Gardening for Hot People (Cheryl Rafuse and Katie Upchurch)

Welcome to Gardening for Hot People! This episode we talk about: who we are, what we're about, native plants, cultivars, hostas, how annoying Lily of the Valley is, garden woes, the climate changing, Rachel Carson, respecting our ecosystems, and manage to keep things light even when this ish is serious. 

Welcome to Gardening for Hot People! This episode we talk about: bees, invertabrates, The Xerces Sociey, agriculture, millions of acres of American forests in danger, ways to save the bees, pesticides, avicide (gasp?!), Apple TV show Silo, The Beepocalypse, practical answers, honey bees, Bombus, how bees see flowers, why you should and shouldn't have a honey bee hive, and manage to keep things light even when this ish is serious. 

Rosemary Malfi (she/her) serves as the director of conservation policy at the Xerces Society, a science-driven non-profit dedicated to protecting invertebrates and the habitats they rely on. At Xerces, she supports and advocates for policy solutions that promote the health of pollinators and other beneficial invertebrates. Rosemary holds a Ph.D. in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia (2015) and completed postdoctoral research positions in entomology at UC Davis and biology at UMass Amherst. Before coming to Xerces, Rosemary worked for the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA/Mass), where she spent two years coordinating a grassroots network of community groups dedicated to pollinator protection and pesticide reform in Massachusetts. She lives with her family in Salem, MA where she does her best to implement Cheryl's excellent gardening advice!

Show Notes
- It's actually 280 MILLION ACRES of forest in danger. NOT JUST 280 :(
- Extinct butterfly mentioned by Rosemary: https://www.xerces.org/about-xerces 
- Donate to the Xerces Society here: https://www.xerces.org/donate 
- Honey Bee vs. Native Bees Pictures: https://www.xerces.org/blog/want-to-save-bees-focus-on-habitat-not-honey-bees 
- Brown-belted Bumble Bee (Rosemary's Fave): https://bugguide.net/node/view/3538 
- Long-Horned Bee: https://bugguide.net/node/view/8019 
- Colony Collapse Disorder: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/silence-bees-mystery-missing-bees-covered-retroreport/ 
- Xerces Society Native Plant Lists: https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/pollinator-friendly-plant-lists 
- Plant Magic Gardens Native Plant Design Packets: https://www.plantmagicgardens.com
 
Xerces sign-on letter for public to support listing the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the endangered species list:
https://win.newmode.net/xerces-fws-monarch

Studies folks may want to check out:
- Koh et al. 2016, PNAS. Examines wild bee abundance loss across the US. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1517685113
- Van Deynze et al. 2024, PLoS One. Links pesticides to butterfly declines across the Midwest.  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?
- Wood & Goulson 2017, Environment Science and Pollution Research. Summary of research on impacts of neonicotinoids: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28593544/id=10.1371/journal.pone.0304319
- Conserving Bumble Bees is an older Xerces publication that discusses the importance of bumble bees as pollinators, the challenges they face, and what we can do to conserve them. A sobering fact is that nearly a third of North American bumble bee species are in decline - some severely so.
- Also, from Rosemary: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/06/climate/us-butterfly-population.html?unlocked_article_code=1.104.2eFj.CsBM2syZ1Pgt&smid=url-share

Welcome to Gardening for Hot People! This episode we talk about: winter sowing, burlapping shrubs, hating on Japanese maples, pickle brine, invasive plants, Broad City, The Black Forager, snowbanks, lasagna gardening, online plant ordering, colonizers, invasive plant task forces, learning to love poison ivy, respecting our ecosystems, and manage to keep things light even when this ish is serious. 

Stuff we mentioned:
 - Akibia vine is actually native to Asia NOT AFRICA (sorry)
 - Books mentioned:  Northeast Foraging - Leda Meredith
 - The Black Forager - https://www.youtube.com/c/BlackForager

Welcome to Gardening for Hot People! This episode we talk about: Lepidoptera, milkweed, late season nectar, why butterfly bushes are Skittles, why butterflies flit around, the pollinator wars, mummichogs, The Monarch Gardener’s superhero origin story, planning out your native seed plantings, and manage to keep things light even when this ish is serious. 

Katie Banks Hone (AKA The Monarch Gardener) has been gardening for her entire adult life. She was a 2012 recipient of the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Slow the Flow grant. This helped her transform her family's Ipswich River-front property from the traditional foundation plantings they inherited from the former owners into a haven for wildlife.

In the spring and summer Katie runs a native plant nursery in Topsfield, MA. And year round she brings her knowledge and wonder of the monarch butterfly to community groups in the form of lectures and classes. Find out more at themonarchgardener.com


Stuff we mentioned:
- Indian Skipper: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Hesperia-sassacus
- Monarch weigh station: https://monarchwatch.org/waystations/
- Piping Plover bird: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piping_plover
- Monarch Watch: https://monarchwatch.org/
- Monarch Joint Venture: https://monarchjointventure.org/
- Grow Native Massachusetts: https://grownativemass.org/
- NOFA/Mass: https://www.nofamass.org/
- Native Plant Trust: https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/
- Monarch Gardener website: http://www.themonarchgardener.com/
- The Monarch Gardener Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1A9sysqGwA/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- The Monarch Gardener opens MAY 9TH 2025
OPEN 10-3 FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS:
MAY 9-JULY 26 AND SEPTEMBER 5-20 
AT 180 IPSWICH ROAD, TOPSFIELD MA​​