Green Giant cedars: Fast growing arborvitae ideal for privacy

Green Giant arborvitae create year-round privacy fast

Is there room anymore in our gardens for big? Big trees, big shrubs, big boulders – BIG, Bold colour and plantings.

Well, make room for the Green Giant. Thuya Green Giant, Green Giant Arborvitae, call it what you wish. These are big, bold evergreens in your garden and we all need more of these type of statements in our woodland gardens.

Want privacy? This is how you get it. And not just in the summer. Green Giants provide year-round privacy and they do it quickly. There is no need to wait years to eliminate that eyesore or bothersome neighbour.

It seems like everything is miniaturized in garden centres these days, aimed more at timid gardeners who have been convinced that their properties are too small to handle any larger-sized trees, plants and shrubs.

Well, Green Giants are here to prove that big and bold is beautiful. If there was a bean stock, Thuya Green Giant would outgrow it and look fantastic doing it.

Let’s take a closer look at these evergreens – also known as Green Giant Arborvitae – that grow big fast, provide the perfect evergreen screen when you need it in a hurry, have a beautiful dense deep green colour and a natural loose habit that allows them to fit into a natural woodland setting. They are shelter for wildlife during our cold winters, a nesting spot for birds in spring and summer and best of all, deer leave them alone. That’s not all, Green Giants are not bothered by insects or disease and can stand up to most adverse weather situations.

A cedar deer don’t like

Yes, you read that right. A cedar that deer, including those all around our property, will not devour in a day.

Thuja Green Giants (Thuja Standishii Plicata ‘Green Giant’) did not earn their names from being timid.

These things can grow to enormous heights (40-60 ft) with a width of between 12-20 ft. And they don’t waste time doing it putting on 3 to 5 feet of growth a season when they’re happy.

These pyramidal shaped cedars grow in zones 5-7 and are an excellent disease-free substitute for other plants like Western Red Cedar or Leyland Cypress. Spring growth emerges a fresh lighter green and winter colour is a darker, bronzer shade.

These Green Giants form the perfect natural privacy screen between our neighbours and us, creating a wall of soft evergreen that even the birds enjoy.

They can grow happily in full sun to partial shade, in acidic or alkaline soil and are not fussy about whether it’s sandy or heavy clay.

So, in other words, these things will grow just about anywhere, in any soil conditions.

Use them as a specimen tree and let them be free to grow into their natural shape in your yard, or plant them together every 5 to 6 feet to create a privacy barrier to your property from neighbours, unsightly objects and busy streets. Their dense foliage will go a long way to not only block out the view but reduce noise and act as a possible wind-break.

Your choice to grow as a specimen or a privacy screen, but I always lean to allowing a tree to grow into its natural shape.

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Green Giants on our property

In fact, the pictures above show the 8 Green Giants my neighbour and I planted between our properties last summer.

The results are impressive.

We chose the Green Giants to replace an unsightly, overgrown deciduous hedge that had long past its prime. They were planted close together (about 6 feet) and staggered them to give the foliage more room to grow and spread out.

The result is stunning. The growth rate is spectacular.

The original 5-foot cedars grew two to three feet the first year we planted them and they are already forming a solid screen between us.

I’m hoping we can grow them more as large specimens with minimum pruning but time will dictate that. If they get too big width-wise, we could always remove a couple to give them more room to grow naturally.

This spring, I have noticed that the birds have discovered it and I think are beginning to take up residence in their lovely dense foliage.

Of particular note to those looking to save some money. Two of the eight trees we planted were much smaller than the other six trees. The nursery ran out of the larger trees, so we purchased two of the smaller, less expensive cedars.

Buy small and save big on Green Giants

As an experiment, we put them up front where they will receive more direct evening sun than the larger specimens. We expected the smaller ones to perform better than the larger specimens and eventually catch up to the point where it would be hard to recognize any real difference between them.

We were shocked to see the smaller cedars almost catch up to their larger neighbours in one season of growth. I imagine that by the end of the second year, it will be hard to distinguish between the smaller cedars and the larger ones.

So, if you are looking to save money as well as make the planting procedure much easier with the smaller root balls, consider going with the smaller versions of the cedars at the nursery. The growth rate is so strong on these trees that you will not have to wait long before they begin filling in and meeting your goals.

Emerald cedars vs Green Giants

I am going to go out on a limb here and just say it – why are so many gardeners choosing Emerald Green cedars (Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’) over Green Giants or other, more natural looking, cedars?

I believe it all goes back to what the nurseries are offering and the push toward a smaller-scaled landscape because (in my mind) it certainly is not because Emerald Green cedars are nice.

They may look nice on the nursery lot with their bright green foliage but, to my eye, they don’t look appropriate in most landscapes. Hardy to zone 3b and growing to a height of only 12 feet with a spread of only about 4 feet, I can see why homeowners are originally attracted to these trees.

But the narrowness and upright, extremely dense foliage and brighter green colour just gives these a far too stiff and formal look to my liking. They work fine in a more formal setting, but I really don’t think they belong in a more natural setting and certainly not in a woodland garden.

My biggest problem with them is that, because the growth is so tight, the branches don’t intermingle well together and when they do, they often die off because of a lack of sun. The result, if any pruning is done to them, are ugly brown dead areas.

Is it obvious that I don’t like them much?

Just to add to my dislike, these things don’t live long at all averaging only about 30 years.

Consider the Black cedar or white cedars if deer are not an issue

My first choice in cedars is by far Black cedars (Thuja occidentalis ‘Nigra’). These are very much like Green Giants but are described as a selection of a native North American species. The Black cedars’ natural foliage that is a dense, dark and green with a little bit of a dusty-green look is even nicer than the Green Giants’ also impressive foliage.

A friend of mine recently put in a row of the black cedars along a fence and the result is stunning.

Black cedars grow fast to about 20 feet with a 7 foot spread, but not as quickly as Green Giants. The Nigra takes a pruning well and likes at least some sun over the course of the day.

The only reason my neighbour and I chose Green Giants over Black cedars is the fact that deer would have devastated the Black cedars within a week of planting them.

Following black cedars, our native swamp cedars, (Thuja Occidentalis) commonly known as the Arbor Vitae, Arborvitae, Eastern Arborvitae, Eastern White-cedar, Northern White Cedar, Northern White-cedar, Swamp-cedar, would be my next choice. These are often sold at the nurseries in spring as bare rooted cedars. They look spindly and not very attractive upon purchase, but are very cheap, grow fast and eventually thicken up to create an almost impenetrable privacy wall or impressive specimens. Under the right conditions, these are also very long lived.

These white cedars are perfect, accept they are high on the list of favourite food for our local deer population.

Again, Green Giants are of no interest to deer. My neighbour and I went through an entire winter where the deer left our Green Giants alone, and we did not even spray them with any deer repellent.

Impressive to say the least.

Why don’t I like Emerald Green cedars. They grow too tightly, too slowly and don’t provide the privacy that Green Giants or other more ‘loose-growing cedars’ can provide homeowners. In addition, their bright green foliage stands out in the landscape too much, in my mind. Rather than forming a perfect dark background, the Emeralds want to take centre stage.

Their biggest problem, as I mentioned earlier, is that because of their tight growth habit, if they begin to grow together like we want them to so they provide privacy, they will die off where they touch because of a lack of sun. If enough space is left between them to allow for their mature growth, they fail to provide the wall of privacy that the homeowner originally bought them for.

I know that landscapers are using them a lot and nurseries are pushing them to homeowners as the perfect hedging material, but consider their drawbacks before you go ahead and plant them.

One of our neighbours has them along their driveway, and every year they have to wrap them in burlap to stop the deer from snacking on them as well as protect them from cold winds. That’s not something I’m interested in doing, but if you are okay with it, by all means plant them.

Many homeowners like Emerald cedars, I happen to not be one of them. I’m definitely biased, so if you like them, plant them.

Green Giants are far from perfect

This is not to say that Green Giants are the perfect tree.

Anything that grows as fast as Green Giants come with their own problems. Silver maples, poplars and birch trees are good examples of fast-growing trees that, although they have their benefits, also come with big problems.

The faster a tree grows, generally the weaker its wood.

Why does that matter?

It matters most in severe weather when heavy snows or high winds can snap branches off. Whether they hit your home or just leave the trees unsightly, it’s never a good thing to have branches breaking on your trees.

In the case of cedars, it’s not uncommon for the tree branches to split resulting in either complete destruction of the tree or severe disfiguring.

This winter we did have a severe late winter snowstorm that left our cedars bent over by the heavy snow. I went out with a broom to clear some of the snow knowing that the trees can suffer damage in these situations. Turned out that they bounced back immediately and came through the storm with flying colours.

Another problem with fast growing trees is that they tend not to have long lives. Green Giants are given about a 40-year life span. I’m sure that in the right conditions they can live much longer but on average that is what you can expect.

The sheer size of these fast-growing trees is obviously a problem for some people. If you are young, you might want to consider the full mature height of these trees. They get large and can take up a lot of room if they are allowed to grow naturally. That can be a good or bad thing depending on the size of your yard and how you plan to use the tree(s) in your landscape.

My neighbour and I are, let’s say well past being called ‘young’ so having a fast-growing tree is perfect for us.

Let’s just say we are not too worried about either outliving the trees or about them getting to big in our lifetime. Your situation might be different. If so, a different type of tree might be a better choice, but don’t immediately write off a fast growing tree like the Green Giants.

If you need a quick cover that looks great, it’s hard to beat the vigour and beauty of the Green Giant cedar.

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Can I plant trees close to my house?

Planting trees in close to your home and windows helps to give you a window into your woodland.

Trees planted close to windows create rooms with a view

You shouldn’t have to step outside to enjoy your Woodland and wildlife garden. By creating impressive views from inside your home, the garden and its wildlife always has a presence.

Whether it’s a full fledged Woodland that stretches out as far as the eye can see, or a smaller area in your garden, consider finding ways to welcome it into your home.

In winter, you’ll appreciate looking out at the birds flitting from branch to branch. In spring, you might be lucky enough to watch a pair of cardinals build a nest and raise their young.

There are plenty of ways to bring the outdoors in, but I find planting trees, shrubs, grasses, ground covers and flowers close to the windows in our one-storey house to be the best way to experience the woodland garden at all times.

Looking out and seeing birds in the branches just outside the window is such a pleasant experience compared to looking out over a sea of grass with gardens in the distance.

I also don’t worry about tree roots invading our basement. I am aware that this can and does occur at times – mostly in 100-plus year old homes with massive oak trees or maples planted very close to the home. By planting trees with less aggressive rooting systems, these problems can be averted.

A few good trees to plant near a home include birches, various forms of apple including crabapples, dogwoods, Japanese maples and hawthorn trees.

Trees to keep away from your home’s foundation include silver maple, poplars and white ash.

Our trees are far enough away that I am not concerned that they will ever get large enough to do any damage to the foundation of the home. Besides, I won’t probably be around by the time that occurs. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy feeling one with nature.

Getting up close and personal

There are many ways to get up close and personal with nature.

Some involve constructing outdoor structures … or building expensive three- and four-season rooms that reach into your garden and surround you with your woodland in a climate-controlled, mosquito-free environment.

Perfect, but often very pricey.

It’s a whole lot easier and much less expensive to simply take advantage of what’s already staring you in the face.

Existing windows and doors are an opportunity many gardeners overlook when it comes to maximizing their gardens. It’s not enough to simply look out over the garden, try to bring the woodland in close to give you an intimate window into the goings on in your garden. Birds flitting from branch to branch or a mother feeding her young just on the other side of the window provides all the entertainment you need over your morning coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Create vignettes outside your windows

Similar to indoor decorating, look to create vignettes on the outside that you can appreciate from inside.

French doors, for example, provide the perfect opportunity to create a beautiful vignette just outside the doors.

Outside our family room French door is a beautiful copper birdbath, a small concrete bench, a container full of annual flowers as well as a beautiful flowering Cornus Kousa. A small flagstone pathway gives the viewers’ eyes a view past a rose bush and into the main garden.

From the couch in the family room, I can watch a steady procession of birds at the birdbath and admire the beautiful view of the flowering dogwood. In winter the birdbath is heated to continue to provide entertainment while giving the birds vital fresh water and a bathing opportunity even in the dead of winter.

In your garden, it may be nothing more than a grouping of pots filled with colourful plants or dramatic grasses, garden art or a simple bird bath, or water feature that you can appreciate from both indoors and out.

Five ways to bring the Woodland inside:

• Spend time standing at or looking out the windows of your home in every season and dream of what you might want to view. Then make it happen

• Plant trees or clumps of trees close to your home outside windows and doors to give you intimate views of nature from inside your home.

• Plan a lovely vignette outside your favourite window.

• If you have a window overlooking a neighbour, consider planting cedars. Make sure they are either native white cedar, black cedar or a cultivar that is loose and natural feeling. Some of the cedars sold at nurseries are more ornamental and not really the best for hedging. The best cedars grow taller than a fence, provide year-round interest and attract birds both as nesting areas and food sources. Hang a small feeder nearby for even more entertainment.

• If you need new windows or doors, take advantage of the opportunity by either increasing the amount of glazing (glass) or using a French door or sliders over a standard door. Maximize your view and then create the view you dream of through landscaping.

Wise words from a professional landscaper

A landscape professional once told me that a good landscape allows people to live in it not just admire it from afar.

It’s an approach we all need to consider more carefully when we create our landscapes. Planting trees or shrubs close to windows and places where we spend the most time is a sure fire way to fully experience our gardens.

Natural tree canopies replace umbrellas

Why use a massive garden umbrella to give you shade from the afternoon sun, when a large tree canopy can do it with greater style? Plant that tree now and by the time it provides you with the canopy you desire, your existing umbrella will need replacing.

We are lucky enough to have large windows in both the front and back of our ranch-style home. In addition, to open the garden up even more, every exterior door has been converted to either have a large window or turned into a French door for maximum viewing.

To some extent, our gardens are designed around the windows.

Our large front picture windows look out onto a grassless woodland setting that includes, among other plants and trees, Japanese maples, a lovely serviceberry, fully mature Crimson and red maples as well as our neighbour’s large blue spruce trees.

But it’s our view out into the back garden that best illustrates our attempt to bring the Woodland indoors.

Creating a view: Designing a dry-river bed

After years of looking out a large dining room bay window into our back garden, it donned on me that we really needed to create an interesting view that we could appreciate year round.

The view had always begged for something special, but I could never decide how best to use the space. 

Over the years, it primarily served as our main bird- and deer-feeding stations. The birds and deer provided plenty of entertainment, but it was time for a change.

Although it was completed just three years ago, it’s fair to say this project was years in the making.

It began with a plan to create a dry-river bed that connected to an existing pathway of river rock, pea gravel and flagstone stepping stones – a landscaping project my wife and I completed many years earlier. I liked the look and feel of the existing pathway and thought it would be good to bring that same feeling out into the landscape.

Since a bubbling rock has always been a dream of mine, we incorporated a small solar powered pump with a bubbling rock at the head of the dry-river bed. The idea was coming together in my mind but it needed more to make it look natural and bring it together as a cohesive landscape.

Eventually, after combing Pinterest for dry-river ideas, the concept of a bubbling rock and dry river bed running through a forest of birch trees was born.

Soon after, three clump birches were planted in the area around where the dry river bed would eventually go. The bubbling rock and dry river bed followed.

Grasses, ground covers and native flowers have been added since then to soften the hard edge of the river bed rocks and, three years later, the entire project is beginning to settle nicely into the landscape.

The birches seem happy and the branches are growing together creating a lovely birch-grove canopy over the bubbling rock and dry river bed.

Together, the tree canopy and fresh moving water attract plenty of birds, chipmunks and red squirrels that come in for a taste of the cool water rising up from the underground and spilling over the rock into the river rock below. I have even seen toads and snakes visiting the area.

Add solar lights for night views

At night, three solar-powered spotlights on the birch clumps allow us to enjoy our birch grove at all times, whether we are sitting outside or inside at the dining room table.

In fact, the lighted birch grove is the last thing I see every night and never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Now is the perfect time to consider creating vignettes outside your windows and doors to bring your Woodland garden into your home. I guarantee it’ll bring a smile to your face every day.

I would love to hear from you on how you were able to take advantage of existing windows and doors to create a dream view.

Take a few minutes to share your thoughts down below and inspire others to bring their Woodland indoors.

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Raised planters are a hit in the woodland garden

From veggies to garden nursery, changing strategies

The two raised planters to the left in the photo fit in nicely with the Keter sheds (that’s a second, smaller shed on the right) and the two on-ground planters, also made by Keter, that flank each side of the shed doors.

We bought our home based on a picture the previous owners left on the kitchen table at the open house.

It was a picture of two deer walking through the yard.

That sold it for me.

At the time, my wife, daughter and I were living in the suburbs surrounded by homes, pools and annoying neighbours. I spent my evenings and weekends in the nearby town of Ancaster (where we now live) trying to get photographs of deer. At that time, I was a little obsessed about getting photos of these lovely creatures.

Lots of deer: Careful what you wish for

When we bought the Ancaster home, one of the first projects I did was set up a bird-feeding station. It wasn’t long before the deer came to the bird feeders and it wasn’t long after that I came to the realization that if birds came to my feeders, I bet deer would come to feeders especially made for them.

I was right.

One morning I woke up to 17 deer in the yard waiting for me to go out and fill their feeder.

In fact, by about the third year of feeding the deer, they would be waiting for me when I returned from work around midnight.

For more suggestions and some of my favourite garden things, be sure to check out my Favourite Things post.

Five, six, eight would be in the yard gathered around the feeder. They were so used to me by that time that they would back off only about three feet when I approached them with their special feed of oats and corn.

They became so friendly that I’m sure they would have let me touch them, if I ever tried.

It got to the point where we couldn’t sit outside without being visited by a couple of deer looking for a handout.

The two raised planters are seen here with the woodland garden in the background.

High cost of feeding deer

Eventually, I realized, however, that we could not have anything nice because of the all the deer.

Not only were they eating me out of house and home, but they treated my emerging garden like a smorgasbord – the garden was the salad and the feeder became the main course.

A number of on-line nurseries offer assistance on buying deer-resistant plants. They are worth familiarizing yourself with so you don’t spend a fortune feeding the deer with precious plants.

The Burpee site is another mail-order company offering an extensive list of deer-resistant perennial seeds and plants for purchase through mail order.

I cut down on the food and eventually fewer deer visited looking for handouts.

Don’t get me wrong, they are still welcome in my garden and continue to indulge on our hostas, but the tradeoff of having these magnificent animals around is well worth it to me.

Before I plant anything these days, I check to see if they are deer resistant. I’ll still use plants that I know deer enjoy, but I try to put them in areas that are a little difficult for the deer to reach. It doesn’t work, but I keep trying.

The Keter raised planter pictured here prior to being filled with soil shows the watering system at left and the plastic spacers that both give the unit support and act as dividers for different herbs or veggies.

Lots of visitors to the woodland wildlife garden

Deer, of course, are not the only garden visitors. Rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels (both grey and red) chipmunks and a host of other hungry visitors live here too. So the thought of growing vegetables had never really crossed my mind until recently.

Mary Reynolds’, The Garden Awakening, (see earlier blog) got me thinking about Forest Gardening. A little research on YouTube especially New Jersey YouTuber James Prigioni got me thinking maybe it was time to tackle a little more food cultivation in the garden.

Problem is, besides berries from the many Dogwoods on the property, crabapples, serviceberries and various nuts from trees, I was convinced vegetables and low-growing berry crops would not stand a chance in the garden. There are ways to keep the critters out but I was not interested in fencing my property.

Just fencing off a small area using something like the Pest Free Garden from Gardeners’ Supply Company would certainly get the job done.

But I decided to go with raised planters.

A quick visit to our local big-box store resulted in not one but two handsome black, self watering raised planters made by a company named Keter for a garden area I am developing in front of a new shed. It didn’t hurt that the raised planters were made by the same company that made the shed and, therefore, fit nicely into the grey and black colour scheme. Check out my review of the Keter shed here.

Simple to assemble raised planters

It also was not a coincidence that as soon as I saw the raised planters at Costco, I grabbed them. After purchasing more Keter garden products in the last year and a half than I care to admit, I knew the quality of these Keter Urban Bloomer XL raised planters would be top notch and assembly would be simple and satisfying.

Construction, however, didn’t start well.

I overlooked the instructions for the first planter in the box so, like most men, decided to proceed without them. First thing I did was break a tab off the leg trying to detach it from the packaging. I’m not all that handy, so breaking things before I even get started is not out of the ordinary.

I had three more legs to detach and, for the life of me, I could not figure out how to detach them without breaking them off. Second leg, same thing. Broken tab.

I knew Keter products well enough by now to know that this was not the norm with their products. Everything else I built from them (and like I said there were many) made Ikea look like amateurs.

It was about that time that I discovered the instructions in the box.

Well, guess what? The tabs were meant to be broken off from the packaging material. Wow, I thought to myself, not only do I get to build these things, but I even get to break things on purpose. Life is just too good.

A few minutes later and the first one was built. After already building one (without instructions for the most part), the second one went together even easier and quicker. Within 1/2 an hour or so, both were built and in place ready for soil and seeds.

Keter states that with The Urban Bloomer XL, there’s no need to dedicate lots of space to have a substantial vegetable garden.

And, for us old folks, no need to bend over while planting and harvesting our veggies. That’s a good thing.

The extra-large elevated planter ( capacity of 110 L | 29.06 Gallons) features a shelf for storing gardening supplies and a smart watering system that incorporates special fabric for evaporation and regulated watering.

Its 44.8 inches in length and 18.6 inches in depth provides plenty of space for planting vegetables and herbs. The planters are advertised as UV and weather resistant, requiring virtually no maintenance and are easy to clean. What more can you ask for? A drainage plug at the bottom of the planter provides a convenient way to reduce the amount of water if necessary.

They are also quite light even with soil in them and would make the perfect raised planter for a balcony or small courtyard.

Their dark colour makes them not only a stylish addition to a balcony or patio, but also works to absorb heat to keep plants happy from early Spring through the cooler Fall temperatures.

One thing I can say about Keter is that the vinyls/plastics they use in their products are outstanding.

I’ve always been a natural-materials guy, but when I discovered how realistic Keter products are, I was sold. In fact, the company has won awards for the vinyls they have created. I joke that our grey-weathered shed looks more like weathered cedar than real weathered cedar looks. And it was weathered the day we bought it. I didn’t have to wait for it to take on that beautiful weathered grey colour.

Will they work to keep deer away

Keter doesn’t say anything about deer though.

In fact, after assembling them, I realized that my planters are raised to the perfect height for our four-legged friends to chow down with the greatest of ease.

They will definitely keep the rabbits away but I’m not too sure about the deer.

Oh well, it wouldn’t be the first time I set up a buffet for our resident deer.

And, like I said, watching them enjoy my backyard as much as I do, is a small price to pay.

Just leave me a tomato or two would you guys… I do like my toasted tomatoes.

Throughout the summer, I’ll keep readers updated on my success and failures with my raised planters.

Raised planter update

Okay so after our first summer with the raised planters I can report that I did not see a deer munching my tomatoes. I can also report that the deer missed out because one of our local raccoons got there first. Turns out a local raccoon decided to help itself to the tomatoes and snap pees.

Back to square one. This year we moved the planters around to the side of the house and although I have not given up with the tomatoes and other veggies, I am converting the raised planters to more of a woodland wildlife nursery where I can begin growing woodland flowers and shrubs from cuttings and seeds. I predict that will be a little more productive in the long run.

I hope to pick up some garden cloches from Garden supply to deter the raccoons from what is left of my tomatoes and other veggies.

If you like Keter products, and you are as disorganized as I am, you might want to consider getting their shed tool organizer. Again it’s another high quality product that solves the problem of messy tools cluttering up your tidy shed.

• None of the products in this review were provided to me from Keter. They were all purchased by me at a local Big Box Store.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer. Thank you for your support.

How to attract Orioles with oranges, jelly and insects

Go natural: Provide insects and berries for Orioles

I’m sitting in my home office in the middle of May with a light dusting of snow on the ground watching Baltimore Orioles working one of the orange halves I left out on the feeder for them

Last year, I remember as many as seven swarming the feeder. They were feasting on oranges and nectar from a commercial feeder that I had put out for them to catch their attention as they migrated back to their more northern summer breeding grounds here in Canada, from winters in Mexico, Central and South America.

If you want to attract Orioles and keep them around year round, you’ll have to make sure your Woodland provides them with everything they need so they decide to call it home. That includes an upper tree canopy where they often build their nests.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

Orioles live in open woodlands particularly those with deciduous trees and lots of insects.

Oranges will go a long way to entice Orioles to visit your yard in spring, but grape jelly, nectar (in the same 4 to 1 ratio of water and sugar used to attract hummingbirds) provided in commercial feeders and berries in your garden from native trees and shrubs will help to convince the birds to stay around all summer. Don’t forget to provide an abundance of insects, including meal worms, which is the main food of Orioles when feeding their nestlings and throughout the remainder of the summer.

A male oriole works an orange half on the top of an Oriole feeder filled with the same sugar water mixture used for hummingbird feeders.

Here in Southern Ontario and Eastern United States we are limited to the Baltimore and orchard orioles. There are actually nine orioles throughout the United States, but only five are common.

The Bullock’s is found throughout Western Canada and the United States.

Once you’ve got them, and providing you give them the requirements they need, they often return year after year to raise their young.

More on what are the best Oriole feeders here.

Spring migration troubles 2021

Of Note: In the spring of 2021 many homeowners who normally have had Baltimore Orioles in their gardens are reporting that the birds either did not show up or appeared for only a day or two and moved on never to be seen again. I usually have a large number of orioles in the garden throughout the summer raising their young. This year, although a few passed through, none stayed around for more than a day or two. I have seen similar reports of decreases in Baltimore Oriole numbers throughout southern Ontario into northeastern U.S.

There appears to be no obvious reason for this concerning turn of events. A late cold spell that ripped through the Great Lakes area right around migration time brought freezing temperatures, including heavy snow, which may have resulted in fewer birds surviving migration or more birds choosing to nest further south. I will try to update this page if there is any more news on the plight of the Orioles.

A young Oriole enjoys a bath in one of our on-ground water sources that happens to be a concrete antler belonging to our concrete moose named Bruce (as in Springsteen) the moose.

It wasn’t too long ago when our Woodland garden was completely devoid of Orioles. Not that they weren’t around. People regularly talked about seeing them in the Conservation area surrounding us. I just never saw them in my garden.

Then I got serious about enticing these beautifully coloured birds into our garden.

Oriole nests are elaborate sac-shaped works of art

Now, they are not only here regularly in the spring and throughout the summer, a pair have even nested in a large maple at the front of our property. I don’t always find their nests, but I often see the young birds with their parents.

Orioles can take up to 12 days to build their elaborate, pendulous sac-shaped nests on the ends of branches in tall trees often in more open areas. Their nests are unique when it comes to North American birds’ nests.

In spring, the female oriole build’s her nest with thin, intertwined fibers that form what might seem like a delicate pouch but, in fact, can hold up to seven eggs.

By putting out oranges early in spring, we can attract orioles to our yards. Once we have them coming to our yards we can add grape jelly to keep them coming back.

For more information on how orioles build their nest check out audubon’s highly informative article on their site here.

Last year, a mother brought her entire brood to our on-ground water source where they had a great time splashing around in the ears of our concrete moose.

All it took to get them here originally was a couple of oranges cut in half and placed in areas where the Orioles are likely to see them. Now our neighbours have joined in to the excitement and put orange slices around their yard as well.

Once you have them, it’s time to add grape jelly to your yard. It has to be basic grape jelly, not a jam. You can buy special oriole jelly in plastic bottles at many good bird stores, but just buy a good grape jelly. I like to use Welch’s grape jelly, but any no-name jellies should be fine. Mix it with a little water and the Orioles will lap it up often choosing the jelly over the orange halves.

Orioles are attracted to the colour orange, so many of today’s feeders use the colour to catch the bird’s attention.

One trick that I like to use is after the orioles are finished with the orange half, I fill it with jelly. They seem to appreciate my effort. It’s a constant exchange of old oranges with new ones, and filling the spent oranges with grape jelly.

Five cool facts about orioles

• Orioles are in the same family as blackbirds and meadowlarks and are most often seen perched at the tops of trees or flitting through the upper foliage looking for insects.

• Their chatter is quite distinctive as is their call. Once you have heard it, you are unlikely to forget it.

• Watch your peas. Orioles enjoy fresh or frozen or dried peas

• Orioles live up to 11 years in the wild and longer in captivity.

• Female orioles become a deeper orange every time they molt. Older females can be almost as bright as their male counterparts

• Orioles got their names from the black and orange of Lord Baltimore’s family crest, which is similar to the family’s crest

• the Baltimore oriole is Maryland’s state bird

• Orioles have distinct alarm calls to warn of predators, but will not hesitate to mob and harass predators that threaten or come near nests.

Oriole feeders have come a long way

Many modern feeders will provide areas to mount oranges as well as cavities to put the jelly into. Some feeders also offer the Orioles several choices, including jelly, orange halves and nectar.

Some, such as the Birds Choice Flower Oriole Bird Feeder include a reservoir to hold grape jelly as well as places to mount orange halves. Look for feeders that also provide perches for several of the birds to comfortably and safely perch while they are eating. It’s not uncommon to have several at your feeders at once.

The nectar that is used for orioles is the same as the nectar used for hummingbirds. It should be made the same way – 4 parts of water to one part of sugar.

I like to boil my water first and then measure out the 4:1 ratio. The boiling water helps to dissolve the sugar more perfectly and seems to keep my feeders’ nectar clear longer. Remember to let it cool to room temperature before filling your nectar feeders.

Don’t be surprised if the orioles start to feed from your hummingbird feeders. They are a regular at my feeders, even when they struggle to fit on them properly.

In saying that, however, it’s not uncommon for our hummingbirds to drink from the oriole feeder.

Orioles love moving water

Don’t underestimate the value of moving water. Although orioles get much of their water needs filled by nectar from our feeders and plants, water still plays an important part in attracting these beautiful birds. They are especially attracted to the sight and sound of moving water, whether it’s a fountain, a dripper or a bubbler. I wrote a full article about converting a dripper into a solar fountain. You can read it here.

Five of a total of seven Orioles pictured here taking advantage of our various feeders that included orange halves, home-made jelly feeders and a nectar feeder.

In summer meal worms are an excellent choice for Orioles

Finally, once you have attracted the Orioles, you will need to be prepared to change their diet as summer approaches. You may notice them using your orange and jelly feeders less and less. That’s when to start shifting what you are feeding them from oranges and jelly to meal worms, either live ones (which are ideal) or dried ones. It’s a good idea to rehydrate the dried meal worms with some water before putting them out in your feeders. Or, put them in a dish and add a little water to rehydrate them. This makes it easier for the birds to swallow them.

Both types are available at bird-feeding stores or through Amazon. Feeding meal worms will not only attract Orioles to your garden. They are the prime source of food for Bluebirds at a feeder as well as robins and other insect eating birds.

Special meal worm feeders are also available. Because squirrels are not interested in meal worms, these feeders can hang anywhere in the garden including from nearby tree branches.

The Baltimore Oriole spends its winters in florida and farther south in Central America. They migrate north to breed throughout the northeast United States and into southern parts of Canada.

Insects are the birds’ primary food source in summer

Although they are attracted to Oranges and jellies on their migration routes, their real food is a variety of insects.

The Orioles that visit our gardens are using the oranges and jelly as a quick burst of energy. By the summer, when they are raising their young, they spend much of their time foraging for insects to feed their babies. The parents will still come to the feeders for quick bursts of energy, but they may also almost disappear if they are not nesting nearby.

Besides mealworms, Orioles will also eat wasps and other insects. It is vital to avoid using pesticides in the garden to ensure a large supply of insects for these birds. During the summer, when orioles are feeding their young, insects may provide up to 90 per cent of an oriole’s diet.

Native shrubs and bushes that produce an abundance of berries are excellent food sources for these birds. Consider planting elderberries, blueberries, blackberries, serviceberries and raspberries just to name a few. I have written an entire article about the importance of serviceberries in our wildlife gardens. You can read it here.

Although oranges are their favourite fruit, they will also eat apple, peaches, bananas and berries.

Providing them with special suet mixes that include fruit pieces and berries is a good source of high energy for them.

Plant bright, but dark-coloured fruits such as mulberries, cherries and purple grapes as well as raspberries. They also like flowers that produce high quantities of nectar including vines such as trumpet vines.

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How to attract indigo buntings to your backyard

Attracting Indigo Buntings and other insect-eating birds can be difficult

Indigo Buntings have always been one of my favourite birds, but attracting them to our backyards is not always easy.

I am lucky enough to have indigo buntings coming to our feeder several times a day. And, they are going to one very specific feeder that I have made sure to keep filled with its favourite foods.

This male indigo bunting perched long enough in one of our birch trees for me to capture this image. These small, beautifully coloured birds look almost tropical in the woodland garden.

Attract Indigo Buntings with natural food such as insects

These birds of the open woodlands will come to specific seeds in your feeder, especially during migration, but they are among the many birds we may see in our backyards that largely depend on insects, spiders, grasshoppers, aphids, beetles, cicadas and caterpillars as their main source of food during the spring and summer months.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

So, how do we attract Indigo Buntings and other insect-eating birds, including blue birds, wrens and warblers to our yards and keep them coming back, or, better yet, convince them to call our yard their home?

A male Indigo Bunting sits among the flowers of a crabapple in spring.

To successfully attract Indigo Buntings and other primarily insect-eating birds to our yards depends on a multi-faceted approach that begins with providing them with the food they prefer at our feeders – primarily small seeds such as thistle or nyjer, and white proso millet. Sunflower chips – the type available in no-mess blends – can also attract these beautiful birds. A high quality finch mix which includes many of these favourite seeds and, of course, live or dried meal worms will keep them interested in what our feeders are providing.

Use white proso millet and bark butter to attract Indigo Buntings

In addition, I have had success with Wild Birds Unlimited soft suet nuggets known as “Bark Butter Bits” in attracting Indigo Buntings and other insect eaters.

I have found that white proso millet mixed with dried meal worms keeps indigo buntings coming back day after day.

Indigo Buntings are among the most shy birds in my garden. Even the slightest movement from a distance can send them flying off into the nearby cover of our large crabapple trees. Providing several feeding stations or, even better, a caged feeder helps to give them a better sense of security in the commotion that so often surrounds a large feeding station.

Once the feeder foods are in place, ensure there is an abundance of water in the yard and try to provide it in many different forms – from on-ground sources, to hanging bird baths in trees and other quiet areas of the garden, as well as traditional bird baths. (See my earlier story on providing water sources here.)

Once these two key ingredients (food and water) are in place, we need to focus on providing the birds with their natural food sources which includes an abundance of insects as well as berries.

Berries as a key food source: Plant blueberries and serviceberries

Indigo Buntings are drawn to many types of berries including blueberries, strawberries, serviceberries blackberries and elderberries, just to name a few. Many of these fruits could be purchased from local grocery stores and provided at feeders, but why not start now to ensure at least some of these berries are being provided naturally in our gardens?

By planting a few of these berry producers and leaving an area of your garden to go wild with wild strawberry, raspberries etc you will provide perfect habitat for a host of birds that like to dine on berries. Indigo buntings will often forage in these wild areas for seeds, bugs and berries. They can be seen flitting about through the grasses or in shrubs.

In spring, they will often even eat the buds of their favourite trees and shrubs. There is no questions that these “wild” areas provide excellent habitat for a host of insects and keep the birds returning to that corner of your yard.

These berry producers, especially serviceberries, are excellent additions to your woodland/wildlife garden. (See my earlier post on serviceberries here.)

Blueberry plants are also an easy introduction to the garden. You can grow them in containers where you can more easily control the PH levels. (Blueberries like a slightly acid soil) I have two blueberries growing in a large container and another Proven Winners’ hybrid plant that I planted this year in a raised container.

Chances are you will have to work hard to get any for yourself once the birds and garden critters have had their fill, but that’s okay. If you can’t bear the idea of giving up all your favourite fruit to the birds, cover them with a cloche to save some for yourself and offer the remainder to the birds. The critters got all the berries last year. This year, I am determined to get at least a few for myself.

Okay, so we have the feeders set up, an abundance and variety of water sources and berry producing trees and shrubs planted in the garden.

That’s an excellent start and one where many gardeners will be satisfied, but not us. Woodland/wildlife gardeners who really want to attract Indigo Buntings and other insect-eating birds to their backyards will want to take the extra steps to not only attract the birds but the insects and caterpillars that will really bring these birds to our gardens.

Immature Indigo Bunting showing its lack of complete colouring.

Insects: Provide the key ingredient to success

Now let’s talk about those insects that Indigo Buntings are so dependent on for their survival.

It goes without saying that the use of indiscriminate insecticides is not going to result in success. In fact, every effort should be made to create a pesticide-free habitat for the wildlife in your yard.

It never hurts to put up a sign in your front garden advertising that your property is a pesticide-free zone. Unfortunately, we cannot control what our neighbours do but, let’s hope they will follow our lead and reduce or eliminate the insecticides they choose to use on their properties.

Eliminating pesticides is an excellent start, but if you live in a typical suburban lot you may need to take extra steps to make your property insect-friendly.

Here are a few suggestions to increase the number of insects on your property with links to earlier posts on Ferns & Feathers.

Plant an Oak tree: If at all possible, look for an area in your yard where you can plant an oak tree. Studies show that oak trees support the greatest number of insects and caterpillars of all the trees in the forest. Without going into great detail, there is no better tree in the landscape to support a healthy insect and population. In fact, Doug Tallamy in his book Bringing Nature Home states that a “single white oak tree can provide food and shelter for as many as 22 species of tiny leaf-tying and leaf folding caterpillars.”

Go here to read my posts on oak trees.

• What tree should I plant in my yard.

• Columnar oak is perfect for small yards.

And that is just a tiny fraction of the fauna that depend on a single oak tree. In fact, the mighty oak supports 534 species of fauna, more than any other tree we can plant in our gardens. (See my earlier post here on the importance of oak trees in our landscapes.)

Create a brushpile: Pick a corner of the yard and begin adding sticks, branches and other woody cuttings from the garden to the pile. Maybe some old grasses or last year’s leaves could also find a home in the corner. You are not looking to make a compost pile (although an active compost pile is good too), you are mostly just making a place where insects can gather preferably out of the hot sun. Over time the branches will break down and create good habitat for insects and other small fauna. We have two such areas: one is a massive pile in one corner of the yard that gets added to every year. Some might describe it as an open compost pile but I never turn it, have not removed any “compost” and top it with only garden material from branches to cut grasses, leaves and old container plantings in the fall. The other is the result of pruning two large trees, where I asked the tree company to just leave the branches on the ground. This is an open brush pile and favourite playground for the chipmunks and red squirrels in our yard.

For my earlier post on building a brushpile go here.

Leave some fruit to rot: This is a great way to attract fruit flies. I use a shallow hanging bird bath which is a perfect place to put pieces of apple, watermelon, oranges for the Orioles, bananas etc. These attract all kinds of insects as well as butterflies etc. The fruits get moved to the open compost area once they begin to over ripen.

Leave your leaves in the fall: This is the singularly most important step you can take to encourage an abundance of insect life in your woodland garden. It is vital for insectivorous birds during the extremes in winter when food is scarce and in spring, when migrating birds are returning craving good sources of protein. Despite living in an area surrounded by forested Conservation lands, most of my neighbours are obsessive about picking up every last leaf on their grass and in their yards. Bags and bags of leaves are put out every fall through spring to ensure not a single leaf remains on their properties. It reminds me of how important leaving the leaves on the ground is when I look out the window in late fall, winter or early spring and see a host of birds, rummaging through the leaves looking for insects and larvae winter, spring, summer and fall. (See earlier article here.)

Mud puddles or shallow spots: Many insects, including butterflies can be drawn to shallow mud puddles where they drink and obtain much-needed minerals from the soil.

Backgrounder on the Indigo Bunting

These migratory birds (genus passerina cyanea) spend the winter primarily throughout Central America but breed throughout the eastern United States up into southern Ontario around the Great Lakes and southern parts of Quebec west to Manitoba. An interesting fact about these birds is that they migrate at night, using stars as their guiding lights.

They can often be spotted on the edge of woodlands and along rural roadways where they like to perch on telephone lines and tall trees and share their song for hours on end.

The indigo-blue males, with their striking blue heads that softens to a more cerulean colour on the body, pronounce their presence with joyful songs through the late spring and summer.

It may come as a surprise, since it is their striking colour that sets them apart in the bird world, that their jewel-like colour does not actually come from blue pigment in their feathers, but, instead, from microscopic structures in the feathers that refract and actually reflect blue light.

The males sport short conical bills that are dark on the top and a silvery-gray on the bottom.

Females, not unlike many other bird species such as cardinals and orioles, are much more subdued in colour with shades of brown and beige with hints of blue on her wings or rump.

Indigo Buntings like to nest in shrubby areas rather than high in the treetops. this is another good reason to leave some unkept shrubby areas in a corner of your garden.

Who knows, you may be able to convince a couple to nest in your yard where you can enjoy them all summer, up close and personal.

The perfect opportunity to photograph the family as they grow and prepare for their epic migration to lands far, far away.

Good luck and let me know if you have any success attracting Indigo Buntings this season.

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How to attract Native Bees to your wildlife garden

Creating a lawn for native bees: Time to rethink normal

The value of our native bees can’t be underestimated, but every day, every year, every growing season they play second fiddle to those “other” bees.

Their role in the natural world could not be any more clear than their importance to native plants.

(For my article on the important role of native plants, go here.)

In a world where insects and other creepy crawlies get a bad rap, solitary bees are the Rodney Dangerfield of the Bee world.

They certainly don’t deserve that disrespect.

Our Native Bees is a stunningly beautiful book that explores the importance of North America’s endangered pollinators. it is pictured here with a WeeBeeHouse native bee home.

Considering the work native solitary bees do for us, they should actually be celebrated as one of the most important contributors to the natural world and a vital part of our agricultural economy.

Why don’t they get the respect they deserve?

Paige Embry, author of the Our Native Bees book is a true solitary bee aficionado. “It annoys her — rightly — that most people know next to nothing about the 4,000 species of native bees nesting in the ground, in trees and in the sides of our houses,” points out the New York Times, in a review of her book.

“The hardest part of getting a bee lawn into use isn’t developing the seed mix; it’s dealing with people’s vision of what a lawn should be…If we didn’t have to worry about our neighbours, I think there would be a much more diverse look.”

— Minneapolis Bee researcher

Count me among those who knew “next to nothing about the 4,000 species of native bees.”

I never really gave bees much thought even though the solitary native bees are regulars in our backyard.

After reading her book (Published by nature and garden book publishers Timber Press in 2018) and my own research, I still consider myself a novice when it comes to native bees. There is so much to learn, but Embry’s book is a good beginning for anyone wanting to explore the world of native solitary bees.

Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them is clear and concise, mixed with entertaining stories and anecdotes about author Embry’s journey into discovering North American native bees from her childhood to present day. The book is by no means a dry, complex, scientific or academic approach to protecting and attracting native bees.

It’s their story and she tells the troubled tale with the novice native bee lover in mind.

“Native bees are the poor stepchildren of the bee world,” she writes in the introduction of the book. Honey bees get all the press – the books, the movie deals – and they aren’t even from around here, coming over from Europe with the early colonists.”

She goes on to point out that in 2015 the U.S. federal government “issued a plan to restore 7 million acres of land for pollinators and more than double the research budget for them.”

Sounds great, where’s this disrespect you talk about?

The disrespect came in the name of the new program: the “National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.”

As Embry aptly points out: “Four thousand species of native bees, not to mention certain birds, bats, flies, wasps, beetles, moths, and butterflies, reduced to ‘other pollinators.’ ”

It’s the sad tale of our native bees. But with the efforts of Embry, bee researchers and entrepreneurial dreamers who are working hard to help our native bees get the respect and recognition they deserve, there is certainly some reason to be optimistic for the 4,000 species of native bee that call North America home.

No-one is kidding themselves, however, the story of their survival is still being written and there is no guarantee it will have a fairy-tale ending.

Let’s make this clear from the beginning, Embry has nothing against honey bees.

“They dance and make honey and can be carted around by the thousands in convenient boxes, but from a pollination point of view, they aren’t super-bees. On cool, cloudy days when honey bees are home shivering in their hives, many of our native bees are out working over the flowers. Bumble bees do their special buzz pollination of tomatoes, blueberries, and various wild species…. The trusty orchard mason bees are such hard-working yet slovenly little pollen collectors that several hundred can pollinate an acre of apples that requires thousands of honey bees.”

Embry asks: “Where are the book and movie deals for these bees?”

Where indeed?

Our Native Bees book, however, is a good beginning.

The little black, 195-page gem of a book is actually written in two halves: The first half focuses on the commercial importance of native bees in the agricultural world and tells the story behind California’s massive almond industry among others; the second half explores the importance of the native bees in nature and efforts made to save them including an unlikely pairing between the future of native bees and intensive work being done at a U.S. golf course to create ideal habitat for them and other pollinators.

The Power of Bees

In her final chapter of Our Native Bees, Embry writes about the power of these extremely docile native bees. Here are a few excerpts from that chapter:

Bees have power: They have the obvious power of pollination and supplying us with many of our favourite foods. they also have an unexpected superpower – the ability to form connections and build community among people. … People come together to volunteer at bee labs or help with bee surveys. Some use vacation time to take bee classes and hunt for bees.

Bees are reselient: If we just stop kicking the bees quite so hard, we can help them – and see the results immediately. Renounce pesticides. Plant flowers that bees in your area like. Be a little slovenly in the garden; leave some old broken stems and a little bare dirt show. The bees will come.

Bees are diverse: Most people think of honey bees when they hear the word bee or, even worse, they envision a yellow jacket or some other kinds of wasp. Twenty thousand species rife with differences being reduced to either a very unusual outlier of the group or something that is not a member of the group at all.

In the first half of her book, Embry sets up the difference between imported honey bees and our native bees.

For a complete novice, when it comes to the importance of bees and their role in agriculture, I have to admit that the information Embry provided was both enlightening and fascinating.

Embry’s love affair with bees and her subsequent book actually had its roots with the the tomatoes of her Georgia childhood.

“The summertime table in my house always had a plate of sliced tomatoes on it. … When I grew up and moved away, I too, grew tomatoes…, she writes in the book.

“Some pollination happens as a result of wind just shaking the plants, but more and bigger tomatoes result with the help of bees. Not just any bee can do it, though. It wasn’t until I was nearly fifty that I learned that honey bees can’t produce those tasty red and orange globes. Tomatoes require a special kind of pollination called buzz pollination, where a bee holds onto a flower and vibrates certain muscles that shake the pollen right out of the plant.”

“If the idea of flowers growing in the grassy lawn just isn’t quite achievable yet, there’s always the golf course route. Take out some of that lawn and convert it into a home and dining hall for bees. It’s all a matter of rethinking normal.”

— Paige Embry

So, it turns out that bumble bees and other native bees are the keys to tomato pollination.

Embry goes on to devote an entire chapter to the question: “Did Greenhouse Tomatoes Kill the Last Franklin’s Bumble Bee?”

You’ll have to read the book to get the answer to that question, but it raises a concern about big agriculture and the future of our native bees.

Native versus naturalized bees

In case you were wondering what’s the difference between Native and Naturalized bees, Embry explains it in the following way: “The North American bee is one that evolved right here. The honey bees we know are not native because they came over from Europe with the early colonists. Some of those early bees escaped into the wild (they went feral), where they did quite well. Those feral bees are considered naturalized, not native.”

Native Bees’ economic value

Like many of us, I had not given much thought to how fruit and nuts get to our table and the importance of pollination to that end.

Little did I know that the pollination of massive orchards and fields were so dependent on bees and that non-native honey bees were the key pollinators. All this despite the fact our native bees are more efficient, harder workers and free for the taking if only we could figure out a way of attracting them to acres and acres of endless orchards and agricultural fields.

It should not come as a surprise that the story of our bees, both honey and native bees, are rooted in the agriculture industry and the bees’ future could very well depend on that same industry for good or bad.

Much has been written lately about the future of bees and other pollinators and how their numbers are being threatened by pesticides.

But enough of that. The agricultural story and the work being done behind the scenes is a fascinating part of the native bee story. The fact that Canadians, more specifically New Brusnwick, played a key role in their story, and not in a good way, furthers my interest in the plight of these fascinating little bees.

Native Bees’ value in our gardens

It’s in our gardens, however, where our focus lies.

Native bees have quickly become a favourite of concerned homeowners many of whom are taking actions in an attempt to save them. Even if it’s nothing more than putting up small bee habitats on their properties where the solitary bees can safely procreate and live their lives. (For my post on WeeBeeHouse native bee habitats see below)

Gardener’s Supply Company, in Burlington, Vermont also offers an impressive native bee house for readers looking to begin provding a home for native bees. Their page also includes an interesting video of the bee house in action. To view it, click here.

Best five things I learned from Our Native Bees

1) There are at least 4,000 species of native bees in North America in every shape, size and colour you can imagine.

2) Sweat bees – beautiful green iridescent native bees – get their name because some like to lick up sweat

3) Most native bees are small, live alone and do not sting either because they have no stingers or are so docile that it would take a life and death situation to get them to sting.

4) Native bees vary in size from the mighty carpenter bee (about an inch in length) to the tiny Holeopasites calliopsidis that isn’t much bigger than Roosevelt’s nose on a dime. And it’s not even the smallest native bee in the United States. That honour goes to Perdita Minima.

5) There are 20,000 species of bees worldwide that are responsible for the seeds of rebirth of three-quarters of the flowering plants in the world.

Bees in the Grass: Rethinking Normal

We all have to take a serious look at the acres of grass that dominate our urban and rural neighbourhoods. (For my post on removing lawns see below.)

Embry wastes little time advocating for a change in the way homeowners see their carpets of monoculture they call grass. She uses an example that is both shocking and encouraging.

She turns her focus to golf courses and goes into great detail about two programs at American golf courses that encourage setting aside natural areas on the golf course for native pollinators.

The first program stems from a 2002 report from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation who teamed up with the U.S. Golf Association to write a report called “Making room for Native Pollinators: How to create Habitat for Pollinator Insects on Golf Courses.”

The second program, and one she turns her attention to, is a program out of Europe, Operation Pollinator, started by Syngenta, one of the world’s largest agrochemical comanies (another name for a pesticide company).

The program started in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s after a survey of golfers revealed that what they liked most about going out for a round of golf was the nature they sometimes stumbled across in the more natural areas of the course. That, together with the desire to reduce the costs of operating a course, lead to the unexpected marriage between nature and a massive pesticide company.

By creating a natural area for pollinators, the pesticide company was able to use their expert biologists to turn perfect turf into pollinator-friendly areas. The plan cut down on the cost of pesticide while at the same time providing more nature for the golfers.

“Operation Pollinator for golf courses came to the United States in 2012, and by 2016 more than 200 golf courses in twenty-nine states had an Operation Pollinator plot. The plots range from half an acre to more than a hundred.”

To say the program has been a smashing success for native bees is a huge understatement.

This program, of course, brings us to our own lawns and gardens.

Embry asks: “What golf courses are doing with Operation Pollinator is going a step beyond just adding some flowers to the grass. They are removing turf in areas that don’t need to be grass and replacing it with flowers for pollinators. That’s one approach, and it works in some places. Sometimes, though, you want a lawn to be a lawn , a place for play, picnics, and soccer pitches. What if a lawn can be all that and a place for pollinators too?”

She goes on to talk about incorporating more clover, and the thirty-seven bee species found on clover in grass in a Minneapolis study.

This simple addition to turf allows for the soccer pitches, while still providing some native bee habitat.

From the simple addition of clover into the lawn Embry moves on to the “making of a bee lawn.”

The transformation from golf-course turf to the perfect bee lawn has been the focus of many studies and creations that has met with varied success over the years.

As one researcher at the University of Minnesota explains: “the hardest part of getting a bee lawn into use isn’t developing the seed mix; it’s dealing with people’s vision of what a lawn should be…"

“If we didn’t have to worry about our neighbours, I think there would be a much more diverse look.”

Embry goes on to explain as a possible solution: “If the idea of flowers growing in the grassy lawn just isn’t quite achievable yet, there’s always the golf course route. Take out some of that lawn and convert it into a home and dining hall for bees. It’s all a matter of rethinking normal.”

Yes, Ms Embry, it certainly is.

Thanks for shedding some light on our native bees.

Expert Tips for Attracting Birds to Your Backyard Fast

 

This is a guest article that Ferns & Feathers participated in and that was originally composited by Mike Cahill for Redfin blog in Seattle, Washington. To check out the original post, go here.

 

When trying to attract birds to your home creating a habitat that serves their basic needs is essential. Food, water, and shelter are key but aren’t the only variables you need to consider. While these satisfy their physiological needs, birds also prefer a safe space where they can socialize freely. That’s why we reached out to the birdwatching experts from Vancouver to New York to provide you with a few creative ways to attract birds to your home.

Foster a bird haven

The most effective way to attract many different species of birds to your yard is to offer a wide variety of food sources including seeds (especially black oil sunflower seeds), suet, nuts, jelly, sugar water (for hummingbirds) and fruits. Also consider installing native plants, fruit-bearing trees, and shrubs in varying degrees of density in your backyard to promote an attractive, safe habitat for the birds to forage, roost and nest in. It’s also a good idea to put out a birdbath or install a small pond garden so that the birds have someplace to bathe, cool off and grab a drink, something that is particularly important during the summer months. Lastly, make sure that you clean your feeders and birdbath periodically and keep your feeders full. Following these steps, it won’t be long before your backyard will become a bird lover's paradise! - Birdwatching N.C.

It’s important to provide multiple clean water for local birds.

This spring, consider turning your backyard space into a welcoming haven for birds! The key to attracting birds to your yard is by providing for their basic needs. Growing native plants is a great way to encourage birds to settle in your yard by offering natural food sources and shelter. In addition, you can add bird feeders with a variety of food types to entice many different species. Proving a water source is another great way to attract birds because of course, they all need water! Putting a birdbath in your backyard is an easy way to provide a place that birds can drink and bathe. A couple of other important things you can do to help out our feathered friends are to avoid using pesticides and herbicides, which are harmful to birds and also to keep cats out of your yard! Have fun birding and good luck! - Meewasin

Incorporate a variety of feeders

Get some hummingbird feeders up in various parts of your garden. Hummers can be territorial so we suggest at least 2 or 3 different feeders in different corners. Keep the feeders well stocked with a 4 to 1 dissolved mix of water to sugar. Once the birds know there is a regular supply of food they'll keep coming back. Take care to clean the feeders every day or so, and replace sugar water which ferments quickly on hot days. It's not just about feeders - get some plants on the go too. Hummers love brightly colored tubular hanging flowers rich in nectar. Reds and purples are perfect, like cardinal flowers, columbines and fuchsias. - Home Happy Gringo

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While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

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Don’t underestimate the importance of a clean water source

Our Friends know that their own yards can serve as vital mini-sanctuaries whether you live in the rural vast expanse or eastern Oregon or an urban 'jungle'. We have a few tricks for ensuring that you are supporting the birds that may find themselves in your backyard. First things first - food is not enough. Clean, freshwater is a vital and often overlooked necessity for many birds. A resident of Burns, OR and Friends of Malheur Board Member, Rick Vetter, says, "I use a combination of water, feed, and bait to attract a variety of birds to my backyard in winter." Water can be a shallow bath or bubbler and should be cleaned regularly. Rick continues, Feed consists of 2,000 lb of cracked corn and black sunflower see in several feeders supplemented with suet and a large plastic container of skippy super crunchy peanut butter with holes for wood pegs and slots for access to the peanut butter." What about the bait you ask? Well, Rick has a unique approach to that as well. " Bait consists of California quail and Eurasian collared doves eating the feed and in turn, they attract northern goshawks, Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, red-tailed hawks and northern harriers that feed on them. Merlins feed on the smaller birds. - Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Try planting local natives

Firstly, I recommend planting local native plants like the Firebush (Hamelia patens). This plant is very attractive to hummingbirds and insects, therefore attracting other birds like warblers and flycatchers. Something important to keep in mind is that this plant has a tropical and subtropical distribution. Therefore it attracts birds suited for those conditions that the plant is also well adapted for. For that reason, before planting your garden or designing your landscaping, you have to investigate the local native plants in your area. Also, another helpful and easy way to attract birds in the garden, for example, is if you have old tree trunks on your property. These dead plants can provide a suitable habitat for woodpeckers, owls and in general birds that need a cavity to nest inside. - Drake Bay Birdwatching

Planning your outdoor space with bird-friendly plants that flower at different times of the year will attract a variety of birds throughout the flowering season. By planting early bloomers you will be providing a food source for early summer migrants (or straggling fall migrants) and by planting late bloomers you will be attracting birds leaving a little later (or fall migrants arriving early). And of course, you’ll be providing for your resident birds as well! To learn how to spot some of California’s most notable birds, check out our Guide to Birding. - Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority

The most effective way to encourage a variety of birds to your yard is to plant as many native trees, shrubs and flowers as possible. These are plants that the native birds have come to know and depend on over centuries. By using more native plants in your backyard, especially those that flower profusely in spring and follow the blooms with berries, you will not only encourage birds and other fauna to visit your yard, you will also encourage them to stay in your yard and call it home. - Ferns & Feathers

Install a moving water feature

A simple, cheap, clean and effective way to attract birds to your garden is to install a moving water feature. Place a floating solar-powered water pump in the middle of your birdbath, surrounded by small rocks to keep it in place and to act as perches. Alternatively, if you want to DIY it, you can make your own "spring" out of a large plastic bucket with a lid (eg paint bucket) and a small solar-powered pump. Paint or decorate it to your taste, punch holes in the lid for the tubing and drainage back into the bucket, and place small rocks or stones on the lid to give it a more natural feel. The moving water ensures that it is oxygenated and stays clean for longer than still water, and it attracts the bird's eye more readily. - Birding in Spain

Originally published on Redfin

Proven Winners’ Idea Book is 41-pages of gardening inspiration

Budget friendly booklet is ideal for beginners

They say few things in life are free. Don’t tell that to Proven Winners.

The company that prides itself on creating some of the most outstanding hybrid plants and shrubs available have produced their 2021 Gardener’s Idea Book and it’s FREE.

For beginner gardeners on a budget, nothing gets better than that.

The idea book is a treasure trove of garden ideas that range from tips on creating “hot, sunny gardens” to containers aimed at attracting pollinators, and everything in between. The impressive 41-page oversized glossy booklet is full of impressive colour photographs that perfectly illustrate outstanding examples of Proven Winners’ plants and shrubs in real landscapes. The Idea Book is an inspirational journey through professionally designed gardens that is perfect for beginners and veteran gardeners.

Beginner gardeners will appreciate the many designs that are drawn out using a numbered planting scheme, matching the flowers with their placement in containers and in the landscape.

Although the 2021 book and download is exceptional, the experts at Proven Winners have recently released newer versions of their Gardener’s Idea Book.

• Be sure to check out the 2023 Proven Winner’s Gardeners’ Idea Book here.

• You can check out the 2022 version of the Gardener’s Idea Book here – 2022 Gardener’s Idea Book.

The book is more or less an extension of the company’s impressive and informative website you can visit at here.

You should be able to order the printed booklet from their site here.

Looking for more money-saving tips? Check out my in-depth article on building a garden on a budget.

The book starts with an introduction of PW’s annual of the year – Supertunia mini vista Pink Star Petunia described as a starry eyed Supertunia in pink and white.

The Gardener’s Idea Book from Proven Winners is a great resource for gardeners looking to add a punch of colour to their gardens either through containers or in garden beds.

Also in the spot light is their choice for Caladium of the year – an impressive white Caladium with a pink eye and green edge to the leaf aptly named “White Wonder.”

Both are impressive plants that are more than capable of standing alone in a container and still stealing the show. That trait can certainly simplify your container planting.

A feature in the booklet every gardener will appreciate is the series of seven different container plantings all featuring the annual of the year supertunia Pink Star and caladium Heart to Heart White Wonder.

An example of the attention and level of detail Proven Winners has gone to help gardeners create striking containers using their plants.

Container plantings simplified

The series of container plantings feature all the thrills, spills and fills you need to create outstanding containers for just about any part of your garden. The illustrated planting schemes makes finding the plants at your local nursery the most difficult part of recreating the colourful containers.

Not only have Proven Winners provided excellent photographs showing the details of each container planting, they also provide readers with examples of the containers in the landscape.

The booklet then takes a few pages to feature many of their other “plants of the year,” including a sweet little perennial Nepata named Cat’s Pajamas. PW describes it as a “little catmint that packs enormous flower power into a single square foot, blooming for months while delighting passing pollinators.”

There’s a variegated hosta with a nice ruffled edge, a compact, purple Buddleia said to be a “huge draw for monarch and viceroy butterflies.”

And to round out this year’s award winners is a hydrangea, a rose and a shrub.

Part of the appeal of the booklet is PW’s use of well-known garden designers to highlight their many offerings.

Youtuber Laura from Garden Answer is just one of several celebrity gardeners PW uses to promote their outstanding products.

Well-known gardeners lend a hand

Those who are like me and spend too much time on YouTube following their favourite gardeners are likely familiar with Laura of Garden Answer who is, as expected, featured in the first few pages of the booklet.

Laura is a popular Youtube gardening star who is a walking, talking advertisement for Proven Winners with her outstanding gardens that allow viewers to see PW’s many offerings in a garden setting.

Also featured in the booklet is The Garden Guy Norman Winter’s garden design of heat tolerant plants with a focus on a trio of heat tolerant, container plantings with an eye on pollinators. Plants used by the syndicated columnist include a Pink Gomphrena, Lantana, Salvia among others.

Other pages focus on Proven Winners’ plants with stylish foliage, and a real winner for gardeners looking to install a new border. The 10’ X 6’ scalable border, complete with a detailed planting list and roadmap, is scaleable depending on the size of the border.

Gardeners with sunny front yards will especially like the cheery design offered in the booklet along with the sampling of container plants for the front porch.

I particularly liked the spread on the “four season front entrance” feature that pictured four different front landing designs based on seasonal interest. That’s particularly helpful for so many of us struggling to keep the front of our homes looking their best at all times of the year.

There’s more, much more you will want to check out in Proven Winners latest gem.

And did I tell you it’s free.

If you can’t wait for it in the mail, it’s downloadable by going here. And, once you land on this page, you will notice that there are many other Proven Winner PDF documents that are just as well done as the latest little gem for you to download. If you would prefer to just view it online you can go here

And they are all free. But take my advice, order the printed version of this year’s Idea Book from Proven Winners. You won’t be disappointed.

Gardening on a budget links

DIY moss garden

Proven Winners Idea Book

Ten money-saving tips for the weekend gardener

Window boxes on a budget

DIY Bark Butter feeder for Woodpeckers

DIY reflection pond for photography

Click & Grow is ideal for Native Plants from seed

Nature’s DIY garden art

DIY solar drip for bird bath

Remove your turf and save money

DIY succulent planter

Hiring students to get your garden in shape

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Serviceberry: Ideal choice for attracting birds

A beautiful multi-stem serviceberry in full bloom in early May. The lovely white flowers will be replace by juicy dark fruits that wildlife, especially berry-eating birds and chipmunks.

A magnet for Robins, Orioles and Cardinals

Looking for the perfect small native tree for your yard? Look no further than the Serviceberry tree.

In my garden these understory trees are a staple, together with dogwoods. My first was a single stem small tree that I planted in the front of the house close to 20 years ago. Since then I have planted several in the backyard, including multi-stem versions and a hybrid columnar form.

Amelanchier species can be grown as an understory tree or in shrub form and is hardy from zones 4 -9. Its delicate white sprays of flowers cover the trees in early spring (usually the first week of May where I live) and soon give way to massive amounts of juicy deep red/purple pome berries in June that are magnets to a host of birds, squirrels and chipmunks.

For my article on why native plants, shrubs and trees are important, go here.

Also known as juneberries, shad-blow, shadbush and Saskatoon berries, Amelanchier Canadensis is a member of the rose family. Both A. Canadensis and A. arborea are native to eastern North America ranging from Newfoundland west to southern Ontario and in the United States from Maine to the Carolinas.

Most of the trees and shrubs stay compact from about 6 feet in shrub form to about 25 feet tall in tree form, and are among the first to bloom in the spring woodlands providing important nectar and food sources for early emerging insects and pollinators including many native bees.

In the United States, the common serviceberry tree which is native to to the midwestern and eastern U.S. can grow to an impressive 40 feet tall in moist soil. It is a a wildlife favourite with more than 40 species of birds consuming the fruit including the cedar waxwing, eastern towhee and Baltimore oriole.

An example of a lovely serviceberry blooming in a commercial setting. The serviceberry never gets too big and puts on a beautiful show in early spring followed by juicy, eatable fruit in summer that is a magnet for birds and other wildlife.

5 reasons to plant a serviceberry

• They are tough, adaptable small trees or shrubs that do well in most conditions

• Their spring flowers are among the earliest making them important native plants for early pollinators, including native bees

• Their fruit attracts a range of birds including robins, cardinals and orioles.

• They are native to Canada and the United States and an important addition to any woodland wildlife garden

• They are a host plant to butterflies and a food source for mammals

Poster created by Justin Lewis. Best viewed on tablet or desktop.

The spring bloom of the amelanchier is followed by the multitude of berries (similar to blueberries in size and flavour but sweeter) just in time to feed young birds that have fledged the nest and are looking for a good meal. Robins are often among the first to find the berries followed by orioles, thrushes, woodpeckers and cedar waxwings just to name a few.

Don’t be surprised if robins and cardinals decide to nest in the thick branches of the serviceberry.

Serviceberries trees are also important plants of the larvae of some of our favourite butterflies including tiger butterflies, viceroys and admirals.

Serviceberry flowers in full bloom from our 20-year-old tree in our front yard lights up the landscape for a few weeks in early May. The abundance of flowers will soon become berries to feed birds and other fauna.

If you garden in more remote areas, you can expect moose, deer, and other animals to browse on the leaves and twigs of the plant. The berries are also a favourite of chipmunks, squirrels and even the wily fox.

In Canada alone there are 24 species of Amelanchier that includes some varieties and some hybrids that are common in the wild. In fact Canada is a hot spot for Amelanchier diversity, potentially sporting the greatest variety in the world. Canada’s east coast boasts several including some that are quite rare (A. gaspensis and A nantuckitensis) and do not grow wild in Ontario.

The flowers of our Serviceberry in early spring. Notice that the flowers have emerged before the leaves are fully out.

The U.S. also has a few more species that are not in Ontario. All of the species share similar attributes including white flowers, gray bark and red/purple berries.

Most of these species are not grown in nurseries. In fact, most of the serviceberries seen at garden centres focus on four species – A. canadensis, A. alnifolia, A laevis and A. grandiflora.

Autumn Brilliance, a very popular nursery-grown hybrid serviceberry, is from the grandiflora species.

The many forms of wild serviceberry (Amelanchier) help illustrate their importance to native wildlife. Each flower has five long bright white petals. The flowers that bloom anywhere from March to June, depending on the species, usually grow in clusters at the end of new growth.

In Canada alone there are several forms from Amelanchier alnifolia that is native to parts of Ontario, British Columbia, Yukon and North West Territories. It grows up to three metres and can form large thickets. The flowers often precede the leaves and the fruit of this Saskatoonberry or western serviceberry is said to be the sweetest and juiciest of all the Canadian Amelanchiers.

A serviceberry in full bloom is the perfect understory tree in a woodland wildlife garden.

Amelancheir Arborea, (Link to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower centre) also known as the Downy serviceberry or juneberry or common serviceberry is native to southern Ontario and southern Quebec where it is easily identified in spring bloom growing along forest edges and clearings often in dry soil, rocky or sandy areas. Downies grow most often as a small tree with leaves that are tapered to a point and are hairy when they are opening – which is where they pick up the name Downy.

A shrub form of the serviceberry shows off its incredible blooms that will later become a profusion of delicious berries that birds flock will likely get before you do.

Amelanchier laevis (Link to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower centre) or often called smooth serviceberry or allegheny serviceberry are native to Western Ontario through to Newfoundland and are found in moist woodlands, clearing and roadsides.

Amelanchier stolonifera (Link to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower centre) is a suckering shrub that grows to only about two metres tall and spreads to form thickets. It is found in the wild along sandy and rocky areas in dry woodlands, along cliffs and dunes.

Serviceberries are not picky about soil conditions and do well in sun or part-shade conditions. In the wild it is most often found growing in wet areas but, some species can be found growing in harsh areas along granite and limestone cliffs.

If all of these highlights still has not go you convinced that a serviceberry is a must for your woodland garden, consider that its fall colours are spectacular with blazing foliage in reds oranges and yellows.

Serviceberries in our garden

In our garden we are blessed with both the tree form and a small shrub that I was lucky enough to score at our annual local horticultural society sale. I planted that a few years ago, and just this year it is really putting on a nice show in the woodland garden.

Our tree form is more than 20 years old and has matured into a beautiful specimen that puts on a magnificent show every year during the first week of May. It throws the perfect light shade on the wildflower garden below and coexists nicely with a Japanese maple. Both trees have begun to merge branches forming a lovely open canopy over the native plants below, including solomon’s seal, columbine, bloodroot, wild geranium and foamflower, and non-natives that include epimedium.

Propagating from cuttings and seed

Serviceberries are easily propagated and can be rooted from early spring hardwood cutting or softwood cuttings taken during the summer months. If you want to plant them from seeds, you are going to have to collect some berries when they begin ripening and turning red to purple. Give the seeds a quick cleaning and plant them in the fall. If you plan to grow them in trays, you will have to stratify the seeds and store them in the fridge for at least three months.

More links to my articles on native plants

Why picking native wildflowers is wrong

The Mayapple: Native plant worth exploring

Three spring native wildflowers for the garden

A western source for native plants

Native plants source in Ontario

The Eastern columbine native plant for spring

Three native understory trees for Carolinian zone gardeners

Ecological gardening and native plants

Eastern White Pine is for the birds

Native viburnums are ideal to attract birds

The perfect Redbud

The Carolinian Zone in Canada and the United States

Dogwoods for the woodland wildlife garden

Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tellamy

A little Love for the Black-Eyed Susan

Native moss in our gardens

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

The Mayapple: Carolinian zone woodland native wildflower

Tips for growing Mayapple in the woodland garden

Inspiration in the garden comes from many sources.

Gardens around our neighbourhood are often a good starting point. So too are our favourite gardeners on social media like Instagram and Youtube. The gardeners I follow are a constant source of new ideas and inspiration.

But for woodland gardeners the best source of inspiration is undoubtedly a local woodlot full of native plants trees and shrubs. (For article on the importance of native plants in the garden go here.

My woodland Mayapple inspiration can be traced back 20, maybe 30 years when, as a nature photographer, I roamed the woods in southern Ontario photographing wildflowers and anything else I could focus on.

That’s where I first encountered the Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum).

This lovely swath of Mayapple grows wild near our home. When I stumbled upon it in the early spring it inspired me to consider growing large swaths of the ephemeral, underutilized native wildflower in our woodland garden.

Mayapple is one of the first Carolinian zone wildlflowers to emerge in the spring in the woodlands of southern Ontario and the northeastern United States, so it became a magnet for many of us photographers just looking for something, anything, to focus on in the early spring woodlands.

So, you can imagine that it didn’t take long for me to start growing a clump in my yard. Turns out it was so successful that I was able to spread it around where it continues to thrive in swaths throughout the garden.

The Mayapple is actually in the Barberry family and grows naturally everywhere in the eastern half of the United States stretching as far north as Quebec and south to Florida and Texas.

You’ll find Mayapple most often growing in moist, open woods and often growing on the edges of boggy meadows in zones 3 to 8. Although it enjoys moist woodlands, it does well in dry woodlands where, once colonized, can tolerate some drought.

These handsome plants are not just lookers, they are a larval host plant for the golden borer moth and the Mayapple borer.

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Large colonies of Mayapple can be found growing from a single underground rhizoid stem where the central stalk of the plant emerges wrapped in either a single tightly furled leaf or a pair or more of leaves that slowly unfurl revealing mature specimens stretching 14 to 18 inches (30-40 cm) in height and blanketing large patches of ground completely shading the forest floor. The single leaf stems do not produce a flower or fruit, while the stems with two or more leaves produce 1-8 flowers in the axil between the leaves. The umbrella-like leaves can spread out 20-40 cm in diameter with 3-9 shallow to deeply cut lobes.

Any other plant with deeply-cut leaves like the Mayapple would be a superstar in most gardens but our native Mayapple suffers from a lack of notoriety in most traditional gardens.

Its beauty is certainly subtle.

Image shows the flower of the Mayapple taken in late May.

Unlike the trillium that shines on the forest floor and lets all of us know when it’s in bloom, the Mayapple goes to great lengths to disguise its flower and the resulting fruit (a small golden apple-like fruit), even creating an umbrella to hide its large white flower from peering eyes.

Much like a hosta in a traditional garden, the Mayapple is mostly a quiet groundcover in the woodland garden. In fact, if you don’t get down on your hands and knees and peek under the large umbrella-like leaf, you may never even know that the plant is sporting a flower in the early spring and yellow fruit in the summer through fall.

Where to plant Mayapple in our garden

But that’s okay. We all need a little quiet in the garden and that’s where the Mayapple really shines.

As I write this in late April, my woodland garden is quite bare. But the Mayapple have already poked their heads out of the soil and are unfurling their large leaves to create a lush sea of green that continues to spreads each year throughout our woodland.

Anywhere in the garden where you have open shade or dappled sun and are looking for a natural groundcover is a good spot to consider planting Mayapple. Although it is considered a spring ephemeral and will go dormant in the summer, its spent leaves, stem and fruit are on display for a good part of the year.

Like many spring ephemerals, Mayapples like moist, humusy well-drained, slightly acidy to neutral soil.

The fruit ripens by late June into July and provides a food source for the fauna in our garden.

“Growing a natural habitat garden is also one of the most important things each of us can do to help restore a little order to a disordered world.”

— Ken Druse

Also known as Mandrake or the ground lemon, it’s important to note that the Mayapple is a toxic plant. The fruit, even the seeds of the fruit can be toxic. As the fruit ripens it becomes less toxic but unless you do your homework on this plant, it is best to grow it for the fauna in the garden rather than consider it edible in any way.

Chances are the neighbourhood raccoons and squirrels will get to the pungent odor of the ripened fruit long before you do anyway. The fruit ripens by late August and is a real treat for the deer and chipmunks in our garden who know precisely when it is safe to eat.

If you have not yet tried Mayapple in your woodland garden, consider growing a few plants in a quiet, shady corner of your garden. It won’t take long before you appreciate this seldom used plant for its early spring carpet of green, and interesting large leaves that will ring in your spring woodland garden.

Don’t be surprised if it makes itself at home and forms a lovely spring carpet of green right at the time you are craving a little green growth in the garden.

More links to my articles on native plants

Why picking native wildflowers is wrong

Serviceberry the perfect native tree for the garden

The Mayapple: Native plant worth exploring

Three spring native wildflowers for the garden

A western source for native plants

Native plants source in Ontario

The Eastern columbine native plant for spring

Three native understory trees for Carolinian zone gardeners

Ecological gardening and native plants

Eastern White Pine is for the birds

Native viburnums are ideal to attract birds

The perfect Redbud

The Carolinian Zone in Canada and the United States

Dogwoods for the woodland wildlife garden

Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tellamy

A little Love for the Black-Eyed Susan

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Great woodland wildlife garden gift ideas

Birder gifts are both functional and serve as garden art accessories

Birders are an easy lot to satisfy. Give them a pair of binoculars, a comfortable chair near a bird feeder and maybe a glass of wine or a coffee and most of us are good for the day.

That doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the finer things in life, it’s just that these finer things usually revolve around birds – birdwatching, birdfeeding … maybe a good bird guide.

So, shopping for the birder in your life (or maybe even yourself) usually involves heading out to the local birding store.

Since birding is now mainstream, there are exceptional high-end bird items available in many specialty home stores that might not be the first place you think of shopping at when it comes to gifts for the backyard bird enthusiasts. If you are out shopping for bird enthusiasts or even just gardeners, think copper bird baths, bird houses and other forms of garden art.

One of my favourite on-line retailers is Gardener’s Supply Company. It’s based in Maine Vermont but its on-line site offers delivery in the United States and Canada (depending on the products). If in doubt, check with the on-line store first to ensure they will deliver the products you want.

Also, check out places like Etsy and other online shopping venues where you can easily focus in on local artisans for outstanding, homemade bird feeding and bird watching ideas.

Another favourite is Viva Terra. It’s not hard to spend a lot of time going through Viva Terra’s web site just to get ideas and admire all they have to offer, whether it is for the birds in your woodland wildlife garden or simply for the home.

Their outdoor patio and garden products are as beautiful and sophisticated as their indoor offerings.

The Ceramic Ring Bird Feeder would be a welcome addition to any woodland garden.

Viva Terra, brings together exquisite products that meld rustic design with exquisite style. Its focus is not on birds but it does have some beautiful and useful gifts for birders. The on-line store’s home products will also appeal to Ferns & Feathers readers looking to bring their woodland experience indoors.

Here are just a few of the exceptional gift ideas for bird lovers from Viva Terra. They make the perfect Mother’s Day gift for mom’s who like the finer things in life.

Ceramic Ring Bird Feeder – Blue Terrazzo: Bringing together art and utility in the form of an elegant ceramic bird feeder that you’ll want to hang from a tree branch as close to your favourite sitting area as possible. This artisan, hand-built ceramic clay bird feeder protects the birdseed from inclement weather, while allowing birds to feed from two open sides. The removable lid makes it easy to clean and refill with seed and the 4-inch cord and hook makes it easy to find the perfect branch or garden hook to hang it from.

Solid copper birdbath with twig metal stake: It’s hard not to love the sophistication of a copper bird bath aging gracefully in the woodland garden.

Not only is it a beautiful piece of garden art, the antimicrobial qualities of copper will help keep the water clean and clear for your backyard feathered friends. Last year I managed to track down several copper bird baths on Kijiji and grabbed them immediately. Copper in the garden is just too perfect not to buy it when you can.

The copper basin’s 1.5-inch depth is perfect for small birds to bathe safely and comfortably, while the rim offers perching spots for larger birds. The tall stand, with its bark-inspired tree branch design, forms a solid foundation to give the bird bath stability in the landscape, while the copper and steel construction offers durability.

This Chalet-style bird house (Main picture for this post) with copper roof is the perfect complement to the copper bird bath pictured above. The bird house, with its 1.24-inch entry, is designed for smaller backyard birds such as nuthatches, titmice and wrens. Featuring a verdigras, pure copper shingled roof and entry-guard, the perchless entry helps protect inhabitants from predators. A 3-inch hole on the back with sliding copper door simplifies spring clean-up, drainage holes and air vents keep the interior cool and dry.

The combination of beauty and elegance combined with solid construction and high quality material gives this birdhouse a timeless sophistication that will age beautifully in your woodland garden.

Wind & Weather and Plow & Hearth offer a variety of choices

Another favourite on-line garden and outdoor store is Wind & Weather and its sister store Plow and Hearth.

If you are looking for something really special for the garden, this Tree of Life Arbour, for example, will fit in perfectly in any woodland garden. The arbour’s solid construction and attention to detail makes it both an elegant addition to the garden, and sturdy enough to handle large, vigorous vines and climbing roses.

The Tree of Life arbor is an impressive, well made arbor that fits peerfectly into a woodland garden.

If birds are more your thing, there is another similar model that features hummingbirds rather than the tree motif.

Both arbours are almost too beautiful to run vines and roses over. As stand-alone features at key openings in the garden, the arbours really can create a warm welcome for visitors or focus points in the garden.

Wind and Weather’s statuary is another feature of the site. There are too many to list here but check out the site if you are looking for well-priced statuary to add to your garden.

One of the features my wife and I enjoy most in our garden is a life-sized rusty buck that we tuck in among the ostrich ferns when they rise up in the spring.

Our male deer brings a big smile to my face every time I come into the yard and catch a glimpse of the buck peering out over the ferns,.

Our favourite piece of garden art, however, doesn’t compare to this deer family collection. (see image below)

These fiberglass, near life-size deer statuary in a bronze finish depicts an entire family, including adult male and female deer and fawns. The good thing is that these remarkably detailed sculptures won’t treat your garden like their personal buffet.
All the statues are filled with striking detail, making them remarkably lifelike. From the defined musculature and realistic fur texture to their expressive faces, all the details work together to create truly impressive art for your outdoor spaces.

These bronze-like deer statuary are the perfect addition to any woodland garden.

I’ve always admired Maine ceramic artist Tyson M. Weiss’s outstanding Fish in the Garden sculptures and dreamed of having a school of his fish swimming up through our garden ferns or large swaths of ornamental grass. Plow and Hearth has its own, less expensive version of Fish in the Garden. Consider adding a little whimsy with these trio swimming up through your favourite ornamental grasses. They are so well priced that a small school of them are well within most gardener’s price range.

Indoor plants in the spotlight

The incredible growth in the past year of indoor plants gives me great pleasure. I do believe that part of the emergence of indoor plants is the result of more than a year of having to stay indoors for the most part during this pandemic.

Although we are slowly emerging from the stay-at-home lifestyle, I truly believe that the fascination with indoor plants will continue to grow. I see it with my own daughter who lives in a condo in downtown Toronto and has discovered the joy of indoor plants.

I recently gifted her one of my seed-grown, pink and green polka dot plants from our Click and Grow system (my earlier article on Click and Grow) that she just loves.

The Click and Grow system (link to company website) is in heavy use these days at our home growing plants for our front window boxes. It’s a great system that has performed admirably over the past several years.

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support.

Is battery power better than gas in the garden?

Battery-powered lawn mower makes grass cutting a joy

I figured it was time to give nature and my neighbours a break from the noise and fumes that have dominated our neighbourhood for too many years. I only wish more of them would do the same for me.

The time has come to replace gas-powered garden tools with the more eco-friendly battery-powered models. I have been purchasing battery-powered garden equipment for a number of years now and could not be happier with the results.

Battery power is the way to go. Get rid of the gas lawn mower, leaf blower and even the chainsaw and adopt the more eco-friendly and neighbourly battery-powered equivalents. For those looking to cut costs, The battery option will even prove more budget friendly for average gardeners over the long term. It will certainly make the tasks more enjoyable.

The sound of chainsaws hacking away at neighbourhood trees has always made me uncomfortable. Despite that, one of my most recent purchases is one of the new battery-powered chainsaws and I love it.

But it’s a chainsaw my neighbours have probably never heard, and, unless they are standing beside me watching me trim dead branches, they probably never will.

They certainly won’t be forced into their homes just to escape the noise of the chainsaw like so many of us are forced into when neighbours fire up their gas-powered machines.

The new battery-powered chainsaw barely disturbs the silence of the neighbourhood.

If you have decided to buy a chainsaw for garden chores, do yourself, your neighbours and most importantly the environment a favour and consider one of the newer battery-powered, eco-friendly models. They have more power than you will likely ever need, startup is a mere click of a button and they are quiet and environmental friendly.

My Ryobi battery-powered chainsaw cut through this large branch in seconds.

The days of the gas-powered behemoths are long gone. Not only are they loud and obnoxious, their two-stroke engines kick out more pollution than most of today’s cars.

For more suggestions and some of my favourite garden things, be sure to check out my Favourite Things post.

If you have not checked out the latest battery-powered garden tools you owe it to yourself (and your neighbours) to give them a chance. Over the past few years, I have said goodbye to every gas-powered garden tool in the shed and replaced them with battery-powered models.

And I have never looked back.

Tucked away in the basement is a charging station for the batteries and I have to say I feel a lot better about a charging station in the basement than I do about a couple tanks of gas in my shed.

The new electric tools have never let me down and I’m sure the neighbours appreciate them almost as much as I do. In fact, my immediate neighbour has joined me in the conversion from gas- to battery-powered garden equipment.

I think I sold him on it when I said I could cut my grass at 5 a.m. and the mower is so quiet that not a single neighbour would know I was cutting the grass. (Not that I would ever do that.) He asked to borrow my Ryobi battery-powered mower to cut his grass and then immediately went out and purchased one of his own. And, unlike me, he is very particular about his tools and his lawn.

The basement battery charging station (a small Ikea work desk) for our growing number of battery-powered garden tools.

Battery-powered lawn mower convinced me to go gasless

My first battery-powered purchase was a lawnmower. After years of battling with gas lawnmowers that required mixing oil and gas every time I wanted to cut the grass, or ones that wouldn’t start after a winter of storage, I began researching the pros and cons of battery-powered machines.

It didn’t take long to realize the benefits of battery-powered mowers.

• They are quieter than traditional mowers

• Better for the environment

• They are extremely light, easy to manipulate

• No gasoline to store in the shed

• No sparkplugs to change

• No fuel filters to change regularly

• Much cheaper to operate over the long term

There are a few drawbacks to battery-operated models

• Batteries may have to be replaced over the years, although I have used ours for four years without a problem.

• In high, damp grass the mower can bog down and throw a circuit switch which shuts it down. A simple click of a button puts it back into production, much like flipping the circuit breaker in your home.

Depending on the brand of mower you purchase, you can expect about 10 years of service out of it and about five years life on the removable batteries. The average battery should give you about one hour’s worth of power or enough juice to cut half an acre of grass.

Ryobi, STIHL offer complete lines of battery-powered tools

We purchased a battery-powered Ryobi model that has worked flawlessly. It came with two rechargeable batteries that have always been enough to cut the turf on our half-acre lot. Since we removed most of the grass on the property, a single battery is more than enough to get the job done.

Ryobi is just one of many respected companies that are offering entire lines of battery-operated garden products. Many of the tools conveniently share the same batteries.

In the Ryobi line, for example, they offer a hedge trimmer, string trimmer, chain saw, pole saw, several mowers and a snow blower just to name a few.

My neighbour chose to go with the excellent-quality STIHL line of battery-operated cordless tools.

STIHL says their “36 V cordless machines combine innovative motor and battery technology with first-class mechanical engineering to produce a brushless, electronically controlled electric motor.” STIHL explains that their “motor is extremely energy efficient … and the power from the lithium-ion battery packs is optimized to achieve a high degree of efficiency and enhance the performance of the machine.

And, like many other systems, STIHL’s powerful lithium-ion battery pack is compatible with all their cordless machines.

The success of the lawnmower resulted in the purchase of a Ryobi grass trimmer and leaf blower that operate on the same battery.

I have never been a huge fan of noisey leaf blowers. Unfortunately, leaf blowers have earned their bad reputations from the lawn companies that come into neighbourhoods armed with massive machines, so large and loud that they are forced to carry them on their backs.

Battery-powered models are much quieter and, if we all started using them, peace might return to our subdivisions.

So, when I decided it was time to make the jump to a chainsaw, the Ryobi model was a natural choice.

The battery-powered chainsaw shares the same benefits that the battery-powered lawn mower enjoys: Push button start, quiet, environmentally friendly, no gas\oil mixing. (Did I say no rip chord to exhaust you before you even begin your task.)

Our battery-powered chainsaw has made many difficult jobs around the garden much easier. This week I used it to remove a massive branch from our Linden tree that was crowding out one of our Cornus Kousa dogwoods. It also made quick work of pruning some lower branches in a maple and tulip tree as well as some wild grape vines as thick as my arm.

The chainsaw, although not used that often, has easily proven its worth around the garden.

I also use it to create brush piles on the property. Everything that gets cut stays on the property to become habitat for birds, mammals and reptiles.

The chainsaw also comes in handy to cut branches to be used as suet feeders around the property.

Obviously any chainsaw can be dangerous so proper cutting techniques and precautions need to be followed.

Oh, I should add that the success of the lawn mower, chainsaw and other power tools resulted in our purchase of a battery-powered snow blower that may lack the power of today’s huge gas-powered blowers that come out once or twice a year, but it gets the job done and doesn’t wake the neighbours.

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

How to cut down ornamental grasses

What’s the best tool to cut down large ornamental grasses?

Ornamental grasses have grown in popularity over the past several years primarily because they are easy to grow and create four seasons of interest in the garden. The problem for many of us comes when it’s time to cut the larger grasses down in the spring or fall.

The larger clumping grasses, like varieties of Pampas grass (Cortaderia) and my favourite, Maiden grass (Miscanthus), are delicate when first planted, but over the years the clumps grow, the grass stems thicken up and cutting them down can become very difficult work. Even the smaller grasses in my garden, fountain grass (Pennisetum), little bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), and Northern Sea Oat grasses (Chasmanthium latifolium) are a chore to cut back in the spring.

Be sure to check out my posts on the Three best grasses for a shade or woodland garden and the Best Ornamental grasses for sun and shade. You might also be interested in my post on why we should leave our grasses up all winter.

For years, I used simple secateurs to cut down the dried grasses one stem at a time each spring. The job took hours and, although I wore gloves, I was usually left with scratched knuckles and very sore hands.

The job became such a burden that I put it off as long as possible often resulting in having to cut the stems higher than I wanted because the new grasses were already beginning to put on growth.

I am getting older, and cutting back the grasses is getting more difficult each year. It was time to look for an alternative.

This Miscanthus Sinensis is a real winner in the fall with it’s elegant seed heads. Cutting it down in early spring, however, can be difficult without the right tools. An electric headge trimmer (pictured below) made short work of the dried stems this fall.

Last year we used a combination of the secateurs and a weed eater with a string to cut through the grasses. Although we eventually got the job done, it wasn’t easy or quick. A weed eater with a blade is often suggested rather than a string, but I prefer not to work with a spinning blade whirling around my toes. The grasses are replaceable, my toes are not.

This spring cutting back our grasses took a giant leap forward. The solution: I decided it was time to get smart and use an electric hedge trimmer to do the heavy work for me. This cordless model from Gardener’s Supply Company will make the job a whole lot easier.

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This spring, the electric hedge trimmer not only cut the grasses down with great ease, it enabled me to cut the stems shorter, giving the garden a cleaner look and opening up the clumps to more sunshine leading to better early-spring growth. It handled the tough, thick stems as well as the smaller more dense grass stems with ease. An added bonus to my spring clean up was that the hedge trimmer was powerful enough to cut down a number of unwanted shrub and sucker growth saplings that were slowly taking over an area of the garden.

I like to cut my grasses down in the spring to benefit from the look of their lovely dried stems all winter and, more importantly, to give insects a safe place to spend the winter. Birds too benefit from the grasses giving them an opportunity to feed on the seeds and any insects or insect eggs they can find hiding in the dried grass stems.

The dried stems can also be cut down in fall, but you would miss out on the delicate snow-covered branches and deprive insects and birds of habitat and potential feeding locations.

This spring, the task of cutting down the grasses was so easy that I can’t ever imagine cutting the grasses with any other tool after using the electric hedge trimmers.

Not only did it make taking down the larger stems a joy, but it cleaned up my smaller ornamental fountain grasses, northern sea oats and little bluestems in mere seconds.

In total, my wife and I cut down about 15 ornamental grasses in less than an hour. The same task using garden secateurs would have taken about three hours and left me with sore, cut-up hands from the sharp, dried, dead stems, as well as a very sore back.

Before you actually cut the grasses down – especially large clumps – it’s a good idea to tie them off with string. Then, when you cut the dead stems off, they are contained nicely in a tight compact form by the string and are easy to carry to the back compost area.

I like to pile them into my large gardening bag or Gorilla Cart (link to my story) to carry several clumps to the back compost area.

Once cut down, it’s a good idea to put the stems in a back corner to allow any insects to complete their spring emergence. It’s always a good idea not to throw out the stems for recycling. We like to carry them to the back of the yard where they are placed on top of an open brush pile. This gives any insects that may be hibernating in the stems an opportunity to emerge from the grasses into a safe and favourable environment.

In addition, I like to take the softer grasses (most often from the dwarf fountain grasses) and place them near bird-feeding stations where the birds can take them to use for nest-building.

Modern hedge trimmers get the job done

The hedge trimmer we used was an older, high quality plug-in electric unit made by Bosch, but there are many units available that can tackle the job including newer, battery operated models that allow you to go anywhere in the garden without having to be tied to an electrical cord.

If you are looking to purchase a hedge trimmer, there are many issues to consider: electric vs. gas, blade type, blade length, blade gap, and much more. These feature become more or less important depending on how you plan to use it in the garden. If your main use is simply to cut down grasses, any of the better trimmers will get the job done.

For a full review of the best trimmers check out this article from Best Reviews. The Amazon products featured on this page are among the most favourable recommendations from Best Reviews.

We actually borrowed the hedge trimmer from my neighbour, who also uses it to cut down his ornamental grasses. The trimmer was originally purchased to cut back a massive hedge between our properties, but that hedge was removed last year and replaced with much nicer and wildlife-friends cedars.

Today, there is little use for the trimmer, so it has been given a new purpose primarily as an ornamental grass trimmer.

If you are a gardener on a budget looking for hedge trimmers, consider checking out thrift stores or Kijiji and other on-line buy- and sell-sites. The trimmers are fairly common sale items on these sites as a growing number of homeowners remove formal hedging and sell off their trimmers.

Since they are required only a few times a year and for a relatively short time, sharing a hedge trimmer with a neighbour is also a great way to cut costs.

If you are looking to purchase your own hedge trimmer, many of today’s models offer excellent ease-of-use whether you purchase and electric version or a battery-operated unit.

When to cut down ornamental grasses

There are generally three classifications of ornamental grasses: cool season, warm season, and evergreen grasses. The rules that govern the cutting, planting and dividing of these grasses vary slightly depending on the type. Proven Winners offers this explanation of the three types:

• Cool-season grasses put on most of their growth in spring before temperatures begin exceeding 75 degrees Fahrenheit and in the fall when temperatures cool down. They generally maintain good colour through the summer but won’t grow much when it is hot. It is recommended to trim about 2/3 of the plant for cool-season grasses. Cool-season grasses tend to look good even as the weather cools. Leave their foliage in place until spring and then as soon as the snow is gone cut them back. Trimming cool-season grasses too harshly can irreparably harm the plant.These plants include:

  Calamagrostic acutiflora. Commonly called Karl Foerster Feather Reed grass. This 4- to 6-foot tall cool-season ornamental grows in zones 4-9 . Its flumes turn feathery as fall approaches making it a perfect addition for the late season and winter garden.

  Deschampsia. These cool-season grasses grow in most soil types in zones 4 through 9. D. cespitosa, or Blue Mohawk Soft Rush, forms a clump of thin dark green blades. The graceful plant gives way to numerous flower stems in summer with gold, silver and green tints. Northern Lights Tufted Hairgrass adds a colourful and natural look to any garden, with variegated leaves rising nearly 3 feet high. 

  Fescue, or Festuca. Blue fescue are cool-season grasses that grow as clumps of icy-blue leaves and can thrive in sun or light shade. They have deep roots that help them tolerate drought. The compact and cold-hardy perennial can add winter color to edgings or mass plantings.

  Helictotrichon. Also called Blue Oat Grass, H. sempervirens is a European clump grass that achieves its bluest color in drier soils.

• Warm-season grasses won’t start growing until mid to late spring or even early summer. Their major growth and flowering happens when the weather is hot. They will usually turn shades of brown for the winter. These grasses include:

  Acorus. Also called Golden Variegated Sweet Flag, Acorus gramineous 'Ogon' has rich golden leaves that is semi-evergreen. It grows in zones 5 through 11 to a height of about 10 inches.

  Arundo (Arundo donax). Commonly called Giant Reed grass, Arundo is a warm-season ornamental that blooms in fall with purple stems. 

  Andropogon. This warm-season ornamental grass also is called Big Bluestem. I have grown it close to the street for several years and it performs magnificently each year despite the harsh conditions it faces. It grows in zones 4 through 9 and the thin grass blades can reach 4 to 6 feet high. The grass turns from blue-green to reddish in fall.

  Calamagrostis. Also called reed grass, C. brachytricha is a clump-forming warm-season grass that grows to nearly 4 feet high, displaying pinkish-tinted flumes in late summer or early fall. 

  Carex. More commonly called sedge, several pretty warm-season Carex grasses can work in a landscape. They rarely need to be cut back and are semi-evergreen in many areas.

  Chasmanthium. This native (Chasmanthium latifolium) has common names like oat grass or wild oats. It grows 2 to 4 feet high and is a warm-season, low-maintenance grass. It sends up blue-green leaves followed by graceful ivory seed heads.

  Hakonechloa. H. macra, also called  Hakone grass or Japanese forest grass, is a full-sun loving warm-season grass. ‘All Gold’ Japanese Forest grass has pure gold blades that cascade from the centre, reaching only about 14 inches high. Aureola Golden Variegated Japanese Forest Grass grows a little taller and adds stunning, cascading texture with its thick gold and green leaves. 

  Miscanthus. Usually called Maiden Grass, Miscanthus varieties have blue-green foliage that grows in a vase-like shape. Miscanthus Sinensis (pictured above) is a favourite of mine, especially in fall with its silver-colored seed heads late in the season.  

  Panicum. Switch grass (P. virgatum) grows well in zones 5 through 9. It can handle poor soil and drought and attracts birds to its flowering heads.

  Pennisetum. Commonly known as Fountain Grass, these grasses are actually from tropical areas. Probably the best known variety is Purple Fountain Grass, a colourful warm-season grass, that sports 2- to 4-foot high green and maroon glades all summer. Dwarf Fountain Grass can grow to 3 feet tall in a bright green mound with copper-colored seed heads in fall.  

  Schizachyrium. This tough and hardy grass, more commonly known as Little Bluestem is a native to North America and features narrow blue-green leaves.

• Evergreen grasses are usually plants that look like grasses but aren't actually classified as grasses. Plants like the sedges and carex (see above) are grass-like but not grasses.

Toronto couple team up to save oriole the “snow bird”

Young Baltimore Oriole survives Canadian winter with a little help from her friends

Toronto’s little orphan oriole has made it through a brutal Canadian winter thanks to her adoptive parents Stella and Gord.

It took lots of love, caring and work but Violet – the name the couple have given their little “snow bird” – not only survived winter, but seems to have come out the other end in good health. After all, the young Baltimore Oriole dined on an assortment of Stella’s finest, homemade “almond bites” in her fully heated, big-city Pied-a-Terre where the couple worked vigilantly to provide everything the oriole needed to survive the frigid Toronto temperatures.

The specialized, homemade roosting box included a heated floor to help the oriole escape the most frigid temperatures, and even a small, heated birdbath that she used more as a source of water than a place to bathe.

The female Baltimore Oriole, who chose to remain in her favourite Canadian city throughout the winter, probably owes her life to the Toronto couple – both Toronto university professors – who noticed the oriole hanging around late last fall and realized that it was not going to fly south with its family for the winter. That’s when they stepped in to ensure the bird was not going to succumb to a Toronto winter.

Violet, the little Oriole who survived a difficult Canadian winter with the help of two Toronto professors who went to great lengths to help the little Oriole survive.

Several biologists and birder friends suggested that the Oriole was probably born in the summer of 2020. The couple are now hoping that the young bird continues to fly solo until the other Orioles return in the spring so she can reconnect with her own.

"Maybe she'll even have a family,” Stella told Toronto Blog earlier this winter when they were trying to find ways to help the Oriole. “We realize she may not stick around our ‘hood’ once the warmer weather arrives. This is par for the course. We have not done anything to encourage her to let her guard down around humans; we keep a distance. She needs to be her natural Oriole self, with a good healthy caution around people, their cats, and other mammals,” explained Stella.

Her adventure began in late fall after a summer of feeding the birds in her Toronto west backyard, including groups of local orioles. That’s when she noticed something unusual.

“I started putting suet out in November and one day around November 15 I happened to notice this young little female clinging to the suet cage, and I knew it was likely she wouldn’t migrate. After that I started keeping an eye out for her, and the little food experiments started,” Stella explained to Ferns and Feathers in an email communication.

For more on Orioles, check out my posts on attracting orioles with oranges and jelly and the best oriole feeders.

“There were several female Baltimore Orioles in New York state that were documented all winter, and a couple of males in that same state which were not regularly documented/updated.”

— Stella Bastone

Earlier this winter, Stella told Toronto Blog that her husband Gord “is super handy with wood, and we spent days sketching out designs for several feeders that would discourage Starlings and House Sparrows and still allow other species to feed.” She explains that after “some trial and error, lots of observing and moving things around, (Violet) started frequenting a certain feeder that was free of the invasive mobs.”

But Stella and Gord didn’t stop there. Drawing on their educational backgrounds, the couple set up a camera to keep a close eye on Violet while she was inside the roosting box and use that information to focus in on her favourite foods and how they could keep her safe from the more aggressive birds.

“We have set up a Blink security camera system, and we put a few cameras around the Oriole’s platform," she explained in an email to Ferns and Feathers.

“It has a motion sensor feature, so whenever she visits (or when other birds/squirrels visit), I get a notification on my phone,” Stella explains.

Violet enters her custom roosting box complete with heated floor and assortment of food. Video provided by Stella Bastone.

“The system records up to 30 seconds of footage at a time. This has been instrumental in helping me come up with tweaks to the feeding stations and foods for her! Every time I make a little change, I watch the short footage clips carefully to gauge whether I should make more adjustments. (For example, I make what I call “almond bites” for her – consisting of a base of ground almonds and pure lard – and there are a variety of natural additives. With careful observation and some research I’ve come up with 4 “flavours” that she likes. One set is “Red” – with powdered strawberry and raspberry. One is “Green” – with powdered hemp hearts, ground pumpkin seeds. One is “Orange” – powdered orange, chopped dried apricot. One is “Purple” – chopped dried blueberries, powdered berries. I can also see what she eats first, what’s her least favourite, how she’s able to eat foods of various densities and sizes, etc.”

Online community also lends a hand

Stella and Gord were never alone in their quest to help the oriole. The very active online birding community followed along with Violet’s journey and the couple were able to hook up with others in Canada and the United States who were caring for their own orioles that chose not to fly south to Mexico and Central America for the winter.

“There were several female Baltimore Orioles in New York state that were documented all winter, and a couple of males in that same state which were not regularly documented/updated,” explained Stella.

“There is a male Baltimore Oriole who has survived all winter in Haliburton Ontario, and is still doing well. And at least several others in states south of NY. On a less positive note, there was a very well-document female Baltimore Oriole north of Barrie who disappeared in January, as did a Summer Tanager who was wintering near there,” she added.

“A wonderful woman named Marlene was the one looking after the female near Barrie, Ontario. She and I connected regularly to compare notes. Like the others helping out wintering Orioles, she was offering grape jelly and oranges (neither of which my local Oriole cared for), and she also mentioned she was offering live mealworms – that’s where I got the live mealworm idea,” explains Stella.

Video of Violet getting a drink in a heated bird bath during a snowstorm. Video provided by Stella Bastone.

The live meal worms which she was able to get from a local branch of Wild Birds Unlimited proved to be a favourite for Violet providing much-needed protein to keep the bird’s fat content high.

Earlier this winter, Stella told Toronto blog that strangers have been “so eager to reach out to us: ‘thank you for being good humans’, they say. We are amazed. In recent weeks I’ve connected with several others who are also caring for wintering Orioles, or even Tanagers, in Canada and northern States. We are sharing our observations and notes on our efforts.” she says.

Drawing on their education background, the couple designed learning exercises for Violet. The goal was to teach the bird to use the shelter for quick food pickups. Violet seemed eager to learn, not only finding the shelter quickly but learning to quickly fly in and out of the shelter for quick bites.

Oriole proves to be a quick learner

Other, more aggressive, non-native birds discovered the roosting box and more action was necessary to ensure Violet’s survival.

Stella explains that just recently they have had to “set up a few additional feeding spaces since there were all kinds of “breaches” happening in her shelter – squirrels and Starlings started entering.”

“Since I anticipated something like this, I had already started leaving orange ribbons next the feeder bowls inside the shelter, so that our smart little Oriole would associate her food with the orange ribbon and be drawn to orange ribbons elsewhere. So, after the breaches, I set up another semi-enclosed area nearby, with the food bowls mostly out of sight, but with orange ribbon visible, and sure enough the Oriole discovered it right away. Then I did this again with a third little feeder enclosure slightly farther away, and she discovered that quickly too. Eventually I will have to dismantle her raised platform (which is up against our dining room window) so I am glad she knows about the third enclosed area – this will soon have tall ferns growing all around and concealing it, but with any luck the Oriole will continue to flourish and will know to go to that feeder for her mealworms and almond bites. Of course we’re also bracing for the possibility she will stop returning to our yard someday!”

As spring settles in around her Toronto neighbourhood, Stella awaits the return of the Orioles and other birds that she has been feeding in her approximately 40X75-foot backyard.

She explains her yard is larger than a typical Toronto yard “especially the newer ones “where developers are making huge houses with very little green space, after applying for exemptions to the rules – absolutely tragic. Many of our neighbours have similar sized back yards (except for the ones in newly-built developer houses), and since this was historically a European neighbourhood, there are very many fruit trees around here,” she explains.

“I have planted several native berry shrubs: serviceberry, winterberry, chokeberry, dogwoods. I also planted a few very narrow “nativars” called Weeping White Spruce and Louie White Pine, which are better suited for our urban space than the species evergreens.”

Her commitment to native plants may help to explain her success in attracting birds to her big-city garden.

“I started seriously getting into bird feeding maybe 5 years ago. (Before that I just sprinkled seed on the ground now and then.) I have maybe 25 feeders now, but they’re never all out at once. It depends on the time of year, the types of birds that are around,” Stella explains.

“Since my aim is to support local native species whose resources are dwindling, I really don’t want to encourage larger populations of non-native species like House Sparrows and Starlings, so I try to exclude them. There’s not really a 100% effective way to exclude them while feeding all local species, but I have found some partial solutions. For example, I have quite a few caged feeders – these keep Starlings out, and to discourage House Sparrows from those same feeders, I attach thin wire filaments which seem to spook House Sparrows for reasons that are not well understood. I also have almost all of the feeders in the Brome Squirrel Buster line of feeders, which are 100% effective at keeping squirrels at bay. I use a hopper feeder for whole peanuts, which draws Blue Jays all winter (and all of the blackbirds starting in spring). On my tube feeders, I have a "Magic Halo" dangling overhead to discourage House Sparrows. Click here for link to magic halo website.

With the Orioles preparing to invade her Toronto area neighbourhood again this spring, she says she will be ready with her Orange halves and grape jelly to welcome them back to town.

Across Ontario, and northern United States birders will be anxiously awaiting their return along with other migrants, including hummingbirds and warblers, many who decide to make our yards their home for the summer.

Some, like many of the warblers, will continue their journey farther north where insects and other reliable food sources may be more abundant.

In Toronto, Stella and Gord will be watching their little Violet with great anticipation that her long winter will end in a reunion with her family and friends and maybe even lead to her whole family. In fact, their latest Youtube video shows Violet is busy collecting material to build weave her intricate nest.

While we struggled in our own ways over the winter to survive a difficult, sometimes lonely pandemic period, we can all appreciate the struggle Violet endured trying to survive a cold winter without her family and friends by her side.

She did have Stella and Gord – two of the best friends a bird could hope for – watching over her and ensuring that she survived to sing another day.

Why birds choose not to migrate

It’s commonly believed that birds migrate because of the cold temperatures in fall and winter, but, in fact, birds are more driven to migrate in search of food. Birds that depend on insects and berries must move south as cold temperatures either kill off insects or force them into hiding under fallen leaves and in tiny crevices where they wait out the winter in relative safety from the cold and birds.

Many birds, including Orioles, travel as far south as parts of Central or South America in search of an abundance of both insects and fruit, while some cut their journey short and decide to remain in Mexico or the southern United States.

(If you are interested in the migration and annual cycle of the Baltimore and Bullock’s Orioles, Check out this comprehensive, month by month breakdown.)

Young birds, like Violet, injured birds or sick and malnourished birds often decide not to make the long journey south and, instead, try to survive the winter on their own. Many eventually begin to depend on the food we provide in our feeders to get them through the winter. Bug-filled suet cakes, meal worms and fruit are excellent sources of food for these birds and are often a key ingredient to get them through the most difficult of times.

Specialty bird feeding stores like Wild Birds Unlimited are good sources for these products or you can be like Stella and make your own to help them through the winter.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I try to only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer.

Three spring wildflowers for the woodland garden

Cultivating a love for Ephemerals

Spring ephemerals are often the first thing we think about when it comes to a woodland garden.

You know, those flowers that suddenly appear in early spring and quietly disappear almost as quickly as they appeared until re-emerging the following spring. In the meantime, they provide an essential early source of nectar for many of our pollinators and kick off the official woodland gardening season.

The diminutive Hepatica, the well-loved Trillium, and the aptly-named Bloodroot are three easy-to-grow spring wildflowers to plant in your woodland garden. All three will give you an early bloom, with the Hepatica adding lovely little hits of colour combined with its hairy stems and purple flowers.

Let’s take a closer look at all three of these woodland wonders.

(For my article on the importance of native plants, trees and shrubs, go here.)

The delicate nature of this Bloodroot flower and other spring ephemerals light up the woodland garden in early spring before they quietly disappear only to return the following spring.

Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis)

I remember going out into the woods around our home looking for the perfect Hepatica to photograph. My photo friends and I would crawl around the wet forest floor examining the delicate flowers (actually members of the buttercup family) trying to find the perfect specimen. They would emerge in early spring before the trees leafed out and when the ground was still wet from the melting winter snow. They opened only on sunny days and we would have to bring along a small mister to dampen the surrounding leaves and darken them for the photograph.

That just gives you an idea of how early you can expect these wildflowers to bloom.

Although Hepatica are native to Europe, Asia and eastern North America, our hunting grounds were the hardwood forests of southern Ontario. Theses small evergreen plants appeared, often tucked among the limestone rocks and fallen tree trunks in shades of pink, purple, blue or white sepals sitting atop the three green bracts on very hairy stems. In the United States, they are often found growing in rich woodlands from Minnesota to Maine and even as far south as Northern Florida and west to Alabama.

Spring in the woodland. Hepatica clump growing up against moss-covered limestone rock.

Hepatica nobilis is the plant found in Eastern North America, Europe and Japan, but other varieties, namely obtusa and var. acuta can also be found in North America.

There is nothing like a macro shot of a delicate, blue Hepatica with the sun streaming in from behind the flower and lighting up the delicate hairs along the stems of the plant. To get these shots we had to get low, very low. These flowers rise up only a couple of inches from the ground at best and don’t really flower unless they are getting at least some sun. Great specimens were not easy to find. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that we were capturing these images in the days of Kodachrome or Fuji Velvia with ASAs of 25 and 50.

Those days are done. Modern digital cameras open up the possibilities of capturing these wildflowers in very creative ways. And there is no real need to go into the forest to find these flowers when you can just go into your own backyard to experience them.

Hepatica hybrids have been cultivated in Japan going back to the 18th century. There are Youtube videos exploring the Japanese fascination with these flowers. This obsession is not hard to understand considering the delicate nature of the plants and how well they fit in to a Japanese-style garden. The Japanese have long perfected the hybrids with doubled petals in a range of colour patterns.

Although the hybrids can work in a woodland garden if you want a little more showiness, I always try to get the native wildflower or species plant (Hepatica nobilis)

Remember those Hepatica I photographed years ago? They were growing in alkaline limestone-derived soil. These flowers are not overly particular about where exactly they grow and can be found in a range of conditions, from the deep shade of a woodland to a grassland in full sun. They are most happy in a shaded location with rich organic soil and will live for many years. Once established, they will form colourful clumps of flowers that will bloom early in spring alongside even your crocuses. They are happy in both sandy and a clay-rich soil. What Hepatica really need for success is a covering of snow in winter and an evenly moist soil throughout the year.

Gardeners on a budget can grow Hepatica from seed, however be prepared to wait several years for the plant to bloom. Divided plants will also take a few years to recover and thicken up.

The perfect place to sit and enjoy the spring Trilliums in our front garden.

Trilliums (T. grandiflorum)

It’s hard to imagine a woodland without Trilliums. Easily recognized by their three petalled white flowers surrounded by a whorl of three green leaves, these early spring bloomers have long been a favourite of gardeners looking to celebrate spring.

Although there are more than 40 trillium species, with varying colours ranging from white to yellow, maroon and approaching nearly purple, most are familiar with the white trillium (T. grandiflorum).

Trilliums nestled in around a fallen birch branch in this natural woodland scene.

During those same photographic outings with my buddies we would often stop by the “Trillium Trail” at a local provincial park that was literally covered with thousands of Trilliums in all shapes, sizes and interesting variations. It was always an impressive site but in some ways overwhelming to photograph. So many Trilliums, so little time.

If given proper growing conditions, Trilliums are relatively easy to grow and are long-lived in our woodland gardens. Provide them with an organic-rich soil that is well drained but kept moist all summer. The flowers will bloom early before the trees are all leafed out, and become dormant by midsummer.

Trilliums do not transplant well if they are dug up from the forest floor, so always purchase Trilliums from a reputable nursery.

Gardeners on a budget can propagate Trilliums from seed, but expect to wait up to five years before you begin to see blooms. Seeds sown in the garden will not even germinate until the second year. Propagating trilliums by rhizome cuttings or, even better, division when the plant is dormant is probably an easier way to go.

A bloodroot flower tries to emerge from its leaf that wraps around it like a glove in the early spring garden.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Every spring I watch for the Bloodroot to emerge in our front woodland garden beneath the Serviceberry tree and one of our Japanese Maples. They are growing beside a large limestone boulder tucked in and among ground covers that hide the emerging plant until just before they bloom. I’m often surprised to suddenly see the lovely white blooms with the sunny yellow center.

My sudden encounters every spring is not a surprise since the Bloodroot flower emerges from the ground on a single stem wrapped up in their own single, large leaf. The white multi-petaled blossom may even begin opening before the leaf has completely unwrapped. The bloom, which can stretch upwards of 12-14 inches high, manages to rise just slightly above the leaf before opening. On a sunny day the white flower with its blood-red stem and roots, opens to reveal its stunning flower only to close up again at night.

A selective focus image of a Bloodroot flower emerging in the spring garden.

Our native bloodroots are members of the poppy family. Like other ephemerals they are only in flower for a fleeting time in spring before they disappear again only to rise up again the following spring.

Bloodroots spread rapidly and can make an excellent ground cover. And here is an interesting fact, seed dispersal is primarily done by ants.

You can expect to find them growing wild in moist woodlands throughout the U.S. and Canada from Eastern Quebec to Manitoba and south to Florida, Alabama and Texas.

For gardeners on a budget, the best method of propagation is by seed. It is best to plant the seeds immediately after you collect them, usually in early to mid-June. It’s also important to ensure the seeds do not dry out. This is a good reason to harvest your own seed rather than using commercially available stock.

More links to my articles on native plants

Why picking native wildflowers is wrong

Serviceberry the perfect native tree for the garden

The Mayapple: Native plant worth exploring

Three spring native wildflowers for the garden

A western source for native plants

Native plants source in Ontario

The Eastern columbine native plant for spring

Three native understory trees for Carolinian zone gardeners

Ecological gardening and native plants

Eastern White Pine is for the birds

Native viburnums are ideal to attract birds

The perfect Redbud

The Carolinian Zone in Canada and the United States

Dogwoods for the woodland wildlife garden

Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tellamy

A little Love for the Black-Eyed Susan

Native moss in our gardens

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I try to only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer. Thank you for your support.

Native plants help rewild his woodland garden ark

Boulders build foundation for woodland garden

I thought the coyote making itself at home on Vince Fiorito’s back deck was a sign of his commitment to rewilding his backyard, but when he told me about the 40 tons of granite boulders and rocks that he squeezed into his backyard in Burlington Ont., I knew this guy was serious.

Not only is he rewilding the typical suburban-sized backyard, he is extending his efforts into the ravine behind his home and transforming it from a garbage-dumping area that is infested with invasive, non-native vegetation, into an impressive woodland ark filled with native plants and shrubs that are encouraging more fauna to set up homes in and around the area.

(Here is a link to my article on the importance of using native plants in the garden.

Maybe that explains the coyote that couldn’t help checking out his backyard and wandered up on his back deck, or the minks that came hunting squirrels in his yard this winter. Maybe it helps to explain the many small DeKay Brown snakes that call his backyard home. (See a Youtube video of his yard here.)

All you have to do is talk to Vince for a few minutes to realize this guy is serious about rewilding his yard, the ravine behind it, and the entire City of Burlington if given the chance.

Vince has even been recognized by the Hamilton/Halton Conservation Authority for his work on the Sheldon Creek watershed.

Vince Fiorito’s property backs on to a wooded area that he has worked to not only clean up, but transform with native plants into a naturalized woodland where coyotes, mink and a host of reptiles and birds call home.

It’s not the first time he has taken on the challenge. Before moving to Burlington, Vince transformed a former property in much the same way he has at his Burlington home.

More than 20 years ago in Cornwall Ont. Vince decided he could no longer live with the “McHappy” gardens that overwhelmed subdivisions all over his small town, let alone most of North America. It was then, after helping out with a school field trip to rescue trilliums and other spring ephemerals from a future gravel pit to a school yard natural habitat restoration project, that he decided it was time to take action and start cultivating native plants, with a focus on rare local species that were quickly disappearing.

“That is when I became convinced that the lawn and garden industry had created perceptions of problems where none existed (dandelions) so they could sell us solutions which are really problems,” he added.

 

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Twenty steps to rewild your backyard

1. Remove all or as much grass as possible.

2. Stop using chemicals on your property to kill flora and fauna. Try instead to deal with problems naturally.

3. Replace non-native plants and trees with natives whenever and wherever possible.

4. Create safe habitat for animals, insects and reptiles of all kinds. This can include natural habitat from leaving snags (dead trees) to planting cedars and other evergreens that provide year-round protection. Supplement natural habitats with commercial or man-made structures such as bird houses and roosting boxes.

5. Consider providing natural nesting habitat for our native solitary bees as well as high-quality homes that allow for easy cleaning and removal of larvae. See my earlier article on the WeeBeeHouse.

6. Stop picking up leaves in the fall. Countless insects, reptiles and small mammals depend on leaf litter for winter survival. If you must, pile them into a corner or corners of your yard and let nature take care of them naturally.

7. Provide natural, native food sources for animals and birds from berries and nuts to flower seeds.

8. Ensure a safe and regular nectar supply in the yard for hummingbirds, pollinators, butterflies and bees.

9. Provide several sources of water in the garden, from small ponds, to on-ground bird baths that could include some form of moving water from a small solar fountain.

10. Consider the value of going vertical with more flowering and fruiting vines. These can also provide nesting areas for birds.

11. Forget a tidy garden. Nature isn’t tidy. Those spent flower stalks you are cutting down and sending to the curb, are home to insect larvae. Leave them be until late spring or early summer when the insects have had time to re-emerge.

12. Refrain from using gas-powered blowers on your property when a simple light raking will get the job done.

13. Build brush piles on your property. Even a small brush pile of sticks can be surprisingly productive. If you are having trees trimmed, ask the tree service to leave the cut branches in a pile in a corner of your property. You will save money and create invaluable habitat and hunting ground for birds and other backyard visitors.

14. Consider creating a hibernaculum as an overwintering area for snakes, insects, small mammals and other reptiles.

15. Create an open compost pile which will not only provide you with black gold, but will encourage insects and other fauna to use it as food and habitat.

16. Consider taking the necessary steps to become a certified backyard habitat to inspire neighbours to take action in their own yards.

17. Join your local garden and native plants organizations and spread the word about the value of rewilding their yards and neighbourhoods.

18. Always be on the watch for injured or sick animals and take the time to learn who to contact and what to do if you notice an injured animal on the property.

19. Put up decals, streamers or some other deterrent to keep birds from striking your windows.

20. Do no harm. It goes without saying that as gardeners we have a responsibility to do no harm to the fauna that share our backyards. Before taking any action in the yard, consider that possible harm that could result. The next time you are severely pruning a shrub or tree, for example, be sure to first check to ensure a family of birds are not depending on that shrub to hide and protect their nestlings. If so, put the pruning off until fall.

 

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Vince’s outstanding photograph of the standoff between the hawk and a grey squirrel at the border of his garden and the ravine is the perfect illustration of wild nature and our suburban wildlife.

Vince’s journey to rewilding success

Vince explains how he originally became interested in the natural world.

“The biodiversity crisis set me on this path. I grew up hearing stories about the passenger pigeon and other species extinctions during my childhood,” he says adding that he also grew up watching the Nature of Things every week since even before Dr. Suzuki hosted the show.

More recently, he joined the Canadian Wildflower Society (the precursor to the North American Native Plants Society) and went to work teaching himself everything he could about native wildflowers. He soon discovered the informative and expert writings of native plant guru and author extraordinaire Lorraine Johnson.

It all added up to an acquired knowledge that he continues to search for and is quick to recommend the expertise of groups like the Ontario Invasive Plant Council and its program Grow Me Instead guide that is currently in its 3rd Edition. and available online. (This release marks the most extensive update of the guide, first released in 2010. The newest update includes nearly 40 new “invasives” and “alternatives.” In addition to the guides, Grow Me Instead also offers seed packets and other resources for Ontario gardeners interested in pursuing native plant gardens.)

Similar groups are available throughout North America. Gardeners are encouraged to look up their local native wildflower associations for specific information on their regions.)

In an article Vince wrote for the North American Native Plant Society newsletter, he describes some of the work he embarked on at his Cornwall property, which he describes as a typical ‘90s subdivision lot.

“I purchased plants and ordered prairie seed mixes from reputable local nurseries that specialized in native plants. I rototilled most of my lawn and smothered the remnants with newsprint and leaf litter. Then I added two tandem truckloads of furniture-size granite rocks and another 7.6 cubic metres (10 cubic yards) of black earth. I rescued deciduous forest floor plants from a nearby quarry site.”

And the conversion had begun.

Several years later, the turfgrass and non-native volunteers were eliminated and his front yard had become a cornucopia of native plants growing between granite boulders. Black-eyed Susans brightened the late summer months with their sunny dispositions, while asters, goldenrods, prairie grasses such a Little bluestem filled out the curb appeal in the front yard.

In the back, Vince planted taller native grasses including switch grass, bottlebrush grass and big bluestem. trilliums, foamflower, blue cohosh and Jack-in-the-pulpits and bloodroot made up just a few of the more than 100 native plant species – including some endangered species such as goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) spread throughout the garden.

“To save threatened species from extinction, we must deliberately create habitats for them in urban areas around our homes and businesses. We need to know about local species at risk, the conditions they need to thrive and deliberately recreate these conditions they need to thrive and deliberately recreate these conditions wherever we influence the landscape.”

— Vince Fiorito

The price of being ahead of his time

One big problem. Vince was well ahead of his time and at least one neighbour didn’t agree with his non-traditional landscaping style and complained endlessly to anyone who would listen.

It turns out this neighbour wasn’t the only “McHappy” homeowner who thought a chemical-filled lawn and a couple foundation plantings was the way create a beautiful, healthy neighbourhood.

A job offer in Mississauga was too much for Vince to turn down, and so, the home and garden he had worked so hard to transform had to be put up for sale.

And that’s where it sat for months.

Cornwall home buyers were just not ready to take on what they saw as a high-maintenance, non-traditional garden. Eventually, Vince and his family were forced to take a serious cut in the home’s value to help pay for the new owners to bring in bulldozers to remove all the low-maintenance native plantings and boulders, only to replace it with with high-maintenance, non-native turf and a couple of foundation plantings that could, if they played their cards right, eventually grow too large and cover the view out their front windows. (sarcasm intended)

Many of the native plants went to the school where Vince was first inspired on his journey to rewild his Cornwall home.

The family moved to Mississauga for a short time before settling in Burlington, close to the Oakville border and purchased a home that Vince knew would be home to his next backyard rescue. Only this time, his small GTA-sized backyard stretched out as far as he could see and beyond. His backyard might have been small, but it backed on to Sheldon Creek, a stream that emptied into Lake Ontario a few kilometres downstream. A chain link fence was all that separated his property from the surrounding forest and natural area that was just crying out for Vince’s acquired expertise in restoring nature with love and care and, of course, wheelbarrows of native plants.

“Who needs to drive up North. I have Muskoka right in my own backyard.”

— Vince Fiorito

A new city a new challenge

And so, in 2013 Vince accepted the challenge of a lifetime to rewild not only his new backyard but to restore what was once a beautiful, natural ravine back to its former glory.

There was one ultimatum he couldn’t ignore, however. It came from his wife, and there was no arguing about it. The front of the home – the curb appeal part – would remain more or less traditional. The trade off seemed a good one and Vince got busy. Very busy.

“Who needs to drive up North,” Vince says describing Ontario’s rugged northern cottage country. “I have Muskoka right in my own backyard,” he adds proudly.

It wasn’t always that way. When Vince moved into his current home the awkward, 75-foot by a mere 30-foot backyard sloped steeply down toward the ravine, and didn’t have a lot going for it accept plenty of non-native plants including an abundance of Burning Bush.

He installed a large cedar deck to flatten out the slope right next to the house and give him the perfect view of his garden, the ravine the birds and the wildlife passing through the ravine.

Then Vince called in reinforcements in the form of 40 tons of rock and stone, and two guys – one wielding a forklift and the other, a small backhoe.

“People joke that I have Stonehenge in my backyard,” he explains.

That’s a lot of stone for such a small yard but there was rhyme and reason for his madness. After pricing out limestone boulders for his yard, he realized that if he went to the source of the rock (a large quarry) he could get a lot better price. One problem however, he had to fill the flatbed truck with rock to get the deal. “That was about four times more rock than I needed,” he explains.

So he filled the truck, hired some manpower and machinery and the rest is history.

Today, native Redbud trees light up the yard in early spring and native plants from milkweed to black-eyed Susans fill in around the rocks, flagstone and boulders.

In the newsletter article for the North American Native Plant Society, he notes: Since moving to Burlington, I have recreated my ark garden concept. I use rocks and organic material to create overwintering habitat for reptiles and many other creatures. I grow endangered hoptrees, (the host plant for the giant swallowtail), which has appeared in my garden for the past three years. I have planted milkweeds, host plants for monarch butterflies larvae, which I saw for the first time last summer, and New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus) host plant for the mottled duskywing butterfly.”

Vince is particularly proud of the giant hibernaculum he created in his backyard just with with the introduction of the massive boulders and stone that now make up the foundation of his backyard.

The small DeKay snakes that call his yard home are just an example of the success he has had in attracting and providing safe areas in his garden for surrounding wildlife. These small snakes, which are capable of putting on quite a show when they are scared, live off of insects and slugs and are, therefore, highly prized by knowing gardeners. (A hibernaculum is a location where creatures can seek refuge during winters, often diving beneath the frost zone in a safe, dry environment. They are most often used by snakes, toads, lizards, insects, and rodents.)

But it’s not hard to see Vince’s compassion for the wildlife around his home and throughout the city he now calls home.

Building an “ark” for his forest friends

He refers to his property as an “ark” the same term Mary Reynolds talks about in her book the Garden Awakening. Ms. Reynolds, an acclaimed Irish landscape designer, is calling on gardeners around the world to create “arks” in their yards in the hope that these “arks” can eventually be joined to create wild corridors for native fauna and flora to once again flourish across the urban areas.

In his newsletter article, Vince points out that scientists have concluded that the earth is in the middle of its sixth great mass extinction.

“Species may be going extinct 1,000 times faster than historical background rates and accelerating,” he writes. “Most species are in decline, degrading the biosphpere’s ability to provide the environmental services that clean the air, purify water and rejuvenate soil. If current trends continue, flora and fauna homogenization, invasive organisms, novel pathogens, overexploitation, habitat loss, pollution/toxification and climate disruption may become so severe that within half a century nature may require three to five million years to recover lost biodiversity and ecosystem functionality.”

the statement could not be more clear as we try to recover from a pandemic gripping the world, killing hundreds of thousands of people and forcing the remainder to seek refuge in their homes far from the ravages of the dreaded Covid-19 virus.

“We must seek coexistence with other species on land directly influenced by human activity,” he writes. “To save threatened species from extinction, we must deliberately create habitats for them in urban areas around our homes and businesses. We need to know about local species at risk, the conditions they need to thrive and deliberately recreate these conditions they need to thrive and deliberately recreate these conditions wherever we influence the landscape. To change common perceptions, we must communicate complex stewardship concepts with easily understood words and imagery.

“We need to build ark gardens.”

All true. And, I will add that the world needs more committed naturalists and gardeners like Vince Fiorito.

More links to my articles on native plants

Serviceberry the perfect native tree for the garden

The Mayapple: Native plant worth exploring

Three spring native wildflowers for the garden

A western source for native plants

Native plants source in Ontario

The Eastern columbine native plant for spring

Three native understory trees for Carolinian zone gardeners

Ecological gardening and native plants

Eastern White Pine is for the birds

Native viburnums are ideal to attract birds

The perfect Redbud

The Carolinian Zone in Canada and the United States

Dogwoods for the woodland wildlife garden

Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tellamy

A little Love for the Black-Eyed Susan

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I try to only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer. Thank you for your support.

Ten Money-saving tips for the weekend gardener

Weekend Gardener: Take a long- and short-term approach to saving money

Let’s face it, this hobby of ours can get expensive unless we are constantly looking for ways to save money. Rather than spending our weekends at the nursery buying more and more plants, consider staying home creating more plants through division and seed planting, and finishing that landscaping project that has been staring you in the face for so long.

Becoming a weekend warrior is the answer for so many of us with full-time jobs. It’s certainly one of the keys to long- and short-term saving when it comes to building our dream gardens over time. Set aside a few weekends in the spring, during the cooler months to tackle the bigger landscape-related jobs, and then take advantage of the remaining weekends to continue to get smaller jobs done. Before you know it, your garden design will take shape, you’ll be gathering more and more confidence in the garden, and you will be using the weekends to save money rather than spend it.

For more money-saving tips, be sure to check out my in-depth article on creating a buget-friendly garden.

The good news is that gardening in itself can be a money-saving venture, especially if you add plenty of veggies, fruits and nuts to your landscape plans.

The above picture shows the result of hard work and the benefit of time. I hired a local student to help with a lot of the heavy lifting. The photo below was the beginning of the project that involved installing a solar powered bubbling rock and a dry river bed, surrounded by three clump birch trees that creates the feeling of a forest glade.

But to really cash in, we need to make long- and short-term approaches to saving money a top priority. Saving money in the short term, means we can have more of what we want in the long term, and get us to our desired goal faster and for less money.

The beginnings of a design that finally pulled this rather unkept area together with the installation of a dry river bed below a birch grove. The main picture above shows how a few years of growth has transformed this area into a positive rather than a negative.

Several years later the small birch trees have grown to more mature trees and their upper storeys are beginning to form a ceiling over the bubbling rock.

Short-term saving, including starting plants from seed, dividing perennials, taking advantage of spring and fall sales and buying products used on line, can add up quickly to big savings.

Long-term savings requires a plan to complete major landscape projects with a view of saving money through the use of our own hard work and learned skills and the value of time. That’s where working the weekends really begins to shine.

Let’s take a look at how a short-term savings plan can work with a real-world example.

If I plan a garden bed with three drifts of three perennials, I can get to that end in several ways.

1. Start the plants from seeds (definitely the most frugal method.)

2. Purchase one plant of each variety leaving lots of room in the garden bed to add the remaining plants as the original plants are divided.

3. Purchase all nine plants for immediate impact. (certainly the most expensive option.)

If growing plants from seeds appeals to you, this is by far the best short-term saving choice potentially costing you almost nothing.

My choice would be to purchase one plant of each with the expectation of future divisions. By purchasing one perennial of each variety and knowing that we can divide them in a year into two or three plants, we can reach our goal in a couple of years. In the end, we save 2/3 in the short term to achieve the same result in the long term.

So, in the short term we save money by using time and smart gardening techniques to get to our desired result. By taking this approach over and over again with smaller projects we create substantial long-term savings.

 

“Be realistic about what you attempt to accomplish each season. If you are overly ambitious and attempt to renovate your entire property all at once, as we unwisely began to do at our present house, you’ll probably never get anything completed.”

— Susan Roth

 

Don’t overlook time as one of the biggest factors in the creation of long-term value in our landscapes.

Consider the potential savings acquired over time just by staying home to enjoy and work on our gardens rather than paying for expensive holiday resorts that offer little more than what could exist in our own backyards over time.

If being a weekend warrior pays high dividends, using a week or two worth of vacation to tackle a large problem is like winning the pot of gold and the end of the rainbow.

A staycation used to be a bad thing. Today, it’s a term used to describe those lucky enough to have a backyard they enjoy. I’m sure the pandemic has had a lot to do with it, but more and more of us are happy to stay home and enjoy the fruits of our labour.

If you love your garden, I’m guessing, you will much rather stay home with a good glass of wine in the backyard watching the birds than spend thousands of dollars to go to a resort to sip pricey drinks around a noisy pool.

Call my wife and I cheap, but our favourite vacation spot is our backyard.

A cardinal takes advantage of the cool water from the solar-powered bubbling rock. The bubbling rock setup was another Kijiji find that helped me to keep the costs of the project on a tight budget.

These long-term goals are made possible by taking advantage of short-term money-saving tips that make it possible to create the very best backyard experience possible at a price we can afford.

Five long-term money saving tips for gardeners

1. Buy your trees and shrubs as immature specimens and use time to let them mature into large, highly-valued investments. If you are young, and time is on your side, consider planting bare root specimens for mere pennies. Whips of many trees can be purchased for peanuts. Not all trees need to be planted as immature specimens. Key trees in your landscape can be purchased as larger specimens, while understory trees and those on the edge of your woodland can be grown from bare root and whips.

2. Learn to do your own landscaping whenever possible. Use the winter months to read books, blogs and magazines not only to get ideas but to learn how other gardeners create your favourite spaces. One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is to think they need to hire professionals to install huge concrete patios or large decks. The sheer size of these projects is enough to scare off the most ambitious DIY gardeners. It is usually much better, and quite frankly aesthetically more pleasing, to create smaller, more intimate settings that are more manageable and certainly easier to create on a budget. Replace the thought of installing a bright white concrete patio with a much more sophisticated rough-cut flagstone patio set in screenings and surrounded by a couple of large rocks for seating. Unlike the concrete that will not age well, eventually begin to crack and have to be replaced in time, the flagstone patio will take on a beautiful patina, moss may begin growing in the cracks between the pavers and any shifting over time can be easily corrected in spring. And, most important, you can do this yourself.

3. Consider hiring a student, a young family member or a neighbourhood teenager to help you with a lot of the heavy lifting. When we were young, my wife and I did all of the work ourselves. Today, hiring a student allows me to use the skills I have developed, after completing so many of my own projects, to guide them in more simple tasks. (See earlier article about hiring students)

4. Break down your landscaping into weekend projects. Many years ago I picked up a book by Susan A. Roth called The Weekend Garden Guide, Work-saving ways to a Beautiful Backyard. In the book she explores ways to design easier yards and lawns, creating low-maintenance flower gardens and the creation of easy-care natural landscapes like woodland and wildflower gardens in such a way that most of the work including maintenance can be completed over one or two weekends. If her book did nothing, it pointed me in the direction of learning to downsize major tasks and attempt to break them down into weekend DIY projects. “Homemade versions of grassy meadows and fields of flowers, woodland wildflower walks, gurgling streams, and rough-and-tumble- mountain peaks fall within the reach of the imaginative gardener,” she explains in the book. “Many of these naturalistic landscapes or gardens, especially woodland and meadow gardens, turn out to be ideal for weekend gardeners, because the sites require little maintenance. After all, whoever heard of a tidy woodland? Mother Nature doesn’t sweep up, so why should you?”

5. Create your own long- and short-term landscape plan or hire a landscape designer to do it for you. If you have a genuine interest in creating the garden of your dreams, then it is likely that creating a plan (or several smaller plans) is entirely within your capabilities of completing over time. It’s possible that your backyard can be divided into several smaller zones or rooms that can be tackled one at a time. Remember to look at your yard as a long series of weekend projects over many years.

   For many of us, however, this process is overwhelming or the project is just too large to tackle on our own. In these cases it can be money well spent to find a professional who truly understands your vision and can put it down on paper to help you create the garden over time.

   If you are dealing with a highly complex site, or your dreams are so grandiose, then it is probably a wise investment to hire an expert to help you solve these problems.

   If, for example, your dream is to have a natural stream winding down into a massive pond, this might be something you need to hire an expert to design and create. That does not mean that you cannot design the rest of the property on your own and leave this area until you are able to tackle it in the future. By following a budget-friendly approach in the years leading up to this expensive installation, the money saved will enable you to hire a company to create the pond, stream, waterfall of your dreams.

   Take it Slow

   As Ms Roth explains in her book The Weekend Garden Guide: “Don’t attempt too much at once. Renovate your yard slowly. That’s the most valuable, cautionary word of advice you can follow, and it comes from someone who ought to know (me). Be realistic about what you attempt to accomplish each season. If you are overly ambitious and attempt to renovate your entire property all at once, as we unwisely began to do at our present house, you’ll probably never get anything completed. Make a long-range plan and space out your projects over several years, if necessary. The work will wait – it (unfortunately) won’t go away!”

 

“Many of these naturalistic landscapes or gardens, especially woodland and meadow gardens, turn out to be ideal for weekend gardeners, because the sites require little maintenance.”

— Susan A. Roth

 

Five short-term budget friendly tips for gardeners

1. If you are just starting out, consider investing in high quality tools, especially the ones you know will be used extensively during your weekend projects. Shovels, picks, a wheelbarrow (or even better and garden cart see my earlier story here) will be in regular use.

   Search in places like Kijiji and other used outlets for good-quality landscaping tools. There is no need to spend hard-earned money on brand new expensive shovels, axes, and gardening utensils. Not only are many of these items available on the used market, but many are older, higher quality products that should last you a lifetime.

   Check with parents, friends or relatives and ask if they have any good garden tools they are no longer using. Chances are their sheds are full of rakes and shovels they are not using. Electric or gas-powered garden tools are also available on many on-line outlets. Try to always buy high quality because there is a good chance these tools will last a lifetime and save you money over the long term. Take care of the tools, keep them sharp and rust-free for best performance.

2. Plan now to get rid of as much, if not all your grass, as soon as possible. There is no better way to throw away money than to begin to obsess over a non-native monoculture groundcover that is estimated to suck up $500-$600 a year just on water alone. Add in hundreds of dollars a year more for fertilizer and whatever killers lawn worshippers feel they need to spread over their properties.

   Then there are the lawn mowers, rollers, aerators, lawn replacements, lawn companies…. It never ends. Trust me, eliminate what you can and save yourself a lot of money over the long term. (Check out my full story here.) Consider planting native ground covers in place of the grass. They will require less care, less chemicals and help local wildlife that have evolved with these plants to survive in our gardens.

3. Grow your perennials and annuals from seed if possible. You don’t need to invest in all the lighting and other accoutrements if it’s not something you are really interested in doing. There are many seeds you can sow directly into the ground. Some perennials and annuals are self-seeding which can make the whole process even easier. Learn to recognize the seedlings as they emerge and transfer them to other parts of the garden once they are large enough to be moved.

4. Pay attention to what other gardeners are growing in the area and, if any plants strike your fancy, tell them you would be interested in any divisions or seeds they would be willing to share. Free plants are always good. Neighbours, friends and relatives can get together for plant swaps, or you can keep an eye out for your local garden club’s annual spring sale. For the past several years, that’s been one of my go-to places for inexpensive trees, shrubs and plants. Many of them are expensive or rare plants that would cost considerably more at your local nursery.

5. Whenever possible, plant native plants rather than expensive hybrids. There are many positive reasons to move in this direction in your garden. Not only are they of enormous benefit to local wildlife, from insects, to butterflies birds and even larger predators like fox, they create a natural habitat in our yards that usually requires less upkeep and costs. That’s not to say they require no maintenance, but, if planted in the right location and soil requirements, they will grow, reproduce and survive in our gardens with minimal care. In the end you should be left with a garden that requires less care and money while enticing native fauna to your yards and gardens that, in turn, help to control invasive species of plants and insects that can harm the natural ecosystem.

   Consider installing a high-end, off-grid solar power system

   If you are like me and don’t have electricity in your garden, or at least don’t have it in the far reaches of the garden, consider installing a complete off-grid solar-powered electrical system like the American-based Shop Solar Kit company.

   Maybe you have a pergola in the back of the garden, or even a she-shed that you would like to have full power running a small refrigerator, sound system or full-size lamps and lighting. If you need to run pumps and lighting to a garden pond, you can do it with one of these highly capable systems that, once installed, operate at no cost to you at all.

   There are complete DIY kits available for approximately $1,500 and up.

   Gardening on a budget links

   DIY moss garden

   Proven Winners Idea Book

   Ten money-saving tips for the weekend gardener

   Window boxes on a budget

   DIY Bark Butter feeder for Woodpeckers

   DIY reflection pond for photography

   Click & Grow is ideal for Native Plants from seed

   Nature’s DIY garden art

   DIY solar drip for bird bath

   Remove your turf and save money

   DIY succulent planter

   Hiring students to get your garden in shape

Window boxes on a budget: 5 money-saving tips

Cutting your cost on curb appeal

Window boxes are an important element to creating stunning curb appeal, and they don’t have to be expensive. In fact, with a little creativity, good planning and patience, creating window boxes that make a real statement can cost pennies rather than taking a major chunk out of our pay cheques.

The two self-watering window boxes on the front of our home have quickly become the focal point of our home’s curb appeal over all four seasons.

In spring window boxes can be packed with bulbs. In summer they are loaded with fillers, thrillers and spillers and at their prime. By fall and winter window boxes provide the opportunity to create themed boxes featuring pumkins, ghords, dried leaves and grasses. In winter, evergreen boughs spill out between colourful Christmas balls. Just add some white twinkle lights and you’re set.

So if you haven’t given much thought to installing window boxes, now just might be a good time to consider them. There are a number of models available on the market.

For more on building your gardening on a budget, check out my in-depth article here.

This image show the front of the home with window boxes and matching container withing a Japanese-style garden

Mayne window boxes provide lots of options

We chose to go with the Mayne Fairfield 4-ft self-watering black window box mostly because they offered the self-watering feature, were black and came in the exact size we wanted.

For more suggestions and some of my favourite garden things, be sure to check out my Favourite Things post.

Don’t be afraid to snap pictures of window boxes you admire on your travels. These window boxes were on a beautiful building in Old Quebec City and I could not resist grabbing a shot. The symmetry is perfect as is the colour selections. Grasses as the thriller works perfectly.

Buying or building window boxes on a budget

The Mayne window boxes are a New England style window box made from 100 per cent high-grade polyethylene with a double wall construction that creates the water reservoir and helps to insulate the plants from temperature extremes.

They can hold approximately 4 gallons of water with a soil capacity of 9.5 gallons. We purchased the optional decorative wall mount brackets in the same powder coated finish. The brackets, although they are mostly decorative, make the window boxes look more authentic and substantial.

An example of one of our window boxes with Toffee Twist Carex as the thriller with supertunias, coleus and other annuals adding colour and texture to the grouping.

If you are a little handy and looking to save even more money, there are lots of plans on the internet that will take you through simple steps to build your own out of wood.

Extra precautions would be needed to protect the wood against rotting from constant watering and the weight of the units after filling them with soil, water and plants.

But this post is not about building window boxes on a budget. I’ll leave that for the handy guys.

This is about planting them up on a budget-friendly approach so that we can use any remaining funds to get our containers planted up as well.

One of the surprising benefits of installing our window boxes is that they create an opportunity to add a little fun, whimsy, colour and seasonal interest to the front of our home on a small scale, but in a very budget-friendly manner.

A quick stroll through Pinterest or google will reveal some spectacular examples of beautiful window boxes packed with thrillers, fillers and, of course, spillers. It doesn’t take long, however, to see that more than a few pennies were spent creating these wonderful window boxes.

Tips to planting boxes on a budget

Our goal is to find ways to cut costs and still get outstanding results.

An example of using artificial flowers in early spring to add a punch of colour. the plants can be used to fill out the boxes before the plants have filled out.

Budget-friendly Tip #1: Go to your nearest Dollar Store and go on a buying binge: fake flowers, fake ferns, fake greenery even fake fall leaves – anything that might be appropriate for your seasonal window box designs.

The artificial flowers are, of course, the best. They come in handy in early spring to create spectacularly colourful looking window boxes entirely of fake flowers and greenery.

They are a great way to get you into the garden spirit when the snow is on the ground and the mornings are too frosty to have anything growing. It’s mid March in our area of Canada and our window boxes are filled with yellow daisy-like flowers surrounded by Pearly Everlastings.

The Dollar Store finds can by used year after year for a punch of spring color but don’t stop there. They are also vital to create that full look in the window boxes before your live plants have taken hold.

The fake flowers are the perfect placeholders well into the summer as you await the full impact of the live plants. You can even combine real flowers and fake flowers right through the summer to keep your window boxes in flower and looking full.

The artificial plants tend to disappear as the real ones begin to take over the boxes.

The perennial Northern Sea Oats can be used in window boxes for a year or two before making its way back into the garden.

Budget-friendly Tip #2: Consider growing your container plants from seed in the months leading up to spring. Many of these container plants are ideal to grow from seed. You likely won’t need too many plants to fill your containers, so even if you don’t have the room or equipment to grow plants on a large scale, you could grow a handful of container plants from seeds at a kitchen window. I use the Click and Grow system which makes growing seeds super simple. In fact, two of the plants, a magenta petunia and a black viola that we used in this year’s boxes are grown from seeds in our Click and Grow. More on the Click and Grow on this earlier blog post.

A few container plants your can easily grow from seed:

• Sweet Alyssum is are quick to germinate and should be started indoors several weeks prior to the last frost. It likes full sun to partial shade, is available primarily in white or purple and makes for a nice filler. Some of the newer varieties are more full and will spill out of the boxes more readily.

• Nasturtium is super easy to grow from seed. It is available in yellow, orange and red blooms, that are eatable with a peppery flavour, and are quick to germinate once they have gone through a stratification period for 24 hours. These trailing or semi-trailing plants are happy in sun but also do well in part shade. Varieties are available with handsome foliage including some that are variegated. Collect the seeds for more flowers net season.

•Zinnias can be a showstopper in your window box with their bright colours. Their mounding growth habit makes them ideal as a colourful filler and their height and abundance of flowers throughout the summer (in the range of 9 to 12 inches) makes them a thriller candidate.

• Dusty Miller brightens up a window box with its soft, grey foliage and contrasting colour and texture. It can be grown form seed sown early indoors 4-6 weeks before the last heavy frost and moved to the window box after the last frost. These are tough, drought-resistant plants.

More tips for your containers

Budget-friendly tip #3: Use perennials that are already growing in your garden. There are so many perrennials to choose from. The best part is that you can leave them in the window box rather than replanting them every year.

Using your existing perennials just might be the best advice I can give to save money planting your window boxes. Spring is the ideal time to divide your perennials. What to do with all the extra plants? You can spread the divisions around the garden and still have some left over to experiment with them in your window boxes. Some of the best plants to consider are small to medium grasses that can really look great spilling out of the window boxes. In fact, this year we are using two grasses in our window boxes that were taken this spring as divisions from the perennial gardens: Northern Sea Oat grasses are being used as the Thriller (see image above), and Little Bluestems are being used as filler both in our window boxes and in a large container in the backyard.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the bobbing flat seedheads on the Northern Sea Oats that start out green but eventually turn from buff-coloured to a deep bronze will look through the summer and into the fall. If I like them enough, I can leave them to use again the following year.

And, since the seed heads are attractive with a dusting of snow, they could be left in the boxes and used as decorative elements until the spring when they can be popped out and planted back in the garden.

A few years years ago, we used Proven Winner’s Toffee Twist Carex as the thriller in the boxes. PW describes the unique grass as slender, with iridescent leaves that offers an elegant sweeping, trailing habit. Some may describe the 18-25-inch tall plant as looking dead with its bronzy brown appearance, but it works well in a container. Considered an annual where I live, it can be overwintered in zones 7 through 10.

Small fountain grasses, and Sedges such as Carex buchananil, comans, elata, flagellifera, and testacea are easy to grow, low maintence and tough. (check here for images of many of these Sedges)

For more bold statements, consider using smaller hostas as filler plants. The more upright, taller hostas, especially those with variegated or blue varieties can even be used as thrillers for a season before they return to the garden to continue growing.

Other perennials in your garden you might want to consider are Heucheras. Since they are primarily foliage plants and available in a variety of colours and leaf styles, they make excellent fillers and some can even work as spillers.

Don’t forget ferns (especially Japanese Painted ferns), Snow in Summer (grey foliage with a profusion of white flowers), Sedums, Creeping Thyme and Forget-Me-Nots just to name a few.

Budget-friendly tip #4: Much like the previous tip – using perennials from your garden – purchasing perennials for use in your window box with the express purpose of eventually moving them into the garden can be a very budget-friendly approach to gardening. By purchasing perennials when they are smaller plants, and using them as a filler plant for the first year or two while they fill out in size before planting them out in the garden, you can get double the production out of them.

I have used Japanese Forest grass (Hakonechloa) All Gold in the window boxes for a year before pulling them out in the fall and planting them out in the garden. After a season of growth, it’s even possible to split the grasses into two before planting in the garden.

Window box in fall decor just to add a little whimsy as the garden season draws to an end.

Budget-friendly tip #5: Be creative when putting together your window box. You might want to use it as an opportunity to grow fresh herbs, or even vegetables. Cherry tomato plants are being bred to be grown in containers and can be used both as thrillers (if they are staked) or spillers cascading out of the window boxes surrounded by flowers. The herbs and tomatoes can all be grown from seed to save costs and they will more than pay for themselves at dinner time.

In addition, Don’t be afraid to use indoor plants in creative ways. the variegated ivy that is so popular with indoor plant enthusiasts is a great addition to outdoor window boxes and containers.

Also, plants like the polka dot plant, another popular houseplant, works very well in a window box. In fact, I am in the process of growing one in my Click and Grow device that is slated for my window boxes once summer rolls around. My plan is to continue to grow the plant until I can take a couple of snippets. Those snippets will be grown in water until I get roots. Those snippets will be my house plants, while the original seed-grown plants will be outdoor plants until fall threatens. That will give me 3-5 plants from a couple of seed-grown pods grown in a small device in our kitchen. Now that’s frugal at its best.

Gardening on a budget links

DIY moss garden

Proven Winners Idea Book

Ten money-saving tips for the weekend gardener

Window boxes on a budget

DIY Bark Butter feeder for Woodpeckers

DIY reflection pond for photography

Click & Grow is ideal for Native Plants from seed

Nature’s DIY garden art

DIY solar drip for bird bath

Remove your turf and save money

DIY succulent planter

Hiring students to get your garden in shape

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I try to only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer. Thank you for your support.

What’s better the Kamado or the Kettle BBQ

Kamado-style grilling vs the Kettle

So, what’s better a Kamado or a Kettle? Trying to choose between a Kamado-style grill or a more traditional Kettle charcoal BBQ really comes down to price. There is no question that the Kamado style grill, whether it’s a Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe or Louisianna Grill, is more adaptable to most grilling styles than the Kettle. The problem is that you will pay dearly for that convenience.

Both get the job done. If you are like many busy people, however, and don’t want to spend hours behind the BBQ preparing a meal for your family, you should probably look into a natural gas or propane unit.

But retirement certainly has its benefits.

Somehow, spending two-three hours cooking chicken wings on a charcoal BBQ is a luxury I can afford these days rather than an inconvenience. Nursing the little guys with a low and slow smoke over our new Louisiana Kamado-style Grill can be an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I must admit, however, that I never felt that way working full time. It was off to the local pub for a basket of chicken wings and a pitcher of beer.

The chicken wings were hit and miss but the beer was always good.

Besides, trying to cook chicken wings on our old rusty propane BBQ would have been an exercise in futility. It might have been easier to just cook them over an open flame.

So it was time.

For more suggestions and some of my favourite garden things, be sure to check out my Favourite Things post.

This image, from the Louisianna Grills website, shows our Kamado-style grid in action out on the road. The portability of the unit makes it perfect for camping or tailgating.

A search on YouTube led me to the popular Kamado-style grills and smokers dominated mostly by the popular Big Green Egg and the Kamado Joes. They looked cooler than the BBQs I remember growing up, but they came with hefty price tags for what my wife and I needed. Besides, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted a charcoal BBQ after living most of my adult life with propane.

A quick search on-line turned up the Louisiana Grills’ Kamado mini for a good price. Sold.

It was advertised as being able to handle 10 hamburgs at a time, but when it arrived I quickly realized that 10-burger claim must have been a typo. As one on-line review suggested, more like room for 10 meatballs. Oh well, it was still perfect for the two of us and even big enough to handle cooking for three or four with a little ingenuity.

Our mini Kamado has a 10-inch grill surface and lacks the accessories the larger Big Green Egg and Kamado Joes offer. So far, though, I’ve really enjoyed barbecuing with it and have not really felt restricted by the lack of accessories or the very small grilling area. No doubt one of the the reasons is that we teamed it up with a propane BBQ. More on that in a later post.

Our Kamado-style grill is small but mighty handling everything I have thrown at it so far. It is a mini grill, ideal for taking with you to the cottage or a tailgating party.

If you are buying into the whole Kamado experience, Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe and Louisiana Grills pretty much have you covered as far as ceramic bodies are concerned. There are other top-notch manufacturers of Kamado-style grills that are definitely worth checking out. including all-steel models by a number of prestigious manufacturers. The 22-inch stainless steel Caliber Pro Kamado, for example, will set you back about $1,900 U.S. but weighs in at a mere 75 pounds, making it a real alternative. And it comes in several colours including turquoise.

The market, however, is definitely dominated by the two big boys. Big Green Egg, for example, offers the Mini, MiniMax, Small, Medium, Large, XLarge and 2XL. Kamado Joe offers a similar line up of grills and an impressive array of accessories.

The mini Egg is the closest to the Louisiana Grill we purchased with a grid diameter of 10 inches or 25 cm. and a weight of just under 40 pounds or 18 kgs. Both are advertised as the perfect solution for picnics and tailgating, but they would also work well on apartment balconies and camping when you don’t want (or can’t) use propane canisters.

We were looking for something small and stylish, and were intrigued by what we had seen on Burlington Ont. resident Smoking Dad BBQ’s YouTube channel. The guy takes Kamado-style BBQing to an art form and I wanted to get in on the action – at least in a small way.

Firing up our Kamado grill for the initial burn in knowing it will never again be this clean.

In comparison to our 10-inch diameter, the Xlarge Big Green Egg has a grid diameter of 24 inches or 61 cm and weighs in at a hefty 219 pounds. Keep in mind that the grill size can easily expand with accessories that let you vertically more than double up on grill size. The Eggspander kit is on the Big Green Egg site at $265 U.S. and more than $400 Cdn on Amazon. There is not a Big Green Egg accessory you can think of that is probably not available for either the Big Green Egg and Kamado Joes, but be aware that it can get very expensive with each new gadget. The pizza accessory for the Kamado Joe, known as “DOJOE”, will set you back in the neighbourhood of $300 Cdn on Amazon. An excellent alternative to buying a separate, wood-fired pizza oven, but still not cheap considering the original cost of the BBQ.

So why choose a Kamado-style grill over, say the traditional Kettle grill, such as the popular Weber Kettle? Proponents of Kamados will tell you the secret is in the ceramic housings that retain both heat and moisture resulting in a finished product that is more tender and juicier than it would be on a regular charcoal grill. I am going to refer readers to this excellent and informative article to help further explain the benefits of the Kamado grills.

And, as champion Pit Master Chris Lilly once said about Kamado grills: “Ask your children what colour they want, because they will inherit it.”

With all that said: what about the more traditional charcoal grillers such as the extremely popular Webber Kettle. There is a reason these things have been around since they were invented by Weber’s founder George Stephen in 1952 and has since developed a cult following around the world. The Kettle’s are also available in various sizes, have an easy cleaning setup, a huge number of accessories and continue the long tradition of charcoal grilling while offering regular modern updates.

And, have we talked about the price. The basic Weber Original 18-inch black Charcoal Kettle will set Canadians back a mere $119. Upgrade to the Premium 22-inch model and you are at $229 Canadian. Add $10 for a coloured version (crimson, copper or green. A premium 26-inch Kettle will set you back a mere $469 Cdn.

Whether it’s a Weber or Kamado Joe you are cooking on, cast iron cookware is almost indispensible. For my post on using, seasoning and why you need a cast iron skillet, check out Cast Iron Cookware.

In a previous blog post, I talked about the importance of creating the bones of your garden before you go out and purchase the latest and greatest BBQ. Getting that garden foundation established as early as possible will pay off in the long run. Even if that means only buying a single tree to begin your woodland garden.

This is where the Weber Kettle or a similar BBQ steps to the forefront. It’s a simple, inexpensive BBQ that will go a long way to give you a foundation in BBQ techniques at a very reasonable cost. Weber’s website even offers excellent posts to teach you how to master the art of cooking with charcoal. If you are just starting out in the world of charcoal barbecuing and looking to create your ideal woodland garden, the Weber Kettle is an excellent choice to get you on your way.

If your garden is much further along and you are ready to take barbecuing to the next level, consider a more expensive Kamado-style BBQ.

Either way you can’t lose.

I also have a propane BBQ which gets plenty of use. Our Vermont Castings Vanguard BBQ is an excellent choice for those looking for a propane or gas style BBQ.

Check out this link for my article on our Vermont Castings Vanguard propane BBQ.

And this article for information on using cast iron cookware on the BBQ.

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I try to only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer. Thank you for your support. This blog would not be possible without your continued support.

How to help Hummingbirds during migration

How far do hummingbirds migrate

It’s hard to imagine our tiny hummingbirds embarking on a two-week journey all by themselves covering between 3,500 - 4,000 kms from southern Mexico to the Great Lakes area and returning to the same backyard feeder they left seven months earlier.

But for many of our little Ruby-throated hummingbirds, that is the miracle they perform twice a year. Some, who spend our winter in Central America, can travel even farther. If that wasn’t enough, every year thousands of hummingbirds make the dangerous journey over the open water of the Gulf of Mexico flying non-stop for up to 500 miles to reach the safe shores of the United States. That solitary flight alone can take up to 22 hours.

So when do hummingbirds do most of their flying?

Experts believe that hummingbirds begin their migration because of the changing level and angle of the sunlight. They then use the daylight hours during migration to do most of their flying. This way they can take advantage of the nectar sources along the route. Years of migration have taught them what flowers to watch for along the way and by flying low, the birds can actually see food sources and make regular pit stops to stock up on energy along the way.

How can we help Hummingbirds survive their journey?

Providing perches for Hummingbirds to rest near a food source is a great way to give them a needed rest as well as an opportunity to photograph them.

5 Tips to help Hummingbirds during migration

1. Ensure your commercial feeders are cleaned, and up a few weeks earlier than you would expect them to normally arrive. Keep them filled with a 4:1 mixture of 1 part regular white sugar and 4 parts of water. It’s best to boil the water first and dissolve all the sugar in the boiling water. place it in the refrigerator until cooled and then fill the feeders and hang them out in the garden. I have found that the feeder hanging off our home’s eavestrough attracts the most hummingbirds, but spread your feeders throughout the garden to give the hummers the best chance of seeing them as they pass through.

2. Put out fruit, say on a shallow birdbath, to attract fruit flies – a great source of protein for the migrating birds.

3. Refrain from using any insecticides in the garden to encourage as many small insects and spiders as possible. We should never be using insecticides but especially in the spring when the birds depend on insects for their survival and, if nesting, for their young.

4. Plant flowers to provide natural nectar for the migrating hummingbirds. If you do not have any early-flowering varieties, consider going to the nursery and picking up some flowering annuals that provide the birds with an early nectar source.

5. Provide a shallow birdbath or one with a gentle fountain for the birds. Hummingbirds need to keep their feathers in top shape and will flutter in and out of a gentle spray cleaning their feathers and/or taking a small drink. Hummingbirds do get most of their water needs met through the nectar they consume.

Native plants are best food source

Using native plants in the garden is the ideal way to give our hummingbirds the necessary food to survive the long migratory journey.

Experts say that the little birds have learned to take advantage of tail winds to help them travel more efficiently and burn less calories. Ruby-throated hummingbirds have been know to eat one to three times their weight every day.

For some, their journey is close to complete at that stage, but most keep going bringing them as far west as Texas and North Dakota and as far north as parts of central and eastern Canada. Many settle in and around the Great Lakes where gardeners in Toronto, Hamilton, Cleveland, Buffalo and Niagara Falls welcome them with open arms and a host of hummingbird feeders, cleaned and topped with fresh home-made nectar.

Still others, continue their journey farther north.

To better understand the extent of the journey the Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates that the 3,900-mile migration from Alaska to Mexico is the equivalent of 78,470,000 body lengths to the 3-inch hummer. The Arctic Tern’s migration of about 11,185 miles is only 51,430,000 body lengths. That’s a mighty difference for such a tiny bird.

Getting to their final destination involves a perilous journey. Storms, cold snaps and injury all play a major role in whether they are able to finish this journey. So too does the availability of food along the way.

Another interesting fact is that along the migration, if a hummingbird gets caught in a cold spell, it will shut down and enter a sleep-like state called torpor. The hummingbird can be seen hanging upside down and looks to be dead, but in fact, it has dropped its body temperature and heart rate to conserve energy. It even goes so far as to make its breathing intermittent. Once temperatures rise, the hummingbirds will continue its journey.

Prior to setting off on their journey, whether it is the Fall migration south, or the spring migration north, a hummingbird will typically gain 25-40 per cent of their body weight this will help to sustain them in the first part of the journey but food sources along the way are critical for their survival.

A hummingbird feeds at a Cardinal flower, an excellent source of food that flowers later in the season providing nectar for the fall migration.

Natural food sources are always the best for migrating birds and that includes an abundance of small insects that provide them with the necessary protein they will need to continue the journey. Gardeners in the southern states and along the migration route up to and including through parts of Canada need to ensure they are not only putting out commercial feeders and growing native, early blooming shrubs and flowers to help the hummingbirds along their way, they also need to put away any urge to reduce insects and spiders through the use of insecticides in their gardens and natural areas. These insecticides will limit the availability of insects at such a crucial time in the migration.

In fact, by putting out ripened fruit in spring, we can help give the hummingbirds a fresh supply of fruit flies during their migration. The fruit flies are an excellent source of protein and easy for the hummingbirds to eat in large quantities.

Gardeners are also urged to put commercial feeders, like this beautiful copper feeder from Gardener’s Supply, near natural nectar sources, most often red or orange tubular-shaped flowers. Consider columbine, honeysuckle and penstemon just to name a few. Lupines, foxgloves and hollyhocks are also favourite flowers for hummingbirds, although they bloom later in the season.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

During that migration, where these tiny birds can travel up to 23 miles and day, they consume more than their weight in nectar and insects every single day. Hummingbirds have an average of 53 wing beats per second (ranging from as low as 15 to as high as 80) and a heart rate of 1,260 beats per minute, so you can imagine how much food they need just to keep up with the incredible amount of energy they expend on the journey.

To say their journey is complicated is an understatement. If they travel too fast they will run the risk of outrunning the early blooming times of the native flowers along the route. Too slow, and they might not get to their destination in time to recover and begin the process of reproduction.

The other factor that is growing in importance and potentially threatening hummingbirds is climate change. Most gardeners are aware of the changing agricultural zones that climate change has brought on many of our own gardens. That same change is having some impact on the availability of flowering plants that the hummers depend on during their journey. Already, experts are saying that 10 per cent of all hummingbird species worldwide are threatened with extinction. The introduction of more commercial hummingbird feeders are likely to become an increasingly important source of nectar for the birds as they migrate through the United States and up into Canada.

At the time of writing this post On Thursday March 11, the hummingbirds were gathering in the southern states with reports of Ruby-throated hummingbirds in Riverside, Alabama, Jackson Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina. Many of these may have simply chosen to spend the winter in these warmer climates, but there is no doubt the migration is beginning to pick up steam.

If you want to follow the spring migration as it works its way through the United States from Central America and Mexico into Canada, sign up for my free newsletter which will be tracking the migration and reporting back to subscribers throughout the spring. Sign up for the free newsletter at the bottom of my home page here.

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