Squirrel Damage in the Landscape

Photo courtesy Plantalk Colorado

Today I counted 6 squirrels frolicking and playing in my elm trees, and spotted another three in my neighbor's yard. Squirrels can cause a lot of damage in the garden, especially in years when untimely spring frosts (like we had in 2017) cause poor crops of crab apples and other fruits. Plantalk Colorado offers the following information about squirrel damage to trees and landscape plants.

Feeding Birds in the Fall and Winter By Joyce D’Agostino

Photo by Joyce D'Agostino

Like most outdoor wildlife, birds depend on the natural surroundings for food, water and shelter. Often some areas have little open space for wildlife to thrive and providing supplemental nutrition during the fall and winter can help birds survive and cope with the changing weather.

In a previous blog (10/19/2017: Love Birds and Pollinators? Don't Clean the Fall Garden by Carol King) we discussed how not removing some of your flower seed heads can provide a good source of seeds for the birds.  So instead of doing a full scale clean up of your landscape to remove dried seeds and pods, leave some for the wildlife to enjoy. 

Providing seed and suet blocks for the birds throughout the cold weather months is also a good and acceptable way to give birds an extra source of nutrition.  

There has been some discussion as to whether filling your birdfeeder with seeds is good for the birds or if they should depend solely on natural foraging and finding open water sources. Research shows that providing food for the birds is acceptable and focusing on the right seed such as the black sunflower seeds which is high in nutrition, plus fresh water, provides an important and healthy supplement to the bird’s diets. 

For water, you don’t need to invest in an expensive birdbath, a shallow durable dish will work just as well. Change the water often so that it doesn’t freeze and remains clean is important. Electric or solar water heaters can also be purchased to keep the water from freezing. 

When it comes to choosing the best food, before investing in a large amount of certain seed, first start with the black sunflower seed. If you then want to test another type of seed, start with a small amount.  

Choosing the right bushes and trees to add to your landscape also is very important to provide shelter from the weather and predators. The bulletins below provide good research based information on feeding your birds and other wildlife and suggestions for shelter plants:

Winter Bird Feeding

Feeding Wildlife Puts Everyone at Risk

Plantalk Colorado: Attracting Birds

Prevention of Deer, Elk and Rabbit Damage to the Home Landscape by Peter J. Drake

Photo courtesy nps.gov

Whether you are justifiably proud of your long-standing, carefully-nursed hedge and flower beds, or you are just starting out in shaping your home yard into the plantscape of your dreams, you have probably already confronted, worried about, and tried to deal with wildlife damage—particularly, for Colorado at this time of year, the damage resulting from activities of deer, elk and rabbit.

Vole Damage in Front Range Colorado by Carol King

Brown spots are caused by vole damage. photo by Carol King

My neighbor has a large hedge of junipers that spreads the length of his house. He asked me last week what might be causing the dead branches that were sporadic through the hedge.  I was heading to the Jeffco Extension Office so I took a sample with me.  I showed Curtis Utley, Extension Agent, and he did not  hesitate:  “Voles. You have vole damage.”

The CSU Extension web site has a wealth of information.
Voles are small rodents that measure 4 to 8.5 inches long and weigh 0.8 to 3 ounces and vary in color from brown to gray. They are pudgy, with blunt faces and small eyes, small and sometimes inconspicuous ears, short legs, and a short (the long-tailed vole is an exception) and scantily haired tail. They are often called prairie or field mice.

Photo CSU Extension

BIRDS, BEES AND BUTTERFLIES… OH MY!! Attracting These Beautiful Creatures to Your Yard by Janet Merriweather

Photo by Tina Ligon

BIRDS: Be careful what you wish for when it comes to calling all birds to your yard! The type of seed you supply can somewhat determine what kind of birds you will attract to your feeders. Just remember, you cannot discriminate against your little feathered friends! When you call them, they will come, all of them! So, when you see all of the black birds and sparrows eating up your seed don’t cringe, rejoice in the fact that you are one with the bird world! Don’t hit the bargain table when buying your seed. You want the best food for the health of your little feathered friends. Things to consider: Suet can go rancid in the high heat, sunflower seeds and peanuts in the shell leave a mess, cracked and whole corn attract unpopular birds and squirrels. Just remember, the more natural the better. Try planting flowers and vines in your yard with birds in mind. Some good resources on the web are: National Audubon Society; www.audubon.org and Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program; www.nwf.org.

Mulch-Moving Turkeys by Elaine Lockey

As if deer weren’t enough of a struggle for mountain gardeners, throw in some mulch-moving turkeys! 

Turkey surveying her handiwork

Ever since I put down new mulch on my garden bed, I‘ve had regular visitors who like to do some landscaping of their own.  A group of turkeys scrape out all the mulch onto the driveway and sidewalk with their strong feet, on an almost daily basis.  This not only causes a big mess but damages the plants. 

They are searching my garden for food, most likely insects as turkeys are opportunistic omnivores.  They eat a mostly plant-based diet of herbaceous green leaves, berries, seeds, grasses, and acorns.  Insects play a smaller but important part of their diet, especially for the young turkeys, called poults.  Insects might include grasshoppers, dragonflies, slugs and snails and beetles.  Turkeys do a large amount of scratching for food especially in the fall, so possibly coincidental timing with my new mulch.  They are enjoying the ease of moving the soft mulch to most likely find plentiful insects hiding within the bed.  

I wondered if this was a unique situation but I did find some fellow internet gardeners who have experienced the same thing.  And they weren't just mountain gardeners - many lived in suburban settings and reported that there were more turkeys moving in. There are some various solutions that they offered.  

Foothills Garden Alert: The Hummers are coming! by Jan Boone

Photo from Birdzilla.com

Foothills Garden Alert:
The Hummers are coming!
The Hummers are coming!

No, we’re not talking about those tricked out ultra expensive SUV’s, we’re talking about those mighty winged dynamos that have spent their winter along the southern borders of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and are making their way north again for the warm weather months.  We all can admit to having annual love affairs with these smallest members of the avian world.  Nothing tops their aerial antics, so now is the time to focus on our foothills gardens and how we can make our yards attractive and suitable enough that these little guys will stick around for the summer.  Our environment is perfect and suitably preferred by the hummingbirds. Their flights will range from 5,000 ft and up in elevation during warm weather months.  We have 4 main varieties in Colorado.  They are The Broad-tail, (the early scouts will arrive shortly), the Calliope, the Black Chinned and finally the Rufus, which will show up in July.

A 2011 “Summery” of My Garden and Other Random Observations by Gardener Dave

Sometimes a summary report is useful only to the one who writes it. I hope this one is a bit more informative and even somewhat entertaining. I have used common plant names in most cases. Here goes…

Calibrachoa

Annuals:  I like bright color all summer. It’s not that I look for more work to do – I let the perennials show their stuff, each in their own short season. But when it comes to providing color and consistent bloom, annuals still are the way to go. In addition to choosing bright colors, I go for the ones that require less maintenance.

British Parakeet Explosion: a Gardener's Concern? by Carol King

I was reading an article about the rose-ringed parakeet which is taking over parts of Britian.  The parakeets escaped or were intentionally released from cages and have survived and begun to thrive. "So what does this have to do with a gardening blog?", you might ask. I saw this one statement speculating about why they are procreating at such a phenominal rate:
"Is it that gardeners are planting more exotic ornamental plants, effectively providing imported food to match an imported bird species?"
So speculate on that, dear gardener.  Another argument for native species!
Heres the whole article.

Planting a Butterfly Garden by Stan Ames

A Vanessa atalanta a.k.a. “Red Admiral”on a Purple Coneflower

Planning a butterfly garden this season?  These techniques will help you plant a successful garden.

Before you invest you time and money in constructing a butterfly garden it is important to know what butterflies are common to your area. Identification of your guest is very important, as each butterfly has preferences for their “Caterpillar Host Plants” and their favorite flowers for a nectar source.

Attracting butterflies then becomes relatively easy. In addition to a place for their eggs and a good source of nectar, butterflies like flowers for some of the same reasons that we do, bright colors with sweet fragrance.

Peaches and Squirrels by Heirloom Fan

I know this sounds like an odd combination, but this year I had an unusual “crop” of persistent squirrels visiting my trees and garden. Some people consider them cute and some are annoyed by them but however you feel about them, squirrels can do significant damage to your landscape and garden.
While squirrels are all part of our ecosystem, knowing how to safely control them is a must. Last year, my big challenge was that I had major damage to my garden due to the July hailstorm of 2009. This year I was looking forward to a big recovery and I was very happy to see that we had abundant peaches and apples, and that my vegetable garden was also doing well with producing tomatoes and other favorites. But it seemed as soon as the plants and trees became full of ripe fruit and vegetables, the number of visits to my yard by the squirrels also became “abundant”.

Building a Backyard Bird Habitat

This morning as my husband and I had breakfast, I heard a horrible noise from the front yard.  When I looked out the window, I saw a hawk that had pinned a flicker to the ground.  We watched in horror as the hawk waited until the flicker died and then flew off to enjoy his dinner.  I felt guilty as  I feed the birds and might have brought this on myself.  My son says "Mom, you fatten the flickers for the hawks."  Oh my goodness, what do you think?  Do I feed the flickers and I feed the hawks?

Anyway, here's an article about turning your yard into a bird habitat. And be prepared, it's bewildering and you might feel like a murderer enabler.

When leaves are down, it's time to assemble backyard bird habitat | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan,

Early Fall Review by Heirloom Fan

This summer certainly posed its challenges in my garden and for many of you as well. We had the cold, wet spring. Then things warmed up and the flea beetles and aphids began chewing on everything. And of course the devastating hailstorm in July.

Don't Eat Like a Bird by Carol King

Did you know, dear gardener, that February is National Bird Feeding Month? Yes, and it has been since January, 1994, when Congress passed a resolution making it so. And did you know that 1/3 of the adult population feeds wild birds in their yards? I hope you will join me in celebrating this event by putting out a feeder or two for our feathered friends. Wild birds are a very important component to our natural environment and if we don’t do something, a quarter of the world's bird species will likely be extinct or critically endangered by the end of the century, according to a new study by U.S. researchers.

The Wild Bird Center asks us to consider that:
- A typical backyard bird doesn't weigh as much as two nickels.
- Birds spend most of their waking hours searching for food -- without the help of "hands" and "fingers".
- They may consume 15% of their body weight overnight just keeping warm enough to survive.
- Like mail carriers, they're outside in sleet, snow, wind and cold.

Birds eat ALL THE TIME.

Birds are very important in the ecosystem: they eat weed seeds and harmful insects. They help in the pollination of plants, spread seeds around, and help dispose of dead animal carcasses. They also have great entertainment value. Human activities and habits have destroyed many of their natural sources of food so by providing food, water and shelter, we are helping them to survive.
Birds not only help to keep our world safe from plagues of insects and but perhaps actual plagues themselves. There is speculation that the increase in Lyme disease is a direct result of the demise of the passenger pigeon. Passenger pigeons used to occur in flocks of hundreds of millions of birds. They ate acorns. Deer mice, which harbor Lyme disease bacteria, eat acorns. Ticks get the disease from mice and infect humans. The pigeons would have limited the number by not leaving enough acorns to support a large population of deer mice thus keeping Lyme disease in check. The pigeons are all gone and the deer mice are thriving and humans get Lyme disease. See how this all works?

Feed your birds, dear gardener. But don’t eat like one.