Is Your Garden Part of the Ecosystem?

 

"If something is not eating your plants, then your garden is not part of the ecosystem."

I don’t know the source of this quote, but a meme is circulating around the internet with it. It’s a good one and I hope it has inspired new tolerance for insect herbivore nibblings, but the meme itself doesn’t give any context so it might be a smug platitude for those in the know. 

I want people to learn so I decided to create a graphic to help turn the statement into a quick learning opportunity.

 

If this is your first time hearing this phrase, what does it mean for how we garden?

•         Insects only eat the plants to which they are adapted.
•         Insects eat plants for a reason (eating plants is part of their life cycle).
•         The chain of the ecosystem is that other critters (like birds) eat insects or         eat things that eat insects.

Therefore, supporting insects with plants that they can eat is how your garden can be part of the ecosystem. If you want to have butterflies, bees, birds and more to be part of your garden, you have to support the circle of life. Hopefully this new graphic will help more people understand that. Download the photo and start passing it around.

Thanks to my husband for always helping me to create graphics to support my message.