Wild Ones LogoHabitat Gardening
in Central New York
    Issue #27 - April 6, 2010
In This Issue
HGCNY Planning Group
Words of Wisdom
Tree Profile: River Birch
When will they arrive?
Time for FrogWatch USA
Our sponsors

Growing Wild Perennials

Maple Hill Nursery

Phoenix Flower Farm

Pippi's Perennials

Wild Birds Unlimited

Please let our sponsors know you saw their ad here!
Forward to a Friend
Archive

Be part of planning HGCNY activities!
Chickadee on swamp milkweed stem
chickadee
A small group of HGCNYers meets quarterly to plan our activities. If you're interested in being part of this gathering, let me know, and I'll add you to the e-mail list.
Words of Wisdom
Honeybee and serviceberry (Amelanchier canadense)
serviceberry
Fortunately, good garden design discourages the use of only one plant species, so there is no inherent conflict between creating a beautiful garden and establishing a functioning, sustainable garden ecosystem. This brings me back to my theme of using native plants, because alien species in our gardens are often so nutritionally unavailable to the other members of the garden community we seek to establish, they might as well not be there at all. If you have 15 species of plants in your garden, and 13 of them are aliens that are toxic to insect herbivores, you have, in effect, a garden based on only two plant species. Too simple.

From Bringing Nature Home,
2nd edition pp. 101-102
by Douglas Tallamy
 
 10 Years of Wildlife Experiences at Spring Farm Cares Nature Sanctuary
WHEN: Tuesday, April 20
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: Liverpool Public Library, 310 Tulip St., Liverpool
This program will feature close up video footage of birds, butterflies, beavers and many other wild denizens of the Sanctuary. The program will tell the story of this land's evolution from a family farm to a safe haven for wildlife and native plants.
Free and open to the public
Sponsored by People
for Animal Rights
For information, call 488-PURR
(9 a.m. - 11 p.m.)

Join Our Mailing List
Greetings!

Our next meeting is about Life in a Forest Puddle We're pleased to again have Interpretive Naturalist Jim D'Angelo join us. This year, he'll help us explore the life of vernal pools. Vernal pools are small wetlands that temporarily fill with water providing essential habitat for a diverse group of wildlife including insects, frogs, salamanders, turtles and even a few snakes!!! We will explore these unique wetlands the wildlife that utilize them, why we should care and the threats that endanger them.

WHEN:
Sunday April 25 at 2:00 pm
WHERE: Le Moyne College Library Special Activity Room (Directions)
Our meetings are free and open to the public. Come and bring a friend!

Toads mating (note string of black eggs)
toads mating
And if you want to learn more about growing fruits and vegetables, check out the Edible Gardening CNY meetings, too - also free and open to the public.

Janet Allen, President
Habitat Gardening in Central New York
Tree profile: River birch
River birch
(National Park Service photo)
river birch
Our native birch trees are very beneficial for wildlife (it's one of Tallamy's top ten), and with their colorful bark, they're a wonderful addition to our home landscapes, too.

Although most people think of flowers as being important to butterflies, trees such as the birch are also important as places for them to raise their young. The caterpillars of butterflies such as white admiral and mourning cloak, and moths such as the spectacular cecropia moth feed on birch leaves.

Birds such as chickadees, kinglets, and juncos eat the seeds, and the tree also provides good nesting sites.

Unlike the white birches, the river birch (Betula nigra) is resistant to birch borer. River birches do well in our home landscapes, and it has particularly beautiful bark.

The river birch grows in light shade to sun and likes moist to moderately dry, acidic soil. It's a fast-growing tree that can reach 60-80 feet with a width of 15-25 feet.

It's most widely available as the cultivar "Heritage," though as William Cullina points out, "I worry that excessive use of this one clone will lead to some disease epidemic, a fate that seems to befall all monocultures in time."
When will they arrive?
  It's hard to be patient as we await the arrival of our hummingbirds and monarch butterflies. One way to get a heads-up is to check the Journey North website. It maps the progress of both the ruby-throated hummingbirds and the monarch butterflies. Journey North also has a wealth of other information about these species from top scientists. (This site is designed to be especially useful for teachers to use in the classroom, too.)

Another site to check for the hummingbird migration is at Hummingbirds.net. This source also has other interesting information about hummingbirds.

Both sources show hummingbirds having already arrived to the east and to the west of us. They always seem to take a little longer to get to the Syracuse area for some reason.

If you want to provide nectar for the early birds, the recipe is 1 part table sugar to 4 parts water. Boil the water, then cool and serve. It will keep a week in the refrigerator.

Do NOT use honey, artificial sweeteners, or red food coloring, and don't locate it in the sun. Be sure to clean the feeder every few days. More information about feeding hummingbirds is at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

All in all, for most of the season, it's easier to provide the native nectar plants you don't have to clean yourself!

Nectar ingredients

nectar

Time for FrogWatch USA again!
 
Toad singing
Toad singing
The toads have started singing--a much more musical sound than you could ever imagine coming out of such a curmudgeonly-looking creature...but such is the power of love.

Record your "sightings" at FrogWatch USA and help scientists learn how to conserve these beneficial (and fun-to-watch) creatures.