Karen
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One thing I learned after I installed my pollinator garden, the pollinators including the birds found us. It didn't take long. It really is "If you build it, they will come."
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I live in the eastern part of the US in an area that is a border between Piedmont and Mountainous area, so at times, I need to straddle the hardiness zone of 6 and 7. I have pretty much kept to plants that fit in both the Eastern Temperate Forest ecozone and these hardiness zones. My big challenge is less finding native plants because they seem to be finding me as I slowly remove grassy turf and pull invasive, but more trying to keep the invasives at bay since so many of my neighbors insist on planting non-native species in their yards or they think my effort to leave native plant stems and seed pods up during the winter is being lazy. So I've set out on an education campaign by either buying premade yard signs or making my own. Hopefully, some others might follow and convert their lawns too.
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We keep adding different plants each year as a way to increase diversity. One big challenge is that most of these are taller flowers and grasses, but this leaves bear ground below which for the most part I weed and mulch. I would like to get away from that, but it is hard to find native ground cover plants or, if I do, to keep them going like wild ginger which can be very finicky about where it is placed. It would also be great to find more plants that blossom in the early spring to provide more food for those early pollinators. So much focus has been on summer blooms.
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In our efforts to plant native trees, flowers, and grasses, we seemed to have had some success in providing the food and shelter that have brought a wide variety of birds, pollinators, and other creatures into our midst. However, because we are trying to take back what I live to call the invasive species nightmare, we left some non-native plants such as a hybrid lilac and boxwoods in place largely because they provided such great shelter. However, that is all they do. I want to replace them with native bushes that are roughly the same height and have the same density of foliage, but it is hard to find these plants in local nurseries and I am concerned about planting bushes that are of the Rosea family which will attract Japanese beetles. I would love to find beautiful berry bushes but without this kind of baggage. Some of the plants listed in this section I will look into more directly in order to provide more fruit for our feather friends and help feed our much-needed insect buddies.
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One of the things that has happened to us multiple times is the interplay of both the songbirds and the predators. While it is horrifying to see a Cooper's Hawk hunt down a House Sparrow, it was also fascinating to see how both predator and non-predator interacted. There wasn't just one House Sparrow here, but about half dozen, and all of the trees in front and back of our house erupted with warning calls. We got to watch this magnificent raptor display its finesse. We also learned just how valuable bushes with closely bound branches really are because they provided shelter for those that did not become lunch. We love watching all of the birds--the Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse with their hit-and-run feeding tactic versus the House Finches who hang out in huge gangs and talk constantly. We've even watched House Finch fledges madly flapping their wings to be fed by mom and dad as they teach these newbies how to feed at the feeder. Being parents of human kids ourselves we feel for these stressed-out parents as they try to meet the incessant demands of their offspring. What made all of this interaction possible was changing our invasive grassy plain yard into various native species pollinator gardens. We went from see only a few birds if any to an avian menagerie.
Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)