Like many gardeners, we provide a couple of bird feeders in our yard. Along with the desirable birds, we get less desirable visitors like pigeons and squirrels. Having tried (and failed) to make our system squirrel-proof, I finally decided to wave the white flag and embrace our furry visitors with their own bowl of treats – raw peanuts and sunflower seeds in the shell. We put this on our deck next to the sliding door so our cats can enjoy the show.… Continue reading this article “Cat TV and tulips”
Tag: wildlife
Digging these wasps!
After writing about the unusually bad scourge of Japanese Beetles earlier in the month, I thought I’d continue on down the “garden bugs” path. The Japanese Beetles have died down, but now we have oodles of these pretty black and yellow-spotted waspy things around. They’re everywhere, and in large numbers. I planted some buckwheat over our potato garden bed, and it is covered up with them. The point of the buckwheat was as a primo late-season nectar source for our honeybee hives as they prepare for winter.… Continue reading this article “Digging these wasps!”
Tell us how you really feel…
I nearly caused a wreck trying to get this photo.
Feb. 19, 2014. Blacksburg, Virginia
Must be a gardener!
Re-using containers? A cautionary tale.
I attempted to clean up our little home greenhouse over the holiday break. There’s no good place to recycle pots around here, and I hate throwing them away…so I suffer from container build-up. Figured I’d sort through the haphazard pile in the corner of the greenhouse, wash and re-stack the useable ones, and finally ditch the busted ones.
As I started separating the first stack, I noted a tiny flash of red. It is well-known and oft-reported among my gardening and grower buddies that the Southern Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans) really enjoys a nice stack of grubby pots.… Continue reading this article “Re-using containers? A cautionary tale.”
A Little Woodland Wonder
What’s that bit of green poking through the fallen leaves and forest duff? You’ll have to crouch down to get a good look at Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens). A mere 3-5″ tall, this teensy shrublet from the Ericaceae family (blueberry, azalea) has little oval leathery leaves, often mottled with purple or brown. A few urn-shaped pink to white flowers appear in early summer are followed by bright red berries. The berries persist well into the winter and help to distinguish it from similar-looking seedlings of mountain laurel or deerberry.… Continue reading this article “A Little Woodland Wonder”
Possum 1, Garden Professor 0
It was a dark and stormy Wednesday night.
Joel opened the porch door and whispered “you’ve got to come see this.” He’d taken the dogs out for their 9:00 p.m. constitutional, and there was apparently some excitement under the old apple tree.
“There’s a possum, and I think she’s playing dead.”
I grabbed the flashlight and hustled out. Got around the corner to the tree, and sure enough, there was a rather large blob of silver and white mammal.… Continue reading this article “Possum 1, Garden Professor 0”
Who you gonna call?
As I noted last week, this has been a long winter in Michigan – OK, Jeff, no chortling from the frozen tundra of Minnesota… Most gardeners in this area have only been able to do their spring yard and garden clean-ups in fits and starts as the weather allows. We’re finally warming up a bit this week but now strong storms are in the forecast. One of the things gardeners will want to do is to size up any winter damage that has occurred since they put things to bed last fall. … Continue reading this article “Who you gonna call?”
Pesticides and Wildlife
If you follow this blog then you know that I write a lot about pesticides. They’re something that I enjoy reading about and studying. For whatever reason, I find them fascinating. That said, they can be some of the worst things for wildlife. But there are pesticides that are more “wildlife compatible” than others, so today I’m going to cover some of the worst pesticides that you can use in terms of wildlife, and some of the pesticides that might be more acceptable (though far from perfect).… Continue reading this article “Pesticides and Wildlife”
Want more bird visitors? Nonnative plants may be the answer
We’ve posted before about the native vs. nonnative conundrum, especially as it relates to invasive species. So let’s complicate the issue a bit more by considering how birds are affected by our landscape choices.
About 10 years ago my UW colleague Sarah Reichard and I collaborated on a literature review on the interaction between birds and non-native plants. While we know that invasive plants can displace native plants and create less biodiverse environments, the resulting impact on species like birds is not so cut and dried. … Continue reading this article “Want more bird visitors? Nonnative plants may be the answer”
The Garden Professors Go Wild!
It’s ‘Wildlife week’ on the Garden Professors. One of the most common questions that we get when speaking to garden groups is, “What can I do around my home to promote wildlife?” My stock answer used to be, “Throw a party!”, but only a handful of people ever got it so I’ve backed off of that one. Anyway, since the subject of gardening and wildlife comes up so often we’ve decided to dedicate a week to the topic.… Continue reading this article “The Garden Professors Go Wild!”