Sharlyn Martin
Advanced Master Gardener

Sharlyn Martin is on a mission.  She’s concerned about the birds and the bees and the butterflies, and she wants to offer a place for them to thrive in her little corner of the world.  She lives in rural Posey County just north of Mount Vernon, and for years she owned and operated her own pottery shop in New Harmony.

Of course, being a Master Gardener, she was aware of the plight of these smallest of critters, so when she retired she decided to do something about it.   “I wanted a space to help the monarchs survive. Their only host plant is the milkweed and with the mowing of roadsides, urbanization and modern farming practices, native milkweeds are disappearing.” In the spring of 2015, she got seeds from the Posey County Soil and Conservation Service, and then she hired someone to plow up about a quarter of an acre of land that sits in front of her house.

Since then, she has planted several varieties of milkweed, black-eyed Susans, monarda, cosmos, butterfly weed, prairie clover, cone flowers, hollyhock and goldenrod. “It’s a lot of work,” she concedes, noting that “it’s evolving. It changes every year.”  She and her husband, Mike, leave the plants alone during the fall and winter seasons. “The birds eat the seeds, and it is a habitat for rabbits. It’s beautiful when it snows.”  They mow it all down each spring, leaving the plant stalks where they fall. “It’s a good ground cover. It regenerates.”  Looking back, she admits, “I didn’t dream of the birds and bees that it would attract.”

This year she is concentrating on “paying more attention to host plants. I have 10 different host plants for 10 different butterflies.”

As she looks out at her meadow, she reflects on the unexpected outcome: it has also turned out to be beneficial for native bees, other insects and birds.  “It has turned out to be so much more than I ever dreamed.”

Interview and photos by Mary Ann Hughes, Facebook editor