First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Scoop The Poop

Did you know that studies show that roughly 28% to 40% of dog owners admit they do not always pick up their pet's waste. When questioned they list a bunch of not particularly good reasons for not scooping the poop. One person told me it was natural therefore it was okay not to pick it up! BTW, it's not natural!

Don't be like them, pick up your dog's poop! 

Here's why!

• Yes, dog poop is bad for the environment and is classified as a dangerous pollutant by the Environmental Protection Agency.
• It could contain harmful parasites, pathogens and bacteria that can be transferred to people and other pets. Dog poop is a common carrier of nasty things like heart worms, whipworms, hookworms, roundworms, parvovirus, giardia, salmonella and E. coli. 
• It can be washed into the storm drains and local waterways because it's untreated, creating excess nitrogen and phosphorus that feed suffocating algae blooms.
• It's not a fertilizer! Their waste is overly acidic and harmful to grass and local ecosystems.
• In cities the problem is compounded by rats and other rodents. Dog waste is often a leading food source for rats in urban areas. Rat urine and feces have been linked to a number of diseases that can easily be passed to humans, including leptospirosis, typhus, and salmonellosis. (source)
• It's the considerate thing to do. 

 Here's what we pet owners can do.  (source)   

• ALWAYS carry poop bags with you whenever you are out and about with your dog. Take more than you think you will need…you never know.     
• PICK IT UP! Every. Single. Time.     
• Tie the bag closed and toss it in the garbage. Dog poop CANNOT go in compost or yard waste bins. I repeat, DO NOT compost dog poop! 
• Don't drop the bag on the side of the rode to pick up later...You won't remember! 
• Pick up poops in your yard weekly (more often is better and definitely before a big rain). Rain won't wash it away.   
• Hire a dog poop collection service. Yes, this is real, and they exist in many cities and counties. They do it so you don’t have to.

 

Dear Readers, None of us enjoy picking up poop but we do it because it's the right thing to do for the environment, for wildlife, for other pets and for others.

xoxogail 

 

 

Take the Taking Care of Wildlife In Our Gardens Challenge

The first part of this challenge is to do something, even lots of things, each month that support the critters living in our gardens. Gardening with native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be). Plants and their pollinators are a classic example of mutualism: they have coevolved through evolutionary time in a reciprocal beneficial relationship. This is also true for other critters that visit and live in our gardens. 

Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. Helping others learn about nature is included. Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. 

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature! Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? My neighborhood is changing. Yours might be, too. Every day an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar and hackberry trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when we lose trees. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris cause runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's important that our neighbors and our community have information about how important trees are to our ecosystem. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

In place of the "bee lawns" composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses (in my neighborhood it's poverty oat grass) and sedges, they're being sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally. Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

• Gone are the lightening bugs.
• Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
• Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
• Gone is plant diversity. 
• Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
• Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
• Gone is a healthy foodweb.

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help our new neighbors see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment. xoxogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Euphorbia corollata

 I am still crazy about our native Euphorbias. I love most of the weedy Euphorbias, but Euphorbia corollata is NOT a weedy plant! It's a wonderful white flower addition to any late summer garden that is filled with yellow composites.

I appreciate that it softens all the yellows, but it's a powerhouse plant! It has survived weeks without watering, weeks of temperatures in the 90s and the attempted take over of the garden by Partridge Pea.

 

Flowering spurge is special. 

• it has small white flowers with yellow centers with a touch of green that are held above dusty-green foliage. 
• it's dusty green glabrous foliage is attractive even out of bloom. 
• bonus points when those leaves turn pinkish or red in the fall.

the foliage contains a toxic white latex

 

What makes it extra special:

• its unique flowers, 
• long bloom time (up to six weeks), 
• noticeable seed heads, 
• ability to tolerate any soil (just give it good drainage) 
• the glabrous foliage.
•  it blooms in both full sun and part shade in my garden. 
• once it's established it's also a deer and drought resistant plant. Both pluses in a garden visited by deer and with hot, dry summer months. 

Because it prefers poor soil rather than a rich soil, it's less likely to be out compted by other plants. That worked well at Clay and Limestone until the Partridge pea moved in! 

My bad...I have a tough time pulling out blooming flowers, but the partridge pea was aggressively crowding the Euphorbia. So it had to go. Trust me there's plenty left for the very busy bees. 

Flowering Spurge has a whorled stem which produces branches that contain numerous flowers.

Flowers  of this spurge are actually modified leaves; the "real" flowers are small, golden structures in the middle of the white bracts.Those real flowers are Flowering Spurge are an important nectar source for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly. For readers north of Tennessee, the Karner Blue geographical region is along the Great Lakes region.

After bloom, female flowers become capsules, each containing three seeds. The capsules split open to eject their seeds.

 

Euphorbias share some important characteristics. 

• they all secrete milky, caustic, latex sap when injured—an adaptation that likely evolved to discourage predators.
•  flowers grow in a cyathium, a structure found nowhere else in the plant kingdom. 
• a cyathium consists of fused bracts that form a small cup and hold a group of tiny flowers
• there are both male and female flowers on the plant
  
• they have cool developing seedheads

THE PARTICULARS

Family: Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)

Botanical Name: Euphorbia corollata

Common Names:  Baby's Breath of the Prairie, Eastern Flowering Spurge, Flowering Spurge, Garden Spurge, Poison Milkweed, Tramp's Spurge, White-flowered Milkweed, White Spurge, Wild Hippo, Wild Spurge 
 

Native range: Texas north to South Dakota and east through all of the states to the Atlantic. It is also known from Ontario.

Hardiness: Zones 3a to 9b

source

Soil: Prefers dry, well draining, poor soil which helps deter competition

Exposure: Full sun to partial shade

Flower: Sprays of tiny flowers cover this plant in mid-summer. The small green nectar glands and their extensions can easily be mistaken for petals on this interesting flower. Euphorbias have male and female flowers on the same plants, I find the developing fruit quite interesting to observe.

Autumn color: The leaves and stem can color from pinkish-red to scarlet color.

Wildlife value: Attracts all kinds of wasps, small bees, flies, small butterflies and predatory or parasatoid insects that prey upon pest insects. Please follow the link to  Illinois Wildflowers to find an extensive list of faunal associations. Flowering Spurge is rarely eaten by mammalian herbivores because of the toxic white latex in its foliage

Toxic: Contact with plant, especially its milky sap, can cause irritation of skin, eyes, and mucous membranes.

Where to plant: This tap rooted plant needs to go into the ground as soon as possible. It doesn't thrive in a container. Plant it in well drained soil and protect it from aggressive plants.

 

the  fruit/pods split and expel their seed

Saving Flowering Spurge Seeds: This plant produces small pods that will split and expel their seed when completely ripe. Gather the pods as soon as they begin to dry, but before they split. Spread the pods out to dry in a protected location, keeping in mind that they may still explode. Separate the seed from the husks. Store the seed in a cool, dry place. I use a net bag that ties around the plant to collect seeds. See below.

Flowering Spurge Germination: Direct sow in late fall, pressing the seeds into the surface of the soil. Seeds require 30 days of cold stratification for germination. The plant will self-seed.
The source for seed collection and germination information; you can also order seeds.

Sources: Missouri Wildflowers, Prairie Moon Nursery, Izel Native Plants, Plant Delights Nursery, Wonder Gift and Garden

 I like this plant so much that I keep adding more to my garden. It might look delicate but it is a hardy plant. If it can survive a cedar glade, then it can survive almost anything we gardeners throw at it. 

xoxogail 

 Welcome to Wildflower Wednesday and thank you for stopping by to see Euphorbia corollata a sweet wildflower that you'll rarely see in a nursery, but, might see out your car window as you drive down a county road. Thanks also, for joining in and if you are new to Wildflower Wednesday, it's about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Please share your wildflowers on your favorite social media site. Share to help educate others!

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Phyla lanceolata, aka Fog Fruit deserves a spot in your garden

Was it really 8 years ago that I first spotted lanceleaf fogfruit growing in the right of way along my busy street! 

 It's a seriously cute little Verbena cousin that ought to be in more native plant gardens and considering that it's native to almost all of the US (except for the dryer NW states), it's amazing to me that it's not readily available. If I had a pond or stream in my garden it would have a place of honor.

While fogfruit can tolerate some dry conditions, it does not thrive in my garden unless it's damp most of the time. Like other plants that I love but don't have the right conditions for, this one is growing in a container. 

If happy it will carpet the ground with attractive foliage that is accented in the summer with small clusters of pale lavender-pink flowers that attract bees and butterflies. It's semi-evergreen (depending upon the zone you're gardening in) and can tolerate heat and humidity, as well as cold winters. It is native to southeastern Canada, most of the United States southward into Mexico.

 

 

The sprawling stems can root on the ground (that's how it develops a mat) and the lance-shaped leaves that have tiny teeth on their edges and turn a reddish color in late fall or early winter. It blooms from late spring into early fall. ...that's about 6 months of bloom. The top of the cluster is purplish disc with the flowers whorling around the bottom. The individual flowers drop off leaving an attractive cluster of orange-brown fruits. 

I am not surprised that there are still wildflowers tucked away in the corners of this neighborhood. Seventy years ago this was a woodland/forest on the edge of the city and roads were bulldozed to build one of the city's first planned communities for the growing post war population.

When the developer's bulldozers were carving out roads they drove around big trees and left pockets of woodland/forest. It's in those forest remnants that I discovered beautiful wildflowers that I love: False Soloman's Seal, Spring Beauties, Rue Anemone, Trout-lily, False Garlic, Blue-eyed Grass, Wild Sweet William and Sweet Betsy. We've been lucky that they have never completely disappeared and each spring delight residents with their arrival.

Now I can add Fogfruit to the collection.  

There are still wildflowers and sedges in the verges and edges of many yards. I hope they stay safe from the developers who are now bull-dozing the suburban ranches to build houses that fill almost the entire lot. Lawns that have to be maintained by weed and feed every year are replacing the freedom lawns filled with Spring Beauties, wild Petunias, Fleabanes, Lyreleaf Sages, Oat grass and sedges.

Ignorance is killing the wildflowers.

 There's no weed and feed in my garden so wildflowers like Phyla lanceolata/Fogfruit are safe. It's blooming its cute little head off and I proclaim it the July Wildflower Wednesday star.

The inflorescence is a tight head, although, technically it's referred to as a spike

Let the celebration begin!
xoxogail

 

The Particulars

Botanical name: Phyla lanceolata  

Genus: Verbenaceae (Verbena)
 
Common native: Northern Fog Fruit, Lanceleaf fogfruit, some call it frogfruit, turkey tangle fogfruit

Perennial

Native: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV 

Hardiness zone: 5 to 11 (yes 11)

Habitat: sun; moist soil; along shores, floodplains, muddy flats

Bloom season: June - September

Plant height: short, but stems stand up about 12 inches

Wetland Indicator Status: OBL/Obligate wetland, almost always occurs in wetlands.  FACW/Facultative wetland, usually occurs in wetlands, but occasionally found in non-wetlands.

Flower Color: The flowers are white to lavender, with two lips. The outer lip is lobed to appear as three petals.

Cultural Information: Cuttings, taken in late spring through the summer, root readily at the nodes.

Wildlife value: The nectar of the flowers attracts various insects, including bumblebees, leaf-cutting bees, Epeoline cuckoo bees, long-horned bees, green metallic bees and other Halictid bees, Syrphid flies, bee flies, thick-headed flies, Tachinid flies, small butterflies, and skippers. Some of the Halictid bees also collect pollen. The foliage and seedheads are eaten by Canada Geese.Doesn't appear to be grazed by deer or bunnies. Source: Illinois Wildflowers

Comments: Use it as a mass planting in a difficult, moist spot in the garden. The plant has attractive foliage and cute flowers. Appears to be deer proof, although water fowl will eat the seeds.

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. So please share your wildflowers on your favorite social media site. Share to help educate others!

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.