Jenifer

Hi! Sounds challenging like my neighborhood. Are you worried about the fledglings? Some free roaming cats in my neighborhood have killed several fledglings. I asked the folks who had the cat to keep it indoors or in a catico but no luck there. So, I took my complaints to the town Board of Selectman, writing something that was presented on zoom, but they have done nothing. I also contacted animal control, but the control officer told me they should be doing the responsible thing, and keeping their cats inside, but he said I could do nothing except put up a large fence. Well, the cat still gets through the fencing that I have! So, I do not keep bird houses etc up for fear of more birds being taken. I am at a loss on how to proceed. I am putting in native plants for the pollinators and birds but I am very fearful for the birds. I wish the rights of birds were respected.

I have both plants to remove and plants to put in. I am focusing on trying to remove some invasives from my property. There are a lot of them.  I am investigating how to create a natural hedgerow at the border of my property. I have a hedge that I share with neighbors of  invasive burning bushes that I would like to have removed. I would like to replace the hedge with a natural hedgerow (just read about the difference between the two) but have to wait while my neighbors determine their property edge. They want to keep their invasives. So, meanwhile I will have to plant several elderberry bushes somewhere else on my property so I have to determine where to put them. I read they do well near white pine but my white pine area create a lot of shade, so I am not sure that is the best place for them. Also, I would like to create a layering in my yard of bushes,, so I have to focus on creating a plan overall of my yard, focuses on plants that create food for birds all year round. It is an enormous task that will take a long time, so I will have to work on areas of the yard little by little. I have a hemlock tree that is being attacked by Hemlock Wooly  Adelgid (not sure spelling is correct). . Any suggestions on something ecologically friendly to get rid of them? I live in Connecticut - the Northeast - and know that a lot of Hemlocks are being attacked by this insect.

I read somewhere that mulching leaves - instead of allowing them to naturally break down - will kill some butterfly and other beneficial insect cocoons that overwinter in the leaves. In order for my front yard to look more tidy (and part of my back yard) I just rake the leaves under bushes and logs so that they are not noticeable. It seems to work. The leaves will break down during the winter months. I also cover plants up with the leaves to protect them from cold weather (I live in Connecticut) and place burlap around the plants so that it looks “neater” for the neighbors I have who like their tidy looking monocultures. I also have cats in my neighborhood - I am going to try working with our town council on that problem. I think the only way to approach that problem is to start to change the thinking of important decision makers in your town.

Wow Jim - Sounds like you have been doing a lot of improve your place. What is Nature’s Notebook? I see you have taken a lot of Cornell courses - was it something that was covered in one of them?

@Azure You have such a nice sprawling space to work with! Your options are practically unlimited!!

@MarianWhit Yes, I read that in an article. How do you control them though? Any recommendations? I always worry about placement of hummingbird feeders (no feeders up now though) to avoid branches that come to close to the feeders.

Hi! 41 acres - wow! It is wonderful to have that much land. There are great articles available on the internet including ones by Audubon that give recommendations for safe placements of feeders for birds. Those offer important guidelines.  It can be a life or death decision for a bird to visit feeders. Also, great guidelines for what foods to offer (and avoid) and for cleaning feeders. Recommendation - keep your feeders sparkling clean. I would clean my oriole and hummingbird feeders daily and clean out my seed feeders (10% bleach water) every 2-3 weeks. As you know, there is a disease plaguing birds in the south so Audubon is recommending that all feeders be taken down. I have put in some native plants in my yard - although I have a long way to go to get rid of most of my monoculture - so I am seeing more birds in my yard taking advantage of these plants than I would otherwise because I do not have my feeders up.

Hi Cynthia! Sounds nice. Make sure the sparrows you have are not house sparrows. They were an introduced species that outcompetes our natives. If they are house sparrows, reduce the size of the hole so that they cannot get in and re- nest. Smaller birds such as chickadees or wrens will then use the box. (If you live in the North East.) The size of the hole determines a lot!

The yard I live in has some pluses and some minuses in terms of trees, shrubs and plants. My yard has one large maple and several pines that border my small property on either side. I don’t have a lot of bushes for birds to hide in and build their nests in. One real minus is that the back yard border is lined with a bunch of very old invasive burning bush plants that my neighbor in back loves because it forms a really private barrier.  I would like to take these bushes out of the back but right now, I think I need a bulldozer to pull out the roots. It will be an enormous costly job that right now I don’t have the $ to do. But I will save up for this job and also would like to plan out what I would replace these plants with. There is not much privacy in my yard, and I will have even less when I take out these plants. I purchased two elderberry plants and would like to put them somewhere in the back. They are waiting for my to decide where I can put them; they are in enormous pots at this point. I have some homework here and any suggestions about replacement plants would be great - preferably bushes or small flowering native trees that can help replace this barrier. I have had a brush pile and a pile of logs which were originally going to be used in a fireplace, but the wood is too old and rotted. However, it has become a place where a skunk has set up shop and where a red squirrel lives and gathers pine cones from the trees. I also have some raspberry bushes one one side of my yard and planted a serviceberry there last year - what a beautiful shrub. I also planted a small peach tree in the corner of my lot near my split rail fence. I put in some plants along the fence including lobelia and liatris.  I put two winterberry plants (tiny) in my yard to try and get more berries for the birds. My goal is to replace the non natives in my yard with natives. I have a bird bath but realize I have been keeping it out in the open so I will move that to a shaded area under some trees. Overall, there is lack of privacy in my yard and I would like to create a private oasis - prettier and better planned. I have a small vegetable garden and have put most of my vegetables in, but still have some left to plant.  I try to mow sparingly and leave some grassy areas longer. I only rake leaves in some parts of my yard so that it looks ok to the neighbors who have very few plants and trees. One neighbor has asked us to take down a tree for no reason because they think it is too close to their house. We have trimmed the tree but we don’t believe in taking down trees for very little reason. Unfortunately, that is not the thinking of my neighbors. They frown on anything that looks “weedy” as well.