First Wednesday Taking Care of Willdlife Challenge: Early Blooming Spring Plants, Hummingbirds and Coevolution

Are you ready for the hummingbirds? I am and so are several plants in my garden!

Trumpet honeysuckle and Eastern Columbine bloom just in time for migrating Ruby Throated Hummingbirds and that's no coincidence. They have co-adapted with Hummingbirds over millions of years to form a mutually beneficial relationship. Hummingbirds migrate thousands of miles annually from their winter home in Central America and they're movement north coincides with the blooming of these preferred flowers. 

When they arrive in middle Tennessee they are hungry and the red tubular and trumpet-shaped flowers of both columbines and trumpet honeysuckles hold more nectar than other flowers and are irresistible to hummingbirds. This co-adapted/mutually beneficial relationship is pretty cool. The long bill and tongue of these hummers fits into the throat of preferred flowers like columbines and trumpet honeysuckle flowers to easily reach the nectar, and while feeding, grains of pollen spill onto the head of the bird and is carried to other Columbines and Trumpet honeysuckle. It's a marvelous mutualistic dance that happens in gardens all over the Eastern United States. 

It's almost show time in Middle Tennessee. Historically Hummingbirds arrive in middle Tennessee in late March to mid-April. In fact they have been reported in Franklin, TN a city 20 miles southwest of downtown Nashville. 

 So get ready! 

'Cedar Lane' Trumpet honeysuckle/Lonicera sempervirens

Hummers need a lot of fuel. David Wentworth Lazaroff in his book The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds describes a hummer's lifestyle as high octaine meaning they must consume as much as one-and-a-half times their body weight in nectar every day. He said, “Being a hummingbird is like driving a car with a one-gallon gas tank. There is an almost constant need to refuel."

 

As anyone who has tried to capture a photo will tell you they are fast moving acrobats of the air. Thank you Joanna for sharing your photo with me. Now I will set up my tripod and camera and try to capture a hovering hummer which a dear friend refers to as the holy grail of hummingbird photos. 

Joanna Brichetto photo 

Although, it's not easy to capture a photo of humming birds hovering, it's not difficult to attract migrating RTH to your garden. Like all bird visitors and residents they need food, shelter, water, nesting sites and perching sites. Plant native flowers and shrubs with nectar bearing flowers to keep them happy. Hummingbirds are attracted to tubular, nectar-rich flowers in shades of red, pink, and orange.

 

  

To provide for hummingbirds that are arriving and to keep them in your garden plant the following:

Aesculus pavia/red buckeye

 Impatiens capensis/jewelweed

 Aquilegia canadensis/columbine

 Campsis radicans/trumpet creeper   

Penstemons   

Monarda/bergamot/bee- balm   

Lonicera sempervirens/trumpet (or coral) honeysuckle 

Lobelia/cardinal flower  

Silene virginica/royal catchfly and  round-leaved catchfly fire-pink   

Phlox   

Salvias: especially red flowered 

The  Audubon organization shares some cool facts about our high octane acrobatic visitors that I think are worth sharing.

• They have specially adapted wings that not only beat 50 times a second, but they are the only bird family who can hover for extended periods of time. They can fly  backwards, forwards and upside down.
• These tiny birds are endurance flyers. They beef up their bodies with insects and nectar to make non stop flights from central America to the eastern USA and Canada.
• Humming birds run on flower power! They have not only coevolved with several of our spring wildflowers, but also fall blooming Jewelweed. All of which we can plant in our gardens. 
• Habitat Gardens, wood edges. Summers in a variety of semi-open habitats, including open woods, clearings and edges in forest, gardens, city parks.  

Audubon

There may not be as many nectar sources available with this crazy up and down spring we've had in middle Tennessee so please consider hanging feeders. It's fun to watch the hummers up close and it's an easy way to supplement their nectar needs. You don't have to buy nectar, make your own, it's just sugar and water! There are recipes on the internet. Please, do not use the red dyed syrups that are often offered at big box stores.  It's also very important to keep the feeders clean.

And remember, never, ever, ever, ever  use pesticides or you will end up killing the insects aka bird food that are living in your gardens.

xoxogail

 

PS It's Spring Migration and millions of other birds are flying over our gardens at night. I'm wondering if you and your garden are ready? 

There are things we can do. Very important things!

• Go lights out at 11pm to 6am during migration (spring and fall). Turn off outside lights.
• Provide food in clean feeders, suet is still important.
• Put out hummingbird feeders and keep them clean.
  
• Provide fresh water 
• Plant native trees, shrubs and perennials. Native woody plants provide cover from predators, nighttime roosts and nesting sites. They also host insects, caterpillars and spiders which are essential food for spring-migrating birds. 
• Don't use pesticides or you will end up killing the insects/bird food that are living in your gardens.
  
• Leave your leaves where overwintering insects will provide a buffet for birds
• Be a responsible pet owner: keep your cat indoors or in an enclosure well away from birds. Cats predate on birds.
  
• Make your windows obvious and strike proof especially the big picture windows. Add decals, paint spider webs, stripes or designs, this will keep birds from colliding into them when they stop at our feeders.
  
  
  
• Where night lighting is necessary, use fixtures that direct light only where it’s needed.
  
• Become an advocate: Work to get your community involved in turning off their outdoor lights from 11pm to 6am every night.
• Sign the Home Owners Pledge at Bird Safe Nashville.

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.
  

 It breaks my heart. 

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.

A gardener can hope! 

xoxoGail

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: Phacelia bipinnatifida and Love at First Sight

 It really was love at first sight.  

Who could resist the lavender-blue flowers with deeply divided, mottled fern-like leaves that bloom in early spring and attracts bees? Those leaves alone are worth having in your garden. They have lighter, grayish-green, or silvery, watermark-like blotches and can develop a purple tinge in late fall/winter. 

My little naturalized colony at its best

It's been so long ago that I can't remember when I added Phacelia bipinnatifida to the garden but, I remember quite clearly the first time I saw a naturally occurring colony on a shady damp hillside. I was going to visit a new friend's garden and was driving up her steep drive, as I turned a bend in the drive every where I looked Purple Phacelia was blooming and bees were dancing from flower to flower. There's something splendid about natives that mass naturally, and this was a dazzling and magical pollinator show.

My little Phacelia colony waxes and wanes from year to year. Purple phacelia/Phacelia bipinnatifida is a biennial wildflower in the Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf) family that is native to the southeast USA. Biennials require two growing seasons to complete their life-cycle. The first year is vegetative growth; the second year, they flower and produce seed and shortly after, they die. They're usually quite prolific and will set seed, but, you'll only have flowers every other year. If you want to have blooms every year, you've got to put a little bit of effort into making that happen.

 

Let's get more detailed about what that effort looks like.

When you are trying to get a biennial established it's important to remember: One year from seed, second year to flower, then it dies. To have flowers every year you have to get a colony started, so you need seeds, first year plants and flowering plants. I really was lucky to be given several plants in bloom and many first year seedlings. Here's how it works! Those first flowers were visited by Bumble bees and other pollinators and got fertilized, they set seed and then died. The fallen seeds germinated and over wintered; the following spring the original first year seedlings bloomed and their flowers were fertilized, set seed, and then died. It's not a complicated process, but it's a brilliant cycle that continues to this day.  

 

I make sure the cycle is not interrupted. Which means that I collect the seeds, and sprinkle them where I want new plants, sometimes I move the tiny seedlings, the first year plants and even the second year plants in late winter to make the colony larger. They always seem to survive!

 

If you're lucky it forms self seeding colonies that are simply stunning. 

 As all gardeners know, some years are better then others and this is a lean year. Lean because we've had a several years of low rainfall right when the seeds need moisture to germinate. I've watered enough so that I have flowers every year, but, I will be doubling my efforts this year to reinvigorate my little colony. To insure  the  colony will make it through the deluge/drought pattern Middle Tennessee has settled into, I'll hand water them during the severely dry times.

Bees and other pollinators that are out and about on warm days love Phacelia. It has wildlife value and supports  the following specialized bees: Andrena (Micrandrena) lamelliterga, Andrena (Euandrena) phaceliae, Hoplitis (Robertsonella) simplex.

tightly coiled inflorescence in bud

I am honestly not disappointed that it's a lean year. Especially when I see proof that it's  providing for a lot of early spring visitors. I don't have hillsides of Phacelia, that requires much moister soil than I can give it, but, where it's blooming it shines. 

 

 To successfully grow our Wildflower star give it part-shade, shade, moisture, (it can take some dryness) in acid, neutral, average loam. It won't turn it's noise up at rich moist, well draining soil! 

 There are a few online nurseries that sell Purple Phacelia just do a web search. Or if you're lucky and can find a friend with seedlings to share, you can start your own journey to having a colony of flowers that pollinators adore. I hope that post like this open eyes to the beauty of Phacelia. 

 

 The Particulars

 Botanical name: Phacelia  bipinnatifida

Common names: Purple Phacelia, Fernleaf Phacelia, Fernleaf Scorpion Weed, Spotted Phacelia, Loose-flowered Phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf) family, also sometimes classified in Borage family

Life Cycle: Biennial

Distribution: AL , AR , GA , IA , IL , IN , KY , MD , MO , MS , NC , OH , PA , SC , TN , VA , WV

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b  

Height: 1 ft. 0 in. - 3 ft. 0 in. 

Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 3 ft. 0 in. 

Light: Dappled Sunlight (Shade through upper canopy all day) Deep shade (Less than 2 hours to no direct sunlight) Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours) Full sun if mesic soil.

Soil:  Adaptable-clay, shallow rocky, loamy, sandy and/or high organic matter. PH acidic and neutral. Moisture-well draining and moist  

Flower description: Racemes of 4-12 blue to purple flowers are produced from March through April/May. Individual flowers are 1/2 inch across cup shaped with 5-lobed corolla, 5 sepals, 5 stamens, a slender style, and an ovary. The racemes occur at the top of stems with some secondary ones forming in the axils of the upper stems.  

Color: Blue/Purple/Lavender  

Bloom Time: Spring. March in middle Tennessee.

Propagation: I collect seed by placing a tray with potting soil under the blooming flower. I let most self sow. Seeds ripen shortly after blooming. I let natural rain fall water the seeds and they germinate when temperatures cool in the fall and through the winter. I usually don't notice seedlings until March. Some folks say that the seed needs to be sown fresh, but I am going to try to collect it and place in the refrigerator to see if it will grow when sown later.

 

Surface sowing is always successful and in my garden fallen leaves don't seem to keep them from germinating, so prehaps light isn;t a requirement.

Wildlife Value:  Phacelia support the following specialized bees: Andrena (Micrandrena) lamelliterga, Andrena (Euandrena) phaceliae, Hoplitis (Robertsonella) simplex.
   
Comments: Deer and bunny safe. This is a plant that should be in every shady garden. Find a friend who will share a few seedlings. Phacelia bipinnatifida should be allowed plenty of room in a naturalistic, woodland setting to move around as it wishes. If you want to maintain it in precise spots, transplant seedlings in the fall to preferred locations. 

My thoughts: When it comes to wildflowers almost all the attention centers on perennials. They're marvelous investment plants that you can count on to make a good show in your garden year after year, but, you might want to consider adding a few annuals and biennials that are native to your part of the garden world. They're charming plants and add another dimension to the garden~many of the seedlings and first year plant's foliage is quite attractive. (Gardeners, Do Yourself A Big Favor)

Thanks for reading! xoxogail


 

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.

 

 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.

First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: I Challenge You To Use Find a Use for Tree Debris

 

 Dear Middle Tennesseans affected by ice storm Fern,  I challenge you to find a use for some of the twigs, branches and tree trunks that are all over your neighborhoods and yards. Although the ice storm was in late January there are still piles of tree debris on many streets. 

 

 

To Recap what happened in Nashville and much of Middle Tennessee in January

Winter storm Fern caused catastrophic damage to our tree canopy.  Metro Parks estimated they lost more than 6000 trees throughout the entire park system. I can't even imagine how many trees have been lost across Nashville neighborhoods. Driving through my neighborhood and beyond I see very few yards that aren't affected by tree loss or damage. 

 

Tree debris is still piled everywhere. It's devastating to see the tattered and thinned tree canopy.

If I had the back and a truck I would grab so much of this wood

 

 

I've been especially concerned about how the loss of trees will impact bird populations.

Loss of the tree canopy means:

• Habitat disruption: birds have no familiar places to nest or roost
• Food scarcity: Trees provide important bird foods-sap, nuts, dormant insects
• Humans must provide more nutrient rich foods
• Nesting challenges: Loss of traditional nesting sites for returning migratory birds means a huge impact on migratory birds. Think about what awaits Purple Martins since many of their preferred trees were lost in downtown Nashville.
• Loss of nesting and food means reduced productivity-No baby birds
• Loss of cover and safety issues -Many of the trees downed were evergreens. Fewer evergreens affects safety from predators and harsh weather. 

 

Here's some thoughts on what we can do and to prepare for ice and wind storms in the future (source) 

•  Regularly Prune: Hire an arborist for "crown thinning". That's a selective pruning method that removes 10-30% of interior branches to increase light penetration and air circulation throughout the canopy, reducing disease risk and wind resistance without changing the tree's size or shape. It strengthens branches, reduces weight, and improves tree health. It is not tree topping.

• Structural Support: If recommended use steel cables and bracing for trees with co-dominant stems (V-shaped unions).
• Young Tree Care: Structural pruning when trees are young creates to create a strong framework
• Watering: Ensure trees are watered deep into the soil before winter, as hydrated, healthy trees resist ice damage better.

And now suggestions for the challenge!

If a tree needs to be cut down leave a snag

source

Snags in my garden.

 

dying Ash that was left as a snag

Oak damaged in storm left as a snag

 Use fallen limbs to line your garden beds

 

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.

 Twigs and branches play a crucial role in promoting healthy soil: adding essential organic matter to your garden soil, improving soil structure, enhancing water retention, and providing nutrients as it breaks down over time.

Use smaller twigs and branches as filler in the bottom of large containers. They act as a sustainable filler that improves drainage, boosts aeration, and reduces the weight of the pot. It's my mini-version of Hügelkultur, turning yard waste into a nutrient-rich foundation for my plants. 
 

branches and twigs stacked between metal poles and an old bed frame

Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food.

 
Use a tree stump as support for a larger container.

a slice of cedar with legs 

 
Use pieces of downed branches and trunks as benches in your garden or to make trellises and arches.

Be creative and have fun...We found what arborists call cookies (above) and we plan to dry them add legs to make tables. And look at the critter we found (below) last year that makes us smile every time we pass by it.

Have some fun, feed your creativity, help nature and feel free to add more suggestions and to share your ideas with everyone! xoxogail

 

Here's a recap of what the First Wednesday Monthly Challenge is all about.

 

Want to 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.
  

 It breaks my heart. 

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.

A gardener can hope! 

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.