Um, because this is, uh, likely what a lot
20:40
of folks probably on this call that have urban, um, yards in the Charlotte area,
20:46
um, you know, that this will, uh, pertain to what you guys can do in your spaces, right?
20:53
Okay, next slide.
20:58
Okay. So, where do you start? Uh, if you're converting an existing lawn or
21:04
turf area to habitat, you must remove the existing turf grasses first. So, how
21:09
do you remove the turf? You've got several options. Um, arborist wood chips
21:14
are usually free and really great for the soil. Um you can see in the picture
21:20
on the left at the top an area that um we killed out the grass at Tacos
21:25
Arboritum and Gardens with a bunch of arborous chips that we had on our lot.
21:30
Um so you want to spread them out in the habitat area that you're trying to create really thick like 10 inches if
21:37
you can. Um and then just let it sit for um a whole growing season um if not for
21:43
a whole year. So, as long as you as long as you can leave it there to prepare the soil. And basically, what this is going
21:49
to do is smother out the unwanted vegetation and turf grasses that are there. And then you can plant right into
21:56
the mulch area. Just pull the mulch back and plant. Uh, this might not be the best method if
22:02
you're trying to do like a seated meadow. It works better for plugs or containerized plants. And, um, similarly
22:09
to this method, I've heard a lot of people have success using like cardboard. you can just pretty much lay
22:15
out, you know, plastic free cardboard down and it'll smother the unwanted vegetation and it's just, you know,
22:22
basically like thick paper that will disintegrate over time and kill out the the turf grasses. Um,
22:30
another method you can use is literally cutting out the sod. So, if you have a
22:35
large area, you can like rent a sod cutting machine and it'll cut the top layer of roots off the ground and just
22:40
leave you with a bare soil. You can do this manually with a shovel as well. And you can kind of see folks doing that in
22:47
the middle um picture there. Um and then solarization is another method
22:53
and that's where you lay down plastic or like a tarp and you leave it on the area
22:59
for you know for a whole growing season like the whole summer. And so it'll also
23:05
smother the vegetation and it heats up the area underneath um to kill the turf
23:10
and some of the weed seeds. And um so this works really well for small areas,
23:16
but it's a little bit harder if you have a large area because the plastic tends to want to kind of blow around like a
23:22
sail and it um it degrades in the sun a little bit. Um and you can kind of see where we've done a solarization project
23:30
on the in the picture on the right. Um, alternatively, some people use herbicide to kill off vegetation prior to seeding
23:37
or planting. Uh, depending on your situation, this might be an option before creating your habitat to get rid
23:44
of unwanted vegetation. Um, we're going to talk a little bit more later about herbicides and pesticides. Um, next
23:51
slide.
23:57
Um, and here I just wanted to show you a before and after picture. This is the Tuck CGI Arburetum and Gardens um an
24:04
area where we removed the turf using partly the solarization method and then
24:09
partly the mulch method to remove the turf that was there and to create a pollinator habitat. So this is the same
24:15
area you can see on the left before when it was turf while we were doing the solarization um uh preparation. Um and
24:23
then you can see on the right what it looks like now after we removed the turf and installed a pollinator habitat.
24:30
Next slide. Um, all right. Let's talk a little bit
24:36
about designing your space. So, for plant choice, you want to try to have
24:41
blooms with different colors, different heights, um, different um, types of
24:46
flowers, like shapes of flowers. Um, pollinators are diverse and are attracted to different colored flowers.
24:53
So, um, for example, moths really like white flowers. Be bees tend to like
24:59
purples and yellows. Hummingbirds love red. Um, so it's good to have a wide range of colors and a variety of flower
25:06
shapes and plants that are blooming throughout the year if possible in order to accommodate as much of a variety of
25:13
pollinators as possible. So, um, if you're just trying to figure out where to start, a good rule of thumb is to
25:20
plant at a minimum of three spring blooming, three summer blooming, and three fall blooming plants. So that's
25:27
the um 3x3 rule. And um native plants
25:32
are the best choice. Native plants support our native pollinators, right? So some plants have
25:39
a special relationship with the native pollinators and are host plants, which means that that insect needs that
25:47
specific plant to complete some portion of its life cycle.
25:52
So for instance, lendera or spice bush is a native shrub that is the host plant for the spice bush swallowtail
25:59
butterfly. It needs that plant to reproduce. Um so also when you're choosing plants,
26:06
you know, you want to think about your space and the cultural conditions. If you're limited on space, you might want
26:13
to prioritize generalist plant species that tend to attract a lot of different
26:18
types of pollinators. So, agistachi, golden rod, um, mountain mint is a
26:25
really great plant. Um, you know, if if you can only pick one plant for the pollinators, mountain mint is a really
26:32
great one. It just, uh, the all the pollinators love that one. Um,
26:38
and then also, you know, if you're thinking if you have a small space, you want to choose plants that maybe are not
26:44
going to get really huge, like a your common milkeed or your straight species joe pie.
26:51
Um, instead, you're going to want to choose smaller, maybe more compact plant species such as butterfly weed or thread
27:00
leaf coropsis. Um, butterfly weed is a really great starter plant. Um, especially if you have a small space, it
27:07
just it just performs really well and all kinds of pollinators love it, but
27:12
it's also a host plant for the monarch. So, that's one of the only um species
27:17
that the monarch butterfly will lay its um eggs on. It's one of the only ones
27:22
that the um its caterpillars can eat. Um, and then of course you'll also want
27:29
to consider how many hours of sunlight your habitat gets. That will determine your plant choice. Um, and don't forget
27:35
to incorporate native grasses. So many of our native grasses are host plants
27:40
for caterpillars that our song birds need to raise their young. They also provide nesting material and winter
27:47
cover for native wildlife and pollinators. And so I want to emphasize here that we're talking about our native
27:53
grasses like little blue stem Uly grass and not the turf grasses which are not
27:59
native and we'll talk a little bit more about that too here in a minute. Um so oh
28:09
sorry go ahead. Um next slide please. Sorry. Yeah. Um,
28:16
okay. So, when you're designing your habitat, the style can vary depending on your space, your goals, your
28:22
preferences, and your maintenance capacity. Um, options range from a more
28:27
formal kind of traditional landscape design to naturalized styles such as a
28:33
seated meadow, a prairie planting, or a shaded woodland habitat.
28:38
So, here in the picture on the left is a meadow planted with plugs. plugs are
28:44
like small young uh starter plants grown in a cell on a tray. Um and so the the
28:52
um picture on the left was a meadow um created we made a grid of native grasses
28:58
and then did sweeps of color throughout. So the sweeps of color being like
29:04
echgonatia, um scarlet bee bomb, pins, blue star, and um some people call this a matrix
29:11
planting. And um this uh this um plugged meadow
29:16
was planted only a year ago, by the way, in that picture on the left. Um and then the picture on the right is a seated
29:23
meadow. So this is where we used um solarization method to prepare the soil.
29:29
And then when the soil was ready, we spread a seed mix over the bare soil.
29:34
Um, and so if you want to go this route, um, it's really great for, you know, if you have a huge area you want to, um,
29:41
cover. Um, it's a it's definitely the most cost-effective way to create a habitat quickly. Um, and there are lots
29:48
of different types of seed mixes that you can get, um, just depending on what you're looking for. Next slide.
30:02
Um, and so here in the picture on the left, I wanted to kind of show you what a traditional landscape kind of a more
30:09
formal uh design using smaller, more compact species. So, this is a
30:14
pollinator habitat, but it looks a little bit more, you know, tidy tidy like we're used to seeing in kind of
30:21
conventional landscapes. Um, and then on the right is a recently planted woodland
30:27
garden um, with native shrubs and spring ephemerals. It doesn't look like much
30:32
right now because it was only planted about two months ago, but I just wanted to show this as a good example for what
30:39
you can do in a shady space. So in this planting we have red buckeye, spice
30:45
bush, clethra, uh native eonymous, golden sail, hpatica, wild geranium,
30:51
wild flocks, native ferns, um on and on. And so many of these plants are really
30:59
important nectar and pollen plants for the insects that emerge in the very early spring. And then some of them also
31:06
are really important host plants for some of our native pollinators.
31:11
Next slide. Um, and so when you're creating this
31:19
habitat, um, you might want to think about using some borders to show that
31:25
your pollinator habitat is an intentional, cared for space. So borders can be created with u mulch strips um or
31:34
arborous chips um a strip of moan turf grass. And you can see examples of those
31:40
two on the left in the pictures on this slide. Um, or you could use, you know,
31:46
physical markers like a fence, landscape timbers, or a simple rope barrier. You
31:51
can see examples of those on the right side of the slide. And so this is not
31:57
required, but it can help distinguish um your habitat areas from say your
32:03
traditional lawn areas. Next slide.
32:10
Um, so let's talk about maintenance a little bit. Um, you don't want to use any pesticides.
32:17
Um, sometimes it's okay to have a few holes in leaves. Um, some of your plant
32:23
pests, like for instance, your aphids, they can be, you know, removed by hand or even kind of blasted off with like
32:30
spraying with some water. Um, and not using any pesticides. any any
32:35
pesticides, even like the natural ones, like the u pythroidids are going to kill
32:41
the insects that you're wanting to invite into your habitat. And um you
32:47
also don't want to fog for mosquitoes. You know, they say that these chemicals are not harmful like to children and
32:53
pets, but what they don't tell you is that they are in fact harmful to pollinating insects.
32:59
And you also want to try not to use any herbicides. Um, but you do want to watch out for invasives. So, Alden touched a
33:07
little bit on invasives earlier. Um, when you're weeding, um, you you know,
33:12
you want to mechanically remove or pull weeds as much as possible, but if you have to, you can spot treat
33:19
as a last resort. So, you know, for instance, if you have wisteria or some
33:24
um really bad invasive creeping into your garden, you can selectively use a little bit of herbicide just on that one
33:31
plant in order to try to control it. So, um you know, invasive plants could be a
33:37
whole entire webinar on their own. Um, but you know, it can't be stated enough
33:42
how detrimental they are to our native habitats because they push out the plants that our native pollinators
33:49
depend on for survival. So, that's um really important. You know, as much as
33:55
not using pesticides, you got to keep those invasives at bay. Um, and there
34:01
are a lot of invasives all over the Charlotte area. And so, you know, birds are out there eating the the nandina and
34:09
the legustrum berries and flying over your garden and pooping the seeds out and there so they're going to come up.
34:16
Um, and so, you know, we have to try to that that's a big fight to kind of keep those at bay, but it's an really
34:23
important part of maintaining a native pollinator habitat. So, um, another
34:30
thing you can do is, you know, plant densely and that'll help keep out some of the weed pressure in your habitats
34:36
and then you can interplant or interseed in the bare areas as needed. And then,
34:42
you know, you want to educate yourself on the pollinators and the other wildlife visiting your garden as well as
34:48
the plants that they depend on. You know, learn plant ID and weed ID and
34:53
have fun with it. Next slide.
35:02
Um so in the fall and the winter um you want to the seed heads and the dormant
35:07
stems and the leaves should be left in the habitat in order to mimic uh natural
35:13
landscapes because this is where the pollinators overwinter. So you don't want to cut back anything any of the
35:19
dead stuff until spring around the time of year when the soil really starts warming up and the pollinators start to
35:26
emerge. So just leave those over the winter. And then another thing to consider is
35:31
not don't over mulch because uh some of the native bees really like to tunnel
35:36
into the ground. So if you can leave some bare dirt, you know, around the plants and and stuff. Next slide.
35:50
Okay. Um, and as a final note from my slides, I want to stress the importance
35:55
um, with this registration program that if you are converting an existing lawn or turf area into habitat, you must
36:02
remove the existing turf grasses first. So fescue, zoya, bermuda, these are
36:09
common turf grasses in the Charlotte area and they are not native here and they cannot be exempted from the tall
36:15
grass ordinance. So you know if you if you want to let the clovers and the violets and the dandelions and the other
36:22
weeds that pop up grow in your turf, um go for it. But you will still have to
36:28
keep the vegetation cut down to that below that 12 in tall. So, you know,
36:34
most of these little flowers, um, they'll be fine. They'll continue flowering, but, you know, for the bees,
36:40
the little clovers and stuff are good. Um, but for the purposes of this program, areas like what's pictured in
36:48
this slide here, they c they can't be exempt and so they have to be maintained to 12 in. So,
36:56
um, yeah, that was that's my last slide.
37:02
hand it over to you, Jonathan. Thank you, Vicki. Uh, and thank you everybody. I'm going to be talking a
37:08
little bit more about uh our registration process here in Charlotte
37:13
uh and kind of you get some behind the scenes uh into
37:20
um how the procedure and uh why it is the way it is and things of that nature.
37:26
Um because almost as soon as uh well very early on in this process, Alden
37:32
reached out to me um just letting them know that uh the coalition was planning
37:38
uh on pushing this with city council. Um and so almost immediately uh ourselves
37:44
as city staff uh started doing a bunch of different research um into uh what
37:51
other cities had done and have done. Um, surprisingly, uh, there aren't too many
37:57
other cities in the southeastern part of the United States, uh, that have created programs, uh, two nearby examples are
38:04
Colombia and South Carolina, uh, and Winston Salem here in North Carolina. Those two cities have very diff
38:11
deferring approaches, uh, to uh, their ordinances and their registrations. Uh
38:18
but this program is mainly based out are there are a lot of different registrations popping up uh in the
38:24
Midwest. So um several cities in the Midwest have this. I think Chicago
38:31
just got theirs online uh just in the past few months. Um so it is a very new
38:38
thing that a lot of cities are starting to do. Um next slide please.
38:47
So the way it works in Charlotte um it is a little bit trickier because uh of
38:53
the way that our government is structured in that um code enforcement
38:58
uh who is the primary enforcing tool is located in the neighborhood our housing and neighborhood services department and
39:05
landscape management is located within the general services department. Uh so they're deferring missions, deferring
39:13
scopes there. Uh and so this uh method here in Charlotte kind of bridges the
39:18
gap between the two. So um on our internal process
39:25
uh people go online they register their uh habitat
39:30
uh within the CLT community hub and uh I believe Alden is going to be sending out
39:36
links to uh the registration page and a number of different resources uh as a
39:41
followup to this meeting. Uh after that point, landscape management reviews the
39:46
applications. Uh if everything looks good, moves on to the next step. If they have um some modifications, they'll
39:53
reach out uh and email the applicant. Um once the application is approved on the
40:00
code enforcement side, uh they receive a notification and they've got an internal
40:05
database of all the properties in the city. Uh so they have simply added a
40:10
banner that says registered pollinator habitat or registered natural landscape
40:16
uh to um that tool. So when a code inspector
40:21
is out there uh if they receive a complaint about a property or if they're um doing their normal route and they see
40:28
a property, they can just type in the address and if it is registered within the city, uh it'll pop up right there.
40:35
That's kind of our our first line of defense. The uh the fun part or the
40:42
second line of defense or I like to call it kind of the two-factor authentification uh is that you do get this lovely sign
40:49
here that's on the left side of the screen. Um those are being printed by our Department of Transportation here at
40:56
no cost well at no upfront cost to the people that are registering. Uh it's all
41:02
internal here at the city. Um and uh we are printing those signs out as we can.
41:10
Um fortunately or it's a good problem for us to have uh there's very high demand for signs right now. So we've
41:16
actually run out twice already. Um I believe we're at well over a hundred people who have registered their
41:22
properties so far. Um, so, um, we are
41:28
slowly distributing those signs, but I like to emphasize that that, uh, is kind
41:33
of this the second bonus, uh, display there. Uh, the main
41:39
realization or the real thing in terms of preventing those notices of violation
41:46
is that banner within the code enforcement system. Uh, next slide there, Alden.
41:52
So, uh, when it comes to codes procedure, this is a pretty simplified
41:57
version of, uh, a little bit of a complicated flowchart that they've put together for this program. Um, but
42:06
basically, if they go up to a property, like I said, and they type it in and it
42:11
says registered pollinator garden ornaturalistic landscape, they won't
42:16
issue a citation. Um, and however, if they've received a lot of complaints
42:22
about a property, uh, they might follow up with landscape management just to
42:28
have them review it. um in case people move and they forget to tell us uh and
42:34
then the next property owner lets it get overgrown or um if the next property
42:39
owner just completely mows down the pollinator garden or whatever
42:45
hypothetical um they might contact landscape management staff. uh if they don't see a
42:52
banner on there just yet, um they'll contact the property owners like they do usually with a um case like this. We
43:01
have a door hanger uh that they leave that's specifically about uh the pollinator garden registration program.
43:08
It's in both English and in Spanish. Um and uh they do issue a notice of
43:15
violation. um if they don't see that banner in their system uh within 30 days uh which
43:23
is longer than the normal code enforcement window here in Charlotte uh they do issue a citation. Uh next slide.
43:32
One thing I do want to clarify that with that though is a notice of violation is not a citation. Uh so it's a very scary
43:41
sounding thing and it does have a very official looking piece of paper. Uh however in this particular instance um
43:51
it is more of just a heads up. Um just the code enforcement inspectors reaching
43:56
out letting the property owner know uh that um they need clarification or and
44:04
this case it's an educational moment uh that this registration program exists.
44:11
um they don't if a notice of violation does not immediately incur fees or any
44:17
sort of disciplinary action um that occurs much later down the road after
44:23
those 30 days. Uh so it isn't an immediate a notice of violation is not a
44:29
citation. Um, a couple of other things and this has been a learning experience
44:34
for us. As I said, this is kind of we're one of the first cities in the southeast to uh take on something like this. Uh,
44:42
so we've gotten lots of very helpful feedback both from the code enforcement inspectors and everyday residents. Uh
44:49
one clarifying thing um that we've run into some because of the temporary
44:56
nature of rental agreements uh we are asking that uh property owners register
45:02
uh even if it is a rented property and the renter is the one uh that is planting the garden uh just because they
45:10
have more of a permanent say over things. Um the
45:16
it could also be a good educational opportunity between the renter and the property owner. Um and uh I will note at
45:24
this time too that uh this program does not just apply to residents. So, if you have a business or if you're part of an
45:32
institution like a a school or a um or
45:37
an university, uh that uh this program is open to those
45:43
as well. Um so, it's free and it's a good opportunity to um really recognize
45:51
your garden in addition to um avoiding a potential citation. Um, I will note as
45:57
well with that that um, code enforcement inspectors aren't actively going around
46:03
searching for tall grassards or pollinator gardens. Um, most of what
46:09
they uh, have encountered in the past has been complaintbased. So, it is also a good opportunity uh, for uh, educating
46:18
your fellow neighbors as well uh, about pollinator gardens uh, versus potential
46:23
invasive species in tall grass. Um, another thing to note, while we uh do
46:30
really encourage folks to get involved with uh registration programs that
46:35
already exist, like those with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, uh, the only program that is considered through
46:42
this uh, particular or through code enforcement is the the city's own
46:48
internal program. Uh we left the language of the uh ordinance pretty
46:54
vague in case that ever changes. Uh but because there's so many different programs out there uh with different
47:01
scopes, with different scales, uh some cost money, others don't, uh it made
47:08
more sense from us, uh for us and talking with members of the public and
47:14
internally as staff, uh to have a program that's internal to the city, uh
47:19
and that is free to uh all members of the public within the city of Charlotte. I will note that this program only
47:25
pertains to the city of Charlotte. We have had some people apply that live in Huntersville and Matthews and kind of
47:31
the surrounding towns. Um while we uh wish we could recognize those programs,
47:38
unfortunately this one's limited to us because it's directly tied in with that code enforcement aspect. Uh but we
47:46
encourage you to talk with your uh staff there at whatever cities we live in if you don't live in Charlotte uh to get a
47:52
program like this up and running. Um and one other question that we've uh been
47:58
asked a lot or especially our code inspectors have been asked a lot from folks is uh whether they have uh
48:06
suggestions for uh species um to plant or not to plant. Um, this is where I'm
48:14
going to uh put more pressure on Alden uh in terms of sending a follow-up
48:19
email. Um the uh CLT community site um in addition to having the registration
48:26
page also has a bunch of different uh resources from different organizations
48:33
um that include uh recommended native species list specifically for this area,
48:38
list of uh invasive species uh and uh potential planting plans.
48:46
Um, I'm going to talk a little bit more about the registration in the next couple slides.
48:52
Don't worry, Jonathan. I'll send out some good resources. Thank you, sir.
48:59
Um, so uh before you apply, there are a couple of things that uh you'll want to
49:05
put together. Um, and this is also been a learning experience for us in
49:11
providing these recommendations. Um so we do recommend uh providing a plant list that includes
49:18
specific plants in your habitat. Um so the the names either botanical or
49:25
common. Uh but do list what you have planted there. Um make sure if if at all
49:33
possible provide a photo that clearly represents your habitat. Uh it does so it doesn't have to be uh current um but
49:41
preferably within the last growing season. Um so mainly like uh thinking
49:48
about the winter season might not be uh if you're submitting a registration in December or January, it might be better
49:54
to send a photo from the summer just so we can see the plants at full height.
50:00
Um, and just make sure that your habitat is intentionally planned and uh free of
50:07
non-native turf grasses. Uh, because that's what landscape management is going to be looking for in that
50:12
application. Um, you can go to the next slide.
50:24
And on the flip side of that, so antithesis, um, avoid submitting vague
50:29
plant descriptions like wild flowers or just saying native plant garden. Um,
50:35
really wanting those specific names. It doesn't have to be all-encompassing. Uh, but it should represent the majority
50:42
species uh in the garden that you've planted. Um do make sure that you um
50:51
are don't uh upload photos that don't illustrate your habitat uh adequately.
50:56
Uh so photos like the one on the left would not be the greatest uh for um
51:03
submitting with your registration. Um, and uh, as Vicki was saying earlier, um,
51:11
this is particularly for gardens that, um, or gardens and naturalistic
51:17
landscapes. So, we're really uh wanting to avoid um majority turf grasses um just because
51:26
the overall net benefit is going to be much better if you have those native pollinators uh than it would be if it's
51:33
just majority Bermuda grass um or crap grass or things of that nature. Next
51:39
slide, please. Um, so couple I took a couple screenshots here so you can get a sense
51:46
of the website itself. Uh, so this is what the CLT community site looks like.
51:51
Um, you do have to do a little scrolling if you can kind of see on the right hand side uh the bar there to get down to um
51:59
the application. There are a number of other things on the CLT community hub
52:05
that uh you all might be interested in as part of the environmental field. Uh
52:10
we've got the adopt a street feed and adopt a stop programs on there. Uh sustainability has their uh energy
52:17
performance benchmarking data uh for different businesses, their sustainability action plan, energy
52:23
action plan dashboard. Uh so lots of different things to check out. Um but you'll want to click on um that
52:30
pollinator habitat naturalistic landscape. Uh if you go to the next slide, um you'll scroll down a little
52:38
bit. we have some directions on how to participate. Um, it might be very
52:43
tempting to just automatically click that register a habitat button. Uh, however, the way this is set up, and
52:51
this is a kind of a newer thing the city's been doing for about I think it's been three or four years now. Um, this
52:59
is set up through ARGIS. Um, and so Argis does require creating a
53:04
free account uh in order to register. Um, it's free. You can use your Gmail or
53:12
I think um there are couple of other different social media and email options
53:17
or you can create an account from scratch. Um, but only after you've created an account and signed in. Uh,
53:23
will the form appear when you click that register a habitat button. And if you click to the next slide,
53:32
um, that is what the application will look like. Uh it's a couple of pages
53:38
long. Uh does include um your general
53:43
contact information, like I mentioned, the plant species list, uh photo of the
53:49
uh area that you're looking to register, um whether you've used herbicides in the
53:55
past, whether you've had to deal with invasive species in the past, which it's Charlotte, so I feel like we all have.
54:02
um and uh information of that nature. Um we do also have a paper copy of this
54:09
registration. So if you're having trouble with it, uh we are here to support you. We can um uh potentially
54:16
assist you with troubleshooting. Um but we do also have a paper version of this
54:22
uh that you can also download as a PDF if you'd prefer to uh email it in uh
54:30
instead. And I believe Vicki, you all have received at least one application via email
54:37
maybe. Sorry to put you on the spot. I think we we've distributed a few at this point.
54:45
So sorry, I was having technical difficulties unmuting myself. I um I
54:51
don't I don't recall having received a paper one yet.
54:58
I think we had one person that was interested, but then they were able to figure out figure it out and do it
55:03
online and send it in that way.
55:08
Perfect. Um, and that's what we're here uh for as city staff. Um, like I said,
55:15
Vickiy's team is um the ones that review the applications and approve them. uh
55:20
and uh I kind of help with troubleshooting uh and help connect code
55:26
enforcement, landscape management together. Uh and uh if and when you do
55:32
get your sign and you're the or I'm the person you see uh to go pick it up. Um
55:39
so that is a very brief overview of the application. I think the next one is questions and I see we have several in
55:46
the chat um with a few people asking them. So yeah, um Jonathan, before you So there
55:52
are a couple questions in the Q&A. Um let's let's do those questions first and
55:59
then we'll go through the chat and if you have any questions, put them in the chat now or the Q&A. Um Dave Molinro
56:07
asked, "What is the size of the Tuckiji garden length and width?" So Vicki,
56:15
ah I do not know the exact length and width but I do know that our um
56:22
accredited arburidum and garden area is just under three acres but that also
56:29
includes the um whole parking area. Um but that is the only kind of size data
56:36
that I know off the top of my head. Okay, great. And y'all can 709 Tuck CGI
56:42
Road and they just had a grand opening and there'll be a moth night there. Probably some pollinator programs there.
56:49
So, I encourage y'all to get out and check it out. Um, Kathleen Carpenter has a question. Um, she she has a sloped
56:56
open area next to her woods that gets four to five hours of sun a day, but
57:01
it's not great soil, very hard and dry, is too too large to add compost,
57:06
difficult to get water to. native plants survive, what native plants survive, could use could use a boost,
57:14
suggestions. We could probably have a whole separate webinar um just talking about sites and what people have. Um,
57:22
and I would recommend seeds for those sloped areas and a lot of your golden
57:29
rods, your bone sets, your black eye susans, your milkweeds, um, your grasses,
57:36
a lot of those, a lot of those species like that can, you know, can tolerate some of those poor sloped areas. And
57:43
again, I'll send out a lot of resources that you can dive into um, to help make
57:48
your selections. Vicki, did you want to add anything? No, I think that's right. And um you
57:55
know, there's definitely some good resources like um you guys are going to send out a little bit later, but a
58:02
couple of the um places that you can order um native seeds and native seed
58:07
mixes from. A lot of times we'll have really great information on their website and h you know even have a
58:15
mixture that's like that's specifically for um you know uh a sloped area or like
58:21
really really bad soil. Um yeah.
58:28
Um okay. So I'm going to go into the chat. Um, and then I believe someone
58:33
asked and I believe Donna answered, "Does this mean your H you're exempt
58:39
from your HOA?" Unfortunately, you're not exempt from
58:44
your HOA. However, it doesn't override HOA. However, use
58:51
this as an impetus and momentum to organize your HOA and advocate for your
58:57
HOA to allow this and city. That's one reason why I think it's great the city's
59:02
leading by example here. And then um Jonathan and Vicki might have more to add is they work especially direct
59:09
Jonathan directly with homeowners. Y'all have anything else to add?
59:16
Um I'd uh elaborate or with that too. Um that unfort
59:23
there are uh other uh design standards within a specific districts
59:31
um that this also doesn't apply to. One of note uh being historic districts. Uh
59:37
so historic districts in Charlotte um have uh landscaping design standards. uh
59:45
and so uh this doesn't supersede those as well. Um but it is a good opportunity
59:51
especially on the HOA side of things to have those conversations. Uh housing and
59:56
neighborhood services has I believe a few webinars and can provide assistance
1:00:02
in terms of um how to change HOA bylaws and things of that nature.
1:00:10
Fantastic. Um, someone Katie asked if queen's ans anace considered invasive
1:00:16
and I answered that queen anace is a introduced non-native plant that is naturalized. It is not invasive. So it
1:00:24
is important to recognize that not all introduced non-native plants become
1:00:30
invasive. Um, the ones that do become invasive are extremely problematic. Um,
1:00:36
and those are the ones you really have to get out of your registered habitats. And when you go through the application
1:00:41
process, um it does clearly state that um you need to have get these invasive
1:00:47
plants out of there. Um
1:00:54
and let's keep scrolling,
1:01:00
scrolling, scrolling.
1:01:07
Um just comments about pipine and passion
1:01:12
flour and may pops and sharing native plants. Okay, here's a good one. Um can
1:01:18
we plant native plants that grow taller than 12 inches on the curb?
1:01:24
So that is where um state law comes into play. Um you can plant up to three feet
1:01:33
um in the right of way. Uh so that's that varies from area to area in
1:01:39
Charlotte. Um but generally is around 10 feet from the curb. Um the three feet
1:01:46
require or three feet and under requirement uh is just for vehicle and
1:01:52
pedestrian sight lines. Uh so it's a a safety requirement here in North Carolina.
1:01:59
But so the the short that's a long answer for uh yes, you can plant higher
1:02:05
than 12 in uh on the curb. Um but it has to be uh shorter than 3 ft and then
1:02:13
don't block the sidewalk or the street. And that's a good best practice too for
1:02:20
your borders and edges to put the low plants there. That way you don't have tall plants flopping over public
1:02:26
rideways, sidewalks into your neighbor's yard, and it's a it shows it's a good cue for care. Um, so that's a good
1:02:33
practice. Next question. Do you know if Union County has a similar setup?
1:02:41
I do not know. I have not seen anything from Union County. How about you guys?
1:02:46
I don't believe they do, but you can always encourage them to start one. And we're happy to provide
1:02:53
assistance and uh expertise, lessons learned, etc. at this point uh for city
1:02:59
staff or county staff in other areas of North Carolina. Yeah, we would love to see other
1:03:05
townships do a similar thing. I think we did actually uh have someone
1:03:13
um submit an application that was from was it Little Rock, Arkansas that they
1:03:18
were just trying there's someone in the municipal government that was just trying to see like how the program
1:03:24
worked and so they just went ahead and submitted an application. We denied it because they were in Little Rock, but um
1:03:32
we we have uh heard of interest from other municipalities
1:03:38
That's awesome. Word's getting out. Let's go, Charlotte. So, how does the registration program work if a property
1:03:44
is sold? Does the registration continue with the new owner or does the new owner need to apply for registration?
1:03:53
Uh, so the new owner would need to reapply. Um, we will I ideally we'd have
1:04:02
the uh folks notify us um when they they
1:04:08
do move or they decide to sell their property. Um that won't always be the
1:04:13
case, but um in a perfect world, yes, that that is what would happen and
1:04:19
that's what we encourage folks to do just because who knows where the new owner might take things.
1:04:27
Okay. Um, do you have to continue to update your plant list as you add
1:04:32
plants? Another great question. No, I would say um you just have to keep
1:04:40
it keep your space wellmaintained meaning keeping out the invasives and um
1:04:48
not you know again if you have turf grasses turf type grasses they have to
1:04:54
be kept below 12 in tall. All right. Um Josh says, "Just a heads
1:05:02
up, when I registered, still pending. They asked for multiple photos but only allowed one to be uploaded. So maybe
1:05:10
there's an issue or a glitch.
1:05:19
I don't know. Do you have any any feedback?" Jonathan knows that that the
1:05:24
ArcGI stuff a little bit better than me because he's been dealing with it with his other programs for a couple of
1:05:29
years, but um a lot mostly I get just one photo and that and usually that's
1:05:37
sufficient a good photo. Mhm. Yeah, I I think it um it does only have
1:05:44
space for one photo, but if you would like to send multiple um the we do have
1:05:49
the email addresses down there below uh landscape management charlottec.gov of
1:05:54
um uh you are welcome to and then I think generally if we have uh or if Vicki has
1:06:02
clarifying questions or um needs additional photos uh she doesn't
1:06:09
hesitate to reach out. Okay. Sorry for putting actions in your mouth
1:06:15
there, Vicki. No, that is correct. I'm g try to get through all these
1:06:21
questions. Um, are there programs or some other registration to get volunteer
1:06:26
help at our home? I live on my own and it's quite the task to take on by
1:06:31
myself. My immediate response to that is
1:06:37
don't bite off more than you can chew. Uh, you don't have to do your whole
1:06:42
property. Any bit helps. And um, there are no volunteer programs that I'm aware
1:06:50
of. and I yield to the city. None on the NCWF side. And we have a
1:06:56
volunteer chapter, North Carolina Wildlife Federation Charlotte Wildlife Stewards Chapter. We don't send
1:07:03
volunteers out to people's private properties, but we have resources um and programs.
1:07:09
Um that's yeah, that's a good question or concern.
1:07:16
Yeah, I don't know of any volunteer programs that um work on private um
1:07:21
properties like that. That was a good answer, Alden. Thank you. Um G, question about the
1:07:28
photo. So, for a newly planted area, the photo may not represent plants at fully mature state. Is that acceptable or do
1:07:35
we need to wait until the plants are established to submit the photo?
1:07:41
No, that is definitely acceptable, especially if you know it kind of shows
1:07:47
um you know like a good representation of the space. Um, and then also if you
1:07:54
can kind of at least see a few of the plants coming, you know, um, if it's
1:08:00
completely bare, um, that that is not helpful as far as like seeing if the
1:08:07
plants that that you planted in there are um, would meet our criteria. But if
1:08:13
they're small plants, then um you know, like you a a pretty good photo, you can
1:08:18
see um you can identify them and kind of see the overall space.
1:08:25
And you're asking for the plant list or a list of plants so that kind of can back up the photo. Would you air on the
1:08:33
side of going ahead and registering um because the photo is mandatory for the application or would you air on the
1:08:41
side of waiting a little bit? Um I think that might depend on if
1:08:47
you're um getting a a notice of violation or not.
1:08:54
Um, so yeah, I I think um if you're if
1:09:00
you're just starting out, try, you know, if you have a good plant list and you have a picture that I can see that, you
1:09:07
know, you've created this space, um, and you've removed the turf grasses and
1:09:13
there's, you know, um, a bunch of, uh, like even if they're small kind of
1:09:18
identifiable, um, um, native pollinator species, she's in there, then that that
1:09:25
I think that's sufficient. All right. And Vicki, when is Tuckiji
1:09:30
Arboritum and Gardens open? Uh, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 300 p.m.
1:09:37
except for holidays. Thank you. And there's a good comment from Lynn. You can send specific plant
1:09:44
questions to Mech County Extension Master Gardeners, mechmaster gardeners@gmail.com.
1:09:50
Good plug for the master gardeners. They're not going to come to your house and pull weeds for you, but they are a great resource. Thank you, Lynn. Um, new
1:09:58
to NC. Can you email me a list of the native plants? Yes, I'll be sending a lot of resources in the followup email.
1:10:06
When is Tuck CG open? Okay. We have dedicated areas for pollinators for our
1:10:12
pollinators and natural habitat. Should that area be measured out? Is it acceptable that the playground is a
1:10:18
maintained lawn? Oh, wait. This is confusing butterfly garden to everyone.
1:10:26
So I think you're saying you have a
1:10:32
separate pollinator habitat and then a man a maintained lawn area and should
1:10:38
that be measured out? Is it acceptable that the playground is a maintained lawn? You can have as much lawn as you
1:10:43
want in your house. It just can't go over 12 in. We would encourage you to reduce your lawn and increase your
1:10:50
pollinator habitat. Um, I think that is the answer to that question.
1:10:58
But if you're going to register your lawn as a pollinator habitat, it will be rejected because lawns are not
1:11:03
pollinator habitats. They do not support wildlife. Overgrown lawns are also not
1:11:10
pollinator habitats, which is the point that we want to drive home. Um,
1:11:18
uh, yes, and we do have Butterfly Highway seed packets, and I will include the link to that. That's a starter kit.
1:11:25
It's 25 square foot area that our seed packet covers. And all the species in there are hardy. They tolerate poor poor
1:11:32
soil. And we got it has common milkeed, butterfly weed, it has um Heath aster,
1:11:39
it's got uh black eyed susan, bb bomb, which is manarda,
1:11:45
blazing star, which is a leotress, partridge pee. Um yeah, and 25 square
1:11:51
foot area, you can scatter that. It's it's pretty good. I scattered one in February in my front yard and it's doing
1:11:58
great. Um let's keep rolling. Three foot is better than 12 inches.
1:12:05
Yes. Hey, um sorry. Can I I was looking back at that question earlier um about the
1:12:14
them having dedicated areas for pollinators uh natural habitat and about the area being measured. So when you go
1:12:20
to um submit your application, it will kind of ask you but it's a range. So, it
1:12:27
doesn't have to be like, you know, 732 square feet exactly. You don't have to
1:12:34
measure it out like that. It's just going to be a range from like, you know, up to half an acre or one to five acres.
1:12:42
I can't remember exactly what the range is, but
1:12:47
Okay, thank you, Vicki. Um, how common have complaints been? Average number per year?
1:12:56
That's a good question. Um, I'd have to look up the specific number. Um, but I
1:13:04
know in terms of overgrown vegetation, keeping in mind that we're a city of
1:13:10
almost a million people, um, I believe every year it's around uh, 1 to 2,000
1:13:20
uh, complaints about tall grass. All right, thanks Jonathan. Um, plug for
1:13:27
Union County Master Gardener. Um, there is a Union County Master Gardener who specializes in native plants, but they
1:13:33
have a teaching garden down there at the A Center if you want to check it out to learn more about native plants. If you
1:13:38
live in Union County, reach out to your Union County Master Gardeners. Um,
1:13:45
we, you know, more comments about not being able to, they have a 7/10 acre
1:13:50
habitat. It's a lot um to maintain by your you know but if you follow a lot of
1:13:55
Vicky's guidelines um once these plants are established the maintenance and if if if it's full of
1:14:02
plants and diverse um the maintenance requirements are going to get are going to go down. Um
1:14:10
but yes, maintenance is important to think about. Uh if you plant milkweed,
1:14:15
is it recommended to cut seed pods off before mature out of respect for your neighbors?
1:14:21
Um, from a wildlife and habitat perspective,
1:14:26
let those milkweeds go to seed. Um, your neighbors are mowing their lawn. They're
1:14:33
going to mow the any milkweed that sprouts up. But I do appreciate thinking
1:14:38
about your neighbors. That's always important. And I would encourage you to talk to your neighbor if you are
1:14:43
registering your yard or creating this habitat. start the conversation early on
1:14:49
and share what you're doing and why. Um, that's how we're going to improve the process with the city. That's how we're
1:14:55
going to reduce the amount of complaints that come in is by talking to our neighbors. So, I that's appreciate that
1:15:02
that comment. Um
1:15:10
um I think let's see you could say
1:15:16
that there yeah there are plenty of native plant landscaping companies or
1:15:22
landscaping companies that can help do work if you have money to pay them.
1:15:28
Um let's see. It looks like just a lot of conversation. I think I got all the
1:15:34
questions. Last chance. Any questions? Um,
1:15:44
thanks for the seminar. Yeah, Q. Let me check the Q&A.
1:15:49
Could these be placed in backyard or needs to be very view by public? That's a good question.
1:15:56
Yep, I just saw that. I was getting ready to um ask uh or say something
1:16:01
about that. Um they it can be in anywhere um front yard or backyard. Um
1:16:08
correct me if I'm wrong, Jonathan, but code enforcement can um do a code violation for tall grass in someone's
1:16:15
backyard. So you can if if your pollinator habitat is in your backyard,
1:16:20
you can certify that and that'll go on the banner and you can put up the sign
1:16:25
and be good to go. Yep, that's correct. Um we recently
1:16:32
worked with a resident on a similar issue.
1:16:38
there was a comment about um an herbicide and we're not going to promote
1:16:43
her um you know the use of any herbicide and and all I will say is if you use an
1:16:49
herbicide or a pesticide if you have to for whatever reason the label is the law
1:16:55
and so please follow the label and please use the proper PPE and again we
1:17:01
want to be using sustainable practices and only using those herbicides and pest
1:17:06
pesticides if and when necessary. So, um,
1:17:12
thank you guys so much for tuning in tonight. This has been great and great
1:17:17
feedback and please register your habitats if you haven't already. Let's paint the city
1:17:24
full of those beautiful signs. Um, and you see um, Jonathan at KCB, his
1:17:30
email, the landscape management emails up there. you have my email um and
1:17:36
you'll have it again when I send the follow-up email and I will make sure I can include as much resources. So, give
1:17:42
me a few days to get that out cuz we're going to get the webinar downloaded and and edited down and ready to put it on
1:17:48
the YouTube and then I will send a follow-up email and share the link. And
1:17:53
please share this far and wide and we look forward to seeing you guys out
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1:17:58
there. Have a great evening. Jonathan and Vicki, thank you so much for your time. Always a pleasure.
1:18:06
Thank you so much. Thanks. Yes. Everyone have a great night.