Behnkes buyer and well known native-lover Miri Talabac has lots of tips for people who want butterflies and hummingbirds in their gardens.  In her recent talk about these popular critters she started with making a pitch for WHY to include them:  To contribute to ecological diversity, to teach kids about wildlife, and for our own enjoyment.  Sounds good!

Monarch (L) and Zebra Swallowtail (R)

Butterflies

What they Need    Food, water, (preferably in the form of puddles, or a bird bath that holds or mud), sun, and shelter (especially in evergreens).  For sunning, they’re attracted to rocks they can bask on.  And a particularly popular food some butterfly-lovers put out for them is overripe fruit – it really works.

Host Plants are used by butterflies as places to lay their eggs, and then as food by the emerging caterpillars, so including some in your garden will attract even more species. Butterflies are often very picky about which plants they use as hosts, a departure from their more generic tastes in nectar plants. For example, the Monarch caterpillars will only eat the milkweed plant.  So tuck Milkweed into your border or (if you don’t like the look) in an out-of-the-way spot.

More host plants are Asters, Turtlehead, Passionflower, Violet, Queen Anne’s lace, Pipevine, Penstemon, False Indigo (Baptisia), Golden Alexanders, Sedums, Violets, and trailing Licorice plant (Helichrysum), Snapdragon and Pipevine.  The shrub Spicebush is a great host plant, as are these trees: Hackberry, Elm, Tulip Poplar, Wild Cherry, Black Willow, and Pawpaw.  Among edibles, both fennel and dill are great host plants.  Parsley, dill and carrots are, too, while reseeding less than the aggressively spreading fennel and dill.

Nectar Plants are the plants we see adult butterflies feeding on, sucking nectar through their long nose-like proboscis, and an assortment of nectar plants will attract dozens of butterflies to your garden.  Great ones for our area are:  Liatris, Monarda, Echinacea, Echinops, Milkweed, Agastache, Nepeta, Salvia,  Mountain Mint, Sedum, Allium, Eupatorium, Solidago, Ironweed, Aster, Coreopsis, Joe Pye,  Mints, and Oregano.  Shrubs: Caryopteria, Abelia, Buddleia, Summersweet, Buttonbush, and Ceonothus.  Among annuals: Verbena, Lantana, Globe Amarantha, Pentas, and Zinnias.

Butterfly Facts
Did you know that butterflies live just two weeks, on average?  Or that some hobbyists go beyond planting for them and actually raise them?  Miri raises them herself, and doesn’t mind a bit having to feed them three times a day.

To learn more, Miri recommends The Butterfly Site, which you can search by state – here’s the butterflies in Maryland.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds

Hummingbirds

The Ruby-Throated hummingbird is the only native breeder in our region – the others we see here occasionally are strays.  Only the males  have the iridescent red throat that the species is named for, and he weighs in at just 3 ounces.  These birds overwinter in Mexico and Panama, then across the Gulf of Mexico in 24 hours of straight flying, and show up in our region in mid-April.  They’re primarily bug-eaters but the nectar they drink from plants or our feeders provides the fuel they need to pursue the bugs.

Nectar-Producing Plants for Hummingbirds  Their favorites include:  Crossvine, Trumpet Vine, Honeysuckle, Bottlebrush Buckeye, native and nonnative Azaleas (especially the orange, red, and yellow flowers), Weigela, Buddleia (both for the nectar and for attracting bugs that hummers love),  Hibuscus, Columbine, Agastache (which has a long bloom) Monarda, Penstemon, Cardinal Flower, Joe Pye Weed, Aster, Yarrow, Liatris, Goldenrod, Mountain Mint, Coral bells, Milkweed, Meadow Rue, and Bugbane.  Annuals they love are Indian Pink Sages (actually, all salvias), Lantana, Morning Glory, Cardinal Vine, Petunia, and Million Bells, plus the edibles Fennel and Chives.  Among shrubs, great choices include Viburnum, Contoneaster, Oakleaf and Smooth Hydrangea, Chokeberry, Elderberry, and Pagoda Dogwood

Hummingbird Feeders  These DO work, especially the plastic type with yellow bee guard, shown in the photo above.  If ants are a problem, you can attach an “ant moat” between the pole and the liquid. Asked if red dye is harmful, Miri says that’s unknown, but there’s no need to use it, so she advises against it.  If the birds aren’t finding your feeder, just attach some red ribbons to draw more attention to it.   Hummingbirds are famously aggressive toward each other, so having more than one feeder and keeping all feeders out of sight of each other will reduce the fighting.  Remember that the feeders are for US – the hummingbirds don’t actually depend on them.

What to fill feeders with?  Sucrose, glucose, fructose, or white cane sugar, using 1/4 sugar to water.  What not to fill feeders with?  Brown sugar, fruit syrup, or artificial sweeteners.

You need to change the nectar every 2-3 days, so there’s no point in filling the feeder to the top, then having to throw out what wasn’t used.  Miri fills hers with just 1/4 cup, then increases the amount if the hummers are drinking it all up.    To clean the feeder (every time you refill) you white vinegar or a  bleach solution to kill mold and bacteria.

Feeder photo credit.  Hummingbird close-up photo credit.  Monarch photo credit.  Zebra swallowtail butterfly photo credit.

Carolina Chickadee (L) and Northern Mockingbird (R)

Attending Natalie Brewer’s talk for Behnkes about bird feeders convinced me that there’s way  more to know about attracting and feeding birds than I ever imagined.   She touched on the habits of just a few of the common winter birds in our region but a Master Naturalist like herself could have told us so much more.  Here’s a sampling:

• Woodpeckers “go bananas” for fruit and nut mixes, with raisins.
• We should set out housing for nesting birds NOW.  Will do.
• The purple martins will be arriving here soon, and hummingbirds surprisingly early – by mid-April.
• Raccoons have been known to carry feeders off.   The buggers!
• There are at least 20 great plants that birds feed on, all native.  Natalie has a whole talk about that coming up at Behnkes next month – March 17.

And here are just a few of the birds we can enjoy in our backyards in the winter:

• Cardinals, which are flocking now.  Did you know that they communicate with each other by tweaking their crests?

• Bluebirds, which love the berries of dogwoods and junipers.  And bluejays, which love nuts, especially acorns.  Speaking of blue, there’s actually no blue pigment in birds.  They appear to be blue because of the way the light refracts off their feathers.

• Dark-eyed Junkos, which arrive here from Canada in September or October and stay until May.  They love thistle.

• Mockingbirds, which know up to 200 songs and love berries.

• White-breasts nutfinches, which can walk upside down on trees.

Downy (L) and Pileated Woodpeckers

• Chickadees, both the Carolina and black-capped type, can be trained to eat out of your hand or at a feeder next to a garden bench.  (So will nutfinches.)  I’ve gotta do this!

• Woodpeckers in our region this time of year include the downy, the hairy, the red-bellied and the red-headed.  My favorite is the flashy, incredibly large pileated woodpecker, and three were sighted in my neighborhood just yesterday, according to the Greenbelt email group.  The first time I ever saw one I mistook it for a chicken – that’s how big they are.

To learn more about birds, Natalie recommends the website of the justly famous Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  It offers great tips for identifying birds.  Sparrows in particular are notoriously hard to tell apart.

Becoming a Master Naturalist

To learn LOTS more about not just birds but all wildlife in our region, you could take advantage of the University of Maryland’s Master Naturalist training, like Natalie did.  Click here to learn more.

Posted by Susan Harris.  Photo credits: Downy woodpecker, others from Cornell.

Larry Hurley’s Favorite February Tips 

• Remember that it’s best to stay off of soggy, wet soil. Walking on it or “working” it with hand tools or tillers will compress it. Clay soils, which drain poorly to start with, will be made even worse by trying to work with them when they are wet.
• Buy Valentine’s Flowers and plants for your loved ones, and even your liked ones. Nothing compares to the color and fragrance of real flowers.
• Take some trips to the great greenhouses: the U. S. Botanic Garden is always worth the trip downtown, and the conservatories at Longwood Gardens are beautiful any time of the year.

Miri Talabac’s Favorite February Tip

Remember to water your outdoor container gardens once in a while when the weather’s mild and the pots have thawed. Dry winter air, mild temperatures and sunny days can still cause dormant plants to loose water, which can be more damaging than injury from cold alone.

Bill Mann’s Favorite February Tip

Now’s the time to plan any major or minor landscape plantings. Remember that hot summer last year? Were you missing shade trees or do you need to replace damaged or downed ones? Any areas that could be improved by providing evergreen screening? Foundation plantings don’t last forever. Are they ready for removal and a fresh look? Any possibility of putting your house on the market the next five years? Now would be the time to take a critical look at your landscape, and redo, or add anything you may have been putting off. You will have time to enjoy it, and as a bonus, your new plants will add value of your property for years to come.

Edibles

• Time to start these seeds indoors: broccoli, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, parsley (which can be started as early as January), onions and leeks.  Click here for lots more about seed-starting and veg-garden prep in February by resident horticulturist Carol Allen.
• Scout for Eastern Tent caterpillar egg cases on your apple, sherry and crabapple trees – just twist them off.
• If you have a cold frame, you can sow an early crop of spinach and lettuce in it this month.
• Buy your veg seeds now before the supplies dwindle.
• If you’ve had problems with aphids, mites and scale insects, spray trees thoroughly with a dormant oil spray before bud break, making sure that temperatures are expected to remain above 40 degrees F. for the 24 hour period after spraying. Follow label directions.

Lawn

• Late February through the end of March is the second best time (the optimum time is late August through mid October) to over-seed your lawn to make it thicker or to cover bare areas. The freezing and thawing of the soil this time of the year helps the seed to get good soil contact.
• Avoid excessive walking on your grass when it is frozen to avoid damaging the crowns of your grass plants.

Bulbs

• Don’t worry about your bulbs popping up early; it won’t harm them – unless we get a hard freeze just as they’re about to open.  If that happens it’ll weaken the stems and make them floppy.  A plastic garbage can or waste basket over the clump for the night would help to keep off the frost, and hold a bit of ground heat in.
• If you put protective evergreen boughs over your early spring bulbs, remove them now to enjoy their early bloom.
• As your bulbs pop up and you can tell what they are, that’s a good time to mark them (with labels or drawings).  That way, you’ll know where they are after they’ve gone dormant this summer – if you want to dig them up, plant around them, etc.  (When to move your bulbs?  When the foliage has yellowed and the plant is going dormant.  Though if they’re tulips, it may not or may not be worth the effort.  Most bloom for just a year or two, so it’s best to plant new ones each year.)

Annuals

At the end of February, look at the long-range weather forecast. It may be time to put out pansies or cool-season vegetable plants if it’s going to be mild for the next ten days.

 Trees and Shrubs

• Winter is the best time to prune deciduous (leaf-dropping) trees and shrubs because you can easily see where branches rub against each other, spot dead or broken branches, and see how you might prune to improve form. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.  But remember that you will be removing flower buds on spring bloomers, so be conservative if that is an issue.  Here’s more about pruning from the U. Md.  You may notice excessive sap bleeding from pruning cuts on elm, maple, birch, dogwood, beech, walnut, magnolia, tulip poplar and redbud.
• What NOT to prune now? Anything that flowers in the spring (if you care about seeing those blooms).
• If you have yews or camellias, look for white cottony masses on the undersides of needles/leaves. These are scale insects and they should be sprayed with horticultural oil later in the season when the youngsters (aptly named crawlers) emerge.
• Got deer?  Now’s the season when they home in on our more expensive plants, like trees and shrubs.  So apply Liquid Fence or Plantskydd (our favorites) monthly.
• If/when it snows, try to prevent snow and ice from building up on gutters and eaves above shrubs. Gently sweep snow loads off of shrubs to prevent breakage.
• Remove and destroy bagworm bags from affected trees- principally on evergreens. The bags contain hundreds of eggs that will hatch out and feed next spring.
• This is a good time to inspect winter creeper and Japanese euonymus foliage for scale problems.  Control the scale insects by spraying the healthy leaves with dormant oil.  Be sure that temperatures are expected to remain above freezing for a 24 hour period after spraying.
• Hemlocks infested with the woolly adelgid can be sprayed with dormant oil any time in February – as long as the temperatures are expected to remain above 40 degrees for the 24 hour period after spraying.

Houseplants

• Keep an eye out for pests on your houseplants – like spider mites, mealybugs and scale insects.  If you act quickly, most pests can be eradicated with simple methods, like a spray of water, spraying with insecticidal soap, or swabbing the critters (especially mealybugs) with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol.
• Be careful not to overwater.  And remember – don’t fertilize houseplants this time of year.  It will tell you when it’s ready for action.

Wildlife

• Keep bird feeders clean and replenished throughout the winter months.
• Likewise, remember that wildlife needs a water source through the winter. Refill your weather-resistant birdbaths regularly.
• If you have a pond, keep a portion of the surface clear of ice at all times. If the water freezes over completely your fish may die. When ice forms, there is a strong chance that gasses from organic debris at the bottom of the pond will build up in the trapped water and harm the fish. There are a number of electric pond de-icers available that will provide a constant unfrozen area in the water. There are also some small bird bath warmers that do the same thing.
• Ceramic and plastic birdbaths are especially vulnerable to cracking in cold weather and should be stored indoors.  Metal ones should be unaffected by freezing so keep them outside.
• If you garden near deer, keep up the deer repellants through this, the most vulnerable time for evergreens.  Use monthly, rotating two or more different products.
• This is the mating season for foxes. Late at night they make a noise that sounds like a person screaming.

Studying and Planning, if not done last month

Maintenance Jobs for Winter, especially clean-up, if not done last month

Photo credits:  Cardinal by Natalie Brewer.  Broccoli seedling,  onions, cabbage, lawn.

Studying and Planning

January is THE time for planning, so it’s a good time to browse this blog and the articles on our website for ideas for spring planting, especially the articles about about plants – the perennials, trees and shrubs, native plants, and so on.  Email us with your questions – or put them in a comment to this article -  and we’ll try to answer them. Attend some of our free lectures or inexpensive workshops–the more you know, the easier and more rewarding it is to garden. If you haven’t ever done so, make a to-scale sketch of your yard, placing the trees and shrubs. Think about where you have room for more. When the bulbs and perennials emerge in spring, add them to the sketch. It’s a great planning tool for deciding what else to plant this spring.

Winter Supplies

• If you don’t have a snow shovel in good working order get one now before you need it desperately.   Same goes for a supply of snow- and ice-melting products; we’ve already had some icy steps and there will be lots more.  The University of Maryland reminds us to keep all ice melting materials away from landscape plants, and to NOT use granular garden fertilizers to melt ice – they’re very corrosive to concrete and metal, and contribute to waterway pollution.
• In case of loss of power or just because fires in the fireplace are such a pleasure, pick up some kiln-dried firewood, too.

Maintenance Jobs for Winter

• Larry Hurley writes that in the winter he likes to “do all the things that seem like a pain when it’s hot and buggy out. Cut back that bamboo that you always meant to clean up, dig out invasive ground covers like English ivy. Make sure your gutters are clean. It will reduce the risk of ice dams if we have heavy snow this winter, and during rainstorms the water will flow down the down spout instead of along your foundation, reducing the risk of basement flooding.  Clean mowers and other outdoor power tools if you know what you’re doing. Sharpen shovels and other bladed hand tools, and apply a light coat of oil to reduce rust.”

 Trees and Shrubs

• Winter is the best time to prune deciduous (leaf-dropping) trees and shrubs because you can easily see where branches rub against each other, spot dead or broken branches, and see how you might prune to improve form. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.  But remember that you will be removing flower buds on spring bloomers, so be conservative if that is an issue.
• Protect evergreens that are prone to winter burn – like Camelias, Cherrylaurel and Holly – with an anti-dessicant (Wilt-Stop) or protectant (Freeze-Pruf) now.
• If you have yews or camellias, look for white cottony masses on the undersides of needles/leaves. These are scale insects and they should be sprayed with horticultural oil later in the season when the youngsters (aptly named crawlers) emerge.
• Got deer?  Now’s the season when they home in on our more expensive plants, like trees and shrubs.  So apply Liquid Fence or Plantskydd (our favorites) monthly.
• If/when it snows, try to prevent snow and ice from building up on gutters and eaves above shrubs. Gently sweep snow loads off of shrubs to prevent breakage.
• Remove and destroy bagworm bags from affected trees- principally on evergreens. The bags contain hundreds of eggs that will hatch out and feed next spring.
• This is a good time to inspect winter creeper and Japanese euonymus foliage for scale problems.  Prune out damaged leaves and control the scale insects by spraying the healthy leaves with dormant oil.  Be sure that temperatures are expected to remain above freezing for a 24 hour period after spraying.
  

Bulbs

• Plant left-over bulbs in the garden as long as the soil can be worked.

Edibles

• Plan for spring seeding now.  Here’s how to check your last year’s seeds to see if they’re still viable:  Place 10 seeds between moistened paper towels, roll up the towel and place it in a plastic bag. Put the bag on top of the refrigerator or other warm location and check after 5-7 days to see what percentage has germinated. Discard seed lots with less than 75% germination.
• Get your seed-starting gear in order.  Lights working?
• By mid-January, seeds will be in stock.  Buy them early, before the supplies dwindle.
• Fall-bearing raspberries can be cut down to the ground and the spent fruiting canes of June bearers can also be removed now.

Lawn

• Avoid excessive walking on your grass when it is frozen to avoid damaging the crowns of your grass plants.

Houseplants

• Keep an eye out for pests on your houseplants – like spider mites, mealybugs and scale insects.  If you act quickly, most pests can be eradicated with simple methods, like a spray of water, spraying with insecticidal soap, or swabbing the critters (especially mealybugs) with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol.
• Be careful not to overwater.  And remember – don’t fertilize houseplants this time of year.  It will tell you when it’s ready for action.

Wildlife

• Keep bird feeders clean and replenished throughout the winter months.  If you started feeding them in early winter, they’re depending on you.
• Likewise, remember that wildlife needs a water source through the winter. Refill your weather-resistant birdbaths regularly.
• If you have a pond, keep a portion of the surface clear of ice at all times. If the water freezes over completely your fish may die. When ice forms, there is a strong chance that gasses from organic debris at the bottom of the pond will build up in the trapped water and harm the fish. There are a number of electric pond de-icers available that will provide a constant unfrozen area in the water. There are also some small bird bath warmers that do the same thing.
• Ceramic and plastic birdbaths are especially vulnerable to cracking in cold weather and should be stored indoors.  Metal ones should be unaffected by freezing so keep them outside.
• If you garden near deer, keep up the deer repellants through this, the most vulnerable time for evergreens.  Use monthly, rotating two or more different products.

Photo credits: Snow shovel, fireplace,  birds at feeder.

Something new caught my eye during my most recent visit to the National Zoo – an exhibit called  Zoo in your Backyard – and it’s one that hits close to home for us gardeners and really, all homeowners.  It makes the important connection between exotic wildlife in a zoo and common but equally important wildlife right in our backyards, and how we can help local wildlife by how we garden.  Great idea!

The exhibit’s yard area is a study site for the Migratory Bird Center’s Neighborhood Nestwatch, a research program in which area citizens act as “backyard biologists” who help Smithsonian scientists monitor local bird nests.  A small pond provides habitat for insects, amphibians, and birds. And in the flower garden, you may see hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees feeding.

Their online resource offer these do’s and don’ts to help wildlife:

Do:

• Plant a variety of native trees and shrubs as food and shelter for wildlife.
• Keep pond water moving.
• Add nest boxes in which birds can raise their young.
• Clean and fill feeders regularly.
• Remove insect pests by hand, or use natural predators like ladybird beetles.

Don’t:

• Don’t apply fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.
• Don’t keep yard objects that collect still water.
• Don’t allow your cats to roam freely.

More online resources include thiMore here – about this page about protecting birds in our backyards, this page about attracting pollinators, and there’s a page about the importance  of ponds, too, and how to take care of them.  And of course they link to the National  Wildlife Federation’s excellent Backyard Habitat program.  Have you gotten your backyard wildlife-certified yet?

But on a more seasonal note, now through January 1, don’t miss the FREE Zoo Lights!