Backyard Birds

The birds and native plants of North Carolina have co-evolved over thousands of years.  As wilderness shrinks with development and backyard space increases, your role in providing natural sources of food and habitat for birds becomes much more important.

Songbirds

By choosing to add native fruit and seed bearing plants to your yard, you can provide birds with the year-round food and cover that they need.  Native plants can support 10 to 50 times more species of local wildlife than their non-native counterparts, so there is also a great benefit for those of us who would like to see a greater variety of birds in our yards.  Ideally, your feeders should only supplement the natural types of food you make available.

To find out what plants are native to our area, a good resource is the North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s publication, Managing Backyards and other Urban Habitats for Birds.  This very useful short guide lists native food sources and the groups of birds benefited.  Some of the suggested plants to consider, along with their time of fruit/seed availability, are the following:

• Red maple (Acer rubrum)- tall tree; March to April.
• Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica) – short tree; August to October.
• Red mulberry (Morus rubra) – shrub; May to June.
• Blackberry (Rubus odoratus) – shrub; June to July.
• Native virburnum (Viburnum spp.) – shrub; August to December.
• Muscadine grape (Vitis rotundiflora) – vine; August to October.
• Native aster (Aster spp.) – flower; August to Feb.
• Tickseed (Coreopsis lanceolata) – flower; September to March.

These plants give an example of a mix of plant types, heights, and food that will be available throughout the year.  The more plant diversity you have in your habitat, the greater the diversity of birds that will be attracted to your yard.

 Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds arrive in our area in late March and stay until mid October.  They are attracted to areas with a variety of plants that produce bright, tubular flowers.   If you can only choose one plant, make it the Trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) which flowers June to October.  This is the hummingbird’s most favorite plant, as are vine filled tangles in general.

Here are a few other hummingbird favorites that are native to North Carolina, along with their flowering dates:

• Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) – March to April.
• Iris (Iris spp.) – April to May.
• Beardtongue (Penstemon spp.) – May to June.
• Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) – July to October.

            If you use hummingbird feeders, fill them with a boiled solution made of four parts water to one part sugar.  Food coloring and honey are not recommended.

A few quick don’ts

Avoid pruning trees and shrubs during the nesting season — early March through late July.  Bird nests can be damaged or exposed to predators and the weather if the vegetation around the nest is removed.

If your circumstances allow, don’t pull up your poison ivy.  This understandably unloved plant produces fruit from August to November for robins, chickadees, waxwings, and many other birds.

Also, if circumstances permit, don’t cut down that dead tree.  Snags (dead trees) are used by woodpeckers for nesting and feeding; chickadees, carolina wrens, and titmice use the woodpecker holes for nesting.

And don’t mow the grass.  Birds are more likely to use unmowed, unmanicured areas of your yard.

Resources

An excellent resource for more information on native plants for your backyard bird habitat is Gardening for the Birds by Thomas Barnes (1999, Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky).  North Carolina Extension Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture maintains a site at www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild/ with good birding information and links to many other useful birding websites.

Published in the Sanford Herald.

Fall Planting

Ready for fall fever?  Lee County gardeners should consider trading in some of their spring fever for the fall variety because September, October, and November are excellent months for planting container-grown perennials, trees, and shrubs.

When you consider that most plants are available in spring, most people buy their new plants in spring, and theory has it that container-grown plants can be set out nearly year-round, you could deduce that spring is a fine time to plant.  Well yes, but since we are gardening in the more southern reaches of Zone 7, planting in the fall is often a better choice.  Our short springs so quickly give way to very hot and often dry weather.  If you set out your new plants during hotter times of the year you will have to spend more time, money and energy watering and generally put your new plants under undue stress.   And a plant under stress will also be more susceptible to unwanted insects and disease.

The main issue is the roots.  Your plants need sufficient time (generally four to six weeks) to establish good roots before the onset of cold or hot, dry weather.  By planting during the months of September, October, and November, your plants will have ample time to develop an extensive root system before new foliage growth occurs and freezing soil temperatures set in.  And you can give the plant an added boost by choosing to plant on a cool overcast day.

Of course, there is one little glitch in this fall planting strategy.  The best and widest selection of perennials may only be offered in the spring at many garden centers while they are also offering warm-season annuals and late-flowering bulbs.  By fall, the garden center may not even be open.  So you will need to find other sources for new plants during this time and you will want to make good, healthy selections from the plants available.

Here are a few suggestions by type of plant.

Bulbs

Spring flowering bulbs must be planted in the fall to allow time for root development and to satisfy cold requirements (6-20 weeks, depending on the type of bulb).  Root growth will begin in the fall and continue through the winter.  The soil temperature is the most important consideration.  You will need to wait until the soil temperature is below 60 degrees Fahrenheit to plant your bulbs, and in Zone 7 that usually means planting in November to early December.

Shrubs

Fall is the prime time for planting healthy container-grown or balled and burlapped shrubs.  After planting, your shrubs will need at least 4 weeks of soil temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit to get their roots down, so November is still a good time to plant new shrubs and to move older shrubs that have outgrown their location.

Trees

October and November are good months to plant trees.  You will have the best success with deciduous trees after they have gone dormant.  You can continue to plant trees in to early December and, once planted, you can continue to water in your new trees as long as the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged.

Perennial flowers

You can plant perennial flowers until the end of November to ensure six weeks of root growth before the ground is expected to freeze.  Late-planted perennials will benefit from a three to five inch layer of mulch to help hold in the ground warmth.

Ornamental grasses

Here is one contrarian tip.  Although there are cool-season ornamental grasses that grow roots in the cooler periods of both spring and fall, it is best to wait until spring to plant them.  They will be using their energy for those beautiful fall plumes.

I feel some fall fever coming on!

Published in the Sanford Herald.

 

Invasive Exotics

Everyone knows that kudzu has taken over parts of the landscape that edge our highways. Given the right conditions, kudzu can completely cover a tree in a matter of days, and no gardener would knowingly transplant it in his or her yard.  Fact is, this plant was intentionally introduced into the United States to reduce soil erosion and got completely out of control.  Similarly, no one would choose to plant crabgrass within a lawn, but the US Patent Office introduced it thinking it would make a good forage plant.  Imagine your lawn without crabgrass.

These are just two familiar examples of invasive exotic plants and the havoc they can produce.  But many gardeners are buying other plants at home garden centers and nurseries with the potential to do as much damage to the vegetation and wildlife of North Carolina as kudzu and crabgrass.

An exotic plant is one that is not native to an area, in our case North Carolina.  It is invasive if it is capable of rapid reproduction and is lacking in natural predators and diseases to control it.  Most of the exotic plants in North Carolina come from areas of Asia and Western Europe that have a similar climate and other environmental conditions as ours.  We are drawn to them for use in our gardens for their colorful berries or their pest resistance or ability to tolerate harsh conditions, and it is for reasons such as these that the potential for invasiveness is greatly increased.

Rest assured that not all non-native plants are invasive.  Many garden exotics, such as roses and pansies, are not a concern and only a small percentage of exotics are known to be a problem.  Yet many gardeners are planting species that can escape the environment of a flower garden and become a nuisance in their own yard or possibly a real threat to the flora and fauna of our area, decreasing space for native plants that more adequately use the resources of light, water, and nutrients and provide better food and protection local animals and birds.

Some commonly used landscape plants that are known to aggressively displace native vegetation are English ivy, mimosa, Chinese privet, Japanese honeysuckle, and beach vitex.  Invasive exotics that presently pose a lesser threat but have not become a full-scale problem are nandina, Queen Anne’s lace, and Oregon grape.  These are just a few examples.

As part of good gardening practice, plant lovers should familiarize themselves with exotics that have the potential to be destructive so an informed decision can be made.  Particular plants already in the yard could be removed, some you may choose not to add to a garden in the future, or some, like English ivy, could be used and controlled by planting them in a pot.

Several organizations in North Carolina have compiled lists of risky exotics that you can refer to when planning your garden.  The North Carolina Native Plant Society publishes a list, available on the internet, based on three levels of potential for invasiveness (http://www.ncwildflower.org).  Other lists can be found in the North Carolina Extension Service’s publication Landscaping  for Wildlife with Native Plants and at the North Carolina Botanical Garden website (http://www.unc.edu/depts/ncbg).

All three resources also list plants that are native to North Carolina that can be used as replacements for the invasive exotics in your landscape.  Many of the natives will be just as beautiful, will need less care, and possibly serve as an attraction to local populations of butterflies, humming birds and other welcome wildlife to your yard.  So why not choose a native plant instead?

 Published in the Sanford Herald.

Ornamental grasses

Long appreciated in European and Asian gardens, ornamental grasses are finally beginning to grow in reputation here in the U.S.

What’s the big deal about ornamental grasses?  For starters, you probably couldn’t find an easier group of plants to care for.  The ornamentals are very adaptable, hardy, relatively disease- and pest-free, and very low maintenance.  Most thrive in sun but also do well in a variety of other light conditions, can grow in soils from sand to heavy clay, and work well in a range of climate and moisture conditions.  Can’t get much friendlier than that.

And they happen to be beautiful plants.  Becoming more recognized for their architectural effects and environmental uses, ornamental grasses will also give your landscape all-season interest:  an array of foliage colors in spring and summer, dancing plumes in late summer and autumn, and structure and habitat protection in winter.

If you think “ornamental grass” is synonymous with pampas grass or liriope, think again because a wide selection of grasses can now be found at local nurseries and garden centers.  You’ll find plants that grow to only a few inches in height, such as mondo grass, all the way up to the towering Arundo donax (giant reed grass) that can reach 15 feet high and six feet across.  Foliage can be gray, blue, or green; some are variegated with whites, creams, or yellows; and some foliage is even shocking orange and blood red.  Plumes are also to be found in a wide range of colors.

Here are some pointers to keep in ming for choosing and caring for grasses:

Selecting your plant

First, consider the light conditions where you would like to put your plant.  True grasses will like lots of sun and the sedges and rushes tend to prefer shade.  Next, consider your soil and it’s moisture conditions.  If too much water is a problem, look into buying a sedge or one of the rushes.  When a showy plume entices you to buy it in the fall, don’t do it.  You’ll want the plant to root properly before the onset of winter.  Spring and summer would be the ideal tie to put new grasses in the ground.

Planting

Plant your grass with the crown slightly above soil level; planting too high can rot the grass.  Most importantly, know the relative size of the mature plant and make sure you give it the room it needs to grow.  Check on the plant’s water needs for the first few weeks, but once established you’ll need to be more careful about over-watering it.  If you want to use a fertilizer, try a slow release type of 10-10-10.

Now you can just sit back and enjoy your grass until early spring!

Cutting back

Cut back deciduous grasses in the early spring before new growth appears.  Never cut back the new growth on your grass!  If the mature plant is under three feet, cut it back to two inches; if it’s over three feet, cut it back to four inches.  Evergreen varieties may need only a bit of combing with your fingers to remove dead foliage.

Dividing

If you have a grass that is a few years old and beginning to die in the center, or if you just feel the plant is getting too big, divide it.  You can do this in the early spring after you have cut it back, just to keep things simple.  Divide the plant in half (or more) and eliminate any deadened areas.  Replant the grass immediately since it is best not to expose the roots to the sun.  Dividing is also the best way to propagate most grasses to ensure the plant retains the characteristics you’ve chosen it for, such as a unique variegation.

A sample of ornamental grasses

 Here are a few if the grasses I happen to like.  For beautiful powder blue foliage try Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’; it also makes a good ground cover.  For red foliage there is Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’ and Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax).  Want a privacy screen for your yard?  Try one of the large Miscanthus species.  The Carex species like shade.  To see delicate foliage dancing in the breeze, try Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) or Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Lights’.  Briza maxima (large quaking grass) has reddish seedheads like rattle snake rattles that turn pale yellow when dry.  And just for plain fun try Juncus (corkscrew grass) that looks like curly green hair.

But don’t just rely on these suggestions.  Look through catalogues and at your local nursery to find the right grasses for you.

Published in the Sanford Herald.

Backyard butterflies

You can become a lepidopterist without any extra time in school and without paying any dues! All you have to do is provide butterflies with a place to lay eggs, food plants for their larva, a place to form a chrysalis, and nectar plants for the adults.

In fact, these needs are easily planned for by considering only the larval stage and the adult stage.

Larval stage

There is a wonderful thing about butterfly larvae.  They are very host-plant specific.  This means that by choosing the one or two particular plants on which a specific butterfly will lay her eggs, you can attract that species to your yard,

The monarch, for instance, will only lay her eggs on milkweed plants.  When the egg hatches, the monarch butterfly will begin devouring the milkweed’s foliage and thereby acquire all the food it needs for this stage of its life.

You will be happy to know that, although caterpillars munch off the foliage of the host plant, most butterfly caterpillars will never cause the damage we associate with moth caterpillars such as the bagworm or the gypsy moth.  Add a few extra plants and you may not even notice the missing foliage.

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension guide “Butterflies in Your Backyard” can be of great help in choosing caterpillar host plants for the adult butterflies you wish to attract. [Or refer to the agriculture service in your particular state.]  Here you will find that fritillaries prefer violets, the gulf fritillary loves passionflowers, and that the wild indigo duskywing has a preference for, of all things, the wild indigo plant.

So, now you have the caterpillars.  To keep them around, you must provide the food and shelter needed for the adult stage.

The adult stage

Adult butterflies are less plant specific and enjoy a wider range of food sources, though they still have some definite preferences.  When spring temperatures reach 60 degrees, butterflies begin to move around and look for spring flowers.  They are attracted to dense clusters of red, yellow, orange, pink, and purple blossoms.  The flower tubes offered in your garden should be of varying depths to accommodate the varying proboscis lengths of individual butterfly species. Place your nectar-producing plants in a location that receives six hours of full sun, as the adults of most species prefer to feed in the sunlight.

Some important nectar-producing herbs and wildflowers you might plant are purple coneflower, beebalm, phlox, rudbeckia, and goldenrod.  This group will produce nectar from May through October.  To provide nectar earlier in the season, from March until June, shrubs and trees offer some of the best choices.  Consider virginia willow, eastern redbud, wild azalea, and blueberry as your spring bloomers.

When choosing plants for your butterfly garden, remember that the greater the variety of nectar plants you offer, with bloom times from March through October, the more variety of butterflies you will attract to your yard.  Again, the publication “Butterflies in Your Backyard” will be of great assistance in your selection and lists only those nectar plants native to North Carolina.  Non-native ornamentals are often bred for color and bloom size and not for quality nectar production.

Some tips

• Some butterflies prefer to eat tree sap or rotting fruit rather than nectar.  Place applesauce, watermelon rinds, over-ripe bananas, and other fruits in a partially shaded garden nook to attract these species.
• Male butterflies like to “puddle”.  They do this to ingest salts for the production of sperm.  Create a puddle by providing a moist area of salt, sand, or compost.
• Butterfiles need havens fromm wind, rain, and predators.  Provide these by arranging leaf, rock or brush piles near your butterfly garden.
• Place a few rocks in your backyard.  Butterflies like to bask in the early morning sun, allowing their wings to act as solar collectors that soak up the sun before they fly.

The National Audubon Society (www.audubon.org) and the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org) have good butterfly information and links, and the Carolina Butterfly Society (www.carolinabutterflysociety.org) has an excellent list of North Carolina butterfly populations.  If you prefer to use a book for reference, I would recommend G. Ajilvsgi’s “Butterfly Gardening for the South,” published in 1990 by Taylor Publishing Co. of Dallas, Texas.

Learn as much as you can about your favorite butterflies; then you can tell all your friends you’re a lepidopterist!

Published in the Sanford Herald.

Let your yard go wild

Want to attract more wildlife to your yard?  Making a few simple changes could increase the number and variety of birds, butterflies, and other species visiting or living on your property.  To entice more wildlife to your backyard, consider these four basic habitat needs:  food, water, cover, and space.

Food

Food includes seeds, fruit, nectar, and insects.  How many of these are you providing?

Many of us are already providing raised bird feeders in our yards.  A simple adjustment you could make to attract a greater variety of birds is to spread seed on the ground to ground feeders such as mourning doves, cardinals, and eastern towhees.  White millet seed is the seed of choice for many of our ground-feeding birds, so add this seed to the top of your shopping list.  Choose a feeding spot within 10 feet of cover to allow your birds a quick escape from predators.

Water

Not everyone has a pond or other natural water source on their property, but many of us have raised bird baths.  Here again, think ground level.

A simple dish on the ground will offer a wider of birds and small mammals the opportunity to drink and bathe.  This water source should be two to three inches deep, 24 to 36 inches in diameter, and, again,  within 10 feet of escape cover.

A longer-term project would be to add a small pond to your wildlife site.  In addition to the small mammals and birds this will attract, a pond will also provide cover and a reproduction area for small fish and amphibians –and it’s a beautiful improvement to your landscape, too!

Cover

Cover is necessary for nesting, roosting, and for escape.  This is usually the least considered habitat need — and one of the most important.

If you are presently lacking trees, shrubs, and ground cover within 10 feet of your feeders, consider adding a few.  Clustering these plants close together will allow your wildlife to move around easily with exposing themselves to predators.  At least one good cluster of evergreen trees and shrubs will offer year-round protection from both the weather and predators.  Think about adding a blackberry bush for cover; it has the added benefit of doubling as a good source of food.

Rock and brush piles are another great addition to consider for attracting small mammals and amphibians.  A brush pile near your feeders will also increase the number of birds you see.  Construct a pile with treetops, an old Christmas tree, or other loosely stacked debris.

When choosing plants for cover, strongly consider using plants native to North Carolina [or your state].  Native plants are usually better for our site conditions and require less maintenance.  This means less time and money for you and provides better food, protection, and nesting choices for your wildlife.  The publication “Landscaping for Wildlife with Native Plants” has an excellent list of a wide range of native North Carolina plants.  [For NC and all other states, see National Wildlife Federation's website below.]

Space

Space is easy.  This is your yard.  After designating areas for more formal gardens (most likely your front yard) and areas for family activities, plan a space in a more remote section of your property as your wildlife area.  Wildlife like things a bit messy (like your new brush pile) and tucking your habitat in a remote corner may keep your neighbors happier, too.

If you would like more in-depth information on planning your wildlife area, check into these two useful Internet sites: The National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat site, www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat and a site maintained by North Carolina Extension Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture at www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild.

So, go wild — and have more wildlife in your yard!

 Published in the Sanford Herald.