{"id":8575,"date":"2023-03-27T12:34:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T16:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=8575"},"modified":"2023-04-07T16:21:20","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T20:21:20","slug":"cassidy-need-wont-kill-hornworms-but-she-knows-a-wasp-that-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/spring-2023\/cassidy-need-wont-kill-hornworms-but-she-knows-a-wasp-that-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassidy Need Won’t Kill Hornworms. But She Knows a Wasp That Will."},"content":{"rendered":"
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By incorporating native and edible plants into her landscape designs, Cassidy Need \u201920 is doing her part to sustain the planet\u2014one garden at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The summer day is shimmering hot, its stillness unbroken but for the buzzing of dog-day cicadas. Cassidy Need \u201920, owner of sustainable gardening company Native Edible Designs, is standing in a client\u2019s garden and making a case for a method of gardening that produces far more than just a pretty view. This is a garden that gives back, a garden that sustains species essential for the planet\u2019s survival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The garden is in full late-summer glory. Asparagus, now gone to seed, sports delicate bell-shaped blooms of pale yellow. There are tangles of star-like squash blossoms. And the vibrance of the black-eyed Susans approaches Technicolor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, though, Need\u2019s attention is focused on a monstrously ugly tomato hornworm. It’s green\u2014the shade of the Wicked Witch of the West. This is a mature hornworm, 4 inches long, wide as a panatela cigar, with five pairs of fleshy, stubby prolegs. On its back are white \u201cV\u201d markings atop what appear to be tiny black eyes. Supersized, the hornworm could headline a horror movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need does not reach for pesticide, nor does she pluck the pest from the plant. The garden is designed to dispatch with such marauders without human or chemical intervention. Some plants\u2019 pollen attracts a useful predator of the hornworm, she says. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOne of the cool things I\u2019ve seen in having pollinators around is that they attract a wasp that will lay its eggs inside of the tomato hornworm, and the larva eats the worm from the inside,\u201d Need muses. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of creepy, but effective.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need is proud of the fact that virtually every plant here performs a service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sustainable, organic gardens are Need\u2019s passion. Though beauty and bounty abound in the acreage of this Exeter, R.I., garden, one of the landscapes she manages, Need is equally proud of the fact that virtually every plant here performs a service. No pesticides are used in the garden at any phase of its life cycle. No plastic netting or fencing is used, either. Natural fiber baskets protect the lettuce from the rabbits. Grass clippings are repurposed as mulch. The plate-sized white flowers of hibiscus plants attract insects that pollinate the vegetables. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a garden that even benefits the wild areas surrounding it, as the pollinators it draws are indiscriminate, depositing pollen on cultivated and native plants alike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Need was an undergraduate studying business at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., when she developed an interest in food systems. \u201cI made a big shift and learned how to grow food,\u201d she says. She took time off from school to work on several local organic farms. Eventually, she enrolled at 溏心vlog免费B站, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in plant sciences from the College of the Environment and Life Sciences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the process of working and studying, Need developed an interest in native plants and perennials, realizing the important role they play in establishing a foundation for a functioning ecosystem. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Cassidy<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Need also came to realize that she wanted to start a landscaping business with a teaching component. She didn\u2019t want to merely maintain clients\u2019 gardens. She wanted them to understand the importance of connecting with the natural world by growing food organically and sustainably and incorporating native plants into their landscape designs. Need established Native Edible Designs in December 2020.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Need\u2019s clients aren\u2019t environmentalists initially, they come around. Client Carolyn Lang attests to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hired Cassidy to plant a pollinator plot for me in the spring. She was patient, explaining and educating me\u2014and wanting to do something with my yard other than grass,\u201d Lang says. \u201cThe high point was when I had 15 monarchs swarming the plants. It\u2019s baby steps for me as I learn more about plants and how to proceed, but with her guidance, it\u2019s fun.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOutdoor spaces can be part of the world we live in\u2014rather than something that\u2019s separate.\u201d
\u2014Cassidy Need \u201920 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTeaching people how to grow food, the importance of growing food, the importance of adding native plants to your landscape, and how our outdoor spaces can be part of the world we live in\u2014rather than something that\u2019s separate it\u2019s all very important to me,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 溏心vlog免费B站, Need received the education she needed to channel her various interests\u2014in business, in plant propagation and landscaping, and in sustainable organic farming\u2014into a viable business venture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need notes that her 溏心vlog免费B站 classes in propagation, vegetable production, and fruit culture\u2014as well as practical skills honed while she worked on the Kingston Campus as a landscape maintenance engineer\u2014all inform her work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Need\u2019s second summer in business was marked by a drought so severe that all five Rhode Island counties earned a U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster designation. The Boston Globe would later report that 2022 was Rhode Island\u2019s 18th- driest year in the past 128 years.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change and its effects aren\u2019t theoretical for Need. She sees firsthand the strain and destruction weather events have on the environment. Still, she says, there is evidence that a shift in perspective can make a difference in the natural world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a student at 溏心vlog免费B站, Need was part of the Sunrise Movement, a national youth political action organization working to make climate change a priority, halt the use of fossil fuels, create jobs, and raise awareness about climate issues. The group\u2019s overarching message is that the planet\u2019s and humanity\u2019s fates are intertwined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are several monarch butterflies in the garden. Monarchs, also pollinators, benefitted from human intervention a few years back, Need notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were years when we really didn\u2019t see many monarch butterflies at all, and then people got on the milkweed train and now they\u2019re coming back. So, there is some hope. If people can hop on board, we can make a difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve dreamt about this business for 10 years,\u201d Need continues. \u201cI work 30 to 35 hours in the field, and I don\u2019t know how many more hours at home\u2014like you do in the beginning of any business. I\u2019ve been in this industry for 12 years, since I was 19, and I\u2019ve grown so much in every way possible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an experience she\u2019d like to share. Treating the planet with respect is treating ourselves with respect, Need says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy goal is getting people connected with the outside. Much of sustainability is about remembering that we\u2019re animals, too; we\u2019re part of the environment, and we should be doing our best to keep that connection.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: Nora Lewis. Illustration: iStock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By incorporating native and edible plants into her landscape designs, Cassidy Need \u201920 is doing her part to sustain the planet\u2014one garden at a time. By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen The summer day is shimmering hot, its stillness unbroken but for the buzzing of dog-day cicadas. Cassidy Need \u201920, owner of sustainable gardening company Native Edible Designs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2023","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8575"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13373,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8575\/revisions\/13373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}