Update on the Appoquinimink
Backyard Habitats

Taking a breather while loading plants into a trailer Families, Friends, and neighbors helped each other pick up Backyard Habitat supplies

This summer’s Backyard Habitats program was a great success!  During the September dispersal of supplies, twenty families from throughout the Appoquinimink Watershed received the supplies needed to start creating of a “Smartyard”.   A “Smartyard” provides habitat using native plant species for a greater diversity of wildlife species, reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizer and pesticide applications, and conserves water resources more than traditional turf grass landscapes.   Native plants, bird baths, bird feeders and rain barrels were all included to help residents create conservation oriented backyards.   Entire families were involved in the process from planning where to plant, to picking up supplies,  to helping dig holes, mulching and planting.

Since September, participants have planted their Backyard Habitats and are enjoying all the wonderful things that the program has brought to their yards.  In a recent article in the Middletown Transcript, reporter Michelle Mostovy-Eisenberg visited with some of our homeowners and was able to learn about how much they appreciated the program.

Tracie and Paul Johnson of Middletown stand in their backyard habitat (Photo by Michelle Mostovy-Eisenberg)

Tracie and Paul Johnson, of Mill Branch in Middletown, said it's a great program and a neat thing to do to help the environment.   Their backyard now sprouts river birch trees, northern bayberry, red maple, serviceberry, inkberry and other native plants.  All they had to pay for was the mulch, which they think is great, considering how expensive the plants normally are and that they were plants they had always wanted anyway.  The Johnsons said it was a great way to bring animals back to the area, since it had been awhile since they had seen a squirrel or rabbit in their yard.   Even the butterflies have stopped by for visits, thanks to the new butterfly bushes in the yard.  “It’s great to sit and look and the birds, butterflies and such,” Paul said.

Middltown's Katherine Myers and son Liam are joined are joined by Ella, the family dog, in the family's garden, planted as part of the Backyard Habitat Program.  (Photo by Michelle Mostovy-Eisenberg)

At Katherine and Chad Myers’ Long Meadow home in Middletown, avid gardener Katherine Myers’ beautiful and spacious garden has always been her special project.  Even son Liam has his own section of the garden, with his colorful mums, morning glories, and marigolds, which he takes care of himself.  With Backyard Habitats, though, it’s about more than planting what’s nice for her and her family, Katherine said.  Now it’s for the wildlife, too.

“It’s opened my eyes,” she said, noting the increase Liam and his brother Conor have seen in their yard of birds and butterflies.  Even Ella, the family dog, enjoys a lazy afternoon in the yard, featuring winterberry, milkweeds, dogwoods, azaleas, and more ... or maybe he just likes the squirrel visitors.

And of course, there is the witch hazel plant, which her grandmother used to have.  Katherine always wanted to have one of her own.  Thanks to the program, she can now look at her own witch hazel in her own backyard.

“It’s helping us gain a bigger appreciation for nature and see birds and butterflies you wouldn’t see otherwise, and to give them a place to go,” Katherine said.