Spring 2009: Building Biotic Communities: Gardening and Landscaping for BioDiversity

Note: This course involved a series of five discrete workshops, and was offered through EXPERIMENTAL COLLEGE (EXCO) during Winter/Spring 2009. Future workshops or customized presentations similar to this topic are available by contacting Neil Cunningham at leavesofnoise@gmail.com.

Workshop description

The intention of this course is twofold: to better understand the roles of plants and insects in the urban landscape, and to discuss how gardeners can add ecological value and bio-diversity to their gardens by adding native perennials.

To accomplish this, this course will open a discussion about the importance of insects (and other organisms) in the context of the food web, composting, pollination, and biological control. Techniques for basic insect identification as well as ways to attract and create habitat for insects will be demonstrated.

The role of perennial plants will be discussed in terms of how plants create habitat for arthropods, conserve resources, and add aesthetic value to landscapes. Through image-rich slideshows and live organisms, course participants will be see the process and techniques of transforming turf landscapes into perennial gardens, and also see how seeds can be collected, processed, and stored from various plants.

At the end of the course, each participant will receive a “sample pack” of native perennial plants in order to apply the concepts discussed in the real world.

For more information about this course, contact Neil at leavesofnoise@gmail.com