Our Sponsors
These businesses are good sources of native plants and other items of interest to habitat gardeners.
|
|
Featured Article
|
Pagoda Dogwood: a Biodiversity All-Star
The pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternafolia) is also known as the alternate-leaf dogwood because, unlike other dogwoods, its leaves alternate rather than being opposite.
Its common name might make it sound like it's an Asian plant, but it's an Onondaga County native. It gets its name from its horizontal branching structure, which is similar to a pagoda.
The spring flowers aren't the prototypical dogwood flowers, but rather are a dense, flat-topped cluster of creamy colored flowers. They're an excellent source of nectar for pollinators.
Their dark blue berries are a favorite of birds - unlike the non-native Kousa dogwood infesting our neighborhoods.
Light: Sun to light shade
Soil: Moist, well-drained
Size: 10-25 ft tall; 6-15 ft wide
Other shrub dogwoods are gray dogwood (C. racemosa) and silky dogwood (C. amomum). They both provide not only berries for birds, but also are good nesting sites for birds such as catbirds and goldfinches. |
|
What action, if any, do you want your members to take? Add a "Find out more" link to additional information that you may have hosted on your website
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming HGCNY Programs and Events
Our meetings are free and open to the public. We meet in the Special Activity Room at Le Moyne
College's Falcone Library unless otherwise noted. Directions
Sat. April 25 at 10 am
Annual Garlic Mustard Pull at Baltimore Woods - IMPORTANT! We may be working in a muddy area so dress appropriately! DirectionsSun. April 26 at 2:00 at Le Moyne College: How to Grow Your
Very Own Amphibians and Reptiles by Jim D'Angelo, Director of Sterling Nature Center. He will explore the
snakes, turtles, frogs and salamanders of our area from a naturalist's
perspective. These sometimes creepy-critters are often an overlooked
but
vital part of our ecosystems. A few ideas on how to make your landscape
more attractive to them will also be discussed. Saturday May 23 Field Trip to Chaumont Barrens -Our field trip this year
is a guided tour of a unique natural area near Watertown, NY called Chaumont
Barrens. Several of our speakers this past season referred to this alvar
grassland (prairie) as an inspiring and beautiful example of a native
plant community. During our tour, we should see the rare Prairie Smoke in bloom,
as well as many other more familiar native plants such as blue phlox, bloodroot,
yellow ladyslipper and white cedar, along with the other creatures that live in
the community. For details and sign-up info ...Other FREE presentations of interest are noted on our meetings and events webpage ... |
|
A solution to the deer problem?
This won't solve our community's deer problem (a very serious issue), but it might help your own situation. This goes under the heading of "it's worth a try..." If you try this, let us know whether it works!
From a blog:
... human urine does work. You don't have to use a lot and trust me, the
tiny amount you use can't be smelled by humans, but the deer respect
it.
My husband (who comes with a handy, dandy urine dispenser)
collects it in large pop bottles for me. The screw top from dish
detergent bottles fits on pop bottles perfectly. I only partially open
the top and only let a tiny amount dribble out.
I encircle our
entire property with a ring of droplets of urine and then go back and
ring the hosta beds that are about two feet from the woods. It's been
over 20 years since I've had a deer (or moose) come after my hosta.
The 3Rs: Hmmm... I know this doesn't come under the heading of "reduce," but is this "reuse" or "recycle"?
|
|
Top Ten Biodiversity All-Stars
You may be familiar with Bill Cullina's books on native wildflowers, on trees, shrubs, and vines, and on ferns, moss, and grasses. He has recently created a Top Ten List of Biodiversity All-Stars (influenced by Doug Tallamy's ideas found in Bringing Nature Home - available in our public libraries).
Note that the list is for New England, which is Cullina's own region, but it works well for our region, too, with a suggested substitution. Here they are: - The oaks (Quercus
species)
- Black cherry (Prunus
serotina) and other cherries (Prunus
caroliniana and virginiana)
-
Crabapples (Malus - the native kind),
Hawthorns (Crateagus), and
serviceberries (Amelanchier)
- Blueberries and Huckleberries (Vaccinium and Gaylussacia)
- Wild roses (Rosa)
- Red cedar (Juniperus
virginiana) Note: In CNY we may want to substitute white cedar (Arborvitae)
- Elderberry(Sambucus canadensis)
- The various shrubby dogwood species (Cornus or Swedia spp)
- Goldenrod and aster (Solidago, Symphyotrichum
and related genera)
-
Sedges and grasses (Carex
and genera such as Schizachyrium, and
Panicum)
|
|
Frogwatch USA
Help scientists learn more about frogs and toads by becoming a citizen scientist! If you're lucky enough to have your own water source that attracts frogs and toads, you can do this project in your own yard. If not, find a site nearby.
Simply listen for 3 minutes, identify any frog or toad calls you hear, and record info about wind, temperature and precipitation. As with other citizen science projects, "no" information is valuable information! If there are no frogs and toads at your site, that's important for scientists to know.
And with all citizen science projects, you don't have to start out as an expert to participate. You can learn by doing, and they all have useful resources to help you.
In this case, all the information you need is on the Frogwatch USA homepage , including a link to photos and audios of all the 15 frog species in NYS.
|
|
3/4 of our fruits and vegetables...
...depend on pollinators!
You've probably heard that honey bees (a non-native pollinator) are in trouble, but native pollinators are, too. And in many cases, they're superior to honey bees for pollination. For example, bumblebees with their special "buzz" pollination are excellent pollinators for tomatoes.
You may not be able to directly help creatures like polar bears in your yard, but you can help these small, but important, creatures.
There's a wealth of information about how to make your yard pollinator-friendly in a FREE downloadable booklet. Just enter your zipcode, and you'll get this guide customized for our ecoregion.
|
|
|
|
|
