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Featured plant: Our state flower
 | | Small bees getting nectar from a native Virginia rose |
Have you ever seen a picture of New York State's state flower?
Chances are you'll see an image of a hybrid rose with fully doubled petals. How many bees can make their way through all these petals to get any nectar?
But New York State is home to a number of beautiful native roses that support  | | Foliage in fall |
pollinators (who in turn help produce our food crops). Why not celebrate our real NYS roses? Some of our native roses are: Pasture rose (Rosa carolina) Climbing prairie rose (R. setigera) Virginia rose (R. virginiana) Swamp rose (R. palustris) |
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Myths about monarchs
 | | American painted lady |
Every year, the same myths about monarchs appear.
MYTH: That smaller orange butterflies (such as the American painted lady shown in the photo) are "baby monarchs." TRUTH: Monarch butterflies emerge full-sized. The "baby" stage is the caterpillar.
MYTH: Monarchs fly back here from Mexico in the spring, just as they flew from here to Mexico in the fall. (See a recent news article that claims this.)
TRUTH: Overwintering monarchs fly into the southern states, lay eggs, the eggs develop into caterpillars, the caterpillars become butterflies, and that new generation of butterflies fly further north.
MYTH: Monarchs will destroy your garden plants. See a recent news article "Attack insects before they harm plants" indicating this - unless it has since been corrected as requested by Monarch Watch. The caption under the photo of a monarch caterpillars reads: "A monarch caterpillar will feed on vegetation and fruit in the garden."
TRUTH: They eat only milkweeds, and milkweeds co-exist very nicely with monarchs.
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Climate-friendly gardening
 | | Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus) |
Last year, the Union of Concerned Scientists published a handy guide called The Climate-Friendly Gardener. (Available as a free download.) Here are the tips; check out the website for details.
Tip #1: Choose low-emission garden products and practices.
Tip #2: Don't leave garden soil naked. Plant cover crops in the winter.
Tip #3: Plant trees and shrubs. They can store large quantities of carbon. (And they provide prime habitat, too!)
Tip #4: Recycle yard and food waste.
Tip #5: Make your grass "greener."
Now, Climate-Friendly Gardening in Action videos, too
This year, they've added videos to help you get started. They have videos on composting and urban trees, and one on farming as well: Today the Backyard; Tomorrow the World. |
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Project Squirrel
 Chances are, you have a squirrel or two in your yard. And even if you don't, you can participate in the Project Squirrel citizen science program sponsored by the University of Illinois at Chicago.
This is an easy one, very nicely suited to families.
In the unlikely event that you have no squirrels in your yard to record, you can visit a local park. And remember, "negative data" (showing that something does not exist) is equally as useful to scientists studying various issues. |
Here are some of the results from this year's Great Backyard Bird Count
This year, an estimated 60,000 bird watchers of all ages took part. Participants identified 596 species and filed 11.4 million individual bird observations.
Top 10 birds reported on the most checklists:
(not the number of individual birds)
1) Northern Cardinal
2) Mourning Dove
3) Dark-eyed Junco
4) Downy Woodpecker
5) American Goldfinch
6) Blue Jay
7) American Crow
8) Black-capped Chickadee
9) House Finch
10) Tufted Titmouse
SYRACUSE: Top 10 on the most checklists
1)Black-capped Chickadee
2) Northern Cardinal
3) American Crow
4) House Sparrow
5) American Goldfinch
6) Dark-eyed Junco
7) Downy Woodpecker
8) Blue Jay
9) Hairy Woodpecker
10) Tufted Titmouse
SYRACUSE: Top 10 most numerous birds
1) American crow
2) House sparrow
3) Ring-billed Gull
4) Rock Pigeon
5) American Goldfinch
6) Northern Cardinal
7) Black-capped Chickadee
8) Dark-eyed Junco
9) European Starling
10) Canada Goose
NYS Top 10 cities with most checklists
1) Bay Shore
2) Ithaca
3) Rochester
4) Saratoga Springs
5) Syracuse
6) Staten Island
7) Buffalo
8) Gansevoort
9) Pittsford
10) Binghamton
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 | Our Habitat Garden
www.ourhabitatgarden.org |
Our Habitat Garden website
Still a work in progress, but it has enough photos and information that it might be useful. Feel free to check it out!
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Special! We'll have some butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) milkweed plants for sale at the meeting, courtesy of Dave Mitchell, butterfly weed grower par excellence. 