Let those seedheads be!

(Cross-posted from The Nature of Things.)

I have this "weed" in my garden. Actually, I have many weeds in my garden. The weeds may even outnumber the plants that I've planted on purpose, but this particular weed turns out to be special.

In the first place, it came to me from the nursery. I had bought a white mistflower from one of my favorite nurseries. I brought it home and planted it. I noticed there was a separate little plant in the pot, but it was mixed in with the mistflower and I actually thought at first that it was part of the plant I had bought. As the mistflower grew, it became obvious that this was a separate and different plant. I dug it out from the mistflower planting and normally would have put it on the compost pile, but curiosity got the better of me. I planted it in a bed nearby and it flourished.

All of this happened last year and in the late summer, the mystery plant bloomed. The plant was still fairly small and the flowers were few but I set about trying to identify it. I decided pretty quickly that it was in the aster family, but that is one BIG family and it was harder to narrow it down to a specific plant. I finally decided that it was either camphor weed (Pluchea camphorata) or marsh fleabane (Pluchea purpurascens) and it seemed that the most likely candidate was the fleabane.

I noticed that the butterflies and bees seemed to like those blossoms and so I decided to keep this "weed," this free Texas wildflower from the nursery.

The plant had another good year and when it bloomed this year, I took pictures.

The plant was covered in these purplish blossoms and the blossoms persisted for several weeks, a real treat for the bees and butterflies.

Finally, the blooms did fade and seedheads developed. They were not particularly attractive and in the normal course of things, I might have deadheaded the plant and removed those seeds, but "normal" did not apply to my late October and November this year. I got sick and didn't get done any of the minimal fall cleanup that I would usually have done in the garden. That included removing seedheads. 

After a while, my fleabane looked like this. It's in my direct line of sight when I sit in my favorite spot on the patio, and I've been thinking that maybe I should still do a bit of tidying up there, but I just haven't got around to it.

Then this week, I was sitting on the patio, watching the birds and idly staring in the direction of the fleabane when I became aware that there was a bird in the plant. I picked up my binoculars for a closer look and smiled ear to ear when I recognized an Orange-crowned Warbler!  

Now, you may not be too impressed with that. Orange-crowned Warblers are very attractive birds, I think, but they are not one of the flashy types that birders typically set their sights for. But as a backyard birder, I keep close track of the birds that visit my yard. Orange-crowned Warblers are a winter visitor, but they have never been as numerous as our other two "winter warblers," the Pine and the Yellow-rumped. Last year, I looked in vain for an Orange-crowned all winter long. I never saw one. And now, here a few days before winter officially begins, was one feeding on wildflower seeds in my yard.

I watched the bird for several minutes as it went all over the plant, plucking seeds. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me and could not record the event. I was afraid to get up to go get it, because I would surely have scared the bird away. So, I just sat and enjoyed the sight while it lasted.

And what, you ask,  is the lesson that we learn from this experience? It's simple. Gardeners should not be in such a rush to tidy their gardens up in the fall. Those unattractive seedheads can provide nourishment for birds or other critters. That leaf and twig debris can help provide winter homes and protection from the weather for any number of small reptiles or amphibians. Brush piles provide welcome cover for small songbirds, where they can escape from predators or even spend the cold winter nights.

We should look at our gardens as the homes for wildlife that they surely are, rather than as a reflection on our characters if they are not kept constantly neat and tidy. Nature actually prefers a bit of untidiness. As stewards of the land, we should be willing to accept that, too. I know that I'll be leaving those fleabane seedheads alone and hoping for another visit from that Orange-crowned Warbler.    

"Don't just do something. Stand there!"

Every summer it seems, there are lots of stories in the news about homeowners' conflicts with city codes or homeowners' associations regarding the landscaping and care of their yards.  I recently wrote here about one such conflict in Michigan, which ultimately ended happily.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across another such story in The New York Times, concerning a homeowner in Philadelphia.  The story has been rattling around in my head since then.  I was struck by the philosophy which the subject of the story had embraced in landscaping her yard.  It was expressed succinctly as, "Don't just do something.  Stand there!"

In this case, the homeowner was actually a landscape designer named Margie Ruddick who had experience in designing ecological landscapes.  She had worked with various design firms in other cities, but, after a divorce, she relocated to Philadelphia.  After the move and renovations and remodeling to the house that she had bought, she had little money left for landscaping.  That's when she decided to make a virtue of necessity and to let Mother Nature landscape her yard.  It turned out that Mother Nature let the "weeds" grow too high to please the City of Philadelphia and she got a summons for being in violation of property maintenance codes for having weeds over 10 inches high.

As a professional landscape designer, though, Ms. Ruddick was well-equipped to argue her case.  She knew that the plants that were growing in her yard were not really "weeds" but native plants that were important to the environment.  In March of this year, she went before a hearings officer in the city Department of Licenses and Inspections, armed with photographs of her yard and lists of the plants with their botanical (Latin) names attached.  She was able to persuade the judge that she actually knew what she was doing and the case was dropped.

On her part, Ms. Ruddick admitted that perhaps the yard did look a bit unruly and unkempt and she hired a gardener to help her bring a little order to it.  They pruned and put in a few mowed paths to show the neighbors that there was an actual plan and that the growth was not entirely haphazard.  She has also planted some magnolias, viburnums, and holly trees to give more shape and focus to the landscape.  From this distance, it looks like a perfect compromise:  Each side gave a little and the result was a better product.

Ms. Ruddick's yard is a habitat garden and she proudly displays her sign from the National Wildlife Federation that shows hers is a "certified wildlife habitat."  I have one of those signs in my yard, and I, too, display it proudly.  As Ms. Ruddick says, "You have to allow a certain amount of mess to create a habitat," and that is a point well-taken by anyone who seeks to create a garden that is wildlife-friendly.  In general, animals are not most comfortable in a landscape that is perfectly tonsured.  They prefer that things look a little raggedy and natural.  Maybe that's why most of them seem to like my backyard.  Raggedy describes it pretty well.  Perfectly tonsured it's not.

One of the happiest trends in gardening in recent years, to my way of thinking, has been the growing number of gardeners who recognize that beauty does not only reside in a perfectly manicured lawn with a few perfectly manicured shrubs around the edges.  A more natural look can be just as beautiful, and, in the opinion of a lot of us, much more beautiful.   For those who enjoy seeing wildlife in their yards, the natural look is the way to make them feel welcome.  To get started on such a look, you could do worse than to embrace Ms. Ruddick's philosophy:  "Don't just do something.  Stand there!"  Stand and watch while Mother Nature shows you the way.

Gardening for birds...and other wildlife

One of the most rewarding aspects of gardening for me is the interaction that it provides with wildlife. I am a habitat gardener and I call my style of gardening "Gardening with Nature." By that I mean that I try to make my yard an extension of Nature itself. This kind of gardening is almost guaranteed to bring in the wildlife in droves.

Of course, my primary interest is birds and many of the plantings that I do and the practices that I employ in the garden are for their benefit. For example, I don't use pesticides. Pesticides kill insects indiscriminately - the good guys like ladybugs as well as the bad guys like leaf-footed stink bugs. But they also kill the creatures that eat those bugs, maybe not immediately, but in the long run. These creatures range from lizards, frogs, snakes, to, yes, birds. The pesticides build up over time in the tissues of the animals and can cause them to be unable to procreate successfully or can kill them outright.

In addition, my yard tends to be a bit on the messy side. Now that may partly be because I am a lazy gardener, but also the birds and other animals actually like it that way. The birds, for example, like piles of brush where they can hide from predators or rest during the day. They like overgrown shrubs and hedges for the same reason.

For example, I have a wild area along the back fence of my yard. It is composed of shrubs and vines that have been planted by the birds over the years - things like elderberry, beautyberry, trumpet vine, wild grapes, and Virginia creeper, all plants that are utilized by birds and other native wildlife. I realize that not everyone has the freedom to tolerate such an untidy hedge, but anyone can plant native plants in a well-maintained bed. Plants that are native to our area are well-adapted to survive here and are known and used by the native pollinators and seed dispersers that have evolved in the area alongside them. In addition to working well for the wildlife, native plants also work well for the gardener because they have better survivability, thus provide less disappointment, and they generally require less babying than other plants. Also, they have a beauty of their own and they can easily be worked into a landscape along with other favorite plants.

Native plants provide food for birds and other wildlife but, of course, there are other things that you can do to provide food. Feeding wildlife is one of the prime goals of the habitat garden.
In addition to planting plants that provide seeds, nuts, berries, pollen, nectar and foliage to feed wildlife, you can provide supplemental food through the use of bird feeders, including hummingbird or oriole nectar feeders, and other food sources.

Another basic need of wildlife is water. To have a complete habitat garden, you must supply clean water sources. If you are lucky enough to have a natural water feature in your yard or on your acreage, well, then you are lucky indeed. Most of us are not that lucky and have to plan for other ways to provide water. These can include birdbaths, installed ponds and rain gardens, as well as puddling areas for butterflies.

Many people do not realize that a lot of butterflies, in addition to sipping nectar, also need to sip water and extract minerals from damp puddles. You can provide this very easily by putting coarse sand in a shallow pan or bowl and inserting the vessel into the soil of your habitat. Make sure that the sand is kept moist at all times.

The importance of providing a place of cover for birds, particularly, but other wildlife as well, cannot be overemphasized. Birds are prey to many animals, both native and introduced, in the landscape and they need hidey-holes where they can quickly escape. In my yard, for example, I have a Cooper's Hawk that is always on the prowl and yet I still provide bird feeders and baths where birds gather which might make them easy prey for the hawk. But all of those feeding and watering stations are near shrubs, trees, or vines to which the birds can quickly escape, and although I regularly see the hawk chasing birds in my yard, I've yet to actually witness him catching one, even though I know he sometimes does.

One caveat about the placement of feeders or baths: If cats are a problem in your yard, make sure that you do not place your feeder or birdbath near a place where it would be easy for a cat to conceal itself and pounce on an unwary bird.

Another way you can welcome wildlife to your yard is to provide a sheltered place for them to raise their young. Many of our native birds, including the bluebirds that are among the most desirable backyard birds, nest in holes in Nature and they will accept boxes that humans provide as a substitute for those holes. But other birds, of course, utilize the shrubs and trees that we plant to build their nests, and butterflies and other useful insects will use wildflower meadows and specific host plants that we can provide for the butterflies' caterpillars - such as butterfly weed for Monarch butterflies or passionvine for Gulf Fritillaries. Remember: If you want butterflies and moths, you have to have caterpillars, so think before you squish.

To summarize then, here are the basic rules for habitat gardening:

1. Go green. Do not use pesticides of any kind and reduce other chemical use to a bare minimum. Organic is the best way for your health as well as for the wildlife.

2. Provide cover for wildlife. Everybody needs a place of safety where they can hide from predators, people and the weather. Providing such places will win you kudos from wildlife.

3. Provide food for wildlife. The best way to do this is through planting plants that they will utilize and the best of those are native plants. An excellent source of information about such plants is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center. If you choose to do supplemental feeding as well, make sure that you provide high quality food in a safe place for the birds or other wildlife.

4. Supply water for wildlife. Every living thing needs some water and a clean source of water is never more important than during our long, hot, dry summers.

5. Provide safe places for wildlife to raise their young. A good portion of a bird's or any kind of wildlife's time is spent finding and preparing a place for the next generation of its kind. Any help you can provide will draw them to your yard.

Happy habitat gardening! And remember, the size of the habitat garden is not the important thing. Even a patio garden can provide all the essentials to make wildlife happy.

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For more information about habitat gardening and native plants, visit these sites:

http://www.wildflower.org/

National Wildlife Federation - Garden for Wildlife

Slate - Habitat for Harmony