A Day in the Life

"Maybe a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food. "-- Frank A. Clark

Up before the sun again. Went out into the garden and yard for a little communing with nature and was greeted by a big beautiful full moon just above the Western horizon. Also to meet me were a couple roosters down the street and some robins – one with a very large worm.

The wind is a bit cool for the what the thermometer says is 70 degrees. Feels nice after the high heat of the afternoons. You know it’s going to hot when its 70 degrees at 5:30 AM.

Filled the bird feeders, poured fresh water into the bird baths and then was off to care for some plants. After attaching the liquid plant food sprayer to the garden hose I fed all the containers and hanging baskets as well as the earth-bound annuals.

There’s a low-hanging branch of the dogwood tree in the front yard that has been bothersome when I mow so I pruned that off. Also, while I had the pruning shears in hand I took off the suckers from around the apple tree. Next up is the plum and cherry trees. The Cherry Tree. I have to pause a bit whenever I think of this ole girl. Something has a hold on it and it isn’t pleasant. Each year, more and more of its once stately branches are staying bare through summer’s heat. In the past we have gotten many, many pounds of sweet juicy fruit from this old lady. Enough so that we freely share it with the birds. But something evil has moved in and this year we haven’t gotten one cherry from her. It’s too sad to contemplate her future but I fear it is going to be needed soon.

Along the same line – that being pests – I set out six small containers of beer for a little slug suicide party. Only two of the containers caught anything for a total of six slugs. Not a very good catch especially since I know there there are a lot more than that out there. So, the party will be extended through tonight.

Pulled all the veggie containers out from under their protective row covers to catch some early morning sunlight, the best time of day for them. They being well-fed and well-watered should recover nicely from the harvest we took yesterday for our salads.

That’s it for this morning from the Utah Valley. Hope everyone’s day is pleasurable and at least productive in some way.

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Minimal leaf damage . . . not much to worry about

Searched the garden with a flashlight before sun came up this morning to try to learn what is eating my plant leaves. Did not find any slugs or snails, which was my first guess. Did find a few sow bugs aka pillbugs. Not really very many to concern myself over. Could it be these that are eating my plant leaves? Upon further investigate via the internet I learned: ‘sow bugs are omnivores or scavengers feeding on dead or decaying plants or animals. Some may eat live plants.’ I think it’s more likely they lust after the decomposing shredded bark I use for mulch.

Besides, sow bugs are a food source for other animals. So, for now, I’m ruling these guys out as the cause of my loss. How do you like the cool 'scientific' touch of this sketch? Looks like something straight out of my high school biology class.

The leaves in question are pepper – only one type, the other two are untouched

Pepper Golden Bell leaf damage

eggplant – I have only one and it’s ion the same bed as the pepper with the same kind of damage

Eggplant Ichiban leaf damage

my only hydrangea – oh no not my only hydrangea!

Hydrangea Annabelle

Curiously, only one of the Hosta has holes and only a couple – slugs absolutely adore Hosta plants and would tend to claim the whole plant as theirs, so again, I don’t think it’s slugs.

Hosta Piedmont Gold leaf damage

A few weeks ago, after much, way too much, rain for this part of the country, I found a great many slugs and only 3 or 4 snails, which I am pretty sure the large population of birds that visit my feeders daily quickly dispatched. With slugs and snails you can expect to find slime trails on the plants and the surrounding area leading up to the smorgasbord. I haven’t found any slime trails at all. So, I think I can rule out slugs. I will try the old ‘beer in a cup’ trick just to see if any are still out there. Just bury the container so the top is level with the ground and they will fall in and blissfully drown themselves in beer. I love this idea because I get to drink the 'excess' beer.

Another clue in determining what is eating the leaves is where on the plant the damage is. The holes are not on the edge, that pretty much rules out most caterpillars, but not all. The holes are irregular shaped – not perfectly round - and the majority of ‘holes’ are actually rips or tears. This is the most puzzling feature of all.

I did get an idea from one website – Yates - that suggested the ripping damage might be caused by birds. Makes the best sense so far. The aforementioned large population of birds could be searching for bugs and ripping my leaves as they pick the little morsels off the plants. I do see several birds wandering through my beds pecking about here and there. Could it be that I will need to surround the plants with netting to keep them out?

Boy, this gardening thing could raise my ‘cost of growing my own’ just a little more. I may as well grow my plants inside a building. Just kidding. The damage is rather minimal so no extreme measures will be needed, yet. I just want the mystery solved and I’m pretty sure that birds are probably the cause.

It is odd though that the leaf damage is on a Golden Bell Pepper plant and not on the Purple Beauty Pepper or the Anaheim. Hmmm, maybe these birds are picky eaters after all.

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Attracting Birds

One of my favorite pastimes is watching and listening to birds feed right outside my window while I work away inside. Hanging bird feeders around your yard will soon attract many birds. Black Sunflower seeds is the favored seed for many seed-eating birds. Setting out fruit, nuts, suet and even peanut butter will attract many different species.

The simplest feeder is a tube feeder. As its name implies, it’s a tube of durable plastic or glass with multiple feeding ports and perches along its sides. Tube feeders come in a range of sizes, colors, and styles that will fit into any yard or garden. Inexpensive models are easy to find. They’re also easy to keep clean.

Among the many food options available, black-oil sunflower seed is the clear choice if you’re not sure which birds you’ll be attracting. This small, black seed is available at birding specialty stores, pet shops, grocery stores, and discount stores. The most common feeder birds—including cardinals, juncos, chickadees, finches, jays, titmice, nuthatches, and woodpeckers—are sure to be attracted to a tube feeder stocked with these high-fat, high-protein seeds. Be patient, though, because it might take a few weeks for birds to discover and use your feeders.

Hang the tube feeder in a place where you can view it from your window. Be mindful not to hang it too close to a shrub where cats might lurk waiting for their chance to pounce. About 10-12 feet away should be fine. I hang mine in trees around the yard, I don’t have a squirrel problem so this works out well for me. If you do have squirrels they will find your feeder fairly quickly. There are many ingenious ways to foil their attempts to get to the feeder, and they probably have just as many ingenious ways to defeat your attempts.

Store your seed in a cool, dry place to prevent mold. A metal trash bin works well and is also rodent-proof. Every couple of weeks, empty out your feeder and wash it with a solution of one part chlorine bleach to nine parts water and a scrub brush, rinse well. This will remove any seed shells, mold, bird droppings, and other disease-causing elements and will ensure that your avian friends have a clean place to enjoy a meal.

To provide for birds in a more natural way, provide plants that produce berries and seed heads that they enjoy. Here are some of the best bird plants available for the garden. Ask your local nursery for species native to your area.

• American cranberry bush (Viburnum trilobum,  Zones 2 to 7)
• Annual sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
• Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica, Zones 3 to 6)
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta, Zones 3 to 7)
• Clove currant (Ribes odoratum, Zones 5 to 8)
• Common juniper (Juniperus communis, Zones 2 to 6)
• Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis, Zones 4 to 9)
• Hackberry (Celtis laevigata, Zones 5 to 9)
• Limber pine (Pinus flexilis, Zones 3 to 7)
• Oak (Quercus spp., Zones 3 to 9)
• Oregon grapeholly (Mahonia aquifolium, Zones 5 to 9)
• Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea, Zones 3 to 9)
• Red osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera, Zones 3 to 8)
• Shadblow (Amelanchier canadensis, Zones 3 to 7)
• Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica, Zones 4 to 9)
• Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Zones 4 to 9)

Bird seed can become a bit expensive, and you really should not be overly concerned with making your feeder the birds sole source of food. They can find many natural sources on their own. I fill my seven feeders daily and by just after noon they are all empty. The birds go away, they feed elsewhere and come back the next morning. Following is a list of tips to keep birds coming back and feeding without breaking the bank.

1. Say No to Insecticides – Before you reach for the bug killer think about this: 96 percent of bird species in North America feed their babies insects.  Most adult birds rely on insects as a source of protein too, but even those that primarily eat plant foods as adults still feed their young insects, including hummingbirds.  Make sure you have plenty of insect life for the birds by going organic and eliminating insecticides.  Let the birds control the insects for you.

2. Go Native – Native plants that grow naturally in your area provide birds with the foods they’ve been eating for thousands of years and thrive in local soils and weather.  Many exotic plants don’t provide seeds or fruits that birds can eat and those that do have become invasive pests.  Native plants also support up to 60 percent more insects than exotics and therefore more birds.

3. Attract Birds with Water – Even if you can’t provide food, a simple bird bath with clean water will attract plenty of birds to your yard.  Replace the water every three days to keep the bath clean and to avoid mosquito problems.

4. Free Food – Make your own suet by recycling bacon grease. Next time you fry up a batch of bacon, pour the grease into a plastic container and freeze it. You can then put it out in a suet cage or mesh onion bags as a high calorie treat for birds such as woodpeckers, jays and chickadees. Saving the plastic packages from store-bought suet and using them again to make your own will save you even more.

5. Buy in Bulk – If you are addicted to watching the constant activity of birds visiting your feeders, consider buying seed in bulk to save some cash.  Avoid seed blends which often have “filler” seeds that most birds toss aside and feed black-oil sunflower seed, which all feeder birds relish.  Store seed in a metal container with a secure lid to keep moisture and other critters out.

6. Grow Your Own Feeders – Plant sunflowers instead of buying expensive sunflower seed.  The flowers look beautiful and also provide nectar for bees and other beneficial insects.  In the fall, cut the flower heads and hang them in the yard as home-grown bird feeders.

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds hold a special place in every gardeners yard. Nothing is more exciting than watching them flit around playfully chasing each other, and they occasionally will fly up to within feet of you seemingly investigating what you are up to. What a delight it is to hear one zoom past you defeating almost every attempt for you to follow. Hummingbirds flap their wings so rapidly—approximately 50 to 80 flaps per second—that they actually produce a humming sound when they fly.

It’s easy to provide the basic elements of hummingbird habitat in your garden and encourage these feisty little birds to take up residence in your neighborhood.

Provide nectar. Hummingbirds feed on flower nectar and are attracted to red, so include red-blooming plants in your hummingbird garden. Always select native plant species first. These are the plants that hummingbirds have been feeding on for thousands of years. What’s native varies greatly by region, so check with your local native plant or birding group to find out what will attract hummingbirds in your area.

How you arrange your plants will affect your garden’s attractiveness to hummingbirds. Individual plants are hard to spot from the air and won’t provide enough nectar by themselves. A bed filled with clusters of several species of nectar plants, however, will be much more successful.

You can also attract hummingbirds by putting out a feeder with homemade nectar. You can use a pre-packaged powder to make nectar, or make it from scratch by dissolving one part white sugar in four parts water. Never use honey, which can grow mold and bacteria that sicken hummingbirds. Don’t use artificial sweeteners, either, because they lack the calories these birds need to support their high-energy flying. A word of caution: do not add food coloring to your feeders!

Allow tiny prey to go pesticide-free. Hummingbirds cannot survive on nectar alone. They also need tiny insects, spiders, and other invertebrates as a source of protein. When you’re tempted to grab the pesticides, remember that many pesticides not only kill hummingbirds outright, but also rob them of an important food source. Having a diversely planted, pesticide-free garden will ensure that you have plenty of invertebrate prey for hummingbirds.

Install a birdbath or mister. Hummingbirds drink water and bathe in it to keep their feathers clean. They’ll use a standard birdbath for these activities as long as it’s not too deep. They are also attracted to the sight and sound of moving water, so adding a pump-powered mister will make your water feature irresistible to hummingbirds. They enjoy flying through the fine mist of water, effectively bathing on the wing.

Give them a place to call home. Hummingbirds build tiny, cup-shaped nests. They use spider webs, plant fibers, and seed down to create the cup, and then add lichens to the outside surface. They build their nests in a fork in the branches of dense shrubs and trees. Add a shrub row or other woody vegetation to give hummingbirds a protected place to nest.

Hummingbirds have co-evolved with the plants on which they feed. The birds and the plants depend upon each other for survival. It’s no random happenstance that hummingbird flowers are long and tubular. This structure forces the bird to put its whole face into the flower so its long bill can reach the nectar in the bottom. In doing so, the bird’s face and forehead are dusted with pollen, which it then passes to the next flower as it continues feeding. When it does this, it pollinates the flower, thus ensuring that the plant will produce seeds for the next generation.

Raptors

When we think of wildlife in a backyard garden, most of us picture rabbits, squirrels, sparrows, chickadees, a variety of insects, and maybe the odd raccoon. Fierce, soaring hawks and mysterious, sharp-eyed owls are not what we expect in an urban yard. And yet several birds of prey are surprisingly common in cities and towns.

Few things are more thrilling than catching a glimpse of a hawk or an owl in your very own neighborhood. If you understand a little bit about raptors’ habits and habitats, you can create the kind of yard that will attract them—and increase your chances for a close encounter.

Attract raptors to your yard. Protecting and restoring natural plant communities is the best thing you can do to attract raptors. Plants provide habitat for prey species and shelter for raptors. Raptors need large, mature vegetation (such as trees and cacti) for nesting. Some smaller species are cavity nesters, laying their eggs in old woodpecker holes or places where branches have broken off. Larger species typically use nests made of branches piled in the tops of trees. Some species don’t build their own nests, but take over those built by crows or other raptors. Dead trees, called snags, work as well as living ones, so leave them standing if they pose no danger.

Learn to identify hawks and owls. Hawks and owls are the most likely raptors to show up in your yard. Depending on the species, they feed on rodents, snakes, insects, and other birds. They have extremely keen eyesight, hooked beaks, and sharp talons. However, despite their similarities, hawks and owls have key differences and are not closely related.

Hawks are active during daylight hours. Owls, on the other hand, are adapted for nocturnal living. Owls have special feathers that muffle the sound of their flapping wings, and their flat, round faces funnel sound into their ears, allowing them to locate prey in the dark.

Look for raptors in urban areas. Here’s a list of the raptors you’re most likely to see in your yard and garden:

Screech owl

Both eastern and western screech owls are common in cities and towns. These small owls nest in tree cavities, but will also use a properly mounted nesting box.

Red-tailed hawk

These large hawks live in every type of ecosystem, from forests to deserts to grasslands. They are easy to spot because they hunt voles, rabbits, and squirrels while perched in trees along highways.

Great horned owl

Great horned owls are the nighttime counterpart to the red-tailed hawk, living in similarly diverse habitats. They can tackle large prey and, lacking a good sense of smell, are one of the few regular predators of skunks. They often use the same nests as red-tailed hawks but avoid competition by laying their eggs much earlier—sometimes in the middle of winter—and completing their nesting process before hawks begin theirs.

Cooper’s hawk

This swift hawk feeds primarily on small birds and is a regular visitor to gardens with bird feeders. Seed-eating songbirds get an easy meal in such gardens, and so do bird-eating hawks.

American kestrel

One of the tiniest raptors (only about 10 inches long), kestrels will nest in the same tree cavities or nesting boxes used by woodpeckers. Males sport colorful slate-blue wing feathers that are easily recognizable.

Bird Information Resources

10,000 Birds Blog    

American Bird Conservatory   

Bird Identification          

Boreal Songbird Initiative   

Cornell Lab of Ornithology   

Hummingbird Society       

Project Feederwatch   

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2011 Great Backyard Bird Count

The next Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) takes place Friday, February 18 through Monday, February 21, 2011. The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with Canadian partner Bird Studies Canada are already in the planning stages fro the event. I will be posting updates here as we get closer to kick off time.

This past February’s GBBC produced another record-breaking turnout with participants turning in more than 97,300 checklists online, and identifying more than 600 species.

A new GBBC video gives an overview of the event and detailed instructions on how to collect and enter data.

This will be the fifth year my family has participated in this event and it is really interesting to see which birds are hanging around in the backyard over winter and which birds you see only in winter. Also, I like the idea of contributing to the study of bird populations for bird conservation efforts.

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Great Backyard Bird Count is Coming

Feb 13-16, 2009
Mark your calendars.
Read more about it in their news release.

It’s a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. This free event is an opportunity for families, students, and people of all ages to discover the wonders of nature in backyards, schoolyards, and local parks, and, at the same time, make an important contribution to conservation. Participants count birds and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org.

My wife and I have participated in this annual event for the past several years and I want to encourage others to do the same. Here in central Utah we see Coopers Hawk, Black-capped chickadee, Dark-eyed junco, Northern flicker, purple finches, goldfinch, house finch, Cedar waxwing, Mourning dove, Rock dove, Red-winged black bird, European starling. I didn’t realize what a long list it was until we started keeping track.

Ever wonder how scientists know what the migratory range is for a specific bird? Or how many birds of a particular species there is? Well, since no single scientist or team of scientists could hope to keep track of the complicated patterns of movement of so many species over an entire continent, the information taken from GBBC participants provides valuable information to scientists as they try to learn how birds are affected by environmental changes.

The information you send in can provide the first sign that individual species may be increasing or declining from year to year. It shows how a species’ range expands or shrinks over time. A big change, noted consistently over a period of years, is an indication that something is happening in the environment that is affecting the birds and that should be followed up on. GBBC information also allows us to look at what kinds of birds inhabit different areas, such as cities versus suburban.

This is very valuable information and can only be collected by dedicated scientists and concerned individuals. If you want to do something to help birds survive this is one of the best ways to participate.

I especially encourage those of you with good photography skills to document any birds you see and enter your photos in their photo contest.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.

How to participate
1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 13–16, 2009.
Count birds at as many places and on as many days as you like—just keep a separate list of counts for each day and/or location.

2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down.
You can get regional bird checklists here.

3. Enter your results through GBBC web page.

They have a great photo gallery of birds from all over the U.S. along with names.

The reasoning behind why this is one in February is that it gives a snapshot of how birds are surviving the winter and where they are located just before spring migrations begin in March. Scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, and elsewhere can combine this information with data from surveys conducted at different times of the year.

There are answers to all of your questions from the main page, just click on the FAQs link.

Also, check out eBird, a free, real-time, online checklist program that accepts bird counts at any time throughout the year. You can use eBird to store detailed lists of your own sightings, a list of your favorite birding spots, and checkout where birds are seen throughout the U.S.

A great online source for identifying birds is WhatBird.com.

Businesses, schools, nature clubs, Scout troops, and other community organizations interested in the GBBC can contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 (outside the U.S., call (607) 254-2473), or Audubon at citizenscience@audubon.org or (215) 355-9588, Ext 16.

Take the Healthy Yard Pledge
While you’re getting ready to feed and count birds this winter, make sure you’re maintaining healthy bird habitat in your yard by taking the Audubon Healthy Yard Pledge.

The Healthy Yard Pledge is part of Audubon At Home, which focuses on managing backyards and other natural areas to help birds and other wildlife. Visit the website to learn about 16 key elements that make up a healthy backyard habitat—how many can be found in your yard?

This is a great opportunity to help further understand the nature of birds and a wonderful way to introduce more people in your area to bird watching.

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Sunflower, devil in disguise

Isn’t this a beauty? This is what is known as a devil with an angels face. Why am I so disparaging of such a beautiful plant that brings forth visions of bright, happy, sunny times? Because its seed husks will kill any plant that tries to grow around it. It’s one of the ninja-like assassins of the plant world.

I had heard rumors about how nothing will grow under my bird feeders that are filled daily with black-oil sunflower seeds but I ignored these rumors because I wanted to keep birds coming into my yard. Hanna, at This Garden is Illegal, even presented a very compelling argument as to how these bully’s-in-disguise will try to take over. Well, after four years of feeding every bird that would land here, mainly finches and doves, I now have absolute proof.

Here is one of the feeders I have placed in three locations around my yard. This one is under an apple tree.









And here is what the ground underneath looks like after four years. I don’t bother removing any of the debris except for what the lawn mower sucks up as it passes and as you can see, nothing is growing.

Last Fall, when I still scoffed at the idea of a secret society of plant kingdom hit squads, I placed three very young Weigela My Monet under the dogwood tree in my front yard (directly under one of the now infamous plant-killing sunflower-seed-filled birdfeeders). They didn’t make it. My stubbornness caused the death of three defenseless shrubs and, trust me when I say, I am remorseful. Am I a believer now? You betcha. My only hope now is that these ne’er do wells never get organized.

I decided to research this fascinating world of cutthroat techniques to survive in the plant world and I found this list of unsociable plants:
Sugar Maple
Hackberry
Eucalyptus
Black Walnut
Juniper
Sycamore
Oaks
Sassafras
Balsam Poplar
Manzanita

Granted, some of these plants are a bit exotic to most gardeners yards which is why it seems so odd that sunflower would be counted among this dastardly bunch.

I also learned that some people are considering allelopathy, (the inhibition of growth of a plant due to biomolecules released by another), as a nonchemical alternative to weed control. What they found was that some plant-made chemicals are a more potent photosynthetic inhibitor than the majority of synthetic herbicides. They are even talking about using native species and decorative ornamentals to be placed in strategic locations to eliminate the backbreaking job of weeding without resorting to chemicals. Now, this I could go for.

In the meantime, I will not stop feeding birds what they love most because I enjoy hearing the birds singing and squawking just outside my window. I probably won’t stop growing sunflowers because, well, you know, they are beautiful. I just need to get my timing down so I can enjoy them as long as possible before cutting off their heads. Gardening can be so cruel.

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Creating a backyard Wildlife Habitat

One of the reasons I like to garden is, of course, growing my own food. I also have a love of nature that I share with all gardeners. A couple of years ago I was finally able to begin my dream of building a perennial garden that would also provide a habitat for the wildlife that our ever expanding urban-crawl is displacing.

Of course, one of the first wildlife that comes to mind, and goes hand in hand with any garden setting, is birds.

The week of February 24 through March 2 has been designated as Homes for Birds Week®. This event sponsored by The Birding Consultant Group is held each year to encourage people to clean out and fix up their existing bird house as well as put up new homes for wild birds.






Moving into an older community with established trees has helped get my dream started because of the large population of birds already here.

Even if you don’t have large established trees in your neighborhood, erecting a post to attach a bird feeder to will bring birds. You can also attach a device to hang a birdfeeder from a fence, your house or shed or your deck or patio. Hanging a bird feeder is the single most important thing anyone can do to help maintain a bird population in your area. Yes, apartment dwellers can do it too. If you can’t attach a feeder to your building then place one in a nearby tree and take it upon yourself to keep it filled. Get your neighbors involved and ask for their help in sharing in the cost and cleanup. Keep in mind that feeders need to be cleaned once a month (every two weeks is better) to prevent the spread of fungus such as Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungus which causes respiratory infections in birds. Hummingbird feeders need to be cleaned every four days.

Here is a nontoxic solution and technique to make this chore easier and safe for the birds.
If you have more than a couple of feeders, cleaning them on a rotating schedule will prevent having to clean them all at once – a potentially burdensome task.
Obtain a tub big enough to hold your birdfeeder(s), a scrub brush, outdoor hose, gloves, scent-free liquid soap or detergent, and white distilled vinegar.
Place your feeder in the tub outdoors, fill it with warm water and a squirt of liquid soap or detergent. Wearing gloves, scrub the parts of the feeder you can reach, and rinse thoroughly with a hose. Empty the tub and fill it with clean water and 4 cups of vinegar. Let the feeder soak for 1 hour. Rinse thoroughly.
Note: vinegar is considered a non-selective, contact herbicide. Therefore, don’t get it on grass or plants you don’t want to kill. It only affects parts of the plant it actually touches so it is unlikely the roots will be affected.

Another important consideration for wildlife is to provide a source of water. A small pond, a bird bath, or even a shallow pan of water are much appreciated. As you can see here size doesn't really matter. Butterflies, bees and other insects that don’t drink directly from standing water would benefit from wet sand. I created a dam in one of my birdbaths to hold sand just for this purpose. Just keep it wet and these insects can drink from that.

Shelter and cover are also essential. I know this is just nature at work, but it is not a pretty sight! All wildlife need somewhere to hide from predators and to nestle down at night. If there are large trees in your neighborhood that already provide this shelter for birds then you don’t need to necessarily plant them in your yard. Shrubs are small enough that you can add these to your yard without too much sacrifice to open areas. Birds get very territorial in spring and summer in their search for nesting places so it is best they have multiple sources of cover. They especially like evergreens, hollies and pines.

Insect populations, as well as amphibians, like rocks and logs.

Add a toad house to your garden. OK, so not everyone finds toads beautiful, however, a single toad can eat about 110 beetles, ants, June bugs, grasshoppers, slugs, moths, sowbugs, armyworms and other bugs every day. That's around 3,000 every month! Toads are most active at night, so during the day they need a fairly dark, cool place to hide from the sun and predators. Encourage these bug-hungry hunters to have a nice long stay in your garden by providing these adorable toad houses. Place in a moist, shady area in your garden and before long you'll have a new neighbor.

You can make a toad shelter by creating a shallow depression in loose soil under ferns, shrubs or flowers and arranging flat stones for the sides and roof. Make the inside area about 6-8 inches high. Also, you can punch a hole in an 8-inch flower pot, invert it narrow side up and place in shaded and moist garden site. Or, simply prop the pot up like in this photo.



Butterfly houses are easy to build. Here’s a simple, fairly easy plan. Butterflies add a beautiful, graceful dimension to any garden or wildlife area.

A bat house would make an interesting addition to any garden, as well as a conversation piece. Believe it not, bats can eat up to 300 hundred bugs an hour! These bugs include mosquitoes, moths, locus, grasshoppers, etc. Such bugs can destroy crops and spread disease. American farmer's biggest pest is the Corn earworm moth.

One bat can eat 20 female moths a night reducing the number of crop eating caterpillars. Bat Conservation International, Inc has a website that provides all the necessary details and dimensions for building a bat house. Kids especially would love this. And aren’t they just lovely creatures? How many people do you know have a bat house in their yard?

Here are some great tips form Claire Hagen Dole of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden:
Fall cleanup often triggers us to cleanup the garden in preparation for spring, but in doing so we are removing important food and nesting materials for birds and insects. Spent perennials like purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and globe thistle (Echinops sphaerocephalus) provide seeds that will be picked over by finches and sparrows long into the winter months. The downy fluff of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) provides nesting material in early spring. Examine plant leaves and stalks carefully for tiny butterfly larvae, such as that of the Pearl Crescent, which favors aster leaves. If you find any, leave them alone until fresh spring growth lures them off the old plant.

Goldenrods (Solidago species) host the larvae of goldenrod gallflies—tiny insects responsible for the galls on the plant stalk—as well as the wasp larvae that parasitize them. In winter, downy woodpeckers and chickadees tear open the galls, seeking an insect meal. Juncos forage for goldenrod seeds on the ground.

In the vegetable garden, let broccoli, carrots, mustard, fennel, and parsley go to seed to attract finches and chickadees. Leave a few cornstalks standing to shelter foraging birds and field mice.

If you have a lawn, allow a section of grass to remain unmowed as a safe corridor for frogs, snakes, mice, and insects. In winter, birds will search the grass for seeds and an insect meal, such as the hibernating larvae of satyr butterflies.

If you are serious about getting your backyard recognized as a natural habitat by other than the direct benefactors, wildlife itself, the National Wildlife Fund has a certification program you can strive for.

Even spiders have a place in the garden. Of course they can make their own homes wherever they go.

For more information on:
Bats see Organization for Bat Conservation
Toad houses
All About Frogs and Toads
Butterfly shelter
Attracting butterflies

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Great Backyard Bird Count Feb 15-18, 2008

For the past several years I have participated in this annual event and I want to encourage others to do the same.

Ever wonder how scientists know what the migratory range is for a specific bird? Or how many birds of a particular species there is? Well, since no single scientist or team of scientists could hope to keep track of the complicated patterns of movement of so many species over an entire continent, the information taken from GBBC participants provides valuable information to scientists as they try to learn how birds are affected by environmental changes.

The information you send in can provide the first sign that individual species may be increasing or declining from year to year. It shows how a species’ range expands or shrinks over time. A big change, noted consistently over a period of years, is an indication that something is happening in the environment that is affecting the birds and that should be followed up on. GBBC information also allows us to look at what kinds of birds inhabit different areas, such as cities versus suburban.

This is very valuable information and can only be collected by dedicated scientists and concerned individuals. If you want to do something to help birds survive this is one of the best ways to participate.

More information can be found at the Great Backyard Bird Count webpage.

I especially encourage those of you with good photography skills to document any birds you see and enter your photos in their photo contest.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.

How to participate

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 15–18, 2008.
Count birds at as many places and on as many days as you like—just keep a separate list of counts for each day and/or location.

2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down.
You can get regional bird checklists here.

3. Enter your results through GBBC web page.

They have a great photo gallery of birds from all over the U.S. along with names.

The reasoning behind why this is one in February is that it gives a snapshot of how birds are surviving the winter and where they are located just before spring migrations begin in March. Scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, and elsewhere can combine this information with data from surveys conducted at different times of the year.

There are answers to all of your questions from the main page, just click on the FAQs link.

Also, check out eBird, a free, real-time, online checklist program that accepts bird counts at any time throughout the year. You can use eBird to store detailed lists of your own sightings, a list of your favorite birding spots, and checkout where birds are seen throughout the U.S.

A great online source for identifying birds is WhatBird.com.

This is a great opportunity to help further understand the nature of birds and a wonderful way to introduce more people in your area to bird watching.

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Robins in winter

I just learned something new today. Robins don’t always fly south for the winter!

There are two Robins in my backyard as I type this. Looking on the internet for information lead me to a site called, simply enough, American Robin.

Almost every Robin migrates south to escape the cold but some actually stay even as far north as Canada. They have been known to survive blinding blizzards, ice storms, and nights as cold as 30 below zero without human help. I am amazed! Whatever happened to looking to the Robin as the first sign of spring?

The website says that their body temperature under the feathers is about 104 degrees thanks to their thick down feathers that help hold body heat in. They produce body heat by shivering. And they get the energy to shiver from their food. This is where I know I can help. And you too.

Sometimes robins gather in huge flocks in winter. Doug Von Gausig found a "robin convention" of about 1000 robins near Sedona, Arizona, and recorded their chatter. Check out his website for a recording of Robin music.

I have never seen more than five or six Robins at one time. And never really together, they run all around the neighborhood looking for worms and fruit. To see a 1,000 of them at one time must really be something.

Yesterday, I saw about seventy or eighty Cedar Waxwings sitting in the fruit trees in my backyard. First time I ever saw this bird anywhere! Very exciting times here at Utah Valley Gardens!

They were all facing southwest because there was a very strong wind blowing from that direction. I figured they must have landed here to rest and to get out of the wind for awhile. They stayed for about 40 minutes.

Both of these birds like berries so I am going to follow the advice of this website and set out some:

# fruits: cut up apples, pears, oranges; blueberries, cranberries, and other berries; raisins and currants
# softened dog food kibble
# meal worms, earthworms, and red worms

Robins never eat bird seed--their stomach and intestines are not designed to digest them.

The first problem with robin feeders is that most robins have never heard of such a thing! It never occurs to them to explore their winter areas for human handouts. One of the easiest ways to help robins discover a winter feeder is to put it near a bird bath. They recognize those readily because they are all over mine in the summer.

The second problem with robin feeders is that the food can freeze. Mike Houle of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, figured out a good way to solve this problem. He filled a heated dog dish with peat moss, sawdust, and other soft matter. Then he put the worms in that. The heat from the dish keeps the bottom of the sawdust and peat moss unfrozen so the worms stay alive until a robin digs in!

I wish I could take credit for these beautiful photographs, but I took these off of the web.

Here is a list of the best varieties of berry shrubs for any berry eating bird.

# bittersweet
# bayberry
# snowberry
# sumac
# mountain ash
# crabapple
# hackberry
# hawthorn
# red cedar
# highbush cranberry
# chokecherry

Look around and see if maybe there any Robins hanging around your yard that you can help out. You might be surprised.

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Mysterious tracks in my backyard

Actually, they are not so mysterious, but I found it intriguing when I went out this morning to top off the feeders.

See how some just ended in the middle of the yard?














Most of these, I think, are from the Mourning Doves. Usually, while I sit and watch them through the window they stay pretty close to the feeders.

I have never seen them walk around much except between the feeders.


And what bird track scene would be complete without cat tracks?

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Help feed the birds

I saw a photo the other day of a Christmas tree trunk used as a prop for peanut butter used to feed birds. I agree it is a good idea. I have been doing this same thing for a couple of years now, but with a twist. I am one of those families that doesn’t buy a Christmas tree every year. Yeah, that’s right, I have an artificial tree and it is just as beautiful as any real once-live tree and it works just as well to satisfy our need for celebration.

Anyway, I put thick globs of peanut butter on my existing trees and the birds love it. I simply smear a large glob in the crotch of two branches and they find it without any problem.

Whenever I go grocery shopping with my wife, or when I do it myself, I look for the cheapest, largest jar of peanut butter I can find and the birds and I are set.

Birds eat up the peanut butter quickly so it never sits around long enough to spoil during those warmer days of winter we are beginning to experience more frequently.

Every winter we see an increase in the number of birds as well as in variety because of the suet feeders (and the fact that very few people put food out for birds). Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Redwing blackbirds, Chickadees, Starlings, and Dark-eyed Juncos all come around to enjoy the free offering. At times, the noise from the birds is almost deafening but it is a very satisfying noise as I know they have a better chance of survival due in some small part to me and cheap peanut butter.

There are many recipes on the internet for suet-based or peanut butter-based mixtures but I find that plain peanut butter works just as well.

Here is a very basic recipe that can be used as a ‘starter’ mix and keeps well even in warmer weather:
peanut butter (you can use smooth or crunchy, I have not noticed any difference in bird activity so do it for yourself)

oatmeal (Quaker oats or whatever)
cornmeal
lard (do not substitute vegetable shortening)
white flour (just to make it not so sticky)

Melt the lard and peanut butter, and stir them together. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture into freezer containers or muffin tins or a brownie pan, about 1 ½ inches thick. When cool, cut into squares, wrap in wax paper or plastic, and store in the freezer. You can add a bit more peanut butter to make a softer mixture which allows you to stuff into any holes or nooks in your tree.

You can get as creative as you want with recipes by adding pieces of fruit, corn bread mix, popcorn, raw seeds, fruit juice, eggs (as cannibalistic as this sounds the will eat it.) Just keep in mind that most of this embellishment is more for you than for the birds, sure they will eat it but you really don’t need to go to the extra expense.

So, be creative and join in on the fun of bringing birds to your yard.

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Two out of three isn’t bad

Birds and I have a pretty good working relationship. I feed them and they come around and eat.

There are also two bird baths available for their drinking and bathing pleasure. I try keep them cleaned and filled regularly.

The one missing element, in this otherwise garden of eden, is shelter. Shelter from the weather and predators and shelter for nesting.

There are two trees in my front yard, this large Catalpa tree, left photo, and a fairly full Dogwood tree, photo on the right, but there are many larger trees in the neighborhood that bear leaves all winter and therefore are far better suited for sheltering the birds that grace our humble part of this planet. And I have no intention to compete with these beautiful trees just to get birds nests built in my yard.

Here is a small example of these sheltering trees within my immediate vicinity.







There are several fruit trees in my back yard but they don’t provide the suitable shelter these evergreen trees do. As you can see from this photo taken last Spring, the apple tree, pictured here to the right, gets pretty full but I have never seen a birds nest in it.
The cherry tree doesn’t seem to be attractive to nesting birds either.

I don’t really have to have nesting birds in my yard. I suppose it’s just one of those ‘nice things to have’.

I feel fortunate enough to be able to provide these birds with at least two of their requirements for survival. And they seem to ‘appreciate’ it because they come back every day, rain or shine, or snow, mainly finches, chick-a-dees and doves. Other birds come in once in awhile, but my guess is they only come around when they can’t find what they want anywhere else. A family of Northern Flickers show up every winter for the suet. Dark-eyed Juncos also show up in winter for whatever falls from the feeders because they won’t sit on the feeders’ perches. Maybe the finches are too aggressive for them.

Nowadays I only put out sunflower seeds, because the birds throw every thing else onto the ground and it doesn’t get eaten.

Many people think there has to be a variety of plants to keep birds coming around, but I have found, as long as you have feeders, they will come.

So, as long as someone else is taking care of the shelter and nesting requirements for these birds, I am satisfied with two out of three.

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My bird family

I have been feeding birds that visit my yard since about one week after moving here in May of 2004. Everyday, rain or shine or snow, with the exception of the occasional vacation and mini-vacations we take, I have trekked out to all four sunflower feeders, one thistle feeder and two suet feeders and filled them all as needed. I have recently decided that I would like to place some native plants in my yard that will help feed these birds.

I feel an acute responsibility to these birds. In part because I attract them for selfish reasons. One is so they will help keep the population of insects down, another is because hearing their songs add so much to my general sense of well-being. It is very difficult to be depressed when birds are singing. I am not given to bouts of depression anyway, but you gotta love hearing birds singing all around you.

I am certain these birds could probably find food elsewhere, after all they survived here long before I ever showed up, but I also feel that if I did not attract them to my yard then I would probably have a big problem with insects. Of course, I don’t know how valid that fear is because I feed them everyday and I am not going stop feeding them just so I can find out.

The flock of birds I feed has grown tremendously over the time they have been visiting here, from maybe twenty or thirty to well over one hundred. Also, the diversity of birds has grown from those first few Finches to include juncos, doves, chick-a-dees, starlings, flickers, robins, hummingbirds, ducks, an occasional magpie, downy woodpecker, coopers hawk and blue-jay. The Blue-jay was a real surprise, because I haven’t found one map that shows they even exist in Utah. I have also seen some birds that I am unable to identify, but not very often. I figure they are probably just passing through.

When I first began feeding birds I would give them the standard wild bird mixture found at any discount store. It consisted of millet, sunflower seed, safflower, thistle, etc. It didn’t take long to figure out what these guys did and did not want. What they didn’t want was anything that wasn’t a black-oil sunflower seed. So, that is what I have been feeding them ever since.

That Fall I hung a second feeder as well as a thistle feeder for the goldfinches. It was weird how the other Finches never ate from the thistle feeder, but the goldfinches love it. During the second year I was visited by five or six Mourning Doves and each year their number has grown. Just this morning I counted 18.

There is a family of Northern Flickers that feed on the suet, usually only in the morning and only in Winter. I don’t know where they go the remainder of the year or in the afternoon, for that matter.

The Chick-a-dees, juncos and Coopers Hawk only come around in Winter too. The first year I saw only one Chick-a-dee and I have read that their numbers are decreasing due to humans taking over their habitat. But yesterday and today I counted five. It is fun to watch these little guys, they go to the sunflower tube feeder, grab one seed then fly back up to a high branch, hold the seed in their foot and peck at it to crack the hull open to get to the seed. Sometimes they go to the suet feeder and peck away to their hearts content, all the while looking around for any sign of danger. Also, they really like peanut butter. I place a big lump on a piece of stale bread and they will devour all of it in no time.

I counted six juncos and never more than one Coopers Hawk. The juncos will only eat off of the ground or from a large flat container of seed. I have never seen one at the tube feeders, maybe their feet won’t grasp the small-diameter perches.

Today I was able to catch this Coopers Hawk just as he flew into the Dogwood tree outside my office window. I heard all of the birds suddenly take off with a loud flurry of flapping wings and there the hawk was sitting, looking around, without the meal that he came in for. He sat there for about three minutes, allowing me to finally get a picture of him from the front. Previously I have only been able to get his back and from no closer than about 100 feet. This time he was sitting six feet away.

Starlings, well, they flock, boy do they flock! Yesterday I took this video of a very small number of them sitting in six trees. I have seen, literally, close a thousand of them almost blacken the sky as they fly in crazy patterns seemingly as one unit. When they all sit on telephone lines they remind me of a football stadium full of spectators. They will eat anything. And generally do. I have seen them hanging onto the tube feeder perches that are made for the small feet of Finches digging sunflower seeds out of the small holes.

What I can tell from the numbers of birds coming to my yard is that this must be the only place around where they can find food. Logic tells me that this cannot be the case, but I am blown away by their numbers.

I was reading Wild Flora’s Wild Gardening post of Nov 20 and she says that research into the habits of birds that visit bird feeders indicates that they use the seed we supply primarily as a supplement to other food sources. If this is the case then they must be eating quite a lot from somewhere else! I go through 40 pounds of black-oil sunflower seed every 12 days! In Winter I fill the feeders twice every day trying to keep their energy up so they survive the cold, and the feeders are empty when I go to them at night. At other times of the year I fill them only once and they are usually emptied by about 2 PM. I fear of making them too dependant on me for their food even though research again shows that they never really become dependant on backyard feeders. I don’t know if I can be convinced of this because they sure do eat at lot here.

After reading her blog I am even more driven to provide more of a variety of native plants in order to help feed these birds.

Now I need to learn more about Utah native plants.

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Coopers Hawk is back

A couple of days ago I wrote about the puzzle of why there weren’t as many birds at the feeders as usual. Today I discovered why. the Coopers Hawk is back.

I saw him sitting high up in the cherry tree and all of the Finches and Doves immediately took off.

The hawk eventually left as well.

He wouldn’t turn around so this is the best shot I could get of him.

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Canadian Geese on the wing

The local Canadian geese are becoming more active. Their loud ‘honking’ draws my attention skywards where I am greeted with three flocks flying in their usual perfectly formed vee shaped squadrons. The three squads are flying in a southerly direction seemingly intent on getting out of here ahead of the cold winter that their instincts tell them is on the way.

Watching the geese fly and hearing their call always brings a smile to my face. I’m not sure why, but it gives me a feeling that everything is right with the world. Their instinct is a constant that marks the changing of the seasons and there is comfort in that inevitable change. Wildlife instinct is greater than any other force known to man. But, something different has been taking place to disrupt this clarion call. Not all geese actually fly ‘south’ for the winter to that warm, sunny retreat we all wish we could go when winters’ chill works its way to our bones.

Whether it is due to global climate change or not I am not sure, but some geese are electing to stay here in the U.S. in areas farther north than we are used to seeing them. Typically, when the ground begins to freeze and their food supply dwindles in the fall, they move further south to warmer areas, where food is still readily available. Studies have shown, and I can personally attest to the fact, that not all geese fly as far south as they used to.

The previous three winters that we have lived in Utah I have seen and heard these geese throughout the entire winter. Not in my yard but we have ducks that come in search of food when there is snow on the ground and the nearby canals have frozen over. I leave cracked corn for them which they greedily eat up and they seem to also like the sunflower seeds, husks and all, that the finches (who are also here all winter) scatter on the ground. Finches have very sloppy table manners much to the delight of the ducks who ‘clean up’ after them.

Humans here in Utah, as well as many birds, are blessed with no fewer than ten wetland/wildlife management areas on Great Salt Lake’s shores where literally millions of birds migrate to every summer.
Birds come from as far away as the Andes of South America (Wilson’s Phalarope, pictured here) to nest and multiply and build up their strength for their ultimate flight back home.




Some actually stay through the winter. Canadian Geese are some of those birds who stay.



On the northern and eastern edges of the Salt Lake are great freshwater expanses. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, being the largest at 74,000 acres, is made up of marsh, open water, uplands, and alkali mudflats and supports a very large population of Canadian geese, as well as many other migratory shorebirds and waterfowl:

American Avocet,












the graceful Bewicks Swan











Black-necked Grebe












and Long-billed Dowitcher









We even have a bit of a celebrity living at the Great Salt Lake. Pink Floyd, the Chilean flamingo, escapee from Tracy Aviary in 1987, now lives in the wild, eating brine shrimp and socializing with gulls and swans. A group of Utah residents suggested petitioning the state to release more flamingos in an effort to keep Floyd company and as a possible tourist attraction. Wildlife biologists resisted these efforts, saying that deliberate introduction of a non-native species would be ecologically unsound and might have detrimental consequences. Pink Floyd was last seen in Idaho (where he was known to migrate to) in 2005. Unfortunately, He has not been seen since that time and is presumed to not have survived the winter of 2005-2006.

Canadian geese eat grasses, marsh grass, berries, seeds, pond plants, tubers, roots and algae. They also feed on crops like clover, alfalfa, wheat, rye, corn, barley, oats and grain left in farmers' fields after the harvest.

Since I don’t grow any of these type of food crops I seriously doubt I will ever see these beautiful geese in my backyard. Meanwhile I am satisfied just hearing them honking away as they fly overhead.

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Vacation, already?

I've been sitting inside today waiting for the rain to let up and it doesn't seem like it is going to. I was planning on setting out more tomato plants and my squash.

I've been holding off for several reasons, one being that we are supposed to get some unseasonably cold night time temperatures within the next few nights, it is already down to 52F right now at 8 pm. This Spring sure has been 'up and down' weather-wise.

Another reason is that we are taking off for a week to visit family in California. I'm always a bit ambivalent about leaving the garden in someone else's care when I'm gone. I can usually count on our daughter to take care of it but she and her family are going with us. I have asked one of the neighbors to tend to it and she has agreed, but still... This is the first year I have planted a full bed of perennial flowers and she is barely a rookie herself.

I'm trying to decide how to make it as simple as possible for her to just turn on the sprinklers at certain times and not worry so much about the lawn or weeding. We don't have an irrigation system installed. I made up this portable setup out of pvc pipe and two sprinkler heads that I move around the yard. It's a bit cumbersome but is the least expensive way to go for now. The real problem is that with the weather acting so unpredictably, I don't know if it will be warm enough to have to water twice a day or just once every other day. I would hate to have to call every day to check on things, I do want to enjoy my vacation and not let her think I can't count on her to do it without my nagging.

I have several trays of Marigolds, herbs and sunflowers that need to be planted and I suppose it would be best just have them in the ground before I leave. And then there are the bird feeders. I have five of them I fill up every morning (some people just don't take the time to feed the birds and so I can't really ask her to do it because she is one of those who doesn't feed the birds). I guess the birds will come back when I get back and begin filling their feeders again. The Hummingbirds will be okay because there aren't enough of them to empty the feeders everyday.

I'm going to wear myself out worrying before I get out the front door.

Just take a deep breath, let it out slowly and relax. Nothing will happen that cannot be fixed.

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Sounds of Summer

Taking a break from gardening, I am sitting on the back deck on this beautiful 82 degree May day appreciating nature’s glory. The almost plaintive cry of the Mourning Doves as they fly overhead heading for their feeding ground in the backyard, Finches spreading the latest gossip with their incessant lyrical chirping, Hummingbirds ceaselessly chasing each other, cows bellowing, chickens clucking, dogs barking, bees buzzing past my ear on their way to the next flower’s offering of pollen, lawn mowers in the distance... Wait! Lawn mowers? Well, not every sound is as relaxing as I would like it. But we do live in a semi-urban area.

I do feel blessed that we, as urban dwellers, have the ability to keep nature’s creatures around us and we currently live in an area still zoned for farm animals. It’s a constant reminder of the what our ancestors must have felt when they took a break from their busy chores. I’m certain their lives were not as hectic as ours but we don’t have to depend on the land for our survival like they did.

Being able to provide for wildlife and to see them return day after day is very satisfying on a level that few other endeavors in life can match. And then to hear their songs, chatter and sometimes their complaints is just, well, ‘icing on the cake’.

After being forced to live in apartments for years, through financial necessity, I could never take this gift of nature for granted. Doing my best to be a good steward of the land, of the plants and animals that have become so dependent on mankind for their survival is a deeply felt responsibility that I will hold dearly the rest of my life.

I try to pass this on to my grandchildren but they have far too many other temptations that are far more exiting than anything as mundane as tending to plants and animals. It’s sad really. I still have hope that the day will come when one of them shows an interest in carrying on what countless generations before us have discovered in taking care of the land.

But for now, the sounds of lawn mowers and the occasional traffic passing by, be it cars, trucks, or overly loud motorcycles on the road out in front of the house or airplanes overhead, is a small price to pay for our little piece of heaven.

I don’t think we could be any happier if we were living out in the middle of nowhere minus all of these minor nuisances.

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First hummingbird of the year

Saw the first hummingbird to return from their yearly trek. It was a black-chined hummingbird, the only one we have here in Utah. The others will soon follow.

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New growth is everywhere

Spring is really beginning to speed up. With the warmer temperatures, freaky as it may be, everything is beginning to green up. We can expect a few more frost days and I hope nothing gets killed by it but for now I'll take the welcome reprieve from winter's harshness.

The rose leaves are dark red and about an inch long,

the Hyacinth is open and fragrant,

Early Stardrift bulbs are open and bright white in their shady spot next to the front steps,

and the forsythia is a beautiful glowing yellow on long, graceful branches.

Today, I doused the few bindweed plants I could find with Round-up. Even though I know it won't make a dent in their numbers that will come next month, it is still satisfying to kill off a few when I can. There is about 10 plants sending up their first leaves. Some of the weeds have three and four sets of leaves already. Hopefully, the leaves will take the spray down to their roots and stop their growth. One can only hope.

Here’s what I know about Roundup, it's only present in the soil for 7-10 days (then you can replant the area), and you only need to worry about keeping your children and pets away while the foliage is still wet after application. The temps need to warm up, to at least 60F, and the plants need to be actively growing for it to be effective. It's only absorbed through the leaves (not the roots), so is safe to use at the base of trees, etc

I pulled the mulch away from the roses to allow the soil to warm up and to dry out a bit.

I trimmed a few low branches from the Dogwood tree and Catalpa tree so I don't get dinged any more when I cut the lawn.

The Starlings are watching me from afar because the suet feeder is in the Dogwood tree and they are usually all over it this time of day.

Next, I plan on putting fertilizer down in the brown spot in the back lawn and then sprinkle some grass seed over the area, and then sprinkle it good with water. I think I will cover the area with some newspaper to help it stay moist. New grass should be up in a few days and by the end of two weeks the area will be turning green.

I went to a bulletin board to see what was going on around the country as far as gardening and saw these problems/questions.
'Dirty fingers' in Northern California said they have aphids on their Iris in their pond. They have Iris already?
'Chryse' suggested using soapy water, away from the pond. That’s a good idea, on both counts.
'Jason T' of Houston wrote to say that large red boils are popping up on his oak tree.
Several people wrote to tell him that this is caused by scale. I never realized that scale would have this affect on trees. He included pictures and it really surprised me to see this. He actually chose to pick them off and squash them! This seems to me to leave open wounds in the tree that may not be very healthy.

'Joey MacDougall' of Florida wrote in to say that his/her Gardenias have a black sooty mold on them.
'AuntBee' wrote in with an article stating it is caused by scale. Here is the link: http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/horticulturearchive/sootymoldongardenia.htm
'Dane79' of Washington says he/she has a problem with morning glory (bindweed) and tried everything to get rid of it. Everyone suggests Roundup repeatedly and lots of patience. Don't I know this to be true!)

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