Summary

While carpenter bees get a bad rap, they are also important pollinators and play a vital role in the ecosystem. Their bad reputation can also sometimes be overblown. So, let’s talk a little bit about carpenter bees, why they are important, and how to discourage them from nesting in places where you don’t want them.

3 things you’ll learn from this episode:

• Where you can find eastern carpenter bees and how to identify them.
• Why you need carpenter bees if you want gulf fritillary butterflies whose caterpillars host on purple passionflower vines.
• Simple, non-lethal ways to discourage carpenter bees from creating nesting tunnels where you don’t want them drilling into your wooden structures.

Other helpful Backyard Ecology™ resources:

• The Backyard Ecologist’s Newsletter
• The Backyard Ecology™ Community
  
  

Thank you

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.

Learn more: https://www.backyardecology.net/community/

Summary

Dr. Doug Tallamy shares the story of how he and his wife transformed their newly built home located on a former hayfield into a thriving forest ecosystem. We talk about how they got started, their struggles along the way, the habitat wins they’ve celebrated, and what his next steps are for his property. He also shares what he’s most excited about, his thoughts on creating habitat that you can maintain as you get older, information about his newest book, and much more.

Today’s guest

Dr. Doug Tallamy has been an entomologist at the University of Delaware for 44 years and is the author of such well-known books as Bringing Nature Home, Nature’s Best Hope, and The Nature of Oaks. His newest book is How Can I Help?: Saving Nature with Your Yard. He is also the co-founder of Homegrown National Parks.

3 things you’ll learn from this episode:

• Doug Tallamy’s personal story of how he and his wife transformed their newly built home located on a former hayfield into a thriving forest ecosystem.
• Answers to some of the most common questions he is asked.
• His thoughts on how climate change should influence which native plants we plant on our properties.

Resources Doug mentioned:

• Bringing Nature Home *
• Nature’s Best Hope *
• The Nature of Oaks *
• How Can I Help?: Saving Nature with Your Yard *
• Homegrown National Parks
• Native Plants for Container Gardens

* affiliate links – We receive a small commission for purchases made through these links, but it comes at no extra cost to you. All commissions that we receive through these links goes toward producing Backyard Ecology™ content. We appreciate your support.

Other Backyard Ecology resources:

• Backyard Ecology Community

Thank you

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.

• Why darkness is so important.
• What light pollution is and how prevalent it is.
• 4 simple ways you can combat light pollution around your home.

• Light pollution wastes energy and money and damages the climate
• The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness
• Citizen scientists report global rapid reductions in the visibility of stars from 2011 to 2022

• BirdCast: Revealing the Mysteries of Bird Migration
• Light Pollution and Its Impacts on Birds and Other Wildlife