DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's such a treat today to host one of our regular commenters here on JRW, Karen Maslowski. Karen is an both avid gardener and wildlife supporter, and when in recent blog comments she mentioned that she and her husband, Steve, were giving a talk on attracting wildlife to gardens, I asked if she would share some of that knowledge with us. I'm tickled to say she was happy to oblige!  

Here's Karen!

Beyond the Birdfeeder: Gardening to Attract Wildlife

 

Thank you, Debs, for asking me to be a guest on the blog. I’m honored!

Many of you know my husband is a semi-retired wildlife photographer who tended to specialize in photographing and filming birds. One assignment has been providing bird photos for a calendar, for 50+ years! Nowadays, Steve has settled into taking images of birdfeeders (with birds) for several manufacturers. My garden and landscaping appear in most of his work.

As the gardener of the family, I have learned a lot of tricks for attracting birds. It’s easier to get a hummingbird to come to your feeder, for instance, if there are flowers growing nearby that attract them to your yard. Red, pink, white, and even purple flowers with tubular centers, are hummingbird magnets. With a feeder alone you might get a speedy little guy or two, but plant flowers nearby and soon you may have a crowd zooming around. The salvia in the photo is a profuse bloomer, and the hummingbirds love it; they will stay north as long as the salvia is still blooming.

Songbirds also benefit from more than feeders. Some plants I grow mostly for goldfinches: any version of sunflower or helianthus will make them very happy, if you allow the seedheads to form. Purple coneflowers and rudbeckia or black-eyed susans are also favorites for their seeds, long after the butterflies feasted on their nectar. Many birds will also eat flowers, like those on the native redbud or hawthorn. Redbuds are in the pea family, and humans enjoy the blossoms, too. They’re gorgeous in spring salads.

For the richest diversity of birds and other wildlife (including insects) provide diversity of plant life. The traditional monoculture of lawn, a few evergreen shrubs, and a shade tree, along with a few pots or rows of impatiens or pelargonium geraniums (the non-native red type), really offers slim pickings to our native creatures. Adding native plants can make an enormous difference to the variety of birds you see in your yard. Catmint is a good example of a  profusely blooming native groundcover that bees adore, and it stays colorful from spring through fall along my front walk.

I also grow a variety of berry bushes, native and cultivated, with the goal of sharing with the birds. Some good native ones are the intensely violet beautyberry, elderberry, red and black currant, and serviceberry. Blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry shrubs are also as popular with the birds as they are with us. I have grown blueberries in big pots for several years. Winterberry hollies also have profuse red berries in fall and winter, but beware; they are highly poisonous to humans and animals. Birds, though, are happy to have them in the coldest months.

Birds also need habitat and cover from predators. We have a meadow area near some of our feeders that we don’t mow until spring, so the seedheads (in this case from goldenrod) can continue to feed birds, but also provide good protection from hawks. The sparrows make a quick visit to the feeder, then fly into the brush to wait another turn. You could accomplish the same thing with a nearby evergreen, or a clump or two of native grass. Check out some varieties of switchgrass, for instance, or Muhly grass, with its showy pink feathers.

I coax birds to visit my garden by providing a birdbath. Bluebirds, in particular, love to bathe, so I always have one near my vegetable garden. The bug-eating bluebirds return the favor by having a tasty snack among the beans, tomatoes, and potato plants. I have not seen a potato beetle since I added bathing ten years ago. Having a nest box nearby helps, too.

Butterflies and honeybees get all the press as star pollinators, and we do need to protect them and to provide habitat for them. However, did you know honeybees are not native to North America? Not to worry, there are many other species of bees that are—4,000, just in the US! Native and other bees love  the Sputnik-looking blossoms of the native buttonbush shrub.

Bees aren’t the only rock stars in the pollinator world, though. One afternoon I watched a patch of mountain mint swarming with at least six kinds of pollinators. In addition to bees, there are many species of wasps, flies, beetles, moths, and even birds and bats. Yes, bats. They love night-blooming nectar-rich flowers, as well as feasting on bugs after dark. If you have a good-sized tree in your yard, a bat house affixed to it could lure a nesting bat to help with your insect control.

Which brings me to an important plea. Nature demands balance. We destroy beneficial species at our own peril, and it’s nearly impossible to eradicate a single species without harming a lot of other ones, including humans. If you have mosquitoes in your yard, instead of immediately hiring someone to spray your yard, first check to see where they are thriving. Is there standing water somewhere nearby? They don’t need much water to hatch a herd of themselves in just a few days. Try to eliminate that kind of hazard first, before taking the radical step of poison. Being a good host will help keep your wildlife visitors happy.

DEBS: Karen, I love all these tips, many of which we've employed in our own garden for the last thirty years! Ours is not a patch on yours, however, and we certainly don't have anything to match Steve's gorgeous photos!!

Dear Reddies, what questions do you have for Karen while we have her captive on the front of the blog?