General Discussion

NickB79

(20,049 posts)

13. I've spent the past 15 yr turning my 1.5 acre yard into native prairie and woodland

Fri Jul 18, 2025, 12:37 PM

Jul 18

We've had a good "crop" of monarch butterflies this year, along with songbirds (hummingbirds, bluebirds, wrens, goldfinches, bluejays, cardinals, etc).

And in the past few weeks, I've never seen so many fireflies; the yard is sparkling at dusk.

The Canadian wildfires have sucked, but haven't seemed to have severely affected the wildlife yet (I'm in Minnesota).

If you haven't done so, transition even a little bit of your yard to a prairie restoration, even a 10x10 square. Kill the lawn now, seed with a native species mix in the fall, and next spring the seeds will germinate. Avoid anything that says "wildflower mix" because most contain non-native flower species.

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No butterflies this year [View all] cyclonefence Jul 18 OP

... SheltieLover Jul 18 #1

Don't Rebl2 Jul 18 #2

I've got a lot of perennial coneflowers cyclonefence Jul 18 #5

butterflies Maninacan Jul 18 #3

Good to hear cyclonefence Jul 18 #4

No June bugs, some butterflies and only solitary bees. Ellipsis Jul 18 #6

Strange, no? peggysue2 Jul 18 #8

We have a hive of bumblebees under Bettie Jul 18 #11

I've seen exactly one Monarch butterfly Arger68 Jul 18 #7

It is alarmingly sad dugog55 Jul 18 #10

I used to have to wash my Arger68 Jul 18 #16

We're hatching Monarchs in our living room, as always. We've released at least 10 so far. Greybnk48 Jul 18 #9

Not many in Detroit. Kid Berwyn Jul 18 #12

We used to have goldfinches galore, none this year. cyclonefence Jul 18 #19

I've spent the past 15 yr turning my 1.5 acre yard into native prairie and woodland NickB79 Jul 18 #13

Same observation here. StarryNite Jul 18 #14

Not a lot of butterflies, but spiders, toads, fire ants JCMach1 Jul 18 #15

we have a lot of butterflies, bees WhiteTara Jul 18 #17

I've noticed that too in southern New Hampshire. I've seen a couple, but not like in past summers. There aren't Vinca Jul 18 #18

Sad, where do you live? lark Jul 18 #20

We noticed that here in south-central New Mexico, too duhneece Jul 18 #21

SE PA cyclonefence Jul 18 #23

Yes, we are in the 6th mass extinction Nigrum Cattus Jul 18 #22

I haven't seen... GiqueCee Jul 18 #24