Summer of the Monarch Top 10 Things to do!
by Karin Daly
Did you know that this summer is the Summer of the Monarch in Glen Ellyn? And did you know that we are the only place in Illinois that earned the highest recognition in the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge program?Indeed we are “Monarch Champions!” Only 8 municipalities nationwide earned this designation. Congrats to the Village and the Park District!
But we cannot rest on these laurels. To maximize our ‘Summer of the Monarch,’ here are ten things you can do to celebrate this distinction AND keep Glen Ellyn green and healthy for this summer and many summers to come! And guess what, some of them involve beer!
Save the dates to Celebrate Monarchs! Fill up your calendar with all the amazing events planned in GE by the Downtown Alliance, the Village of Glen Ellyn, Go Green, The Park District, Bike Glen Ellyn and more! Check out all the downtown stores and their butterfly displays (Shopping and eating local is green and helps keep the green $ local!) Plus Go Green GE is sponsoring three Monarch Sip and Talks this summer:
Sip and Talk 1: Learning from Lurie - Designing for Monarchs; May 12, 7pm at the Beer Cellar. Free with registration. Appetizers and Cash Bar
Sip and Talk 2: Surf and Turf - Great Lakes, Great Lawns; June 9th 7pm, Maplewood Brewery. Appetizers and Cash Bar, Registration link coming soon.
Sip and Talk 3: Dark Sky Talk (7pm) andWalk (8:45) July 14th, Reserve 22. Appetizers and Cash Bar, Registration link coming soon.
Plant Native plants in your yard to benefit the butterflies and be more sustainable. Go Green has long preached the benefits of native gardening. Check out our evergreen blogpost on this very topic. Always worth repeating! We’ve done some digging (get it?) to bring you all the resources you need for a rockstar yard:
Here is a curated list of what plants to include (for our area) if you want more butterflies in your garden.
Stock up on those plants at local native sales. We have scoured local sources to find native plant sales in our general vicinity.
If you want to learn how to properly plant a tree, then help plant native trees May 8th, 9-12 at Churchill Park with the Park District and the Morton Arboretum. Proper tree planting instruction provided. Sign up here.
Learn more on your own! Visit the Village of GE’s sustainable yards page. Plus you can expand your learning with content and classes at:
Remove invasives like buckthorn and honeysuckle from your yard. This allows native plants to have a fighting chance to thrive.
Learn how to identify invasives in Illinois with this guide from the Conservation Foundation.
Read more about restoring your area with these resources: Battling Invasives and How to restore your area.
Help GE Park District and Forest Preserve remove invasives by volunteering:
Park District at Churchill Park on May 16th, 9-11a (Look for other Habitat Hero events!)
Forest Preserve. Follow this link, and search for ‘restoration’
Get scrappy and start composting! We have talked often in this space about the benefits of composting – from removing green house gasses to improving your soil condition. Take the next step!
Learn about composting and options in Glen Ellyn (on your own and with help!)
A new composting option is the Urban Canopy, which now picks up and delivers in Glen Ellyn and they even take items not collected by GE’s service. The Urban Canopy’s Compost Club has a special offer for Go Green Glen Ellyn's community members. Sign up for residential container-swap composting service using the coupon code GGGE26 and receive your first month of service for free. (Go Green GE gets a small donation for every new service sign up as part of Urban Canopy’s commitment to supporting sustainable organizations.)
Celebrate International Compost Awareness Week May 3-9 Yes, there are events!
Get your hands dirty with some finished compost at these pickup locations: (bring your own container)
SCARCE Growing Green Market - tomorrow, May 2nd, 9a-1p for a small fee
Naperville on May 9th, 9AM – 1PM Public Works Service Center, 180 Fort Hill Drive, Naperville, free
Leave the Leaves. Take care when doing spring clean up. If you left a blanket of cozy leaves in your flower beds, wait until the temperature averages 50 degrees to protect beneficial larvae (we are very close now!). Read Leave the Leaves for more information. The effort called No Mow May picked up some steam over the years, but most turf grasses do not house beneficial larvae, so mow away! There are many more things (like reading this newsletter!) that are more beneficial to making our yards more sustainable.
Mulch with care. A too thick layer of mulch that is too close to tree trunks can smother and cause trunk rot. Mulch a donut shape rather than a volcano around your tree trunks. (Mulch that is too close to your house can also be a fire hazard.) Our GE trees include keystone species that are the engines of local ecosystems, so treat them well!
Avoid pesticides and herbicides as they can kill the good bugs, butterflies and birds either directly or by harming their sources of food and shelter. Avoid services like Mosquito Joe as these sprays are non-selective broad-spectrum insecticides, posing risks to pollinators, aquatic life, and beneficial insects.
What about local mosquito abatement? Glen Ellyn mosquito prevention is serviced by the Milton Mosquito Abatement District, managed by Milton Township. Some amount of mosquito control is needed to avoid the spread of disease like West Nile Virus.
Learn more: Milton Township will be hosting the abatement vendor, Clarke, for a mosquito control information session on May 6th at 6pm at the Township Main Office, 1492 North Main Street in Wheaton.
Get Certified! Notice those cool signs around your neighbors' gardens? If you have done all of the above, plus stormwater management (like a rain barrel or a rain garden) you can become certified as an environmentally-friendly landscape through the Conservation Foundation Conservation@Home program. This involves a checklist and a home visit, easy peasy. Why not get certified this summer?
Ride your bike or walk to your destination to shrink your carbon footprint. May is Bike Month and GE is bike friendly, if you can avoid the middle school e-bikers!
Glen Ellyn is lucky to have a family friendly monthly slow roll bike ride led by Bike Glen Ellyn, AND be home to the historic Prairie Path (the first 'rails to trails' project in the country!) not to mention the Great Western Trail. You can also support efforts to build the East Branch DuPage Trail for a N-S route to the Arboretum. More info here.
Learn more about local active transportation (and the barriers!) by attending the event “DuPage Transportation Panel: How Do You Get There Without a Car” featuring PACE, PADS, Ride Illinois, DuPage Senior Citizens Council and D4 County Board Member and Transportation Committee Chair, Mary Fitzgerald Ozog. The event is May 21st at 6pm at Main Street Rec Center. Ride your bike or walk to be entered into a raffle. Go Green will be tabling. More info here.
Don’t Idle, as a simple way to reduce toxic pollution that hurts plants, birds, bees, butterflies and humans, particularly little humans who are at tailpipe height. And it is easy - just turn off your car when waiting in a pick up line or for a train to pass. The League of Women Voters of GE (with Go Green and other partners’ help) has created a campaign that has been taken up by local schools. The Village is the next target! Idling Awareness day is May 21st, but every day is a good day not to idle. Not convinced? Watch this video by Arbor View Elementary students (inspired after a visit from Jac at Go Green!)
Thanks for all you do to keep GE GREEN!
