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Choosing Native Shrubs for Pollinator Gardens May 9th, 2024
By Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Center
La Vista’s pollinator garden at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Novitiate in Godfrey, IL, is taking on a new look this season. At the wise advice of our master gardener, we’ve introduced native shrubs which are often. overlooked when planning a garden to serve pollinators.
Benefits
(Blooming button bush)
– One mature shrub, like the buttonbush pictured here, can provide more nectar and pollen than a single perennial plant. This bush just hummed with bees and butterflies in April and May!
– Some flowering shrubs bloom early in the season, providing food before other native flowers; for example, outside the office at La Vista, spicebush bloomed while it was still quite cool. Native bees abounded on the small yellow flowers before I observed them anywhere else.
– Native deciduous shrubs often offer seasonal interest; for example, in addition to flowers in spring and summer, they may provide fruit, nuts, seedpods, or berries, like these developing on the spicebush pictured here. In late summer they turn red, attracting wildlife.
– Many native plants are larval hosts for butterflies and moths.
– Once established, most shrubs will not need watering!
– No need for fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides on these natives!
What Are Native Species?
Native species are those that evolved in an area along with animal life, unlike naturalized species introduced by humans, such as those brought by Europeans when they colonized this country as well as those sold by nurseries because they have some special appeal for the unaware gardener. Many nurseries now have a special “native plant” section.
Natives we planted include: nannyberry viburnum, fragrant sumac, buttonbush, black chokeberry, black elderberry, spice bush, arrowwood viburnum and witch hazel. All are doing well in their second year.
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 (Native bee on bloom) |
A New Garden Ethic
Since development and agriculture have eliminated much pollinator habitat, since we have used pesticides so prolifically for so long, and since the climate and biodiversity crises are upon us, it has become our responsibility to plan a garden not only pleasing to the human eye, but also beneficial for pollinators including bees, butterflies, moths, bats, birds, wasps, flies.
To read more about this, get Benjamin Vogt’s book A New Garden Ethic. Let this quote entice you:
“Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it’s social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow.
By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another”.
Oblate Ecological Efforts Praised by Illinois Nature Preserves Commission January 18th, 2024
Thanks to Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI and Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Ctr.
EDITOR‘S NOTE: Fr Séamus Finn, Director of OMIUSA JPIC and OIP, shared an email from Ms. Debbie Newman of the Illinois Dept of Natural Resources praising the Oblate efforts in forest preservation around Godfrey, IL and the work of noted cave explorer and mapper, Fr. Paul Wightman, OMI. Fr. Finn’s enthusiastic introduction is just below, followed by Ms Newman’s email with links to various publications from the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources.
Originally published at OMIUSA.ORG
Thanks to Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI and Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Ctr.
EDITOR‘S NOTE: Fr Séamus Finn, Director of OMIUSA JPIC and OIP, shared an email from Ms. Debbie Newman, a Natural Areas Preservation Specialist with the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, praising the Oblate efforts in forest preservation around Godfrey, IL and the work of noted cave explorer and mapper, Fr. Paul Wightman, OMI. Fr. Finn’s enthusiastic introduction is just below, followed by Ms Newman’s email with links to various publications from the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission.
Thanks to Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI and Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Ctr.
EDITOR‘S NOTE: Fr Séamus Finn, Director of OMIUSA JPIC and OIP, shared an email from Ms. Debbie Newman of the Illinois Dept of Natural Resources praising the Oblate efforts in forest preservation around Godfrey, IL and the work of noted cave explorer and mapper, Fr. Paul Wightman, OMI. Fr. Finn’s enthusiastic introduction is just below, followed by Ms Newman’s email with links to various publications from the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources.
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From Fr. Séamus P. Finn, OMI:
“What a terrific story that OMI USP through our property in Godfrey has been a part of for nearly 30 years. This story that needs to be told, replicated and celebrated.
Brings to mind the talk that Pope Francis delivered on Thursday to a group of visiting priests this week.
Pope to secular missionary priests: ‘Be in the world, for the world “
… Pope Francis began by underlining “the value of secularity in the life and ministry of priests.” “Secularity (secolarità),” he stressed, “is not synonymous with secularism (laicità)…
Secularity, he said, is rather “a dimension of the Church,” having to do with its mission to “serve and bear witness to the Kingdom of God in this world.‘
Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND
Special thanks to Sr Maxine Pohlman SSND who keeps this relationship alive for all of us.
The email clearly lays out the value of the Missionary Oblates Woods Nature Preserve in the big picture and the work we do there. It brings to mind the foresight and guiding hand of (the late) Fr. Bob Moosbrugger, OMI, who was integral to this project in the beginning. Enjoy! “
- Fr. Séamus P. Finn, OMI, Director, OMIUSA JPIC, OIP
Read the full article @OMIUSA.ORG
From Ms. Debbie S. Newman
Greetings Landowners, Partners and Volunteers!
Happy New Year to each and every one of you! I hope you had a good holiday season. I hope 2024 will be a great year for you.
Working with volunteers in the preserve are: Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, (far right) and next to her is Natural Area Preservation Specialist, for the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources, and author of the email below, Debbie S, Newman.
Read the full article @OMIUSA.ORG
Volunteer Gratitude Luncheon at La Vista January 4th, 2023
Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Center
Throughout each year groups of volunteers come from far and near to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Novitiate in Godfrey, IL, to spend themselves caring for the land by removing invasive trees, vines, and bushes; conducting prescribed burns; removing trash after flooding; restoring the Pollinator Garden to health; and caring for the renovated Lodge.
After our usual December workday, volunteers were invited to gather the Novitiate for lunch so I could express gratitude for their generosity. As it turned out, much more happened during our time together. Since there are four groups who work at various times, we found this an opportunity to meet one another on a deeper level. As participants introduced themselves and their interests in the field of ecological restoration, we were all enriched and amazed at the varied talents and areas of expertise among the group. Young and old felt encouraged by belonging to this unique blend of generous volunteers.
As I reflected on the experience, I realized that even more was happening: volunteers were giving flesh to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si by “caring for our common home”, as well as to the Oblates’ Land Ethic by valuing the land known as La Vista.
La Vista Ecological Learning Center’s Outreach Ministry October 5th, 2022
Photo courtesy of Philippe Oursel, Unsplash
By Maxine Pohlman, SSND
As part of the outreach ministry of La Vista Ecological Learning Center, I recently offered a four-day retreat to the retired School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) at the Sarah Community in Bridgeton, Missouri. The theme for the retreat was Laudato Si and SSND, during which I explored with the Sisters how our SSND charism aligns with and is challenged by Pope Francis’ encyclical. The hope for the retreat was that Sisters would learn more about the urgency of the ecological crisis along with ways to be more integral to the solution than the cause.
Each day I addressed one concept from the encyclical, showing how Pope Francis’s words revealed new ways to live and express SSND’s charism of unity. Themes included universal communion, ecological spirituality, ecological conversion, and ecological education. Along with the morning presentation, each Sister received a handout with quotes from the SSND Constitution, Laudato Si, and a prayer experience that gave flesh to the theme of the day. The retreat had a unique hybrid form, offering morning presentations and the option of individual direction in the afternoon with SSND spiritual companions.
Not wanting to overly burden the Sisters with facts about our crisis, I embraced Pope Francis’ attitude and ended each morning with one of my favorite quotes:
Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope. (244)
Friends of the Oblates Preserves Receives Award @ Illinois State Fair August 25th, 2021
(Photo L-R): Bill Rathmann, DNR Director Colleen Callahan, Sister Maxine Pohlman, Robert White, Connie Rathmann, Sandy Budde, Bill Zimmerman
Illinois State Fair at a Glance:
- The Illinois State Fair is an annual 11-day festival celebrating agriculture, farmers and related industries
- First celebrated in 1853 in Chicago, IL, the fair is now in its 158th year.
- The fair has moved to Springfield, IL and is held nearly every year with few exceptions (it was canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic)
- Average attendance is around half a million, climbing to nearly 1 million in 2012 and 2013 and dropping back down to about 500,000 in 2019.
- Corn-dogs-on-sticks, a popular edible treat at U.S. fairs is said to have originated at the Illinois State Fair
