March 2011

Planters Punchlines
Men's Garden Club of Wethersfield
March 2011

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Next Meeting - Monday March 28th @ The Pitkin Community Center - Eagles in the Great Meadows

Ken Etheridge, veteran eagle observer and naturalist for the Great Meadows Conservation Trust, will speak about the eagles that have returned to and now reside in the Great Meadows, particularly the Rocky Hill and Cromwell nests - who they are, where they are, and how we can see them in person.

Ken is a long-time family friend who has spoken on this subject to several local area organizations - so let's have a good turnout for this interesting presentation. Spouses, family, and friends are cordially invited.

Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan

Many of us first learned about the Law of Karma from The Beatles, back in the sixties -- "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." In more simple terms, we give seeds to the wild birds and they pay us back with their songs and their colorful appearance. Ironically I was on my way to fill our bird feeders when this recent real-life wild kingdom moment happened.

It was mid-February and I was going out through the garage in order to put on my muck boots before slogging through the snow to the seed containers. As the automatic door passed the halfway point a large white and gray blur of feathers appeared to my right and crashed into the snow bank along the left side of my driveway about six feet in front of me. The white was a large hyperactive hawk. The gray -- a smaller but equally frenzied pigeon.

The raptor smashed backwards into the crusty pile of white stuff with his wings splayed out and his talons parallel to the ground. He seemed to have a surprised look on his face. The pigeon meanwhile was twisting and turning within the larger bird's grip -- shedding feathers at an alarming rate.

Suddenly the captive broke free, and exited stage right. The hawk gathered himself and flew down the length of my driveway. As I walked out to the pile of feathers I saw the hawk sitting on a branch in one of the snow-shelf trees across the street. I turned back towards our house and noticed the fidgety escapee pacing on the peak of our colonial house.

After I excitedly recounted the action for Marsha I went about the mission that had brought me outside to begin with. As I replenished the various feeders I could see the hawk, sitting in place, staring in my direction -- breathing deeply in order to calm himself down and contemplate his next move.

The pigeon meanwhile flew down from the rooftop and began pecking ferociously at the sunflower seeds that had fallen to the ground as part of my process. Unlike his contemplative predator, the pigeon was clearly amped-up on adrenaline and mainlining bird food to keep his state of agitation going. In spite of the pile of gray feathers at the crash scene, the frenetic bird had no visible gaps in his plumage. Then again he was pretty fluffed up -- either to keep him warm or as another manifestation of his hyperactive behavior -- which may have hidden any newly acquired pattern baldness.

Before the attack there was the usual plethora of finches, juncos, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, titmice, nuthatches, and squirrels that feed en masse at our tree branch diners -- plus a few of the pigeons that occasionally crash the party. All are welcome.

Now the yard was totally bereft of fauna, other than the one hyperactive survivor of the near-death experience. Most of the birdbrains were smart enough to leave the scene. The pigeon, which Marsha and I consider to be more of a squirrel with feathers than a real bird, clearly did not fully comprehend the danger of the situation. Even I had some personal apprehension as I stood at the bull's-eye of raptor's target area. I had no idea how much, if at all, he blamed me for his failed dinner-grab - and for long, if at all, a hawk held a grudge.

Then I looked across the road, and the hawk was gone.

This was the second known raptor-on-pigeon attack in our yard this calendar year. Last year we had the same number all annum -- plus one murder-by-cat. I am guessing that the increase in our violent crime rate is at least partially due to the excessive snow accumulation that drives the birds from their inaccessible natural eating haunts to the backyard feeder circuit. Similarly the larger predators start dining in the more civilized parts of town as their normal woodland food supplies become more difficult for them to find.

In helping the first group I am also aiding the second. It's what happens when the Law of Karma, meets the Law of Supply and Demand, meets the Law of the Jungle.

Planting Flowers for Birds
birdwatching.com

Plans begin in winter for a garden that will attract birds all year around.
In the middle of winter, I start having visions of flowers. Of buds pushing up from thawing soil. Of color spreading where lately has been only brown or white.

Maybe it's the steady rain of garden catalogs arriving in my mailbox that stimulates my botanical imagination. Winter's the right time to start planning a bountiful garden for birds.
The cardinal on the hawthorn twig must receive intimations from his own sources, for he has started singing again on sunny mornings, tentative phrases for now. He knows too. Spring is coming.

Landscaping for birds begins with trees and bushes. But the right flowers attract birds also. It's not the blossoms themselves that most birds want. Birds want the seeds that come later.

Daisies of all kinds form generous, nutritious seeds. And leave those seeds for the birds! Don't deadhead all the blossoms when blooming is over. The dried seed heads will bring you finches, sparrows, cardinals, and towhees.

First you get the blossoms, and then in winter your garden will bloom again with gold of finches and red of cardinals. Win, win!

Birds also love zinnias for their seeds. It's one of the easiest of flowers to grow. The selection of colors and forms is enormous. As a bonus, your zinnias will entice many species of butterflies into your garden.

In fact, the zinnia patch in your own garden is a great place to get close-up views and photos of butterflies. For a stunning experience of beauty, walk through your zinnia patch on a summer day with a close-up binocular such as the Pentax Papilio, which focuses as close as 18 inches, and see individual scales of color on the wings of a butterfly!

You can easily bring hummingbirds into your garden with the judicious choice of flowers. Hummingbirds are especially drawn to red. They check out every speck of red in the landscape, including stop signs and the scarf around your neck.

So pull them into your garden with red flowers. And then deliver the goods by selecting flowers of any color, so long as they that give nectar.

Many hybrid flowers have been bred for size or color, at the expense of nectar. So I've learned to look for seeds of heirloom flowers that still have the power to attract hummingbirds.

Some of the best flowers for hummers include old-fashioned fuchsias, coral-bells, bee balm, hibiscus, and petunias.

With their long bills, hummingbirds are built for probing into trumpet-shaped throats (corollas) of flowers. Hummingbirds will investigate everything in your garden, and if it gives nectar, they'll visit it again and again.

For more attracting hummingbirds to the garden, see Diane Linsley's delightful essay, Flowers for Hummingbirds [following this article].

The king of all birdseed flowers is the sunflower. Best are sunflowers that give soft, black-shelled seeds. The sunflower at left volunteered from sunflower seeds dropped beneath my feeder. Now
I plant a few of those seeds in my garden each summer.

You can have a lot of fun raising your own sunflowers at home. The birds will delight in the crop, and you'll enjoy the birds. If possible, plant your sunflowers (in full sun) where you can see them from your dining room table, or wherever you spend time at home. Spice up your lunch by watching a chickadee land on top of a sunflower and bend over to pluck out the seeds.

If you want to save some of your sunflowers for winter, put a paper grocery sack over each seed head and tie it around the stem. Leave some of the flower heads uncovered so that the hungry birds (who are perfectly aware of where your sunflowers are) will not be driven to peck through the paper.

When the seed heads have dried, cut them from the stems and store them in a metal container so that mice won't get into them. In winter, you can decorate your yard with sunflower faces. Wire one to a tree or a feeder, and wait about five minutes for the chickadees, cardinals, goldfinches, and blue jays to go for it.

For the ultimate in bird gardening, try incorporating flowers that are native to your area. Sometimes I find that I like nature's gardening even better than my own carefully planned garden designs.

Like the combination of goldenrods and asters at left. I'm sure the birds helped plant it in a wild field near where I live. Now I'm copying what I found there in my own garden.

For now, I'm looking through the seed catalogs, noting especially any entry that says, "attracts birds."

When planting time finally gets here, I'm going in for flowers that attract birds. That way I'll get paid double for my enterprise. I'll watch flowers and birds too.

Flowers for Hummingbirds
by Diane Linsley

It's fun to watch hummingbirds drinking from red plastic feeders, but there's nothing like seeing them sipping from the flowers in your own garden. For the last few years, I've been observing hummingbirds in the hope of discovering their favorite flowers. But just when I think I've figured it out, the funny little birds change their minds.

One day, they spend all their time visiting the salvias, and another day, they prefer the zinnias. When I expressed my frustration at not being able identify which flowers were the best, my husband said, "Well, some days you feel like eating broccoli, and other days you want chocolate cake. Maybe it's the same way with hummingbirds."

So here's my list of favorite hummingbird flowers. You might be tempted to plant only "chocolate cake", but remember that, "Variety is the spice of life". So the more selection you have, the better.

Hummingbird Flowers

* Agastache rupestris (Sunset Hyssop) -- Think of this large perennial as a low-maintenance hummingbird feeder. Also consider other Agastache species.
* Aquilegia (Columbine) -- It sometimes works. Aquilegia formosa is a good red.
* Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed) -- Not just for butterflies! Butterfly weed also attracts aphids, and hummingbirds eat aphids and other small insects.
* Ceratotheca triloba (African Foxglove) -- If you need a tall annual for the back of the border, try African foxglove. The hummingbirds enjoy this rare flower.
* Cleome (Spider Flower) -- Cleome serrulata and Cleome spinosa both attract hummingbirds to some degree. Hummingbirds will perch on the horizontal seedpods of Cleome spinosa.
* Cosmos 'Ladybird Scarlet' -- I planted this near my hummingbird feeder, and I was surprised that some hummingbirds visited the cosmos more than the feeder.
* Digitalis (Foxglove) -- The tubular flowers sometimes attract hummingbirds, and the plants are easy to grow in full sun or part shade. I was surprised one day to see a hummingbird on the pale yellow Digitalis lutea. That's what I call "hummingbird broccoli".
* Ipomoea (Morning Glory) -- Hummingbirds prefer the red varieties, of course, especially if they're trellised up high.
* Ipomopsis rubra (Standing Cypress) -- Chocolate cake for hummingbirds.
* Lobelia -- Hummingbird watchers rave over red-flowered Lobelia cardinalis. Combine it with the blue-flowered Lobelia siphilitica for variety.
* Lupine -- This is a good hummingbird plant for early in the season before most of the others start blooming.
*Lychnis chalcedonica (Maltese Cross) -- Definitely, chocolate cake for hummingbirds.
* Mirabilis jalapa (Four O'Clock) -- The flowers close up in the heat of the afternoon, so watch for hummingbirds in the early morning or evening.
* Monarda (Bee Balm) -- Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
* Nicotiana mutabilis (Flowering Tobacco) -- Out of all my flowering tobacco varieties, this one is the most popular with hummingbirds.
* Oenothera 'Lemon Sunset' (Evening Primrose) -- Hummingbirds visit these fragrant flowers in the morning.
* Penstemon (Beardtongue) -- Most penstemons, especially the red ones, are chocolate cake for hummingbirds.
* Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage) -- I was surprised to see a hummingbird returning to this plant several times one day, especially since there was an agastache nearby that should have been more tempting.
* Salvia (Sage) -- Many of the salvia species attract hummingbirds. The best ones in my garden are Salvia coccinea, Salvia 'Coral Nymph' and Salvia azurea.
* Silene 'Jack Flash' -- One morning, I was pollinating a red daylily next to my patch of Silene 'Jack Flash', and a hummingbird tried to scare me off. When the attempt failed, he relented and agreed to share the space with me. He really wanted that silene!
* Tithonia 'Torch' (Mexican Sunflower) -- A great butterfly magnet, but it sometimes attracts hummingbirds as well.
* Verbena bonariensis -- Another one for both hummingbirds and butterflies.
* Zinnia -- The zinnias were a big hit this year!

Snow and Woody Plants
www.arborct.com

"Snow is both friend and foe to trees and shrubs," says Tchukki Andersen, staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association. "Snow causes its share of damage, as we all know, but in many cases it also protects plants and their roots against extreme fluctuations in temperature that could damage or even kill them."

Snow does cause four kinds of damage: bending; breaking; splitting; and falling or uprooting.

Whether woody plants will be damaged in one of these ways depends upon several factors. Coniferous evergreens, for instance, can bear more snow weight than broadleaf evergreens. A tree's form can also be a factor in how well it will withstand heavy snow. Pine (low altitude), spruce and fir with spread branches are more likely to be damaged by heavy snowfall than trees with steeper angled branches.

Arborvitae is a good example of a plant that doesn't handle heavy snow well. They tend to get tall, with multi-stemmed branches that are low to the ground.

"Snow will cause the branches to separate," says Andersen, who doesn't recommend planting arborvitae species in areas that get lots of heavy wet snow. She also recommends against planting them near buildings where snow can fall off the roof all at once in large piles. "Small, rounded woody-stemmed plants would be a better choice, but make certain to give them enough root space away from the structure."

A tree's structure is also a factor in whether it will be damaged by ice storms. A tree with good, right-angle branches will have less trouble than one with narrow crotches.

The type of snow is an important factor in potential damage to trees. Obviously, wetter snow is more damaging because it is heavier. And when the snow falls can be a factor. With a wet snow in March, when there are no leaves on the branches, the tree may be able to withstand damage pretty well. But that same snow in late spring or early fall, when the tree is filled with leaves, could add unbearable weight

On the plus side, snow moderates root temperatures and provides moisture for spring. Snow helps insulate the ground, which is beneficial for two reasons. First, snow is a poor heat conductor, so the temperature changes very slowly from the top layer of the snow to the bottom. This keeps the ground from heating and cooling as air temperatures fluctuate. Heating and cooling often cause the ground to heave, which can be damaging to roots. Keeping the ground temperature more constant is a better environment for healthy roots. A covering of snow can help keep the ground warmer. Pile eight inches of snow on the ground and soil temperature seldom falls below 23 degrees.

Finally, "a little breakage isn't always bad," insists Andersen. "Nature prunes trees, too. A wet snow may break off small twigs and dead branches. It does a good job of pruning that way."

Wildlife in Your Backyard: Attracting Red-Tailed Hawks
theinfomine.com

Although it may be unlikely if you live in a highly urban setting, Red-Tailed Hawks have been known to nest just about anywhere, including a famous Red-Tailed Hawk that shares an apartment building with Woody Allen! Red-Tailed Hawks, however, tend to prefer wide-open spaces, and are frequently residents in largely rural settings, including crop fields, pastures, and open country.

If you have ever watched a Western, you have probably heard the screech of the Red-Tailed Hawk, which is substituted whenever any kind of raptor such as an eagle is shown: eagles, especially, have much less cinematic cries. Red-Tailed Hawks feed primarily on small rodents, and so are extremely valuable in keeping down the populations of mice, rats, voles, shrews, and other rodents. These wild birds are very highly intelligent and are keenly observant, and thus are well adapted to living in proximity to humans. Red-Tailed Hawks will follow hunters, dogs, badgers, or anything that is liable to flush out their desired prey, and are easily trained for the sport of falconry.

If you wish to attract Red-Tailed Hawks, you will need to provide suitable hunting and nesting sites. Red-Tailed Hawks like to soar high in the air to hunt, focusing their extremely sharp vision on the ground, and stooping to catch prey at over eighty miles per hour. Red-Tailed Hawk couples mate for life, after a dazzling courtship display, which may include two hawks catching each other's talons in the air, and diving to the ground in a spiral; and Red-Tailed Hawks return to the same nest year after year. Their nests are usually constructed high in the treetops because the baby birds take much longer to develop enough to be able to fly, and therefore the baby birds must be out of the reach of raccoons and other predators who can climb to high nests to eat baby birds and eggs. I have seen Red-Tailed Hawk couples rear young and then have the young set up nests only a few hundred yards away two years later; once I saw a juvenile give up a kill to the father so the father could feed the fledglings.

Red-Tailed Hawks prefer tall, isolated trees, with plenty of open field space around the tree. They will soar in the air or perch on telephone poles to track their prey, and then swoop down on the prey, and carry it off to a high perch to eat it.

Do not pick up shed feathers, or attempt to catch a Red-Tailed Hawk. Red-Tailed Hawks, and even lost feathers, are protected under the eagle feather law, and if you are caught with even a tiny piece of a feather, you can be fined up to $25,000. It's just not worth the risk!

Horti-Culture Corner

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
- Robin Williams

"The first day of spring was once the time for taking the young virgins into the fields, there in dalliance to set an example in fertility for nature to follow.
Now we just set the clocks an hour ahead and change the oil in the crankcase."

- E.B. White, "Hot Weather," One Man's Meat, 1944

Don't Sneeze at Goldenrod
grumpygardener.southernliving.com

Stupid myths abound. Some people believe Paris Hilton is the daughter of Stephen Hawking. Others say J. Edgar Hoover secretly wore wearing men's clothing. Still others insist that goldenrod causes hay fever.

The first two myths are somewhat understandable, but not the last. Goldenrod does NOT cause hay fever. Its pollen is too heavy to float through the air. To get hay fever, you'd have to stick a goldenrod bloom right up your nose, which means you lack any sort of basic judgment at all.
Meteorologists can consult their charts and tell you exactly what minute on a particular day in September when autumn starts. But Grumpy doesn't need a chart. All he has to do wait for goldenrod to bloom. When roadside fields turn into golden gardens, autumn arrives.

I wish I had a beer for every time somebody has (erroneously) told me, "Native plants are better, because they're better adapted." In that case, why don't more people plant goldenrod in their gardens? Dozens of species are native. They're easy-to-grow, pest-free, drought-tolerant, and adapted to most soils. Not to mention their sprays of golden flowers, prized by butterflies, that combine sensationally with purple asters, red salvias, purple ironweed, wild ageratum, and orange dahlias.

The Brits love goldenrod. It's hard to find a garden in the U.K. without goldenrod in it. Many Americans, though, regard it as a weed -- and to be fair, some species are weedy, such as Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), which spreads aggressively by runners.

However, many goldenrods are well behaved and stay put in the garden. My favorite is a selection of rough-leaved goldenrod (S. rugosa), aptly named 'Fireworks'. Forming a compact, many-branched clump about 3 feet tall and wide, its sprays of tiny yellow flowers explode into bloom. (Mail-order source: Sunlight Gardens.)

Showy goldenrod (S. speciosa) earns its name too. It grows stiffly upright to about 4 feet tall with arrowhead-shaped panicles. The individual flowers are big for goldenrod and look a little like yellow asters to me. This species is good for cutting. (Mail-order source: Niche Gardens).

Sweet goldenrod (S. odora), below, is another winner. It's also called anise-scented goldenrod, because its leaves emit an anise scent if you crush them. This one grows tall and upright, 4 to 6 feet high, with flat-topped flower heads. It thrives in poor, dry soils. (Mail-order source: Prairie Nursery).

Goldenrods have two basic needs. One -- lots of sun. Two -- someone smart enough to plant them.

I bet Stephen Hawking likes goldenrods.

Perennial Petunia ?
evolutionofagardener.wordpress.com (March 4, 2010)

March has only just begun. Nothing has started blooming outdoors. We're still getting snow in Connecticut. So, summer flowers of any kind are a joy to see.

I always thought petunias were annuals. They start from seeds in spring, grow, bloom, set seed, then die. The next spring, they begin again as seeds. A year ago, I planted seeds indoors for wave petunias. Throughout the summer, they didn't do much and were pretty disappointing. I had them in baskets, hanging from the trellis/arbor in the vegetable garden. Towards the end of summer, I found tiny seedlings growing in the basket. Warm weather stayed with us into December, which was pretty unusual.

Since the seeds I had started in March took so long to start doing anything, I brought the whole basket inside for the winter. I figured I had nothing to lose. If they died, they died. If I could keep them alive, maybe they'd have a head start in spring and actually amount to something. The babies are not much more than babies, still. I've been experimenting with pinching to produce fullness. They're not full yet, at all, and the main stem is only several inches long.

Here's the odd part. The main plant still had green stems when I brought it in. Not wanting to kill it outright, I just pinched off all the dying stems. It has continued to grow. Keep in mind here that it had already set seed and reproduced. I've had the basket hanging on my seed-starting shelf with grow lights. As the stems have grown too tall, I just pinched them off, rather carelessly since I thought I expected it to just die anyway. Its kept growing and branching out. The shape isn't wonderful. It has long stems that become full near the ends, kinda funny looking. Now, it's flowering.

As a new gardener, it's difficult to pinch and prune babies. I've been getting quite an education with this plant. So much so that I have newly sown petunia seeds just sprouting. I plan to do more pinching when they are still fairly short. Hopefully, I'll learn how to encourage the nicely shaped bushy plants. The other thing that will be different this time around is their feeding. Last year, I used potting soil from the store or a homemade blend with finished compost from the outdoor pile. This year, I have finished vermicompost. I've used it in creating my seed starting mix and watering. This year's seedlings already look much happier, and the season has barely gotten started.