Appearance of Grasshoppers

Grasshopper on Rudbeckia laciniata

As a child growing up in Madison Wisconsin there were grasshoppers everywhere. I have not seen one in my landscape since moving to Florida and setting up landscapes in suburbia. They just don't exist. If someone would have told me as a child that I would be excited to share my yard with grasshoppers someday, I wouldn't have believed them. Two days ago, I found the first grasshopper in my newly developing landscape and I feel like I am now finally making real progress.
Although those of us that garden with native plants are rightfully concerned with the crisis facing pollinators, the problem is much more deeply seated than this. Developed landscapes have lost much more than pollinators. We have lost insects - period, and that is serious. Dr. Tallamy, in Bringing Nature Home, has opened up many people's eyes to the loss of caterpillars as bird food, but birds feed their young (and themselves) on a much broader diet than the caterpillars of butterflies and moths. While we may be placated into thinking that all it takes is planting the "10 Best Native Trees and Shrubs" to turn the corner on making progress in our landscapes, attracting all sorts of other insects is equally important. Grasshoppers, like the one I've just discovered in my newly developing landscape, are just as important as bird food and as a cog in the great web of life.
I am not sure where this grasshopper came from, but it arrived and that means that there is some sort of corridor present in my neighborhood where pesticides are not routinely applied. Perhaps it's the overall benign neglect that most of my neighbors give to their yards. None of them seem to have a regular "lawn maintenance" company under contract to spray their lawns. I have not seen one since I've moved in, just "mowers and blowers".  Across the street is an excavated retention pond that has a fringe of weedy plants, but at least it is left pretty much undisturbed. Perhaps my grasshopper emerged from that.
We create life as often by neglect as by purposeful activity. I have spent a great many hours now planting native plants to my formerly sterile landscape. This has made a significant difference to the diversity of bees and other pollinators that now share my home, but it has done little to create bird food. Birds do not eat bees - at least not in my neighborhood. They do feed on the butterfly caterpillars my host plants provide for, but that isn't really enough. A living landscape needs all the components found in nature - not just caterpillars and bees. Grasshoppers, crickets, spiders and other invertebrates also need to be present and so I am excited by this grasshopper. I've added a number of native grass species into my wildflower meadow. I hope this helps. There are butterflies that also use these as host plants, but I will be just as excited to see grasshoppers chewing on my grasses. The mowed part of my yard is a necessary evil of living in suburbia. Letting my turf grasses grow without mowing is not an option when living with neighbors and lawn ordinances. Adding them to a planned "garden" makes it ok.
Over time, my plantings will develop. I hope that the diversity of life it provides for will develop also. As it does, I will continue to post about it.