Wild Ones LogoHabitat Gardening
in Central New York
    Issue #42 - December 12, 2010
In This Issue
Wild Ones quotes
Gifts for the habitat gardener
Bread is NOT bird food
Featured plant: Hawthorn
Being in nature has many benefits
Heard at the Wild Ones conference
Energy-Wise Landscape Design

The November conference held in Connecticut was a wonderful opportunity to connect with other Wild Ones from around the country. There were also top-notch presentations.

Quotes from the speakers:

Sue Reed, author of Energy-Wise Landscape Design (an excellent resource):

"Lawns are the 'hottest' of all plants."
[Note: 'Hottest' meaning climate change 'hot,' NOT trendy!]

"It's time for our idea of beauty to shift to include our impact on the world."

Bret Rappaport is a former Wild Ones Board President, attorney who represented Wild Ones in the early days of weed laws, author of an influential John Marshall Law Review article on weed laws, and originator of the "BRASH" approach to avoiding problems with neighbors:

"The common feature of those yards where there was a continuing problem was the attitudes of the owners. If it wasn't their yard, it would have been something else since they didn't have good relationships with their neighbors."

Rappaport also referred to Aldo Leopold's quote: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
Rappaport noted, "Lawns tend otherwise...strongly."

Gifts for the Habitat Gardener
Bring Back the Monarchs
Any of the books mentioned in this newsletter would be excellent choices for the gardener on your list (or for yourself!)

A gift certificate to one of our sponsors' businesses

Donate to a relevant organization in their honor. And what could be a better gift than introducing children to nature or knowing you've helped the monarch survive for the delight of future generations?

Here are a few suggestions:

Wild Ones Seeds for Education - Specify that you want your donation to go to the SFE program specifically. (There are always more worthy applications than there is available grant money!)

Bring Back the Monarch - a major new initiative by Monarch Watch

Our sponsors

Growing Wild Perennials

Maple Hill Nursery

Phoenix Flower Farm

Pippi's Perennials

White Oak Nursery

Wild Birds Unlimited

Please let our sponsors know you saw their ad here!

Forward to a Friend
Archive

Join Our Mailing List
Greetings!
Robin eating a winterberry (Ilex verticillata) berry
Robin eating a winterberry (Ilex verticillata) berry

 
It's definitely not spring, but I did see robins - four of them feasting on winterberry berries. Habitat gardening works!

Our "December" meeting is on Jan. 2.
We'll have a combined planning meeting and holiday social. Anyone interested in participating in our quarterly business and planning meetings is welcome to attend. Please RSVP for details.

Poster for Spring programs available: If you have a place to post it, we'd appreciate it. Just download the .pdf file and print it out. Thanks!

Happy holidays!
Janet Allen, President
Habitat Gardening in Central New York
Chickadee eating a bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) (Not the same as barberry!)
Chickadee eating a bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)
(Not the same as barberry!
Bayberries are very nutritious berries for birds.
Bread is not bird food
Ecosystem Gardening's Carole Brown makes a good point: Bread is NOT bird food. Here's why:


Bread products (including old bagels, doughnuts and the like) aren't nutritious for birds, especially at a time of year when they need good nutrition to make it through the winter.


Moldy products (often the ones thrown out to the birds) are especially dangerous. And even if they don't start out moldy, they can mold quickly when they're wet.


We wholeheartedly agree with her "better idea": plant native plants to supply bird food!


 Read more...
Featured plant: Hawthorn
'Winter King' hawthorn (C. viridis)
'Winter King' hawthorn
(C. viridis)
Photo from Wikipedia: Scott Zona
The November Wild Ones conference was held at Connecticut College, which has a beautiful arboretum--indeed, the whole campus cherishes all its many trees.

One of the most noticeable trees we saw in the Arboretum was the hawthorn (Crataegus). It was noticeable because, in addition to the colorful berries, there were flocks of robins gorging on the fruit. If we had been there in the spring, we would have seen clouds of white flowers.

Hawthorns not only provide berries for birds, but their leaves host the many butterfly and moth larvae (which themselves are also excellent bird food), including the spectacular cecropia moth.

Carolyn Summers in Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East notes that because of their dense branching structure, they're also preferred nesting sites for many birds. She lists hawthorn as a good alternative to use instead of the non-native Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa).

As its name implies, many hawthorns do indeed have thorns. This could be a problem if it's in a location where people will be in close contact with the tree.

Some cultivars have few thorns, though. In fact, William Cullina in his book Native Trees, Shrubs and Vines says that in the home landscape, the hawthorn is one plant where it may be wise to look for cultivars since in addition to having few thorns, they have fewer disease problems. (He generally favors seed-grown species for greater genetic diversity.) 

Donald Leopold, in his book Native Plants of the Northeast notes that Washington hawthorn (C. phaenopyrum) is one of the most attractive native hawthorns in flower, foliage, and fruit.

'Winter King,' a cultivar of green hawthorn (C. viridis), has won many awards and is the most commonly available hawthorn.

Hawthorns aren't fussy as to moisture: they'll grow in dry to moist locations. They prefer a sunny location. Depending on the variety, they'll reach a height of 25' to 35' and almost as wide.

Yes, hawthorns may have some challenges, but they're truly spectacular and an excellent habitat plant.
Burnet Park
Burnet Park
Boost winter happiness and energy
New research shows that being in nature and having contact with nature can improve vitality, increase physical activity and generate mental clarity.

When you have a habitat garden, there's something interesting going on all the time, reconnecting you to the natural world. We're also blessed with many beautiful parks to enjoy.
Read more...