Nature isn't just "out there" in some pristine, far-off location. It's all around us, including right outside our doors.
Hi, my name is Shannon Trimboli and I'm here to help busy homeowners in the eastern U.S. create thriving backyard ecosystems they can enjoy and be proud of.
Join us as we ignite our curiosity and natural wonder, explore our yards and communities, and improve our local pollinator and wildlife habitat.
Learn more at: https://www.backyardecology.net/podcast
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When it comes to creating habitat, having a written set of goals can be extremely helpful in moving a task from the "I'll get to it someday" category to the "I'm actually going to get this done" category. But all too often, those goals end up being forgotten or abandoned, which can leave us feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and defeated.
In this episode, I share how Anthony and I have experienced those same feelings because we've made the same goal-setting mistakes that everyone else makes. Then I'll show you how I've overcome those mistakes and am now able to create realistic habitat goals that are much more likely to be successful and help me achieve our habitat dreams. I also tell you about a special event which will be starting on January 12, 2026.
3 things you'll learn from this episode
Some common frustrations when it comes to creating habitat goals.
Why so many of our habitat goals fail leaving us feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and defeated.
How to set more realistic habitat goals which are much more likely to be successful.
Thank you to our amazing Patrons who go above and beyond every month to provide financial support which helps us create so much free content for everyone to enjoy and learn from.
Short's aster: A beautiful late season extravaganza for pollinators
Épisode 112
jeudi 23 octobre 2025 • Durée 07:24
Summary
Late blooming native plants are crucial sources of pollen and nectar for pollinators. One of my favorite species that blooms in October, and often into early November, is Short's aster (Symphyotrichum shortii).
* affiliate link – We get paid a small commission for purchases made through this link, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through affiliate links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.
Thank you to our amazing Patrons who go above and beyond every month to provide financial support which helps us create so much free content for everyone to enjoy and learn from.
Virginia strawberry: A Beautiful, Tasty, and Underutilized Native Groundcover
Épisode 103
jeudi 29 mai 2025 • Durée 06:07
Summary
The Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) is our most widespread native wild strawberry in the eastern U.S. It supports a wide range of pollinators and wildlife. It can also make an amazing groundcover in a native plant garden. However, this is not the wild strawberry that most people find growing in their yards and garden beds.
3 things you'll learn from this episode
How to tell the Virginia strawberry from the other native wild strawberry in the eastern U.S. and from the invasive mock strawberry that is found in many people's yards and gardens.
How to incorporate the Virginia strawberry into your garden or yard.
The pollinators and wildlife that use Virginia strawberry.
Thank you to our amazing Patrons who go above and beyond every month to provide financial support which helps us create so much free content for everyone to enjoy and learn from.
If you would like personalized help creating your own pollinator and wildlife habitat, then we invite you to join the Backyard Ecology™ Community. Because while there's lots of great "big picture" information available about creating pollinator gardens or larger habitats for pollinators and wildlife. There are far fewer opportunities to say, "This is what I want to do. This is what I'm struggling with. How do I make it work on my property?" That's part of what the Backyard Ecology™ Community offers its members every day.
Clovers! Native Clover Conservation, Clover Yards, and More
Épisode 14
jeudi 25 février 2021 • Durée 01:06:49
Clovers are often suggested for lawn alternatives or for incorporating into our yards to make them more pollinator friendly. Clovers can also play important roles in agriculture either in grazing systems or as cover crops in row cropping systems. In addition, they are a favorite of deer and rabbits. However, most (if not all) of the clovers in these systems and that we typically think of are exotic species. Our native clover species are not nearly as well known.
In this episode of the Backyard Ecology podcast, we talk with Jonathan Kubesh. Jonathan is a PhD student at Virginia Tech University who is studying clovers. Jonathan brings a unique perspective to this topic, because although much of his work focuses on native clovers and native clover conservation, his field of study is in agriculture and agronomy. This allows him to serve as a valuable bridge between the two fields and areas of interest.
While the term "clover" is often loosely used for several different genera of plants, true clovers all belong to the genus Trifolium. In the eastern U.S., we have approximately 10 different species of native clovers in the Trifolium genus. We also have a number of exotic species, such as the familiar white clovers that can be found in our yards and fields.
Many of our native clovers are threatened or endangered. Some of our native clovers are tied to very special soil conditions and habitat types such as the limestone glades in the Nashville, TN area or the shale barrens which can be found in parts of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Other native clover species are tied to disturbance regimes that no longer exist, such as fire or short-term, intensive grazing by bison or deer.
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Wasps: Victims of an Often Undeserved Reputation
Épisode 13
jeudi 18 février 2021 • Durée 01:04:44
Like many people, I grew up with a healthy…. apprehension (ok, fear) of wasps. And, of course, I've seen all the memes on social media vilifying wasps and calling them names that I'm not going to repeat on this podcast.
But, those fears and concerns are mostly unfounded and misplaced. Wasps generally aren't going to bother you, especially when they are on flowers, and they definitely aren't the evil villains they are often portrayed as. Instead, they are a vital part of the ecosystem that helps control many different insect and arachnid populations, as well as, helps with the pollination of some plants.
In this episode of the Backyard Ecology podcast, we talk with Heather Holm. Heather is a pollinator conservationist and award-winning author. As of this recording, her book, Wasps: Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants, has just been published. Because wasps are such diverse organisms, her book focuses on the wasps that we are most likely to find visiting flowers.
Of course, I had to start our conversation by asking Heather the obvious question – "Why wasps?" Her answer was that as pollinator gardens become more popular, more people are beginning to notice wasps visiting the flowers. Her goal with this book is to help people better understand and appreciate those wasps, instead of being afraid of them.
In many ways, wasps are just like bees. In fact, bees evolved from wasps. Most adult wasps feed on nectar and other sugary substances like honeydew and tree sap. However, unlike bees which gather pollen to feed to their larvae, wasps hunt for prey to feed their larvae. The specific type of prey they hunt for depends on the species of wasp.
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More than a Mud Puddle: The Exciting World of Vernal Pools
Épisode 12
jeudi 11 février 2021 • Durée 01:02:35
Vernal pools are a special type of shallow wetlands that fill with snow melt and rain in late fall through early spring, then dry up sometime during the summer. Because they dry up, they are sometimes overlooked or dismissed as "not very good wetlands." However, they serve an important role in the ecosystem and can be teeming with all kinds of life.
In this episode, we talk with Tom Biebighauser about vernal pools. Tom is a wildlife biologist, wetland ecologist, educator, and author. He has written multiple books about vernal pools and has made a career of restoring and creating wetlands. Throughout our conversation, Tom shares many stories about creating vernal pools on his own property, on other people's properties, and at schools.
Almost by definition, vernal pools don't contain fish, because fish wouldn't be able to survive when the vernal pool dries up. However, because they don't have fish, vernal pools are extremely important breeding sites for frogs, toads, salamanders, and many aquatic invertebrates. In more permanent bodies of water, those animals and their eggs, tadpoles, and larva would face a significant threat of being eaten by hungry fish, but that's obviously not a risk in a place where there aren't any fish.
In many states, 90% of our wetlands have been drained and filled. This is especially true for vernal pools, probably because they do dry out for part of the year. Vernal pools are often relatively small – sometimes only the size of a living room or even smaller. They are also very shallow, usually only inches to maybe a foot or so deep, and have gently sloping sides.
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The Great Backyard Bird Count
Épisode 11
jeudi 4 février 2021 • Durée 41:19
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual citizen science / community science project hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, and Birds Canada. This international project takes place all over the world for four days every February. In 2021, it will happen February 12-15.
In today's episode of the Backyard Ecology podcast, we talk with Becca Rodomsky-Bish, Project Leader for the Great Backyard Bird Count, about the project, its importance, and how we can participate. We also talk about some tips and tools for people who may enjoy watching birds, but are just starting to learn how to identify them.
In 2020, approximately 270,000 people from across the world participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Approximately 100,000 to 160,000 of those were from North America. One of the cool interactive features on the Great Backyard Bird Count's website is a map that lights up the locations of new submissions as they are entered. As the weekend progresses, you can see the globe light up with people participating in the project.
Despite its name, the Great Backyard Bird Count isn't restricted to just your backyard. You can participate anywhere including at home, at a city or county park, at a state park, in the local schoolyard, etc. It's also possible to do the count from a stationary location, such as a comfy chair by the window, or while walking your favorite trail.
Participants in the Great Backyard Bird Count are asked to identify and count the birds that they see for a minimum of 15 minutes. You can do multiple counts and you can count for longer than 15 minutes if you would like. After making your observations, you enter your data into eBird which is an online database of bird observations from around the world. You can enter your data either on your computer or on your mobile device, depending on your personal preference.
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The Valuable Ecological Roles of Crayfish and the Discovery of Two New Species
Épisode 10
jeudi 28 janvier 2021 • Durée 01:09:35
We're lucky in the eastern U.S. because bodies of water are pretty common. For most of us, if we don't have access to a creek, stream, river, pond, etc. in our immediate backyards, then we likely have access somewhere nearby in the surrounding community. This means it can be relatively easy for us to explore those waterways, and for many of us part of that exploration at some point included catching crayfish or other aquatic organisms.
In this episode, we talk with Mael Glon, a PhD candidate at the Ohio State University in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology. Our conversation with Mael focuses on crayfish biology, ecology, diversity, and a variety of other crayfish-related topics.
Although we might think of crayfish as being mostly just a reddish-brown color, that's not always the case. They can also include other colors such as turquois blue, golden yellow, bright red, and mossy green. Some species, especially the burrowing crayfish, can be very showy and absolutely gorgeous.
We can often identify a crayfish species by looking at characteristics like those color patters, the size and shape of the claws, or where the specimen was found. However, for closely related species that look very similar, other characteristics or techniques must be used to accurately identify the species. One of those techniques is to look at the gonopods of the reproductively active males, but while that technique can be very precise, it also has obvious issues.
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Native Seed Production and Tips for Starting a New Native Plant Garden or Restoration Area
Épisode 9
jeudi 21 janvier 2021 • Durée 01:03:44
Growing native plants has grown in popularity over the last couple of decades. This has led to an increased demand for native plant seeds. However, many of us have never really stopped to think about how those native seeds are produced on a commercial level. In this episode, we talk with John Seymour and Robert Hoffman from Roundstone Native Seed about this and their recommendations for planting native seeds. John is the president of Roundstone and Robert is their Restoration Ecologist.
Growing native plants for commercial seed production is a complicated process. At Roundstone Native Seed, the process starts with collecting the initial native seeds from the wild following the U.S. Forest Service collecting guidelines. The native seeds initially collected must then be grown first as plugs in a greenhouse, and then transplanted into larger production plots which produce the native seeds that are eventually harvested for sale.
Once in the production plots, the plants must be cared for throughout the growing season and throughout future years to keep the plots producing to the best of their ability. Some of the ongoing care and maintenance may include watering, hand weeding, and conducting prescribed burns on the fields. For many of the production fields, it may take up to three years before a stand is producing seed to its fullest capacity.
For many of these species, much of the harvesting and seed processing must be done by hand. Unlike many of our more traditional crops or flowers, native plants don't all go to seed at the same time. Often times the staff at Roundstone will go out to each stand every day to hand harvest just the seeds that are ready that day – taking a combine through and harvesting the whole field at once, like is done with corn or soybeans, is often not an option for native seeds.
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Land Snails and their Amazing Diversity
Épisode 8
jeudi 14 janvier 2021 • Durée 56:26
Land snails???? Come on, how do they fit with Backyard Ecology? True, land snails aren't the most charismatic organism in our yards and communities, so it would be easy to just write them off and ignore them. Most of us probably do that on a regular basis. But, land snails are extremely important to our ecosystem and in some cases are critical to the survival of much more charismatic organisms. Not to mention, they can be pretty fascinating in their own right if we just give them a chance.
On today's episode of Backyard Ecology, we talk with Dan and Judy Dourson. Dan is a wildlife biologist, author, illustrator, and educator. Judy is an educator, author, editor, and researcher. Dan and Judy have had really interesting careers that have taken them from the mountains of Kentucky to the jungles of Belize and places in between. However, much of their recent work has focused on land snails.
Although they are often overlooked, land snails play vital roles in the ecosystem. They help to recycle nutrients. They move spores of fungi and other organisms to new locations. And they are an important food source for everything from firefly larvae to songbirds and raptors. In some cases, like that of Florida's snail kite, a species' entire diet is made up of a single species of land snail. If those land snails go extinct, then so would the other animal (in this case the snail kite) that depends on them.
The eastern U.S. has the highest biodiversity of land snails in all of North America. If you happen to live in the Appalachian Mountain region, especially along the Tennessee / North Carolina border, then you are in an area that is especially rich in land snail biodiversity including many species that are found nowhere else in the world. However, no matter where you live in the eastern U.S., you likely have a dozen or more species of land snails in your yard. Some of those species will be native, while others (like the ones that eat our vegetable gardens) are likely exotic.
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In our conversation, Jonathan and I discuss many different topics. A large part of our conversation is devoted to native clovers. Our discussion about native clovers covers their biology, the conservation efforts surrounding them, how agriculture and horticulture may play a role in those conservation efforts, the importance of keeping good records, and the valuable role of historical collections and herbarium records in helping to discover new populations and in guiding restoration efforts.
Jonathan and I also talk about establishing clover yards and some of the factors that you might want to consider when deciding whether a clover yard is right for you. Like with so many other things in life, there isn't one single answer that will fit all situations. However, Jonathan does an excellent job of discussing possibilities for different situations and for pointing us towards how to find more specific local help for determining the best option for our own unique situations.
Trifolium reflexum growing in Jonathan's seed trials
Photo credit: Jonathan Kubesh
Wasps can be very specific with the prey they capture. For example, the cicada killer only hunts cicadas. In some cases, the cicada she captures may be 2-3 times her size! Another species of wasp, called the queen ant kidnapper ant, only eats queen ants that still have their wings and are coming back from their nuptial flights. There are also a number of wasp species that hunt spiders.
Just about every type of insect, plus spiders, is on the menu for some species of wasp and this has led to a wide diversity of wasp species. There are way more species of wasps than bees. And because their prey is so specific, you may find several different species of wasps nesting in close proximity to each other because their different diets mean that they aren't competing with each other.
Like bees, most of our wasps are solitary which means that each female must create and provision her own nest(s). This doesn't leave them much time, or desire, to defend their nests. Also like bees, wasps can be found nesting below ground, in standing dead trees, in logs, and in pithy or hollow stems. Some wasps even build nests made entirely of mud. Some of these mud structures can be very beautiful and delicate pots that look like they should be ceramic vessels in a dollhouse.
Despite their many similarities to bees, wasps are a group of animals that many people love to hate. However, they are rarely as bad as they are made out to be, especially when they are feeding on flowers. As Heather puts it, "the flower restaurant isn't defended." And in some ways, wasps can be easier to identify than bees. If you want to identify the wasps that you find on your flowers, Heather suggests taking lots of pictures including a top-down view, a sideview, and a head-on view. Using your flash can also be helpful for picking up details and reducing the blur if the wasp doesn't sit perfectly still for you.
I encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about wasps, including how to identify them, to take a look at Heather's book. And if you aren't quite ready to venture into the world of wasps, then I still encourage you to take a look at Heather's website. It is a treasure trove of free educational resources on pollinators, especially native bees. (In addition to her new wasp book, she has several other books on bees, pollinators, and native plants.)
Bee wolf (Philanthus gibbosus) drinking nectar and serving as a pollinator Photo credit: Heather Holm
One of the reasons that wetlands are often drained is for mosquito control. However, mosquitoes typically aren't a problem around vernal pools because the mosquito eggs and larvae are eaten by everything that is in the vernal pool. If a vernal pool or wetland holds water for more than a couple of months then it will attract frogs, dragonflies, damselflies, and other mosquito predators.
Many people are probably familiar with the concept of rain gardens and may even have a rain garden already. However, vernal pools differ from rain gardens in that vernal pools hold water for several months, while rain gardens go dry much faster. Because rain gardens typically only hold water for a few hours to a few days, they don't develop the complex ecosystems of a vernal pool.
There are lots of opportunities to create vernal pools around our homes, on our school grounds, or in other places within our communities. The cost of creating a vernal pool can range from practically nothing, to a few hundred dollars, to several thousand dollars, depending on the size of the vernal pool you want to create, the type of soil you have, and how much labor you want to do yourself. However, in many cases there are funds available to help cover the costs of creating vernal pools or other shallow wetlands. Tom has written several books that walk you through how to create vernal pools. His books plus lots of free resources and guides are available through his website.
One thing that Becca stressed was that anyone can participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. You don't have to be an "expert birder." If you enjoy watching birds, but aren't real confident about identify them, that's ok. We all started somewhere, and we're all still learning new birds. The good news is that there are lots of tools available to help you. Field guides are one option and is the option that many of us who have been watching and identifying birds for awhile first learned how to use. However, today there are other tools available as well.
One of those tools is an app created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The app is called Merlin and it guides you through the identification process by asking you a series of questions. Based on your answers, it will offer you a few possible identifications for the bird that you are looking at. As of this recording, I haven't personally used Merlin, but I've been told by multiple people that it is pretty good at helping you get to the correct identification.
Even after the Great Backyard Bird Count is over, you can continue to add your bird observations to eBird. The lists created in eBird can be extremely valuable sources of information. As individuals, we can use them to help us keep track of our personal observations overtime and in different locations. At a larger scale, scientists can also use the observations entered into eBird to help answer broader ecological questions.
Even something as simple as knowing what birds are found in a given area can help us understand what the habitat in that area looks like because certain bird species may only be found in certain habitats. Not finding certain birds in an area can also be important information, especially if those birds were once found in that area. That's one of the ways that long-term databases or lists of birds observed in a single location over a long period of time can be very important in identifying trends or population changes over time.
To date, there have been over 100 scientific papers published using eBird data. The research in many of those papers likely wouldn't have been possible without the contributions of individuals like you and I to citizen science / community science projects like the Great Backyard Bird Count or eBird. Researchers, like everyone else, can only be in one place at a time. However, if we are all helping to make observations and reporting data, then we can do so much more. Not only does the information we gather make it easier to spot changes occurring right now, but it can also be used in the future to answer questions that we may not even know to ask yet.
Crayfish can be considered keystone species in many aquatic and semi-aquatic ecosystems because so many things eat them. However, their importance isn't limited to just being a prey species. Some of our crayfish fall into a group commonly known as the burrowing crayfish. These are the crayfish that burrow underground and often form the mud chimneys that are found around the edges of ponds and streams or in wet meadows. Crayfish burrows are commonly used by a wide variety of animals besides the crayfish that built them.
We have around 400 species of crayfish in North America. The majority of those are in the eastern U.S. and parts of the southeastern U.S. are considered a global hotspot for crayfish biodiversity. Recently, Mael and his colleagues added to this biodiversity by identifying and naming two new crayfish species found in Alabama and Mississippi. Identifying and recognizing new species at the scientific level is important because, when it comes to conservation, one large population of a single species is going to be viewed and managed differently than a population consisting of two or three species, each with much smaller ranges.
Unfortunately, many of us aren't aware of how diverse and special our crayfish populations are. I just think that it's sometimes hard to recognize or appreciate the biodiversity that occurs in our own communities because to us it's "normal" and therefore "nothing special." That's one reason why sharing what we are seeing on platforms such as iNaturalist can be beneficial, because sometimes it takes someone else's eyes and perspective to help us realize just how special something is that we may see every day.
After being harvested, the seeds then have to be dried and cleaned. The cleaning process includes removing all the "fluff" and extra pieces of vegetative material. This can be up to a 17-step process for native seeds, while more traditional crops may only have a few steps in the cleaning process. And each species has different cleaning requirements and needs. Each machine also has to be thoroughly cleaned before the next species can be processed.
When it comes to planting native seeds, site preparation is extremely important. The type of site preparation you need to do will depend on the current use of that land. Is it a yard, an existing garden or crop field, a pasture, etc.? The number one thing you can do for site preparation is weed control and a lack of weed control is the number one reason why native plant stands or gardens fail. The three most common forms of weed control before planting your native seeds are herbicide treatments, solarization, and repeat tillage.
It often takes multiple weed control treatments over several seasons to get a site properly prepped for planting native seeds. Initial weed control is so important prior to planting native seeds because native plants tend to germinate slower and over a longer period of time than many weeds. That longer and slower germination rate can allow weeds to take over and outcompete your native seeds. The old adage for native plants is that first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap, so you really need to do everything you can to reduce the weed competition during the first year or two.
The second most common reason for stand failure with native seeds is probably from planting the seeds too deep. Native seeds need a firm seed bed and often shouldn't be planted more than 1/8 to a 1/4 inch deep. It is usually better for the seeds to be on the surface than planted too deeply. Depending on your goals, the site, and your weed control process, native seeds can be planted in the dormant season (mid-November through early March) or the growing season (mid-April through late-June). Both planting times have their own pros and cons.
One of the things that I really like about Roundstone Native Seed is that they care about their customers and want to help them find the right mixes for them. If you call to talk to Roundstone Native Seed, they'll often take you through what they refer to as a "seed interview." During the seed interview, they will ask you lots of questions aimed at identifying what they believe will be the best mix to meet your specific needs, goals, and location. Their main goal is to help you have good stands and success with your native plants.
I love the fact that land snails are something that we can all find in our yards and communities if we just take the time to look for them. And maybe that is the point – just taking the time to slow down, look, and appreciate all the little things that we so often take for granted. Encouraging land snails in your yard isn't hard either. Basically, all we have to do are the same things that we would do to encourage pollinators, songbirds, or other wildlife – no separate "land snail garden" required.
My mind often focuses on the ecological importance of an organism, so I was surprised to learn that land snails are also being studied for their ability to address a number of medical issues. This has the potential to create another realm of valuable benefits that land snails can provide beyond their ecological benefits. There's just so much that we don't know and still have to learn about land snails and other organisms, especially the less charismatic ones.
In the end, I think Judy had the absolute best quote of the day when she said, "You only protect what you learn to love and you can only love something if you know its name." That is so true and is part of the reason why I include episodes like this which feature some of those undervalued species. I recognize that I don't know enough about land snails and I'm as guilty as the next person of overlooking their importance. So my goal through conversations like this, is to learn more and gain a greater appreciation for some of these less well-known organisms. I've definitely been inspired to start looking for and identifying some of the land snails in my area. I hope you have been too.
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