Wild Bergamot: Easy-to-grow native wildflower and pollinator magnate

If anyone needs an example of a native wildflower that combines beauty, vigour and is a magnate for pollinators, they need look no farther than Wild Bergamot.

Add to that the fact, Wild Bergamot is one of the easiest wildflowers to grow, combining masses of beautiful purple blooms that last from mid to late summer.

Wild Bergamot, sometimes referred to as Bee balm, is a name that’s also given to the red species of bergamot in the eastern U.S.

The multi-branched, clump-forming perennial has flowers that are normally in 1 terminal cluster, subtended by many small leaves. Floral tubes are about 1.5 inches long and end in two lips – the lower broad and recurving, the upper arching upward with stamens prodruding in lavender, lilac, or rose.

Be sure to check out my complete article on the 35 best wildflowers for the woodland garden.

What to plant with Wild Bergamot

The plants, often called Horsemint, work nicely with yellow flowers like Black-Eyed Susans, tall tickseed, goldenrod and yarrow, as well as Smooth Oxeye daisies, Purple Coneflower, Joe Pye Weed, Whorled Milkweed, Michigan Lily, Culver’s root and Flowering Spurge. Tuck them in alongside both Little and Big Bluestem, where the purple flowers are striking against the bluish foliage of the native grasses.

How to grow Wild Bergamot

Monarda Fistulosa is an easy-to-grow, 2-4-foot tall colonizing shrub that is as happy spreading by seed as it is by underground rhizomes. Grow it in full or partial sun, in moist to slightly dry soil in sandy loam or even clay loam.

Native wild bergamot is an excellent plant to attract a host of pollinators from native bees to butterflies.

When does Wild Bergamot bloom

Depending on where you are located, Wild Bergamot’s soft mauve or purple flowers will provide multiple blooms in the summer months, as early as May in some areas but primarily June, July and August, just when butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and and native bees need them most.

What flowers are related to Wild Bergamot

Wild Bergamot is closely related to pollinator standouts Scarlet Beebalm, Spotted Beebalm and the hybrid Purple Beebalm

Wild Bergamot’s leaves and flowers have a sweet fragrance and are actually edible. The flowers can by used both as cut flowers and in bouquets.

Powdery mildew can be a problem so it’s best provide water at the root zone rather than using overhead watering systems that tend to leave water on the leaves.

What pollinators does bee balm attract?

Don’t be surprised to see Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds flocking to your Wild Bergamot for a never-ending supply of nectar.

The Hummingbirds will be joined by Sphinx moths (often mistaked for Hummingbirds) a host of butterflies including those in the swallowtail family, Cabbage whites and skippers, including the Silver-Spotted skippers.

Native bees – including the Dufourea Monardae, a North American species of sweat bee in the Halicidae family – the Bumble bees, Sweat bees, Leaf-Cutters and Miner Bees are also attracted to the plants, which are members of the mint family. Hover and Bee flies as well as Vespid Wasps are also regulars to the plants.

What eats Wild Bergamot

Don’t worry if you see some of the leaves being eaten. A number of moths, including the Raspberry Pyrausta, Hermit and Gray Marvel moths use the plant as a host plant in their larvae stage.

The Horsemint Tortoise Beetle is a regular at the dinner table where they eat bergamot and other members of the genus Monarda.

In conclusion: A native wildflower we all need to grow

Native Wild bergamot is one of the real winners in the world of wildflowers. Every garden needs to grow at least one clump of these valuable landscape plants that offer long-lasting beauty in combination with a benefit to wildlife that is hard to underestimate.

Three great woodland gardens in Canada

Canadian Travel Destinations: Put Hamilton and Toronto Botanical Gardens and Stanley Park on the list

The Royal Botanical Gardens is a gem in the heart of one of Canada’s most highly populated areas – less than an hour outside of Toronto and about the same distance to the Niagara region and the U.S. border.

The five cultivated garden areas, including the outstanding sunken rock garden and tea house, and its impressive rose and iris collections, get much of the publicity as the gardens come into bloom over the course of the summer. Although these more formal gardens are impressive, it’s the more wild, Woodlands and natural areas of the gardens that are slowly gaining recognition in social media circles.

Maybe it’s the bald eagles, ospreys and massive herons (both Great Blue and Great Whites) that have returned to the area after years of being absent. Maybe it’s the beavers that seem to pose for nature photographers, the coyotes, foxes or friendly chickadees that don’t miss a chance to land on visitors’ outstretched, seed-filled hands. Maybe it’s the massive boardwalks that take you through the heart of marshes, the spring ephemerals that brighten the woodlands in spring, or the spectacular colours of the woodland garden in the fall.

It’s probably a combination of all of these natural features that are getting the attention of nature lovers looking for an experience in the outdoors, away from the worries of Covid.

If you are looking for more travel destinations, check out my article on Five of the best Woodland Gardens to visit in the United States.

I’m lucky to live just 15 minutes from The Royal Botanical Gardens, or the RBG as locals call it.

A Cherry Tree in bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens Arboretum, one of several gardens at the southern Ontario tourist destination.

The Royal Botanical Gardens is massive: 5 cultivated Garden areas, 27 kms of nature trails, 2,500 plant species, 2,400 acres of nature sanctuaries and 300 acres of cultivated garden.

Several years ago, I was part of a group of five photographers lucky enough to work with the RBG to create photo cards and posters of its outstanding gardens. In those days, the natural areas were less known but still offered nature photographers and lovers a taste of what was to come.

 

Today, the “Woodland gardens and nature trails feature more than 27 km of nature trails and include four main trailheads, as well as two canoe launch sites,” the gardens’ website states.

“The 1,100 hectares is dominated by 900 hectares of nature sanctuaries enveloping the western end of Lake Ontario. These lands form a Nodal Park within the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO) and the heart of the Cootes to Escarpment Ecopark System. With more than 750 native plant species, 277 types of migratory birds, 37 mammal species, 14 reptile species, 9 amphibian species and 68 species of Lake Ontario fish, the area is an important contributor to ecosystems that span international borders.”

Here are a few areas to focus on:

The graphic above shows the extensive trail system through the woodland and over marshes via an extensive boardwalk system.

Trail Destinations: Hendrie Valley is home to lots of interesting trails and lookouts! Here are 5 key destinations marked by number on the map above.

1) South pasture swamp: An oasis for endangered species, this spring-fed oxbow pond is home to beaver, muskrat, Virginia rail and wood duck. Work to restore this site began in 1994 as part of Project Paradise.

2) Grindstone Creek: With three pedestrian bridge crossings and a creek-side trail, the valley provides an intimate connection with the creek. Seasonal fish spawning runs include herring and spottail shiner in the spring and salmon in the fall.

3) Snowberry Island: Halfway along the Grindstone Marshes Boardwalk, Snowberry Island sits five metres high in the floodplain. Named after a species of plant that grows there, the island is a block of uneroded creek valley soil called a knoll.

Grindstone Creek Delta: Located at Valley Inn trailhead, it’s both the site of an ambitious restoration project and stop-over point for migratory waterfowl. More than 100,000 Christmas trees form the foundation for the restored river banks of Grindstone Creek — these protect the marsh areas by preventing carp from entering.

An example of the boardwalk through the trails of the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The Royal Botanical Gardens on the Hamilton/Burlington border is truly a weekend travel destination for anyone living within a few hours of the massive gardens. It is truly a family destination with a host of kid-friendly features and activities.

For garden lovers, the RBG is much more than a weekend travel destination. It’s actually an ideal base to explore all that the Niagara Region – featuring wine country, picturesque Niagara-On-The-Lake and the Falls (one-hour away) – and the metropolitan city of Toronto (an hour away in the other direction), has to offer travellers.

The Woodland Walk and Bird Habitat gardens that greet visitors to the Toronto Botanical Gardens and Edward’s Garden in the heart of Toronto.

Toronto Botanical Garden’s Woodland Walk and Bird Habitat

About an hour’s drive down the highway from Hamilton/Burlington’s RBG is Toronto’s own Botanical Gardens and Edward’s Garden, located in the heart of the city.

Here you will find a wonderful Woodland and bird garden introducing you to the much larger and more formal Edwards Gardens operated by the Toronto Botanical Gardens. Edwards Gardens, that sits adjacent to the Toronto Botanical Garden, is a former estate garden featuring perennials and roses on the uplands and wildflowers, rhododendrons and an extensive rockery in the valley. On the upper level of the valley there is also a lovely arboretum beside the children’s Teaching Garden.

 

The Woodland Garden design combines a native woodland and prairie garden, providing a year-round habitat for birds and other wildlife.

The garden’s roots go back to 2009, when staff together with numerous volunteers and members of the industry came together to begin working on the garden.

Many of the plants are native to the Canadian Carolinian Forest. (see my earlier article on the Carolinian Forest).  The space is an evolving garden, being planted over several years, that will “serve as an outdoor classroom to educate, both passively and actively; to promote sustainability, conservation and biodiversity; and to showcase horticulture.”

A few highlights from the TBG website:

• This garden invites and welcomes the public and members into the gardens of the Toronto Botanical Garden and Edwards Gardens. It is a reflection of the beauty and gardens that lie beyond the parking areas.

• The garden helps beautify the typical urban landscape at the intersection at Lawrence and Leslie.

• Native plants–where possible–have been carefully selected to reflect the Carolinian Forest, providing food and shelter for birds and other wildlife

• A natural wood chip path leads the visitor from the busy intersection through the dappled shade of the open woodland to the masses of perennials, ornamental grasses and other seasonal plants in the Entry Garden.

Stanley Park is an impressive example of a natural woodland garden.

Stanley Park: Canada’s ultimate woodland garden

I have had the good fortune to spend a day at Vancouver’s spectacular Stanley Park several years ago. It was a misty morning adding to the mystery of this wonderful landscape.

We visited Stanley Park many years ago and I don’t remember much accept that it was one of the highlights of my life and probably, together with a visit to Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C., turned me into a woodland garden enthusiast. There is something about the landscapes of the pacific northwest that you just can’t help but fall in love with.

 

If you travel to Canada’s far west, try to take in Vancouver Island’s Butchart Gardens. A spectacular 55-acres of sunken gardens boasting 900 plant varieties, 26 greenhouses and 50 gardeners, Butchart has enjoyed more than 100 years as a must-see garden near Victoria, B.C.

Salisbury Woodland Gardens located within the massive Stanley Park is a an attractive green space, planted in the mid 1930’s to serve as a public recreation area as well as shelterbelt for Stanley Park Golf Course. The woodland contains many native and exotic trees and shrubs. Winding footpaths take visitors through the garden over brooks.

 

The woodland, which has been undergoing renovation since 2006, was designated as a County Biological Heritage Site in 1993 for its epiphytic flora. Wildlife includes birds such as kingfishers, treecreepers and woodpeckers. The site also supports colonies of pipistrelle bats, dragonflies and butterflies such as orange tip and peacock.

In conclusion

The public gardens, as well as the national and provincial parks, and conservation areas in Canada provide visitors with incredible experiences in nature. As Covid winds down and families look to escape either on quick weekend vacations or day visits, these gardens and natural areas offer some of the safest ways to plan a vacation.

Gardener’s Supply Company: Success grows out of passion to improve the world

What makes Gardener’s Supply Co. so special?

Growing a garden takes time, patience and a love for what you are doing and trying to accomplish. For many, it’s a family affair where we work together for years to create the landscape of our dreams.

Over time and hard work, our gardens take shape and that dream becomes a reality.

I can’t help but think the same sense of accomplishment of creating that garden of our dreams is the same feeling staff of Gardener’s Supply Co. (Link to website) experiences with their genuine success. Since 2009, the Burlington, Vermont company, that has become synonymous with gardening at its finest in the United States, has been 100 per cent employee-owned.

Why should we care?

Like we gardeners in our own yards, staff are passionate about ensuring the commercial and mail-order garden nursery grows into a success. The company’s impressive website clearly illustrates both a love for everything gardening and a wish to share that enthusiasm and success with gardeners.

“Through employee ownership we remain passionately committed to our founding vision – to spread the joys and rewards of gardening, because gardening nourishes the body, elevates the spirit, builds community and makes the world a better place,” the website states.

A mail order and shopping website just for gardeners

Unlike other massive mail-order firms that offer everything you can think of including gardening accessories, Gardener’s Supply Co. (link to Website) is focused on one thing – gardeners.

Being co-owners means that staff:

• care deeply about our customers and their successes in the garden;

• sustain a vibrant focus on gardening;

• support a strong social mission;

• take care of our communities and one another;

• and work hard to safeguard the increasingly fragile planet we’ve been entrusted with.

Okay, their hearts are in the right place, but how can they help us and our gardens?

Just one look at their website and I think most would agree that this is no ordinary commercial gardening on-line store and website.

For example, these five galvanized planting pots (above) combine rustic and modern, are the perfect addition to a patio or deck.

Offering everything from essential garden tools to unique garden implements, many that are designed and manufactured in their own facilities, Gardener’s Supply is a website that helps us take our gardens from the ordinary to the exquisite. And it’s not just the products being offered on the website or through the printed catalogue, the garden information on their website is a fount of knowledge for both new and seasoned gardeners.

Browsing the site is akin to wandering through your favourite mega garden store without the crowds.

You will find areas featuring garden supplies obviously, separate areas on Planters and Raised Beds, Yard and Outdoors, Indoor Gardening, your home and kitchen accessories as well areas that focus on seeds – everything from vegetable seeds to seed starting supplies, grow lights and stands.

There is also a separate area just for gift ideas.

Gardener’s Supply on a mission to improve the world

But it’s their focus on creating a better world that is hard to ignore

On their website they provide visitors with the causes the company believes in.

“We’re on a mission to improve the world through gardening. We stand up for our beliefs, give voice to those who can’t, and serve as an ally to gardeners everywhere.”

Just a few of the areas they focus on include: Pollinator protection, youth gardens, soil regeneration and fighting hunger.

Gardener’s Supply helps the hungry

A Garden To Give program, where the company encourages gardeners to grow extra vegetables to donate to the needy through Ample Harvest, is just one example of where the company takes action. Their garden nursery in Vermont also includes raised gardens where all the produce is donated to the needy.

Gardener’s Supply helps pollinators

The company’s extensive information about pollinator protection shows that they are not just paying lip service to the protection of pollinators and not just honey bees.

Gardener’s Supply helps children

When it comes to kids and gardening, Gardener’s Supply not only runs a Kids Club at three of their facilities but provide further information about the importance of gardening for Youth.

(If you are interested in getting your children or grandchildren involved in gardening, be sure to read my article on Why kids need more nature in their lives.)

Back to products, accessories and other fun stuff.

Woodland/wildlife gardeners will first want to go directly to the Yard & Outdoors tab and head over to the Backyard Habitat area of the website where they will find separate areas on Bee Bug & Butterfly Habitats, Beekeeping Supplies, Bird Baths, Bird Feeders, Bird Houses and Songbird Tweets.

The Acorn Bird Feeder alone is simply outstanding.

Much of what they offer is of the highest quality, especially the items they design and build right in their own workshops. They may not be the most inexpensive items you’ll be able to find, but the high quality turns many of the items into garden works of art, or, at least, items you will enjoy for years to come and possibly pass on to your children or family members.

For wildlife enthusiasts, Gardener’s Supply Co. offer a range of bird baths including ones made of copper, butterfly houses, a butterfly puddling stone, oriole feeders, elegant bat houses and hummingbird feeders just to name a few of the treats for woodland/wildlife gardeners.

The home decor tab features everything from boot trays to keep the mess outside, to furniture that helps to bring the outside in. There’s even a heart-shaped concrete table top planter ideal for a miniature succulent display.

I could tell you all about the site, but it’s best that you check it out for yourself.

Does Gardener’s Supply Co. deliver all over the United States?

Yes, Gardener’s Supply Co. delivers to all 48 states contiguous states. (For information, check out the specific information on their website.) Shipments to Alaska, Hawaii must travel by 2nd Day Air (select FedEx - AK, HI). Orders shipping to U.S. Territories travel by parcel post (select USPS-International) and will arrive in two to four weeks.

Note: At the present time, Gardener’s Supply does not ship to addresses outside of the U.S. and its territories including Canada and the United Kingdom.

Five of the best woodland gardens in the United States

Garden destination vacation is perfect for landscape design ideas

Now that we have hopefully seen the end of the worst Covid can send our way, more and more people are planning family vacations.

Many may hesitate to board a plane or cruise ship for a traditional vacation, but may be open to the idea of a driving or mini weekend vacation, especially one that involves being safely outdoors in nature.

Now is the perfect time to consider planning a garden destination vacation by visiting one or more of the many public gardens that offer a safe, outdoor experience where you can explore some of the best garden designs and take home a wealth of knowledge and ideas to use in your own gardens. Garden destination vacations can be as simple as a self-guided walk in the woods or as entertaining and informative as signing up to have a professional guide lead you through the garden experience.

I’ve put together a list of five of the best woodland gardens in the United States to get readers thinking about visiting a local or nearby garden, either as a weekend adventure or as a side excursion during a traditional week-long vacation. There are gardens stretching from New England to Texas and a few in between.

If you are looking to travel to Canada for vacation, be sure to check out Three of the Best Woodland gardens in Canada.

Native Plant Trust (New England Wildflower Society) owns and operates Garden in the Woods, an outstanding natural woodland garden that offers visitors both spiritual and educational experiences just 20 miles from Boston.

How close is Garden in the Woods to Boston?

Garden in the Woods is a 45-acre, magical woodland that showcases the natural beauty of both the New England landscape and, most importantly, its native wildflowers, plants and trees. It’s open to the public through October, if you want to explore the colours of fall while visiting Boston.

Located about 20 miles west of Boston, (in Zone 7A) the massive, naturalistic woodland sculpted by retreating glaciers into eskers, steep-sided valleys, and a kettle pond, is the result of an incredibly dedicated group of individuals who make up the New England Wildflower Society now called Native Plant Trust.

 

Why should families make Garden in the Woods a travel destination while in the Boston area?

That’s a question I asked Uli Lorimer, Director of Horticulture, at Garden in the Woods.

“Garden in the Woods offers visitors of all ages the opportunity to immerse themselves in the habitats and plants of New England. Exposure to nature, to insects, birds, and the diversity of plant life is crucially important for young children if we hope for them to become the next generation of environmental stewards,” he explains. “The displays include common plants as well as rare, threatened or unusual plants giving the visitor an in depth experience with the diversity of life found in New England.”

What makes Garden In The Woods and its facilities so special to visitors?

“A visitor will immediately sense that this garden is different from other botanical gardens. The way in which the plants are displayed and the experience of walking the trails, the seamless way in which visitors transition from one “garden room” to another is what adds to the unique character of Garden in the Woods,” explains Lorimer. “We offer a wealth of education classes alongside engaging interpretation, affording visitors a chance to learn and grow as they stroll the garden. At our gift shop and plant sale yard, visitors can take home a plant or two to introduce into their own gardens or a tasteful gift, book or memento of the day.”

How can woodland gardeners get the most out of a visit to Garden in the Woods?

“Woodland gardeners are our favorite!, Lorimer explains.

“In order to get the most out of visiting a garden in the Woods, a visitor would need to plan a trip in spring, summer and fall, as the displays and seasonal highlights change. Spending at least 3-4 hours will allow the visitor enough time to leisurely stroll the trails, take notes of the plants and planting combinations they see, to engage with one of the friendly horticulture staff and to feel relaxed and inspired. We strive to offer for sale most of the plants that can be seen in the gardens which helps visiting gardeners act on their new ideas,” he explains.

Uli Lorimer

Special Event: Garden in the Woods is home to a nationally accredited Trillium collection which we celebrate every spring with Trillium Week. This year Trillium Week will be from Monday May 9th through until Sunday May 15th. There will be special garden tours, drop in workshops as well as an evening event planned around the joy of growing Trilliums. Please check out our website https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/trillium-week-may-9-15/

Harvard Magazine describes the gardens perfectly: “This “living museum” offers refreshing excursions through New England’s diverse flora and landscapes: visitors may roam woodland paths; explore a lily pond alive with painted turtles, frogs, and dragonflies; or take the outer Hop Brook Trail.”

Garden in the Woods serves as New England Wild Flower Society headquarters

The sanctuary serves as the headquarters of the New England Wild Flower Society who also own the property along with six other botanical reserves in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The Society is probably best know for the fact it produces more than 50,000 native plants annually, grown mostly from seeds found in the wild.

This incredible woodland is, as Harvary Magazine points out in an article: “proof of the Society’s mission to conserve and promote regional native plants to foster healthy, biologically diverse environments.”

In the garden visitors often describe as magical, you’ll find a naturalistic plant collection that showcases New England native plants with complementary specimens from across the country.

Finding inspiration in Garden in the Woods

If you garden in the Northeast part of the United States, this is the place to find inspiration for your own garden and a new appreciation for the varied plant life of the region.

Offering an extensive list of educational classes and field studies to go along with the information provided on its website on ecological gardening, the Woodland garden and website is a must for serious Woodland gardeners and native plant enthusiasts.

“Plants are the foundation of all life. No matter what you want to conserve, whether the interest is in birds, bats, or bugs—they all depend on plants,” executive director Debbi Edelstein told Harvard Magazine. “But people tend to overlook them. People see something green and think it’s good, but they don’t really see the roles that very special individual species play in making everything else healthy.”

Visitors can opt for guided tours through themed plantings including a rock garden, coastal, and meadow gardens as well as the extensive woodland garden.

Early spring (May 5-11) is definitely Trillium time at Garden in the Woods, where they can show off the 26 different trillium species to visitors.

The woodland garden’s peak bloom is in spring and early summer, with the meadow putting on its best show in mid-to-late summer with its abundance of bee balm, Culver’s root, lobelia, and black-eyed Susan, to name just a few of the native species, In the fall, native grasses take the spotlight in the meadow garden along with asters and goldenrods.

One need only look at the extensive trail system on the website to appreciate the vastness of this incredible jewel. If you are thinking about going, you can download a map showing Garden in the Woods’ extensive trail system to plan out your visit before you even leave your home.

If the seafood, Red Sox or tourist attractions in the Boston area are not enough to get you to make Bostonyour summer destination, surely Garden in the Woods will be the attraction to get garden tourists outside to experience nature and scoop some ideas for their own gardens.

For more on this spectacular garden destination, check out the article in Harvard Magazine on Garden in the Woods.

Garvan Woodland Gardens is a destination the entire family will enjoy from children who will be attracted to the Adventure garden, to adults enjoying the outstanding gardens and unique features.

Garvan Woodland Gardens: A must visit for the whole family

Garvan Woodland Gardens, the botanical garden of the University of Arkansas, ( zone 6B, 7A) has a mission to preserve and enhance a unique part of the picturesque Ouachita Mountains of Southwest Arkansas.

Its success stems from the perfect combination of beautiful gardens, elegant structures and landscaping details that celebrates the natural beauty of the Woodland Gardens: featuring a canopy of tall pines that provide protection for delicate flora and fauna, gentle lapping waves that unfold along the 4.5 miles of wooded shoreline, and rocky inclines.

Woodland gardeners will be particularly attracted to the Hixson Family Nature Preserve encompassing 45 acres of natural Ouachita woodland, nestled under a towering canopy of oak and cypress trees, while kids will want to spend time at the Evans Children’s Adventure Garden.

 

A garden for the kids

Families with children will undoubtedly gravitate toward the Evans Children’s Adventure Garden that offers 1.5 acres of fun tied into natural outdoor education at its finest.

(Here is a link to my article on why kids need more nature in their lives)

The interactive garden features more than 3,200 tons (or 6.4 million pounds) of boulders positioned to encourage exploration of the natural environment. Add to that a 12-foot waterfall that cascades over the entryway and an easily accessible, man-made cave, where children can discover “ancient” fossils. The garden also features a bridge constructed from wrought-iron “Cedar tree branches” and a maze of rocks that lead down to a series of wading pools.

Parents can enjoy a bird’s eye view of their children at play from a 450-foot long, 20-foot tall elevated walkway that also provides scenic vistas of Lake Hamilton and the surrounding woodlands.

Garden beginnings

The Garvan Woodland Gardens, a gift from local industrialist and philanthropist Verna Cook Garvan, also provides visitors with a location of learning, research, cultural enrichment, and serenity in addition to a place to develop and sustain gardens, landscapes, and structures of exceptional aesthetics.

From the dynamic architectural structures to the majestic botanical landscapes, Garvan Woodland Gardens offers breathtaking sights (and fantastic photo opportunities) at every turn.

Hixson Family Nature Preserve

The Hixson Family Nature Preserve encompasses 45 acres of natural Ouachita woodland where visitors can take in the more than 120 species of birds, including bad eagles, pileated woodpeckers and the diminutive tufted titmous along with the long list of fauna that call the woodland home. (Check out this link on attracting the Tufted Titmouse to your garden.)

The Birdsong Trail is a 1.9 mile Birdsong Trail offers resting benches for watching the birds feed at special stations and enjoying some of the best vistas of Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs.

Visitors to the preserve learn about the woodland environment from educational displays placed along the adjoining Lowland Forest Boardwalk – where visitors learn about the environmental benefits of trees and forest cover.
The woodland refuge, nestled under a towering canopy of oak and cypress trees, is also home to the Shannon Perry Hope Overlook, a secluded site for reflection.

Don’t miss out these features at Garvan Woodlands

Millsap Canopy Bridge: Stretching two stories above the forest floor and spanning 120 feet, the serpentine-shaped Millsap Canopy Bridge is one of the most exciting pedestrian structures in the region. Its gently curved walkway winds through a woodland paradise of pools, cascades, and verdant plantings nestled in a ravine christened Singing Springs Gorge. Seasonally, the site offers a showy display of cinnamon ferns, Tardiva and oak leaf hydrangeas, delicate dogwoods and a collection of heat-tolerant rhododendrons.

The Perry Wildflower Overlook: provides sweeping lake views on the 1,500 square-foot flagstone terrace overlooking a one-acre planting of more than 40 different varieties of wildflowers, with new ones added each spring.
Bob and Sunny Evans Tree House: The new centerpiece of the Children's Garden, The Tree House is suspended within a group of pines and oaks, bending easily between them. The theme is the study of trees and wooded plants, drives both the form and program of the structure. The tree house is part of an ambitious plan to bring children back into the woods, the tree house uses a rich visual and tactile environment to stimulate the mind and body, while accommodating the needs of all users.

The Garden of the Pine Wind is a four-acre, majestic rock and stream garden. Voted the 5th best Asian garden in North America in 2012 by the Journal of Japanese Gardening, it offers a quiet place for contemplation and meditation. Approximately 300 varieties of Asian ornamental plants can be viewed here – including 60 types of Japanese and other Asian maples and Oriental dogwoods. In springtime, more than 40 giant-flowered tree peonies and hundreds of azaleas complement the maple collection’s attractive foliage.

The Joy Manning Scott Bridge of the Full Moon is one of the most recognized and most photographed features of the gardens. Considered the focal point of the Garden of the Pine Wind, the spectacular 11-foot-high, self-supporting structure echoes the ancient stone bridges of western China, where native stone was laid by hand in rustic patterns.

Sugg Model Train Garden: is a popular feature with the young and the young at heart. A big draw with model train enthusiasts,
the layout consists of 389 feet of track and 259 trestles and encompasses three independent operating loops. A freight or passenger train runs on the lower outer loop while a train hauling cars operates on the lower inner loop.

Garvan Pavilion: is an architectural masterpiece that stands as the centerpiece of the 210-acre botanical garden. The stunning open-air redwood and sandstone structure features a one-of-a-kind, faceted steel and glass ceiling centered around a classical oculus. This traditional ‘window in the ceiling’ serves as the focal point of a flower-like composition unfolding overhead. A wonderful complement to its woodland surroundings.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and woodland garden in Texas is a must for gardeners looking to experience shade gardening at its best.

Lady Bird Johnson: A celebration of native wildflowers

Lady Bird Johnson Texas: Visitors to the Lady Bird Johnson gardens in Texas (zone 8) will marvel at the numerous examples of shade tolerant plants and other wildflowers in this peaceful, nature inspired garden that includes a stream compete with native fauna and flora.

But for Woodland gardeners, the garden offers a perfect place to ponder the subtleties of the woodland with its many shapes and textures among the wildflowers, vines, layers of trees and shrubs.

 

The garden is the ideal place for inspiration as well as specific ideas on what plant communities work well with one another. The garden’s website points out that the “Woodland Garden features Hill Country woody plants, many arranged based on the occurrence of plant communities in nature.”

It is also quick to point out that the garden “is also a great classroom for gardeners and homeowners to learn about shade gardening, or planting for low-light situations within a landscape.”

The gardens also feature an area of chalky limestone that supports sumacs, snowbells and the rare Texas madrone.

The garden hosts a number of activities throughout the year including seminars on birding in Texas, native orchids, ecology based landscaping, collecting and processing wild seed, botanical illustration and watercolour, wildflower research and even fitness, which we all know is an important aspect to gardening.

I highly recommend readers to check out the gardens informative website (see above), especially the area on wildflowers.

Spring is spectacular in the English Woodland Garden at the Missouri Botanical Gardens when 300 rhododendrons bloom alongside 100 flowering dogwoods.

Missouri Botanical Gardens: A St. Louis refuge

St. Louis Missouri Botanical Gardens and the woodland garden: Maybe it’s the natural sound of the babbling brook sparkling under a canopy of trees along the shaded pathway that stops you in your path as you stroll through the Cherbonnier English Woodland Garden (zone 6). If it’s spring, however, it’s more likely the more than 300 rhododendrons and azaleas, and 100 dogwoods in full bloom that will get your attention.

Even a single flowering dogwood is a stunning addition to any garden, but 100 dogwoods under planted with hundreds of blooming rhododendrons and azaleas is enough to stop anyone in their tracks. Stunning is an appropriate description of the garden in mid April when it is at its prime viewing.

And if that is not enough, add to the scene clusters of wildflowers, hydrangeas and perennials providing surprising splashes of color throughout the seasons. It’s not hard to see why this stunning garden is a favourite refuge during intense St. Louis summers.

Visitors can follow the meandering brook along a winding path of stepping stones, taking in the streamside plantings of primroses, ferns, cardinal flowers, and ground orchids, as it flows under several limestone bridges and into the Japanese Garden lake by way of a waterfall.

The English-style garden – with its informal display of botanical treasures from around the world – started as 1.5-acres but has expanded to the present-day size of nearly 3.25 acres.

 

The garden is intended to showcase plants from all over the world, rather than focus exclusively on native plants and features.

Rather than focus exclusively on native plants, the garden’s focus is to showcase – in its distinctive three vegetative layers making up the woodland canopy – plants from all over the world.

“First is an upper canopy provided by trees such as oaks (Quercus sp.), maples (Acer sp.), ashes (Fraxinus sp.) and tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera). Some of the most impressive specimens include Pumpkin Ash (Fraxinus profunda, formerly Fraxinus tomentosa), Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor) and Pin Oak (Quercus palustris). The middle layer contains smaller trees such as redbuds, fringetrees and witchhazels, as well as shrubs including hydrangeas, viburnums, beautyberries and camellias. The lower layer is filled with ferns, wildflowers, and herbaceous perennials, such as meadowrues, bishop’s hats, and foam flowers. The intent of horticulture staff is to “work in ‘garden rooms,’ with clusters of the same or similar plants to draw people from one room to the next,” according to Enkoji,” states the gardens website.

What to watch for in the woodland garden

• A second water feature is a bog display of plants that thrive in wet soils or aquatic habitats.

• A bronze sculpture of the Three Graces by Gerhard Marcks (1889-1981). In Greek mythology, the Three Graces were lesser gods of Olympus, daughters of Zeus and Eurynome.

•The garden also features the Mary Phelan Memorial Birdbath, created from a naturally concave piece of lava rock from the Seattle, Wash. area.

An impressive 100-acre woodland and natural area that has undergone a successful rewilding since 1988.

The Chicago Botanical Garden: A woodland rewilded

Chicago Botanical Garden is proving that a woodland cut up by development and highly fragmented, located in an urban area can be revived through careful management.

The impressive 100-acre woodland and natural area (zones 5b-6a) has undergone extensive ecological restoration since the efforts began in 1988, transforming a formerly degraded oak woodland remnant into a natural treasure. It is home to five community types and a startling amount of plant and animal diversity.

 

“Our ecologists, along with dedicated volunteers, have worked for decades on repairing and restoring this woodland habitat. In 2013, these efforts were recognized with a “Gold Accreditation” from the Chicago Wilderness Excellence in Environmental Restoration Program,” reads the gardens website.

Spring ephemerals kick of the wildflower display. Throughout the seasons visitors can enjoy the nature trail to experience fall color as well as explore the many birds and wildflowers that call the woodland home. The woodland garden has become important for school groups and adults to benefit from outdoor nature education, including school field trips, Nature Preschool and camp programs, as well as nature walk, birding, plant ID, nature study, and photography classes.

Keeping to the educational focus of the woodland garden, staff encourage visitors to consider restoring their own properties by showing them how they can create woodland gardens in suburban or even urban areas.

I encourage all readers to check out their website at McDonald Woods for invaluable information on establishing or rewilding their properties back to woodlands.

In addition to the Woodland garden, Chicago Botanical Garden offer a number of gardens areas featuring: native plant garden, prairie garden, naturalized garden, Japanese garden, sensory garden, heritage garden and many more.

This free garden offers visitors an opportunity to explore an eight-acre woodland garden and native plant habitat.

Morse family Woodland Garden, Georgia

Morse Family Woodland Garden - Georgia: Woodlands Garden is an eight-acre garden and native plant habitat near downtown Decatur in Atlanta, (zone 7b-8a) with a mission to preserve the woodland garden as an urban sanctuary for educating and engaging the community in the natural world.

It’s the result of a land donation in 2003, by the Morse family who donated 7 acres of greenspace to become a public garden. A one-acre parcel was added to the site and today the free garden is open to the public – at no charge – to explore the historical Morse garden and an educational native plant garden which envelope visitors into the appealing, diverse plant world of the Georgia Piedmont.

 

Visitors can explore a winding network of mulched trails meandering through the woods and explore the plants native to the Georgia Piedmont region. Here they will see some incredible Champion Trees like the Bigleaf and Cucumber Magnolias or the Devil’s Walking Stick.

“The core of the 8 acres surrounds the previous home site, which is now a grassy lawn where the Heritage Garden can be found. In the Heritage Garden, visitors will find Dr. Morse’s original camellia collection, ornamental Japanese maples, and the all ages Children’s Natural Play Area. The staff and volunteers provide educational opportunities to learn more about the importance of native plants through workshops and signage, while also maintaining a balance of focusing on the space as an urban sanctuary full of natural serenity.”

In conclusion: Garden destination vacations open up a new world of travel

Finding a family vacation that is relatively safe from the dangers of contracting Covid is becoming more and more difficult. It’s always a good choice to choose a destination that offers low density, primarily outdoor activity in a natural environment.

Garden tourism destination vacations offer a safe vacation experience for gardeners and some even offer specific activities for children. Woodland destinations give families an opportunity to explore outdoor education while breathing in fresh air and relaxing in the serenity only nature can provide.

You don’t have to go to public gardens to experience nature. A state park and conservation lands can offer many of the same benefits in a less organized and focused way.

Whatever you choose, it’s time to take a long walk in a woods, whether it’s a managed woodlot aimed at providing the best woodland garden experience in a defined space, or a more natural experience in a state park.

Why do I smell skunks in mid February?

Why are we seeing and smelling skunks in the middle of February?

The ground is covered with two feet of snow and skunks seem to be everywhere – we see them roaming through the back and front gardens and smell them on a nightly basis.

What gives?

Turns out female skunks are down right stinkers when it comes to fending off amorous male skunks looking to mate, and all this takes place in mid February right around the time of Valentine’s Day.

That explains the nightly smells we get sitting in our family room – not enough to suggest a full-fledged unleashing of the musky odour experienced when one of our striped friends unleashes on an excitable canine – but enough to get your attention. Especially if it’s right outside the door.

A skunk looking for food in the early evening in the garden. I was out hoping to get a photograph of a fox and the skunk showed up instead with its beautiful tail.

The mating season brings out more of these solitary, elusive animals as they look for partners to begin families. It’s a time when male skunks are more active asserting dominance over other males, while females skunks, who are either not ready to mate or choose not to with a particular male, use their musk glands to fend of advances. These encounters cause both the males and females to spread small amounts of musk – just enough to make us take notice.

You may also be getting a slight odour from under your shed or deck where they are living. Be sure to give them plenty of space and move slowly around them, but they are harmless and very beneficial so it’s much better to learn to live with them than have them removed.

This mid-February odour is not near as strong as you will experience when skunks are killed along the road or when they use it in self defence after being frightened by a neighbourhood dog.

Be prepared for a skunk spray. Check out my post on what to do if your dog or family member has been sprayed by a skunk.

What are skunks’ breeding habits?

Female striped skunks give birth to kits in early spring around April and May after mating in and around mid February. Females can breed in their second summer and give birth to as many as four to seven babies. Older females can come into estrus earlier than younger female skunks and may have litters earlier in spring. Following a sixty-day gestation period, the kits are born in shallow dens or, more likely, under sheds or decks in our yards.

Born blind and deaf and sporting short, fine fur, babies are nursed in the den for about six weeks before venturing out of the den for short excursions with mom. The young skunks are usually weaned from their mother by two months of age.

By fall, the family members have gone their separate ways, travelling as far as 50 kms but usually no more than 5-10 kms, looking for new territory.

Skunks and Great Horned Owls: A deadly combination

We’ve lived in our current home for almost 25 years and have only experienced skunks in the past few years. Where did these skunks come from?

Although we live in a heavily forested area surrounded by conservation lands where you would expect to be living with skunks, up until recently they were nowhere to be seen. I firmly believe that the reason we are experiencing more skunks in our neighbourhood is the result of a severe decline of the Great Horned Owl – skunks’ greatest natural predator.

Typical neighbourhoods offer a cornucopia of food for these shy, inquisitive animals in the form of unprotected garbage cans and pet food left out on decks and back patios. Acres of manicured grass provide skunks with an abundance of grubs, other insects and even mice, just to name a few.

Coyotes, foxes and other predators know enough not to tangle with skunks and will not prey on them unless they are desperate, but Great Horned Owls’ lack of smell allows them to prey on skunks.

This makes the Great horned Owl the primary predator of striped skunks. Although skunks can weigh up to three times more than a typical Great Horned Owl, the deadly talons of the owls make them efficient killers of skunks, whose only real defence is their ability to spray the strong sulphur musk. The owls’ huge, deadly talons combined with their ability to squeeze up to 500 pounds per square inch, means this crushing grip will often kill larger prey like skunks instantly.

The fact that skunks like to travel at night, just when the Great Horned Owls are on the prowl, makes them easy prey. In fact, it is reported that one owl nest contained the remains of nearly 60 skunks.

With an average life span in the wild of between 5-15 years, a Great Horned Owl can certainly do its part in keeping neighbourhoods free of skunks.

That’s good a good reason to do all you can to encourage Great Horned Owls to your neighbourhood. The best way to accomplish this is not to cut down dead trees, especially those that are large enough to provide habitat for these large owls. See my earlier article on the importance of leaving snags in your garden.

Bunchberry is the ideal woodland ground cover

Cornus Canadensis has a place in every woodland garden

I’m not sure when I fell in love with Dogwood, but one look at the garden in spring and there is no denying that dogwoods take centre stage in our woodland garden.

Several Flowering dogwoods (Cornus Florida), a couple of magnificent Kousa dogwoods (Cornus Kousa), and a lovely Cornus Mas or Cornelian Cherry bloom along with Redbuds and Serviceberry in a delicate display of pinks, reds and airy white-flowering trees.

There is one, however, critical dogwood species (members of the Cornaceae family) that has been missing in action in our garden and that is Bunchberry.

Bunchberry is a stunning native Woodland ground cover

Bunchberry (Cornus Canadensis) is the perfect ground cover in the moist woodland garden, whether in late spring to early summer when its attractive white bracts and greenish to purplish flowers are in full bloom against shiny green leaves, or later in summer and fall with its stark red cluster of berries and more muted purple to red leaf colour brings the woodland floor to life in a riot of colour and texture.

We know that most dogwoods are small trees or shrubs, but this plant is a low, creeping perennial that grows mostly in moist coniferous to mixed forests, clearings and boggy areas. Bunchberry can have 4 to 7 leaves, though it typically sports six in a terminal whorl with one to two leafy bracts below those leaves.

The semi-evergreen, 2-8 centimetre long leaves, like most dogwoods, have prominent parallel veins. The white flowers are, in reality, a set of four white bracts surrounding a tight pincushion of tiny greenish-white to purplish flowerlets in an umbel cluster.

Looking for more information on ground covers? Please check out my other posts on ground covers I use in the woodland garden.

• What is the easiest ground cover to grow?

• Three great ground covers for the woodland garden.

• Creeping thyme as a ground cover

• Snow in summer ideal for hot dry areas

• Moss and moss-like ground covers

When do Bunchberry flower and set fruit?

If you have never seen this often over looked native ground cover, think of the beauty of a flowering dogwood tree growing just a couple of inches off the ground in large, spreading flowering mats complete with its showy flowering bracts that bloom in late spring through early summer depending on growing conditions.

The impressive bracts and flowers are followed by bright red bunches of fruit in late summer and fall, which is where Bunchberry obviously got its name.

That’s, in essence, what the bunchberry provides gardeners. Not to mention its inherent benefits to local wildlife, including birds, mammals, butterflies, insects and bees.

Can you ask for more in a native ground cover?

For more on using Bunchberry as a groundcover, check out this Pacific Northwest landscaping plan that uses bunchberry.

These images show the beauty of the Bunchberry (Cornus Canadensis) either as individuals, in a large drift of in late summer when the berries emerge.

In fact, according to the highly informative site Tale of the Dogwood: “The flowering shoots (of Bunchberry) often cover large areas with up to 300 flowering shoots per square meter. With an average of 22 flowers per shoot, bunchberry often has 6,600 flowers in one square meter. (10-11 square feet).”

More of my posts on Dogwoods

For more information on Dogwoods, please check out my other posts listed here:

Dogwoods: Find the perfect one for your yard

Flowering Dogwood: Queen of the Woodland garden

Cornus Kousa: Impressive non-native for the woodland garden

Pagoda Dogwood: Small native tree ideal for any garden

Cornus Mas: An elegant addition to the Woodland Garden

Why do Bunchberry flowers explode?

And if that’s not exciting enough, the flowers have been known to “explode” when a certain size insect lands on them.

Tale of the Dogwood explains that: “Exploding flowers may enhance insect pollination in two ways. First, exploding flowers limits pollinators to those insects that are heavy enough to trigger open the flowers. Large insects readily move between inflorescences whereas smaller insects (e.g., ants and small flies) are ineffective pollinators because they rarely move between inflorescences. Second, most of the large insects are voracious pollen eaters. The explosive flowering disperses the pollen over the body of the insects and imbeds it deep in their hairs where it is hard for them to gather it to eat.”

Even if a full understanding of the whole explosive nature of the flowers is of little interest, You have to admit that it’s pretty cool to have thousands of exploding flowers in your backyard!

I’m proud to say that this impressive ground cover is no longer absent in my garden. Thanks to Ontario Native Plants, I purchased a number of Bunchberry plugs late last summer and got them into the ground in time to get them started.

The plugs of this lovely woodland ground cover were planted in our shady side yard on a slight slope among the wild violets, and I am looking forward to seeing how they come through our difficult winter and begin putting down roots this growing season.

How to plant bunchberries

I planted the bunchberries in a shady area of the yard near some young pines a spruce tree and under a maple. I added a little acidifier to the planting holes and topped them with some pine needles. In spring I’ll sprinkle a little more acidifier on the soil and add more pine and spruce needles to help maintain a slightly acid growing medium.

They will be growing amid wild violets and I’m hoping to add some maindenhair ferns to complement the low-growing ground cover.

A couple years back, I tried to get three clumps of bunchberry started, but after moving them to different parts of the garden, (I must stop movng plants around every spring) the plants just disappeared. I’m not sure if they died as a result of my moving them around or improper growing conditions. Although these plants are farely common in nature, they do require specific growing conditions to be their best.

I have no plans to move these new plants, and hope that they will feel at home in the mostly shady, damp soil.

These slow-growing herbaceous perennials grow to between 10-20 cm (3-8 inches) in height as they form large clonal colonies in carpet-like mats of green leaves that, in the fall, turn a beautiful shade of red to compliment their red-tinted veins.

When does Bunchberry fruit and is it edible

Flowers appear in late spring from May through to July followed by fruit that can appear from late July into October. The berries are edible but are best left for the birds and other garden wildlife that depend on the berries to help get them through tough winters.

The drupes (fruit) start off green, turning a bright red as the clusters mature throughout the summer. Each fruit is about 5mm in diameter and contain one or two ellipsoid-ovoid shaped stones which can be planted as a method of propagation.

Where does Bunchberry grow?

Given that Bunchberry is a tough perennial ground cover found in low, almost sub- to sub-alpine areas, in most parts of Canada and the northern United States including Colorado and New Mexico all the way to Greenland, I’m confident these young plants will come through winter raring to set roots come spring.

Bunchberry’s vigour is also evident considering it’s native to Japan, North Korea, northeastern China and parts of Russia. Those countries offer pretty extreme conditions for this lovely little ground cover to call home.

Soil conditions for growing Bunchberry

They grow in poor to medium soil that can be moderately-dry to wet, but they prefer a moist, acidic soil.

Cornus canadensis likes cool, moist soils to prosper. It grows in montane and boreal coniferous forests, where it is often found growing along the margins of moist woods, preferably among cedars and on old tree stumps, in mossy areas, and among other open and moist habitats.

Try growing Bunchberry in an old tree stump

Here is an idea readers might want to trying this summer. I plan to get an old hollowed out tree stump, fill it with a rich, acidic soil and plant a bunchberry into the rotting tree stump. I’m hoping to possibly use it as a small breeding ground for additional plants that spread by rhizone.

Are Bunchberries edible or poisonous?

You may be wondering if the bright red berries of the Bunchberry are poisonous – they are not poisonous. In fact, because they are hard and a little bitter they are best left for birds and other wildlife.

The showy red, fleshy fruit turns bright red in summer and enjoyed by a host of birds and other wildlife. The seeds are mostly dispersed by birds who are often found feeding on the fruit during their fall migration. But it is also a food source for deer and moose, bears and hares as well as smaller garden wildlife species.

According to the website Adirondacks Forever Wild: Bunchberry is also used by some song and game birds. The fruits are eaten by Veeries, Ruffed Grouse, Partridge, Philadelphia and solitary Vireos, Warbling Vireos and White-throated Sparrows.”

Bunchberry flowers also attract butterflies but do not attract deer or rabbits. Deer will eat Bunchberry foliage but it is not one of their preferred food sources.

Bunchberry fruits are eaten by black bears (if they are part of your garden guests) and small mammals including chipmunks, cottontails, martens and Snowshoe Hares.

Western or Alaskan bunchberry is also a showstopper

Often mistaken for Cornus Canadensis, Cornus Unalaschkensis (western cordileran bunchberry or Alaskan bunchberry) is another stunning carpeting woodlander.

In the the informative, Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest, authors Arthur R. Kruckeberg, and Linda Chalker-Scott describes Western buncherry as “a 6-inch-high circle of broad leaves supports a single dogwood “bloom,” a singular pattern often repeated in great swaths on the forest floor.”

They go on to explain that the “English rock gardener Reginald Farrer speaks highly of the North American species calling it much superior in showiness to the European C. suecica.”

What to plant along with the bunchberry

The authors advise that the: “dwarf dogwood should be given preeminent placing in shaded portions of the garden, under azaleas or vine maple. They like an acid, gritty soil, somewhat damp for most of the year.”

In conclusion

Woodland gardeners who are lucky enough to be able to grow dogwoods, know that you can never have enough of these important family of shrubs and understory trees. Add to this, the magnificent, carpeting qualities of the Cornus Canadensis and its western and european counterparts. These are a must for any woodland gardener.

Plant them in already-growing mats or clumps and let the rhizomes run, or get some seed and plant them in acidic damp soil to establish your own patch of this perfect, woodland ground cover.

Little Bluestem is BIG winner in 2022

Why native Little Bluestem was picked best perennial

Little Bluestem has been picked as the top perennial for 2022 by the Perennial Plant Association, finally getting the respect it deserves as an all-round performer combining a rugged toughness that shines in both dry average and wet soils, in sun and part shade and, above all else, is native in zones 3-9 throughout Canada and most of the United States as far south as Mexico.

What does winning top perennial mean to gardeners?

Being a native grass not only means Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) will grow well in most locations, local wildlife will depend on the plant for a number of factors, including providing a food source and habitat for insects, butterflies, pollinators and small mammals.

Two elegant, upright clumps of Little Bluestem in our front garden shows the flowering part just beginning to emerge across the top of the grasses growing on the edge of a dry river bed and blending nicely with the large drift of Black-eyed Susans.

In fact, Little Bluestem acts as a larval host for as many as nine skipper species of butterflies including the common wood nymph (Cercyonis pegala), Dakota skipper (Hesperia dacotae), Leonard’s skipper (Hesparia leonardus), and a host of others. And, if it’s home to these skipper larva, it is also a good source of food for birds, especially in spring when they are feeding their nestlings the tiny caterpillars.

Grasshoppers are also attracted to the grassy foliage providing a late summer source of food for backyard songbirds.

A dew-covered skipper on a grass blade in early morning.

Native bunch grasses, like Little Bluestem, are also valuable in the wildlife garden because they provide winter habitat for insects and wildlife including female bumble bee queens that nest at the base of the grasses where they find much needed protection from heavy snow and freezing temperatures until they can once again emerge in spring.

Gardeners will also appreciate this mid-sized plant’s extremely low-maintenance characteristics, its drought-tolerance and ability to perform well in poor soil. Maintaining this grass could not be easier. In late spring I just cut the remaining grasses down and put them into the open compost where nesting birds have the opportunity to use the soft grasses for nesting material.

Unlike some grasses that grow strong, thick stems, Little Bluestem is extremely easy to cut down.

• If you are considering creating a meadow in your front or backyard, be sure to check out The Making of a Meadow post for a landscape designer’s take on making a meadow in her own front yard.

• Looking for some low-growing ornamental grass ideas? Check out my post on Five low-growing ornamental grasses.

How deep do Little Bluestem roots grow?

Little Bluestem’s drought tolerance comes from its extensive and extremely deep root system that makes it perfect to use in a xeriscape application. Traditional grass has a root system that may reach anywhere from an inch or two to three or four inches into the ground. Little Bluestem’s fibrous root system digs down to 5½ feet deep in search of a water source, making it not only drought resistant in even the driest of areas but also an important plant to use on slopes to reduce erosion.

The importance of using native plants in your garden cannot be underestimated. This article digs deeper into why everyone should be using more native plants in their garden.

These plants can be grown from seed but is best grown from divisions. There are several popular cultivars available bred for more intense colours but native gardeners know that sticking with the native species plant is always a wise choice.

Little Bluestem’s coppery-bronze grasses shown in the fall.

My clumps of Little Bluestem have been growing in poor sandy soil on the edge of our dry river bed for more than ten years on the edge of the garden where it gets buried every winter in snow and residual salt from the road, and it continues to perform.

And if that’s not enough, the changing colours of the grasses throughout the seasons provides year-round interest. Emerging as a soft, blue-green elegant grass with a lovely upright habit, the grasses take on a deeper bronze-rusty tone in late summer that persists for most of the winter.

In late summer, usually in about August, small, whispy purplish-bronze flowers emerge an branched stems that stand above the grass foliage. These fluffy, silvery seed heads are pollinated by the wind but often persist into winter where they add to the attractiveness of the plants and provide a food source for birds.

Little Bluestem is shown here in its late-summer, fall flowering stage.

Little Bluestem is pest free and deer resistant

And did I say it’s relatively pest and disease-free. It certainly is not at all enticing to our local herd of deer that I can say have never nibbled on our two large clumps of Little Bluestem that’s lived in our front garden for as long as I can remember.

The blue summer foliage works well as a medium-sized backdrop in both formal and native meadow gardens and combines nicely with Black-eyed Susans, coneflowers and grey-toned foliage where its elegant, fine-textured foliage forms dense, upright mounds that will eventually reach about a foot in diameter and never dominates the landscape.

This is a dominant, warm-season grass in the tallgrass prairie region that is adapted to hot, dry conditions that grows mostly from June through September reaching four to five feet tall in late summer.

Native grasses Little Bluestem sits alongside Northern Sea Oats in our window box acting like thrillers by providing vertical elegance.

Can I use Little Bluestem in containers

I have experimented with using divisions from my Little Bluestem plants to use as thrillers and fillers in my container gardens for a year or two before eventually transplanting them into the garden.

I’ve even used them in our window boxes to add an elegant, low-cost thriller. The plant’s slender grass blades add an elegant touch to the planters and can be easily transplanted to the meadow garden in the fall where their winter interest can be further appreciated.

Little Bluestem growing in our front garden in a rocky dry river bed alongside common milkweed and drifts of Black-eyed-Susans.

In conclusion

Little Bluestem deserves a spot in everyone’s garden, whether it’s a more formal design or an expansive native tallgrass prairie meadow. It should not matter that it is the perennial of the year, but earning this distinction should go a long way to introduce this useful grass to the masses.

Go ahead and try one of the many cultivars available, but make sure you plant the native species to ensure your garden and the wildlife that live in it gets the most benefits from this impressive native plant.

Check out these links below for more information on cultivars of the native plant.

Prairies Blue Bluestem

Blaze Little Bluestem

Standing Ovation Little Bluestem

Links for other best plant, shrub and tree choices for 2022

• At this Proven Winners link you will find the company’s “new for 2022“ plants, shrubs etc as well as downloadable Brochures for both the United States and Canada. The page includes downloadable PDFs of New Shrubs varieties, new annuals and new perennials. In addition, There are photo libraries, and regional garden trials to check out. Proven Winners have great products but they are not natives so consider the potential negative affects that planting an abundance of these flowers and shrubs might have on your garden’s wildlife. Many are good for wildlife but likely fall short compared to the native variety.

• If indoor plants are your thing, here is a link from Architectural Digest of the best plants for 2022.

• Check out this informative article from Pennsylvania Garden Writer George Weigel for the best new shrubs for 2022.

More links to my articles on native plants

Why picking native wildflowers is wrong

Serviceberry the perfect native tree for the garden

The Mayapple: Native plant worth exploring

Three spring native wildflowers for the garden

A western source for native plants

Native plants source in Ontario

The Eastern columbine native plant for spring

Three native understory trees for Carolinian zone gardeners

Ecological gardening and native plants

Eastern White Pine is for the birds

Native viburnums are ideal to attract birds

The perfect Redbud

The Carolinian Zone in Canada and the United States

Dogwoods for the woodland wildlife garden

Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tellamy

A little Love for the Black-Eyed Susan

Attract Juncos: Habitat might convince Snowbirds to stay all year

You have to admire the Slate-coloured, Dark-Eyed Junco. While many of our backyard birds are flying south to the Southern United States, Mexico and Central America, these spunky little birds think -15C (5F) and three feet of snow is paradise.

Compared to their traditional breeding grounds in the deep Boreal forests of northern Canada where a high percentage of them spend their spring and summer breeding months, I guess the freezing temperatures and blizzards of Southern Ontario and north-eastern United States feel quite balmy to them.

These hardy, ground-feeding members of the sparrow family, with a slate-coloured top and white undersides, seem happy enough to scrounge on the ground under our bird feeders for scraps left behind by Cardinals, Blue Jays, Woodpeckers and a host of other more fussy birds that unwittingly share their discarded seed with the Juncos at our our feeders.

And if you provide the right habitat, including their favourite native plants, roosting locations, a fresh source of water and a good source of food, you may be able to convince these little guys to stick around your woodland year round.

How long do Juncos live

No one said their lives were easy, but they have been known to survive in these harsh conditions for up to 11 years of age. Experts predict a life span of between 3-11 years depending on climate conditions, predation and other factors.

Digital painting shows a male Slate-coloured, Dark-eyed Junco perched on a branch during a snowstorm.

How did Juncos get their name?

Their name is derived from the Latin word juncus which is Spanish for “rush.” The dark-eyed junco’s latin name (Junco hymelalis) actually means winter junco from the Latin work hyemalis which translates “of the winter.”

Juncos are ground feeders so leave your leaves

In the fall and especially the spring, you’ll most often see these ground-feeders rooting through the fallen leaves looking for insects to feed nestlings. Leaving your fallen leaves is critical for ground-feeding birds like Juncos. Here is an earlier article on why we should be leaving our leaves where they fall.

Actually these birds are quite widespread and are found throughout the north America from Alaska to Mexico, California to New York and from one end of Canada to the other. You can expect to find them in coniferous and mixed forests, but they are just as happy in scrub land along rural roadways and, of course, flitting about in the lower shrubbery of our woodland gardens.

They certainly are not flashy birds and often go unnoticed in the garden accept when they briefly flash their white outer tail feathers thought to confuse predators during an aerial attack.

How did Juncos earn the name: Snowbirds?

Juncos, are also lovingly known by many as snowbirds, since they seem to appear along with the first snowfall of the season. Apparently, even famed birder John James Audubon called them the snowbird.

I like to think that they earned their name before the term “snowbirds” was popularized by Canadian seniors heading south in winter. I think their colouring earned them the name “Snowbirds.” The Junco’s slate-coloured plummage on their backs (the males are darker than the females) and white undersides are often associated with the leaden stormy skies of winter above and fresh snow below. That’s a much nicer interpretation than a bunch of us old Canadians heading to Florida, considering few Juncos even make it that far during migration.

While these hardy little birds are more than willing to take on our frigid temperatures than most birds, not all dark-eyed Juncos arrive from the depths of the Canadian northern forests. In some areas they are year-round residents.

In fact, in our Southern Ontario woodland, Juncos are year-round visitors. Although some of them choose to stay year-round, there certainly is an influx in fall as winter approaches. They are also more noticeable as their activity picks up during or immediately after a snowstorm.

This little female Junco searches for seeds under native Northern Sea Oat grasses. These little birds will even spend the night tucked into the grasses to escape cold winds.

In the more northern areas of the U.S. in New England and Minnesota, for example, early migrants start arriving as early as August but the more northerly birds don’t start their overnight migrations until late October and November. By December the migration is completed but some birds who migrated into parts of Ontario and the northern states may move farther north in particularly bad winters.

At our hopper feeders and tray feeder, Juncos tend to go after the black-oil sunflower, that are easily cracked with their stout, light pink bills. If given the chance, though, they are not opposed to stealing suet from the larger woodpeckers and blue jays if the suet feeders are left unattended.

In our neck of the woods, the slate,dark-eyed Junco dominates, but you may not know that there are actually two species of Juncos in North America and seven sub-species. The two species are the Slate-coloured, dark-eyed that make up about 99 per cent of the birds in North America, with a small number of yellow-eyed Juncos taking up residence in South-East Arizona. the Oregon dark-eyed Junco is the other dominant sub-species found mostly in Western United States. It sports a dark hood, a brown back and rufous flanks. Others include the Pink-Sided Junco and the White-Winged dark eye junco.

Junco on a pine branch in mid summer. Although many migrate farther north for summer, a percentage of them stick around if they can find good habitat in our woodland gardens.

In our garden, the Juncos like to hang out in groups of anywhere from a few individuals to as many as 30. these groupings or small flocks feed over a territory of about 10 acres in the wild, a smaller area if food is abundant at backyard feeders.

This winter I have noticed that the Juncos are particularly attracted to our DIY heated bird bath. Without a doubt they are the most regular visitors to the bird bath – either coming down to get a drink of water or occasionally stopping by for a quick bath. My DIY heated bird bath was a simple and inexpensive project that has not only improved habitat for our local birds, but also helped to bring them in close to our home and provided me with opportunities to photograph the birds up close.

Every flock has a dominance hierachy with adult males at the top, followed by juvenile males, adult females followed by young females. Although this sounds potentially cruel, male juncos tend to stay in more northern areas to stay close to their traditional mating territories, while females migrate further south for better food sources. Females also don’t need to return to defend the breeding rounds until later in the spring so, can afford to migrate further south.

And, no need to feel sorry for the males having to tough out the colder temperatures. Juncos have their own way to deal with the cold by adding close to 30 per cent more feather weight to prepare for winter. These members of the sparrow family are between 5-6 inches and way in at about 1/2 an ounce to 1 ounce. They will also team up with flock mates in particularly harsh temperatures, seeking cover in thick evergreens, tucked into tall grasses or brush piles to get protection from the winds.

I often see them going into our cedar hedge throughout the day and into the evening. Lately, during a heavy cold spell and high snow cover, I’ve noticed them hanging out in our wood pile that has a nice layer of fall leaves providing a solid roof covering in some areas. During heavy snow, Juncos will often tuck into the small chambers formed inside tall ornamental grasses. Just another good reason to leave your ornamental grasses standing throughout the winter, waiting until later in the spring to cut them down.

Where do Juncos nest?

As spring rolls around, males begin attracting a mate with their calls – a musical trilling of between 7-23 notes that lasts a couple of seconds at a time and is repeated over and over for up to half an our, often from a high branch.

The pairs are monogomous for that breeding period, but females will pick a new mae each breeding season. The female chooses the nest site and constructs it over a period of three to seven days, before laying 3-6 eggs. In woodlands, nests are typically either on the ground or near the ground, on a rockface or possibly in cavities of an uprooted tree. In more urban areas, Juncos may choose to build their nest in hanging baskets, on light fixtures, in the eves of buildings or on window ledges.

Incubation takes about two weeks and both parents feed the babies for about 14 days in the nest and several weeks after they fledge. Male Juncos will aggressively defend the nest against marauding birds during this time. Their alarm call sounds more like a scene out of star wars, with a buzzy Que, que que que call. In flight, you might pick up a soft, buzzing trill.

Presently, it is believed that their are 200 million breeding birds with roughly 80 per cent breeding within the boreal forest. Although, like all songbirds, their numbers are in decline, they are not listed as a conservation concern.

Nevertheless, it is imperative that gardeners continue to restore the native habitat for Juncos and other native birds.

Although Juncos are primarily seed eaters, about 75 per cent of their diet consists of seed either wild or provided in our feeders, they will shift their diets primarily to insects (beetles, moths, caterpillars etc) during the breeding and nest-rearing periods.

If you are looking to plant native to provide them with a natural seed sources, consider Goldenrod, chickweed, sorrel and lambs quarter.

Looking to attract more backyard birds?

How to attract the Tufted Titmouse

How to attract Goldfinches and other cool facts

Three common woodpeckers and how to tell them apart

How to attract Nuthatches

Attracting colourful birds to your feeders

Wildlife rescue: Living with foxes and other garden wildlife

Are foxes good or bad to have around the garden

All Photographs by Jennifer Howard

Count yourself lucky if you are fortunate enough to have a fox living in or visiting your garden on a daily basis.

Besides keeping rodents like mice and rats at bay, having a fox family living or visiting your woodland garden is likely a signal that your garden is healthy and offers good habitat for an upper level predator. That includes access to an abundant supply of food, water and shelter.

“If you are lucky enough to have a family of foxes move into your yard. Please try to let them stay. It’s a wonderful experience watching them raise their kits from a distance,” explains Jennifer Howard, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitator at Procyon Wildlife Centre in Beeton Ontario.

“They are incredible parents and to be honest, until the wee ones start to come out of the den at around 3 to 4 weeks you may not even know they are there,” she adds.

A beautiful photograph of a fox rambling through the garden.

Can foxes be removed from your yard humanely?

If having a family of foxes in your yard is unworkable, you may be able to gently convince the family to move on to another denning site.

“Foxes do have more than one den. If they are disturbed too much by their human neighbours the foxes will move their kits to another den,” explains Howard.

Playing music near the den and staying close by making some noise whenever possible might be enough to convince the parents to move the kits to a second den. You should never use loud noises to stress out the animals.

“But personally, if it were me,” says Howard. “I would be thrilled (with the fox family) and would work around it. And allow them their space. They have a hard enough time as it is living in our world of craziness, what is a few months of sharing. After all, it was their space first and we are taking it away at an alarming rate. It’s very sad,” she adds.

There is no need to feed foxes in the backyard. Foxes are perfectly capable of finding thier own prey. When they do, they pounce on their prey to stun it before eating it.

Should I feed foxes in my backyard?

Feeding foxes, unlike birds, is not a good idea. These upper level predators need to retain their wildness and eat a healthy, raw diet rather than become habituated to eating processed food provided by humans.

“They are wild,” says Howard. “both parents feed the kits and teach them how to hunt. They need to stay wild and eat the proper diet. The kits learn from their parents and you are not helping if you feed them. In fact, you may do them more harm.”

The only time Howard recommends feeding foxes is if the animals are being live trapped for medical reasons.

“They don’t need your help. They are born into this world to hunt live prey or eat road kill,” she explains.

But the biggest reason not to feed the foxes in your yard is the risk of the fox “losing their healthy fear of humans.”

“Not all humans are kind,” she says. “Because the foxes are not afraid to approach people for handouts, they may be shot or injured in some other way.”

Foxes that have been fed by a human can begin to approach other humans who think there is something wrong with the animals usually attributing the friendliness to rabies.

A fox makes itself at home in the garden, sitting in a wooden barrel.

Will feeding foxes attract other animals

“By feeding our furry critters you have no control over who you will attract – Opossums, raccoons, skunks, weasels, rabbits, and even bears,” says Howard.

Feeding foxes also creates the potential of increasing rodents in the backyard.

“Since rodents are the main food source for foxes, if you feed the foxes they may have no need to eat the rodents you have attracted. An abundance of rodents in the garden is never a good thing especially if they find a way into your home or shed.

Howard adds that feeding foxes could also attract a sick animal with distemper or mange to your yard, which, in turn, could infect otherwise healthy animals or even pets.

“Distemper is a horrible disease to which there is no cure,” she adds. “It affects the animal’s brain and it is the worst thing for wildlife rehabilitators because euthanasia is the only thing we can do,” adds Howard.

“Raccoons and skunks have been awful,” at the Procyon Wildlife Centre, explains Howard. “Raccoons carry raccoon roundworm which can be contagious to your pets and you. But raccoons show no sign of having the disease and it doesn’t harm them. Distemper can be passed to foxes as well. Do you still want to feed them? Keep them wild, let them hunt and forage for food the way Mother Nature intended them to do, and what they know to do. These are incredibly beautiful animals that have been forced to coexist among us. And they do that very well.

Will foxes attack our cat or dog?

Foxes have virtually no interest in attacking your cat and even less in attacking a dog. A fox’s life depends on staying healthy and any injury, even a small one that could result from say a cat’s claws, could end in death for the fox. These animals are too intelligent to pick a prey that is a potential threat to them. A mouse, grasshoppers and maybe a squirrel or rat are better choices.

It needs to be noted, however, that a kitten, puppy or very small dog might be prey for an adult fox, especially if it is feeding kits. These animals should never be left out alone in the backyard anyway.

“Let them continue to coexist on their own, they won’t eat your cats or dogs or attack you. You now must learn to coexist with them. It’s a beautiful relationship when it’s done right,” Howard adds.

More information from Ferns & Feathers on Foxes

The Fox Den in your backyard

Wildlife Rescue: The Year of the Fox

The urban fox and why we need them

Why do foxes scream

Wildlife Rescue: The year of the Fox

All photos courtesy of Jennifer Howard

Is mange in foxes fatal or easily cured?

The year 2021 will be memorable for the wildlife workers at Procyon Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre for one reason: Foxes and plenty of them.

The wildlife centre in Beeton Ontario north of Toronto was inundated with red foxes in need of help.

Most of the foxes that were rescued by centre staff suffered from mange, but a few were admitted for head trauma resulting from collisions with vehicles. All of the foxes were saved and most have been released. Depending on the severity of the mange, and how early it was caught, curing the animal can be relatively easy with proper administration of medication. However, if left untreated foxes will die from mange.

“In years past we would maybe get two, up to maybe five foxes in the wildlife centre,” explains Jennifer Howard, a volunteer rescuer and rehabilitator at the centre.

“At the moment we have four foxes in our care and, I believe, this is the most we have had in at one time,” Howard explained at the time this article was put together in late fall. “Usually it works out that one is ready to go when a new one comes in. It was almost like an assembly line of foxes coming and going. it was pretty crazy!”

“However in 2021 it was an extremely bad year for mange, Howard explains. In Innisfil (a small village in rural Ontario) alone I got 19 foxes all with mange in various stages. Plus we got a couple car collisions from other areas and other cases of mange from other areas. All total I believe about 28 red foxes were admitted last year.”

Some of those foxes celebrated New Years at the facility and were still getting treatment into january 2022.

And the situation does not appear to be letting up. Already, the wildlife centre has admitted its first fox of the year on January 6 with mange.

For more on the work wildlife rescue and rehabilitators perform, be sure to take a look at my entertaining and informative article about Angels For Wildlife.

This fox shows advanced mange illustrated by bare patches and crusty, scabs on the skin.

For those who may not know about Sarcoptic Mange, sometimes called canine scabies, it is a type of skin disease, caused by parasitic mites. The mites that cause mange in mammals embed themselves by burrowing into the animals’ skin or hair follicles.

If left untreated, mange will cause the animal intense itching from an allergic reaction to the mites’ feces. Severe crusting develops on the animal’s skin that often becomes infected. The combination of infection, crusting (often around the eyes) and hair loss can progress until the fox is unable to care for itself or hunt, and it loses the insulation from its fur resulting in a slow and painful death.

If you see or have foxes in your garden, check out this article on the Fox Den in your garden and helping fox with mange.

The good news is that, if the animal is rescued in time, treatment is simple enough that they can be returned to the wild in most cases in a few short weeks. Secondary problems that may or may not be related to the illness can be more difficult to treat and result in a longer stay at the wildlife center.

Ever heard a fox scream. It’s terrifying but fascinating. For more on why foxes scream, check out my post here.

(More on the identification and treatment of mange in foxes is spelled out in this earlier article in Ferns & Feathers about recognizing mange in foxes living in, or using your woodland/wildlife garden.)

The good news is that all the foxes at Procyon Wildlife Centre are doing well and are either already set free or are on the road back to freedom.

“Some of those foxes had other issues, sores on their rump, minor injuries on a leg or foot, or were severely emaciated. But mange was the dominating issue,” Howard explains.

Many of the foxes admitted last year were kits, but thankfully, they were old enough so no special treatment was needed in their care.

But, a few years back, there was a special, very young little fox that was found alone in the snow with its eyes still closed.

“She was found in the snow with some fur from the den around her. No one knew how she got there,” explains Howard.

The tiny fox “was hypothermic, hungry, dehydrated and in critical condition” when they rescued her.

One of Procyon’s board of directors and animal caregivers took her home for round-the-clock care. Residents in the area even “donated fur coats to us so we could swaddle the tiny fox in fur (just like she would have received from her mother).” A soft stuffed toy was added for her to cuddle.

“She was adorable. She came back and forth on the days her caregiver came in only after she was stable. She became more curious day by day and was handled by only her caregiver at that time,” explains Howard.

Her story, as told by her caregiver Sarah Marrs Bruce, is one staff won’t soon forget.

Talitha, a tiny rescued kit, needed round-the-clock care until it got old enough to begin eating on its own.

Meet Talitha: Procyon’s youngest and tiniest fox kit ever

When Talitha arrived, she had been called in as a baby raccoon.

This, most likely, was because her fur was still in the grey phase and not showing any of the typical red fox colouring yet. The colouring can take a few weeks to grow in, in the meantime serving as a part of the kit’s protection against predators – helping them blend into their dens.

She was still eyes-closed and estimated to be approximately 7-10 days old.

Staff used stuffed animals to keep Talitha comforted when she was alone.

She had been found in a snowbank surrounded by torn up fur that could have been from litter mates or her mother. It took a couple days to get her stabilized – warmed up and hydrated and able to handle diluted specialized formula.

She needed comfort but we needed to be very careful about not habituating her to humans. Once her eyes were open we provided her cuddle buddies that were stuffies (including one that had its own heartbeat). At the same time we blocked visual access to her caregiver (in an attempt to keep her as wild as possible.)

She progressed quite quickly from nursing on a “magic nipple” to eating a soft-porridge-like food made from a combination of species specific infant formula mixed with liquified kibble.

The images below show Talitha growing up with her buddy and her eventual release.

As soon as she could feed herself without assistance and was gaining weight reliably on her own, she was quickly moved into a larger outside enclosure to even further reduce her exposure to people. At that time we began searching throughout the province for another fox near her age that she could socialize with. Foxes are very social animals and it was essential to her development to be around other foxes to learn vocalizations and normal social behaviour with conspecifics.

“Caring for her was one of the highlights of my experiences as a volunteer and one that I won't ever forget. Her release together with another fox from the area was a joyful day for myself and several others.”

Work at the Centre never really ends

“After the baby stages, we are very careful to limit the handling of the animals to very few people, explains Howard, “Especially fawns, raccoons, foxes and coyotes, who are easily habituated to humans.”

Staff where gowns and masks and try not to speak in the presence of the animals. They only go out to feed and change the animal’s water at this point.

Rehabilitation Centres from other parts of the province work together to create the best environment for the animals to grow up knowing how to act and survive out in the wild.

“These species also need others of their kind, to bond with, play with, and learn from each other. That is of utmost importance so they do not get attached to their caregiver. We will search for others their age until we find one from other rehabilitation centres, then they either come to us or we go to them.”

In conclusion

The dedication and commitment shown by the volunteer staff at Procyon Wildlife Rehabilitation and Educational Centre is a testament to the type of people who have a special place in their hearts for our wild critters. This same dedication is to helping wildlife occurs everyday in rescue and wildlife refuges in the United States, Canada, the Europe, and throughout the world in countries big and small. Animals of all kinds, from the largest elephants to the tiniest creatures. As habitats are destroyed, either from natural calamities such as wildfires to the slow encroachment of urbanization, it is important for gardeners to do our part to recreate habitat in our yards for many of these creatures.

It is also falling to us to keep an eye on our backyard friends to ensure they are safe and free from illness. That includes everything from keeping our bird feeders and bird baths clean to stop the spread of disease, to taking immediate action if we see a sick or injured animal such as foxes suffering from mange in our woodland/wildlife gardens.

Take the time to look up your local wildlife refuge and make a donation. If you can donate your time or skills, I’m sure they would welcome it with open arms, if you cannot, a financial contribution to any one of these non-profit groups will go a long way to help them help our wild friends.

Ever wonder why foxes scream out in the night. Check out my story here.

The following are helpful Resources for homeowners looking for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation assistance

Worldwide

https://theiwrc.org/

In Canada

https://www.nwrfcanada.org/what-we-do

http://www.ontariowildliferescue.ca/contact.php

https://www.ontario.ca/page/find-wildlife-rehabilitator

https://www.wildlife-edm.ca/

In the United States

https://www.nwrawildlife.org/

• Here is an extensive state-by-state listing from the Humane Society of the United States on how to find a wildlife rehabilitator

https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/how-find-wildlife-rehabilitator

In the United Kingdom

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife/findarehabilitator

• The British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council includes a clickable download of UK rehabilitators

http://www.bwrc.org.uk/FindaRehabilitator

• Here is an extensive list of UK Animal Rescuers from Animal Rescuers.co.uk

http://www.animalrescuers.co.uk/html/wildcents.html

How to bring the magic of fireflies to your woodland garden

Capturing magic in your hands. A firefly lights up while it is being held.

Create the right habitat for attracting the firefly

Have you ever experienced the magic of a firefly, or better still, dozens of them lighting up the night sky?

If the answer is no, it’s time to get busy laying out the welcome mat for these intriguing little insects that can turn a summer night into pure theatre.

Like something out of a fantasy film, these warm glowing lights that emerge from the plants, grasses and trees in the garden for just a brief moment, capture our imaginations and, if you are like many of today’s gardeners, bring back memories of our childhoods when the woodlands, grasslands and even our own backyards were alive with the sparkling insects in desperate search of a mate.

It’s a shame that for so many of us, the experience is just a childhood memory.

That magical experience is still very much alive every summer in our backyard at the end of June.

And here’s why.

First, we live in an area where Fireflies are native to the area, but more importantly our garden is an invitation to them by actions we have not taken and steps we have taken to welcome them. There are about 2,000 different firefly species worldwide and, iin North America alone, there are close to 200 different fireflies. It’s time to bring some into our yards.

An impressive display of fireflies beautifully synchronized in displays of yellow-green flashes in the Appalachian mountains.

Let’s start with the actions we have taken to attract fireflies:

• Create a wood pile in the backyard

• plant native trees especially pine trees, grasses, sedges and plants to encourage them into your yard

• Provide them with water in the garden, preferably a small fishless pond.

• Turn bright lights off. You don’t need them. If you must, use lights on motion detectors.

• We have allowed a large open compost of the finest woodland soil to develop untouched over many years. The larvae of fireflies prefer moist, woodland soil with plenty of organic material.

Steps we have not taken:

• We have not picked up leaves in the fall, instead allowing them to fall naturally into our woodland where many of them gather around plants during the cold winter months providing safe, warm areas for insects

• Refrain from cutting the grass on a weekly schedule in spring into early summer allowing it to grow longer than usual.

• Choose not to use any broad spectrum pesticides in the garden and especially on the grass

A firefly grasps on to a blade of grass waiting for dark to put on its incredible light show.

What so many woodland gardeners may not realize is that our gardens are ideal habitat for fireflies, and like so many other insects, birds and butterflies, these unique insects are in real need of good habitat to keep their numbers up. Our gardens can be an important provider of that habitat if we are careful to provide the right conditions.

The firefly website is packed with information as well as guides and resources to help you develop habitat for these unique insects.

The Firefly Conservation & Research group besides being a fount of information for gardeners looking to create habitat for these insects, is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by a firefly researcher in Texas by the name of Ben Pfeiffer.

When Ben, a Texas State University biology major, beekeeper and certified naturalist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, noticed a decline in fireflies, he stepped in to help. He created the website with two missions in mind: One, to educate the public on threats to fireflies; and two, provide a public resource to help gardeners and landowners take the necessary steps to help fireflies.

“It was maybe 2008 when I noticed the fireflies in South Texas were disappearing,” Ben says. “There weren’t as many as I remembered when I was a kid. And then I heard a report on firefly decline on NPR Radio that confirmed it,” he states on his website.

So why should we help fireflies?

Well, for selfish reasons of course. How else can we turn our gardens into magical places where the show goes on for days (make that evenings) even weeks. Oh, and when the show is closed for the season, the larvae of the parent insects spend their time helping us gardeners by eating the snails, slugs and various other insects that call our garden home.

Can we ask for a better guest in our gardens?

More importantly, the habitats of fireflies, like so many of our native insects and pollinators are quickly disappearing. Researchers blame this disappearance on two main factors: over development and light pollution.

Firefly larvae prefer to live in the rotting, damp wood and forest litter around ponds, streams and generally wet areas.
Ben explains in the firefly Conservation & Research website that: “Their environment of choice is warm, humid and near standing water of some kind – ponds, streams and rivers, or even shallow depressions that retain water….”

It doesn’t take much to realize that these type of areas are quickly disappearing in nature and certainly in many backyards where gardeners are too concerned about creating the “tidy” garden and any sign of standing water removed or saturated with insecticide.

Scientists also point to increasing light pollution as a source for the decline in fireflies. The light caused by humans is believed to interrupt firefly flash patterns, critical to their communication and mating patterns.

“Where fireflies once had uninterrupted forests and fields to live and mate, homes with landscaped lawns and lots of exterior lights are taking over. The reduction of habitat and the increase in lighting at night may all be contributing to make fireflies more rare,” the firefly Conservation & Research site states.

Larval habitat for fireflies is critical

Creating habitat for the larval stage is critical to attracting them to your woodland garden.

More specifically, “Fireflies spend up to 95 per cent of their lives in larval stages. They live in soil/mud/leaf litter and spend from 1-2 years growing until finally pupating to become adults. This entire time they are eating anything they can find,” the Firefly Conservation and Research website states.

If that’s not enough to convince you to do all you can to lay out the welcome mat, the adults that only live 2-4 weeks, put on a fireworks show for your enjoyment before laying eggs in the moist, organic soil of your woodland garden.

Fireflies fall under the winged beetles category (Coleoptera) and although they are best know for their bioluminescence used to attract mates, not all fireflies produce this light.

Depending on where you live, you may be blessed with an abundant of firefly species. If you are lucky enough to live in and around New England, you might be able to count up to 30 species.

According to the Firefly Conservation & Research website, fireflies can be classified “under five main subfamilies, with with the Photinus in the Lampyridinae subfamily being the the most common in North America. It measures about a half-inch long and produce a yellowish-green light.

The one you are likely to see in your backyard at night is the eastern firefly (Photinus pyralis). It sports a reddish head area with black and yellow striped wings.

In the United States in parts of the Appalachian mountains lives a firefly (Photinus carolinus) that performs an incredible display of beautifully synchronized displays of yellow-green flashes in May and June.

In conclusion

I urge every gardener to consider taking the necessary steps to provide habitat for the elusive firefly so that future generations can enjoy these magical insects not only in wild areas but in gardens around the world.

Take a few minutes to check out Ben’s informative website to get further information on how you can help the fireflies. You may also consider making a donation to his site and the work he is doing to help protect our magical summers for years to come. You can make a donation to firefly: Conservation and Research here.

How to create bird artwork from digital watercolour paintings

Turn backyard birds and garden photos into works of art

Since digital images became mainstream in the world of photography, learning to manipulate pixels has become increasingly important for serious photographers.

For garden photographers, artistic interpretations can turn your favourite flower and bird images into beautiful works of art. And who doesn’t appreciate artwork of birds.

There was a time photographers really didn’t need to know about software programs. Jpegs, tiffs and RAW images had not been born and perfect exposure was crucial to keeping an image or throwing it in the wastebasket.

This digital image of a hummingbird at a Cardinal flower is a good example of how it’s possible to create works of art with your photographs.

Go here for more Hummingbird images including digital art.

Much of their “artistic creations” centered around in-camera techniques such as selective focus as shown by the colourful tulips (above).

For more on selective focus in garden photography check out my article on photographing snow in summer.

(If you are interested in exploring garden photography at a higher level, be sure to check out my comprehensive post on the Best camera and lens for Garden Photography.)

Today, if you take photography at all serious, you not only need to know the basics of photo manipulation, you almost need to be an expert in some way.

These days my main photo data base and manipulation program is without a doubt Lightroom Classic, but it’s not the program I use to transform my photographic images into watercolour paintings.

This artwork of a bird was created from a photograph taken in the garden and then manipulated in post processing with programs like Photoshop and Lightroom.

While most photographers focused on improving their images, I have always been interested in transforming my images into a more artistic interpretation of that same photograph. Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time playing with the likes of the many variations of Photoshop before discovering Painter (Mac Link) (Windows Painter link) – a program that can best be described as a fine artists’ version of Photoshop. In other words Painter is to artists, what Photoshop is to photographers.

This seemed a perfect marriage to achieve my goals of turning photographic images into works of art, accept without any formal training in fine art, and facing more tools, paintbrushes and artistic choices than I could imagine, to say I was a little overwhelmed was an understatement.

This artwork of a female cardinal was created from a photograph that got the creative treatmen in programs like Photoshop, Painter and Lightroom.

After “a lot” of computer time trying to understand the intricacies of Painter, I eventually taught myself the basics and proceded to work on animal portraits for hours and sometimes days to get them where I wanted.

For my animal portraits, I used a process that involved meticulously going into the original photograph and softly smudging tiny areas of the image to create a sort of painterly effect. For the most part, all this tedious work went unnoticed in the final versions, but it all served as a learning process and, to this day, I still like the results.

Since the animal portraits, I have continued experimenting with painterly images.

Fast forward to today. I no longer use Painter for my artistic endeavours and still can honestly say that I have no clue what I’m doing, but I am getting happier with some of the results.

And, there is no better way to pass time in the cold winter months than taking an afternoon going over some of your favourite images, isolating ones that you think might make nice watercolour images, and experimenting with one of the many programs you may already have to create your own works of art.

This creative interpretation of a Goldfinch in a snowstorm was created from a photograph and turned into artwork of a bird.

Right now I’m using a free program that you download from the web called GIMP, which is an excellent substitute for Photoshop.

The equivalent “free” program for Painter fans is Krita, another excellent program that has endless possibilities for artists looking to experiment in the digital world.

The GIMP community – particularly the available YouTube videos – make learning the program relatively easy and extremely enjoyable. Following the step-by-step procedures on the various YouTube channels will have even the most inexperienced user creating nice images in a relatively short time.

Prior to Photoshop and other digital manipulation programs, photographers used selective focus techniques like the tulip image above to create more artistic images. Selective focus can still be a very effective way to bring an artistic feel to your garden images.

Try searching “Turning photos into art” and you will be rewarded with a host of videos that will start you down the path to your particular artistic vision. Not all the videos focus on turning your images into watercolour images. Many focus on pencil drawings (which I have also experimented with), digital drawings, pastels…

After learning the basics from YouTube, I proceeded to develop my own method of creating the watercolour images from my photographs. Although the procedure for each image is similar, I like to let the original image dictate the various steps needed to attain the finished result.

It’s difficult to give you a step-by-step guide on how to create these images because I like to think each image is it’s own work of art and I rarely approach each image in the same manner.

I will, however, provide some guidelines that will help you get started as well as a general guideline of the steps I take in creating an image.

This image combines a Junco and a background of a frost-covered forest floor for an interesting example of using photography to create bird artwork.

Five tips to turn your photographs into artistic interpretations

1) Start with a slightly overexposed image to provide the basic structure of a delicate watercolour image.

2) Recognize that the subject does not have to be tack sharp for an effective image. The process of transforming the image into a digital painting does not call for tack-sharp images.

3) Always use layers (photoshop, Painter, GIMP and KRITA and most photo manipulation programs offer them) so that each manipulation can be done separately and the layer can be discarded and redone if you have problems.

4) Consider purchasing a Wacom drawing tablet or adding a pen to your existing ipad if it is compatible that allows you to paint directly on the screen.

5) Your finished result looks its best if the main image has a gradual softening leading to the edge of the image and includes a white border surrounding the edge of the painting.

6) When you are satisfied with the image, you must flatten the layers into a single image to save it as a jpeg. Be sure to first save it with all the layers first, so that you can go back to it and make changes.

This Tufted Titmouse, with its hint of rust under its wing, created a lovely painterly image.

Creating the image in GIMP: A step-by-step guide

To put it mildly, the process can be complicated.

Without getting too specific, let’s just say the process starts by creating 6 or 7 layers of the original image.

Each layer is given an appropriate name to help identify it while you are working.

The first layer I create is a rough watercolour layer using the filter “waterpixels.” I follow that layer up with another “waterpixel” layer that has finer details.

The next layer is created using the cartoon filter and manipulated in such a way as to obtain what you think is just the right amount of underlying black lines in the image. This helps to create the illusion that the image was first sketched out with a light pencil

The next layer is usually created with a white tracing paper over it. By reducing the opacity slightly, the image faintly emerges through the tracing paper.

Now take the erasure, pick one of the texture brushes from the assortment of brushes or you can create your own. Set the opacity to somewhere between 60-80 per cent. Begin dabbing the image, starting in the centre or on the main subject. Continue dabbing it (removing the tracing paper) but leaving the edges white.

At this stage you can turn the opacity on this layer to its maximum to see how the image is developing.

Next, continue erasing the white tracing paper until the image emerges the way you like it.

It’s a good idea to change brushes and opacity as you are working the image with the erasure tool.

Once you get it looking the way you want, it is time to add some paint splatters. This time choose the paint brush rather than the erasure and pick one of the splatter brushes.

Use the eyedropper to obtain a colour you think will work well as paint splotches. I usually try to keep the splotches very subtle.

Splatter the corners of the image but keep it subtle by leaving the opacity of the spatters very low.

Finally, add another layer with a white background and pick the filter “canvas” or “clothify” or, if you have them, various art papers. This one will need major adjustment to get it to blend in with the image without obstructing the visual presence. I find using the “multiply” mode can work well.

At this point you have the basic elements of the painting, but you now have to go into each layer, find the best opacity for your particular image and the best blend mode. That can take a lot of time and experimentation to get it looking the way you want.

Obviously, this process is not created with a one-click “painterly image filter” in photoshop.

There are programs and apps that will allow you to turn an image into a photograph, but the results vary too much to depend on them to create the image you desire.

Besides, it takes all the creative inspiration out of the finished result.

This process is not meant to provide immediate satisfaction for the artist. Each image needs its own approach, but once you have mastered the process, recognizing the necessary steps given a particular type of image, becomes a simpler process.

The amount of time it takes to create an image might come down to an hour or two rather than an entire afternoon. And, if you save it properly, you can go back later and continue to work with it.

Who knows, maybe if you like the results you’ll be inspired to turn your works of art into a lovely book or your garden art. This year I created my first Garden Photographic Book, maybe next year it’ll be a book of Garden Watercolour images.

In conclusion

There are days, especially in the cold of winter, that I barely come out of my office because I am too wrapped up in working on digital images of some of my favourite garden images. Some are a complete failure and I am still trying to figure out which images work best. I think, snow images work well simply because of the already delicate feel to the them.

No matter, there is no better way to pass the time than to sit down at your computer, push some pixels around and work some artistic magic with a fine cup of coffee (or wine) and your favourite music playing.

It doesn’t matter if you are the only one who feels the magic.

How do our bright yellow Goldfinches get their colour

A digital watercolour image of an American Goldfinch sitting out a winter storm.

Bright yellow bird’s colour change and the common thistle

The story of the American Goldfinch’s bright yellow colour and why it changes from a drab greyish brown in winter to a stunning bright yellow in early spring really begins with, and is tied to, its diet of almost entirely seeds – primarily seeds from its favourite food, the thistle plant.

If you want these colourful “wild canaries” in your woodland garden, let the thistles grow in a corner of your yard or, if you want to watch these beautiful little finches attack your thistles, plant them near your favourite sitting area or a window. Be sure to include sunflowers and milkweed as well for some spectacular late summer entertainment.

What you will notice is that later in summer these thistles and other native plants will begin to flower and put out seed just in time for the Goldfinches to take advantage of this abundance of seed to feed their, most likely, one and only brood of nestlings.

Okay, so what does this have to do with the male Goldfinch taking on its bright yellow spring colour and the female’s subtle soft yellow coat?

It is thought that the timing of the moult and the transformation into its beautiful yellow plumage in spring is related, at least in part, to natural seed production. The Goldfinch’s late winter/spring moult is unusual because most birds can’t use up that much energy in spring when they are trying to raise their nestlings, but because Goldfinches depend almost entirely on the consumption of seed, they are able to nest later in the season following a spring moult.

American Goldfinches are unusual among goldfinches in moulting their body feathers twice a year, once in late winter and again in late summer. The late summer moult takes place after the nestlings are born and are more independent of their parents.

Of course, the male’s bright colour relates to the mating season, but unlike most birds that begin nesting in early spring timed in part to the explosion of insect and larvae life that feeds their nestlings, Goldfinches breed later and feed its nestlings almost entirely seeds.

Check this link for more on the American Goldfinch and attracting colourful birds to your yard

An American Goldfinch quietly waiting for its turn at the Nyjer bird feeder during an early winter snowstorm that helps explain the bird’s still-vibrant plumage colours.

When do Goldfinches begin nest building?

Goldfinches don’t begin their mating ritual and nest building until later in the summer – June and July in the eastern part of their range and as early as May and June in their western ranges. By this later date, the transformation from drab, easily overlooked birds to the stunning yellow plumage of the males and more subtle yellow of the females is usually completed. In fact, by late April the moult is usually complete and the birds can begin building back any energy lost as a result of the moult.

The birds’ almost entire dependency on small seeds also mean they don’t need to rely on insects. This is particularly helpful during winter months when insects are in short supply and helps explain the fact that few of the birds migrate far distances if at all.

Moving water proves too much of an attraction for these male and female American Goldfinches. The male can be seen with its black cap waiting for its turn in the bird bath.

Cool facts about the Goldfinch

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in their informative website, provided some of the following facts:

• Goldfinches incorporate the fibrous seeds of thistle and milkweed, which they also use to feed their young, into their nests.

• Goldfinches begin moulting in September, and continue for six to eight weeks During this time they molt all of their feathers, ending up with a completely new set of drab-coloured feathers heading into winter.

• In the spring, as new body feathers are grown, the males especially transform into bright yellow breeding plumage, but the wing and tail feathers remain from the previous fall.

• American Goldfinches are among the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, only inadvertently swallowing an occasional insect.

• American Goldfinch nestlings usually leave the nest two weeks after hatching but continue to be fed by the parents for a period of time.

• Although American Goldfinches traditionally only have one brood, an experienced couple may have a second brood. In this case the female builds the new nest while the male continues to feed the first brood.

• Brown-headed Cowbirds that lay eggs in an American Goldfinch nest can’t survive on the all-seed diet and perish quickly.

• The oldest known American Goldfinch was 10 years 9 months old when it was recaptured and rereleased during a banding operation in Maryland.

A Golfinch looks for seed in the Woodland Wildlife garden where it feeds almost entirely on the seed of native plants and trees.

Where do Goldfinches get this bright yellow colour

This cheerful bright yellow plumage of the male Goldfinch and to a lesser degree the females comes from carotenoids in the plants and plant seeds that they ingest.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology explains in their article on How Birds Make Colourful Feathers that: “Carotenoids are responsible for the bright yellows seen in goldfinches and Yellow Warblers as well as the brilliant orangish yellow of the male Blackburnian Warbler. Carotenoids can interact with melanins to produce colours like the olive-green of the female Scarlet Tanager.”

Some bird species, whose feathers remain the same colour year round, such as the Cardinal, Blue Jay or Chickadee, the annual moult serves to simply refresh their plumage. Others, like the Goldfinch, use the moult as an opportunity to change their colours from vibrant breeding ones to those that help to camouflage them from predators. The bright yellow plumage of the Goldfinch would do little to hide them in the stark winter landscape. For American goldfinch, that means going through a second moult in the spring, to regain their bright breeding colours.

What other natural seeds do Goldfinches eat?

Thistles are not the only seeds eaten by these small birds. Their strong beaks allow them to open an assortment of seeds including another one of their favourites – sunflower seeds. They also eat seeds from asters, wild grasses and several trees including alder, birch, western red cedar and elm.

Most of us are familiar with the popular (but expensive to purchase) Nyjer seed which is used almost exclusively in special feeders to attract these birds. Although most people think Nyjer seed is the seed of the thistle plant, it is actually the similarly small, thin, black seed from the African yellow daisy (Guizotia abyssinica). Though unrelated to the thistle plant, it is high in oil and a popular source of food for the Goldfinch.

What to do if Goldfinches are not eating your Nyjer seed

Nyjer seed should always be purchased from a reputable seller preferably one that has a high seed turnover because older seed quickly dries out and loses its nutritional benefits. If you notice that finches stop eating from your feeder despite the fact it is full of Nyjer seed you may have just recently put out for them, it is likely that the oil in the seed has dried out and it is no longer useful. At that point it is best to dispose of it and purchase new, fresh seed.

In addition, Nyjer seed is easily spoiled when it gets wet. Even condensation building up at the bottom of the tube feeder can cause the seed to go rancid. Replace and clean the feeders on a regular basis to keep the Goldfinches coming back regularly.

If American Goldfinches are coming regularly to your feeder, September and October is a good time to pay particular attention to them. It is at this time of year that they transition from their stunning golden colour to gray.

Once the transformation is complete the Goldfinches can still be identified by their wings which are mostly black with a thick, buffy bar and white edging during flight.

In conclusion

As Woodland Wildlife gardeners we are often told about the importance of using native plants in our gardens to not only help protect these often threatened species, but to provide birds, pollinators and other predators with a critical food source – either pollen and nectar or the protein provided by insects and caterpillars who live off of them.

The American Goldfinch provides the perfect example of how these native plants provide an important source of food in the form of seeds. In fact, the entire life cycle, mating, giving birth, even moulting is dependent in some way on the production of seeds from a specific group of plants and trees.

For the ill informed, these critical plants, namely thistle and milkweed, are not often desirable plants to have in our gardens and are shunned by many traditional “tidy up” gardeners.

Maybe these gardeners would prefer to pay for an endless supply of Nyjer seed to feed the few Goldfinches that are passing through rather than let the birds natural food source grow in a corner of their yard.

Never has it been more important to embrace native plants and because of the dwindling supply of natural seeds you may be doubly rewarded for your efforts to grow these critically important native plants.

The Fox den: How to find and identify it in the garden

How to help foxes with Mange

Finding and identifying a fox den can be either extremely difficult if it is a new, recently dug den site, or quite easy if it is a well-used den with multiple entrances and exits.

If you have a fox den in your garden and notice they are developing Mange, go to the bottom of this story for guidelines on how to help the fox fight off mange.

A well-disguised den can be as simple as a small entrance tucked under the roots of a mature tree hidden by tall grasses. The more complex dens that have been used for several years can have multiple exits and entrances (sometimes even into the teens) and a maze of deep underground tunnels that allow the foxes easy escape if a predator enters one of the den tunnels.

In our woodland gardens, however, dens are often more easily discovered in the spring after the vixen digs a den under a small building such as a garden shed or deck. The kits – usually between 1-10 in each litter – are usually born between March and May. In fact, a number of studies in the U.K. found that urban foxes were attracted to the convenience of building dens under the roof of a garden shed. A study in Bristol found 37 per cent of dens were dug under backyard garden sheds. Similar studies reported foxes found a home under a shed 15 per cent in Oxford and 25 per cent in an area of London. An Australian study found that 44 per cent of urban foxes set up their dens under some form of building.

Five tips to find and identify a Fox den

1. A fresh mound of dirt and a hole about a foot in diameter.

2. Within a few feet of the den you may find animal remains at times. there should be evidence of predation because fox will often eat their prey near the den

3. location of the den is often near former, well-used dens where the fox have moved on to construct a new den.

4. Fox will often create a den on the side of a steep bank in typically well-drained gravelly soil. The fox parents will often use the top of the bank as a lookout where they search the area for predators.

5. There will often be well travelled trails leading to the main denning site as well as less pronounced trails leading to secondary entrances of the denning site.

If a fox family chooses your garden for its denning site, don’t be surprised if you hear them communicating at night either through soft sounds or through very loud bone chilling “screams.”

In addition, be thankful that your urban fox family will do an outstanding job of clearing your garden of rats and mice which they prey on to keep the kits well fed.

Also, don’t be surprised if things like leather work gloves or shoes begin to go missing in your gardens. Parent foxes will often steal from the garden and bring them to the kits who use them as “toys” that begin to teach them the basics of hunting.

This den, which is actually nothing more than a teel culvert on the side of a busy road near my home, has been used for at least two years.

How long does a fox family use the den?

It’s important to remember that foxes do not treat the den like a what we would call a traditional home. Foxes, not unlike birds, build the den as a short-term location used primarily to give birth and raise their kits in relative safety.

The den is also used to store caches of food as well a safe place to go during severe weather, especially during extreme cold winter days or in stormy weather.

It is not a lifelong residence or even a location where the fox family would remain for a full year. They may visit the site on occasion, but normally only for brief periods.

The family usually leaves the den in a matter of weeks, often moving to another location, as the kits begin to explore or go out in the world to find their own way.

Foxes will often carve out a den below the roots of a dead tree.

What if a fox family takes up residence in your garden?

If a fox decides to make your garden the location to raise its family, consider it an honour. The parent foxes have decided that your property offers what they need to safely raise their family – which includes an ample source of food and water nearby and a location where they feel safe from other predators.

The Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC), a highly respected animal rights organization in Canada, state on its website that both “foxes and coyotes are an important part of our shared, local ecosystems. By understanding their normal habits and behaviours, we can learn to coexist peacefully and even develop a deeper appreciation for our wild neighbours.”

The organization does recognize that there are times when a fox family builds a “den to raise their young underneath porches or in earth banks on urban properties. Most people count themselves quite lucky to be onlookers to such a fascinating nursery, but on rare occasions where the den is in a truly unsuitable area, fox and coyote residents can sometimes be encouraged to move their pups to an alternate den site using simple harassment methods.”

The Wildlife Centre states on its website that “playing talk radio and sprinkling human urine next to the den opening for several days is often enough to convince the family to move on.” Putting sweat-soaked socks in the area is also unappealing for fox and coyote families and has been successful in encouraging the family to choose a new site.

Are foxes a threat to humans and pets?

TWC goes on to explain that “under normal circumstances foxes and coyotes are not a threat to people.” They do warn, however, that animals “who have been habituated because they were fed are still unlikely to initiate any contact with people, but they occasionally may come too close for comfort.”

TWC is quick to point out that “limiting human food sources is the best way to prevent conflicts with foxes and to help keep them wild.”

Smaller pets including cats and dogs are traditionally not in danger around a fox, but could be attcked by coyotes if left unattended in the backyard.

Foxes have actually been known to get along with both cats and dogs to the point where they often become garden friends, playing and even napping beside one another.

It’s best, however, too never leave small pets alone outside in either urban or rural backyards. There are just too many dangers in both environments, including larger, more aggressive pets that could get into the yard and attack smaller pets.

How to help a fox with mange: Call a professional

When we first moved into our home more than 20 years ago, fox were a common sight in the neighbourhood. Shortly after moving in, however, mange went through the local fox population killing most of the resident foxes. It took them years to recover, but today a fox sighting is almost a daily experience if you keep an eye out for them at both ends of the day.

Mange continues to be a serious threat for these animals and one of the main issues animal rehabilitaters deal with every year.

Mange is caused by a burrowing mite (Sarcoptes scabiei) which infests the skin of foxes and other canids from our own pet dogs to coyotes and wolves. The resultant scratching causes significant trauma to the skin which develops thick grey, foul smelling crusts with extensive hair loss. As a result, the animals become so sick that they are unable to hunt leading to a painful death.

If you notice a fox in your garden developing a case of mange, it’s best to contact an animal rehabilitater who can provide the best care possible for the fox.

Jennifer Howard, an Ontario animal rebilitator with Procyon Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Centre in Beeton, Ontario, emphasises that the first step is to call your local wildlife rehabilitater right away. To find a list of licensed wildlife rehabilitators in Ontario visit Ontario Wildlife Rescue. Individual States have their own organizations you can contact in the U.S. and similar groups are available in the United Kingdom.

She explains that not all vets are wildlife trained and dealing with mange requires the expertise of trained rehabilitaters.

Some fox enthusiasts suggest homeowners give a fox with mange Ivermectin in food set out for them, but Howard warns that doing that could be dangerous to both the fox and other animals.

“I know we will not give or recommend Ivermectin to anyone,” she explains. “We give it by injection at Procyon every 2 weeks with usually 2 doses doing the job or sometimes 3 doses. Ivermectin can also be given by mouth once a week. But you need the weight of the fox before administering it,” she explains.

“When we bring the fox in or any animal in the first thing we do is weigh it. That’s important to get the proper dose of meds. Ivermectin can be dangerous because there are certain breeds of dogs that can die if they ingest it, other wildlife can die if they ingest it, and without proper weight you can cause an overdose in the fox.” Howard explains.

“We had a fox come in to the centre January 6th that we weighed twice because it said she was 6.5 kg. She is a mangy fox and normally they are underweight. She sure surprised us. Some come in very tiny but don’t look it. What I’m saying here is there is no way of really estimating their weight properly. And some need more than mange meds, they may need eyes flushed and or antibiotics, wounds dressed etc. even heat lamps.”

Howard explains that “Bravecto is what we give them just before they are released into the wild as it protects them for another 12 weeks. But that too is toxic to certain other animals. You must be absolutely certain and mindful that the right animal would get it and that isn’t always doable. It’s kind of like, if your not experienced or trained under a wildlife rehab do not give meds. Our vets even say ‘no. It’s too risky.’”

Howard explains that she knows that in the U.S. things are different and even here in Canada people do administer meds on their own, but “you may actually do more harm than good if it goes wrong. And other animals, including pets, can die.”

Bravecto, she explains, can kill cats and other wild animals.

You’re not going to toss a medicated piece of meat out into the yard and run out to try grab it if the wrong wild animal or random feral cat or someone’s pet comes in to snatch it up. I know my dog is bad at grabbing things and fast, even though it is on a leash. … And that’s what we are there for, to help,” she explains.

Howard says there are “exceptions to this rule with, say a nursing vixen with mange. But, again call a wildlife rehab expert and they will help you. Always make that call. It’s so important, never ever take it into your own hands. Otherwise you may take a life instead of save one,” she warns.

Can mange be passed on to our dogs or humans

The simple answer to whether mange can be passed on to our pets and even humans is yes. Certainly our canid family members are susceptible to it, but it can be passed on to humans as well, although the mites are not able to complete their life stages on humans and usually result only in severe itchiness in humans.

How is the inside of the den constructed

If a family of foxes to decide to dig a den in your yard, you’ll likely only be aware of it because of a small entrance hole. What’s behind the hole can vary greatly.

The inside of a typical fox den can be as simple as a hollowed out room at the end of an entrance tunnel that may stretch up to seven metres or 23 feet in length. There have been reports of tunnels as long as 17 metres (56 feet). The longer tunnels with multiple exits is often the result of a den that has been expanded over several seasons and quite possibly by multiple fox couples.

Do foxes sleep in dens?

Although a family of foxes may sleep together in the den, the parents mostly sleep outside close enough to the den where they can monitor any threat that may appear, while the kits remain in the den.

In conclusion

Woodland gardeners should feel honoured to have a family of foxes living on their property. Besides being excellent for rodent control, a fox family will provide hours of entertainment in your garden, especially in early morning when you are enjoying your first cup of coffee, and later in the day when we are enjoying our first glass of wine.

In an urban setting, the fox is often the top predator in the area. Creating an environment that attracts a top predator probably means you are doing a lot of things right in your woodland garden. Embrace their presence and enjoy them in your yard while you watch over them. Keep an eye on them to ensure their safety and, if they are injured or sick, take the necessary steps to either nurse them back to health or ensure they get to professional rehabilitators that can help them.

Before you know it, the family will likely move on leaving you with only fond memories of the fox family that chose your yard to raise their young.

Consider it an honour.

Three common woodpeckers and how to tell them apart

Downy, Hairy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers: What they eat

Woodpeckers are probably the most common bird at our feeders most winter days.

Between the Downy, Hairy and Red-Bellied there always seems to be at least a couple working the seed cylinder that sits atop our feeder pole, or one of the many suet feeders that provide them with a high-fat source of food when the weather turns colder. It’s also common to see them flitting about searching out the Bark Butter and DIY feeders I leave on home-made snags that have been set up around the feeders. They will also readily take the black-oil sunflower seed in the feeders.

Although they are among the most frequent visitors to our feeders, their primary food source is without a doubt insects and larvae of all kinds. In fact, even in winter when insects are sparse, these woodpeckers keep busy using their long beaks to probe under or between bark in search of insects.

For more on feeding backyard birds check out these articles on The Tufted Titmouse, Seed cyclinders, Attracting Orioles, attracting Indigo Buntings.

The vibrant red head of the Red-Bellied Woodpecker complete with its zebra-like plummage across its back helps to give it a very distinguished look.

How woodpeckers catch insects

All woodpeckers share a number of special anatomical features that allow them to dig or violently carve holes in wood. Their chisel-shaped bills are constructed of strong bone overlaid with a hard covering that broadens toward the birds’ heads helping to spread the force of the birds’ heavy pecking. Woodpeckers even have a covering of feathers over their nostrils to help filter out wood splinters and dust that is generated during their aggressive pounding on trees.
Woodpeckers also boast long, barbed tongues that includes a sticky substance that enables them to search crevices and cracks for insects and larvae.

How to identify woodpeckers at the feeder

It’s easy to mistake one woodpecker from another considering all three are primarily black and white birds with similarly longish beaks. Their size and a few specific identification markings will help you identify these three birds at your feeder. Distinguishing between the Downy (actually the smallest woodpecker in North America) and the Hairy is difficult at times but with a little practise the differences become more obvious.

The Red-Bellied Woodpecker with just a hint of the red belly showing here.

Identifying the Red-Bellied Woodpecker

It’s not too difficult to identify the Red-bellied Woodpecker from its Downy and Hairy counterparts, but don’t look for a bright red belly to easily identify this larger woodpecker.

These birds do sport a spot of red on their belly but the marking is so subtle that it is easily missed unless you have a clear view of the birds’ underside.

Probably the easiest way to identify the Red-Bellied Woodpecker is its sheer size, in comparison to many other woodpeckers. Look for a black and white clear zebra-like pattern that runs down their backs with the male displaying red on its forehead, crown, and nape while the female only has red on her nape with a grey forehead and crown.

Red-bellied vs Red Headed woodpecker

Although the Red-Bellied Woodpecker might be mistaken for the Hairy Woodpecker, at least when comparing the size of the birds, a better comparison is probably made with the more elusive Red-headed Woodpecker. Size wise they are similar, but unlike the Red-Bellied Woodpeckers’ zebra-like pattern on its back, the Red-Headed Woodpecker has a solid black back with large white wing patches (not unlike the larger Pileated Woodpecker). Of course, the entirely red heads of both male and female Red-Headed Woodpeckers are easy distinquishing marks compared to Red-bellied woodpeckers’ where the male sports a large partial red cap.

A Downy Woodpecker identified by its smaller beak and the spotted outward tail feathers.

Comparing the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers

There is no doubt that in the world of woodpeckers, distinguishing between the Downy and Hairy woodpeckers is the most difficult. The two main differences between the two is size and their tail markings, with size being the easiest distinguishing factor of the two.

Both sport primarily black and white zebra-style feathers down their backs (not unlike the Red-bellied Woodpecker) with a white stripe down the back from the shoulders to their rump, white bellies and flanks, and black eye patches. So, at first glance, they look very much like the same birds.

Besides the size difference – the Downy is considerably smaller measuring in at about six inches compared to the much larger Robin-sized Hairy that stands about 50 per cent taller than the Downy – pay attention to the birds’ bills. The Downy’s bill is delicate and smaller – about a third the size of the Hairy’s much stronger, stout bill.

The larger Hairy Woodpecker sporting a larger beak and clear white outward tail feathers.

Finally, if all the above fails to convince you of what you are seeing, the Downy woodpecker’s outer tail feathers are barred with black, while the Hairy sports all-white outer tail feathers.

Most important, is how to remember the names of the two similar looking Woodpeckers. I use a word association that has never failed me – The Downy is the Diminutive one. In other words, the Downy is always the smaller and more Delicate of the two woodpeckers.

Where do these woodpeckers live?

Downy Woodpecker looking for a snack among the lichen growing on the branch.

Downy woodpecker at home in wooded areas

The diminutive Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens lives year-round across much of North America and is considered the most common woodpecker in eastern North America where it can be found nesting in holes in trees.

It is at home in a variety of wooded areas, including northern mixed forests and in the deciduous forests to the south. It’s equally at home in smaller urban woodlots and parklands, in orchards and in backyards with appropriate tree cover.

In its westerly range, the birds can be found in alder and willows.

Hairy Woodpecker’s beak catches the light. Notice the feathers just in front of its eyes that help to filter wood splinters as well as wood dust from getting into the bird’s lungs.

The Hairy Woodpecker likes more mature forests

The larger Hairy Woodpeckers are more often found in more mature forests across North America. Although the Hairy and Downy woodpeckers share many of the same habitat, the Hairy woodpeckers need larger trees to live and successfully breed. It’s for this reasons that their numbers are thought to be declining in many areas where they are forced to compete with Starlings and House Sparrows.

Hairy woodpeckers will accept a wide variety of habitats from woodlands to river groves, they need large trees in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forest locations.

Although they can be found almost all over North America even up into Alaska and down through the southern states, some birds from the northern edge of their range may move well south in winter, while some who spend summers in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains will readily move to lower elevations.

The Red-Bellied woodpecker is expanding its range

The Red-Bellied Woodpecker is a positive story in a long list of negative ones when it comes to its numbers and habitat range. This large woodpecker, whose numbers are stable or even appear to be increasing slightly, has actually been extending its range to the north – possibly along with climate change.

Originally a bird that inhabited the southeastern parts of North America, this omnivorous woodpecker has adjusted to habitat requirements and now can be found in suburbs and urban parks as well as smaller woodlots and woodland gardens.

These cavity nesters make their homes in dead wood located usually less than 50 feet above ground. The male does most of the excavating for new tree cavities, but a nesting pair is not above using existing tree cavities whether they are natural or abandoned by other woodpeckers.

In conclusion

Identifying woodpeckers in your woodland garden can be daunting at first, but, eventually, you will begin to recognize their various characteristics including their often loud and rambunctious calls. They are quite friendly birds especially the Downy that will, with a little practise, readily eat out of your hand if tempted with high-quality black-oil sunflower seed.

Some homeowners may worry when they see a woodpecker banging away at one of their favourite backyard trees. I wouldn’t worry too much unless the woodpeckers are tearing apart the tree. But don’t blame them for the possible death of the tree. These important predators in our garden do much more good for our trees routing out problematic borers and other insects attacking the tree. If woodpeckers are tearing apart the tree, it’s likely because the tree is already fatally infested with borers.

How to attract the Tufted Titmouse

Keep feeders loaded with Black Oil Sunflower and a supply of suet

It’s not hard to fall in love with the Tufted Titmouse and if you provide them with plenty of black oil sunflower seeds there’s a good chance they’ll be regular visitors to your winter bird feeders.

These sparrow-sized birds – close relatives to chickadees – love the small black oil sunflower seeds, but they’ll also readily eat, nuts and berries when they are available.

Black oil sunflower is the perfect food source for these little hoarders. You’ll notice that they take the seed, fly away from the feeder and often store it in the bark of a nearby tree for later consumption.

If the Titmouse is hungry, it will take the seed away to a nearby branch, hold the seed in its feet before opening its shell by pounding it with its strong, rounded little beak.

These gray birds are easily identified by the crested head feathers and soft orange flank feathers are also regulars at our suet feeders and, of course, are included in the long lineup of birds that can’t resist Wild Birds Unlimited’s Bark Butter, either the spreadable butter or the nuggets. (Check out my full report on bark butter here.)

This beautiful little Tufted Titmouse waits out a winter storm near our bird feeder where it feasts primarily on black oil sunflower seeds.

Tufted Titmouse habitat: Encouraging them in your garden year round

All that said, Tufted Titmouse need more than black oil sunflower seeds to call your woodland garden home.

If you have, or live near, a heavily wooded area throughout the Eastern U.S., through Ontario and into Quebec, your chances are much better to have these birds in your garden year round. The birds were once thought of as a southern species, but have steadily expanded its range northward until today when it reaches southern Quebec and Ontario.

Tufted Titmice are primarily foragers of deciduous and mixed forests. They’ll fill your garden with their distinct peter-peter-peter song in spring during the spring breeding season.

(Be sure to check out my story on attracting Nuthatches to your feeder and my article on attracting colourful birds to your backyard.)

Although they rely on seeds during the winter months, their primary food source throughout the remaining seasons are insects, spiders and caterpillars.

They are also regular visitors to our many bird baths throughout the warmer months, particularly our regular cement bird bath located in a secluded area of the garden under one of our Flowering dogwood trees.

Ensure a good supply of insects in spring and summer

Providing this essential food source that the Tufted Titmouse depends on to feed its young requires a number of factors, including using more native plants in the garden to encourage insects that feed on those native plants, as well as removing pesticides from the environment. We can’t kill all the insects, spiders and caterpillars and expect to encourage birds to set up homes in our yards. Try to control insect infestations naturally, either by picking them off your plants or encouraging predators, such as birds, to control them for us.

For a detailed list of native flowers, shrubs and trees to attract birds, be sure to check out my article on Attracting Birds Naturally.

The Tufted Titmouse family is made up of a mating pair that stays together for a lifetime and raises three to five offspring at a time usually in a tree cavity, but often in a bird house, including blue bird houses.

Tufted Titmice are regulars to our bird baths and especially enjoy one that is secluded in the back of the garden beneath a Flowering Dogwood.

Tufted Titmouse use fur and moss in nests and bird houses

Their nests often include a combination of mosses, grasses and animal fur, but they will readily use a bird house in your garden as well. The tufted titmouse birdhouse share many of the same requirements as those of the nuthatches and chickadees.

The spunky little birds have been known to steal fur from sleeping foxes and dogs. They also have been known to pull hair from unsuspecting humans.

Most woodlands have at least some moss in the garden, but it’s never a bad idea to have a ready source available in the garden for the birds to use to line their nests.

Besides the Tufted Titmouse that we enjoy in our yards, more westerly residents enjoy the antics of the black-crested titmouse and bridled titmouse.

Along the Pacific Coast, woodland gardeners can enjoy the oak titmice, while Juniper titmice stay in the interior where they forage in the dry woodlands.

Why do foxes scream?

Terrifying screams ring out in Woodland garden

Have you have ever heard a fox screaming at night in the garden?

If you are unfamiliar with the sound, mark my word, it’s what horror movies are made of. Some describe it as a bone-chilling sound similar to a woman in distress. Others describe it as a child screaming in pain.

Despite the terrifying, high-pitched sound, it’s important to note that the scream is nothing more than a form of communication used by red foxes. The vocalization is one of a number foxes use. Rest assured they are likely not in distress, being attacked or fighting, although they could be warning another fox that they are in the area and to leave them alone.

The screams are often heard during breeding season in the spring. The scream is believed to be used by vixens (female foxes) to lure male foxes to them for mating, but males have also been known to let out screams occasionally as well.

Parent foxes with cubs may also use loud screams to warn off other foxes entering into their territory.

A beautiful young fox hunts for mice in the grass. Foxes have several vocalizations including a loud, piercing scream that can sound terrifying in the middle of the night in the woodland garden.

Foxes are territorial

Foxes can be very territorial and will aggressively defend an area from other foxes.

Their territory is very much dependent on the habitat but studies show that they have been known to hold territories as small as 0.2 square kilometres in urban areas where food is plentiful, to as high as 40 square kilometres in more natural areas. Each fox family group consists of a vixen (female) a dog (male) and their kits.

In areas where foxes are not hunted regularly, and there is plenty of food, a family group could consist of several adult offspring.

Because foxes are most active at night, you are likely to hear the screams late into the night, but as a video below shows, fox will scream during the day as well.

In my case, it was around midnight and, although the screams were clearly coming from the hedgerow in the back of the garden along a fence line, I never saw the culprit and had no idea what was causing the sound.

Check out my earlier article on the urban fox.

Fox screams are surprisingly loud

The sheer loudness of the scream made me think it was coming from a much larger animal than a fox, either a racoon or coyote.

I’ve heard a terrified rabbit, angry racoons in a battle and barking deer, but nothing is more terrifying than a single fox or, even worse, a couple of foxes running through the garden screaming at one another.

I experienced it recently while taking our dog out for her late-night bathroom break.

I was sure an animal of some kind was the victim of a predator.

There had to be at least two fox, maybe more, contributing to the raucous sound.

It wasn’t until recently that I was able to determine the exact cause of the sound. YouTube videos provided the answer. If you have know idea what a screaming fox sounds like, check out these videos.

Two fox kits sit outside their den waiting for mom to return. Foxes can be are very territorial, especially when they have kits to protect.

Here is what a fox scream sounds like

I was not fortunate enough to record the fox scream in the garden but I’ve included some links here that provides both an audio and visual (see second video) example of fox screams.

Here is a YouTube video of a couple running through a forest around 1 am. The author suggests that it may have been parents distressed after a coyote or owl made off with one of their kits. It’s possible, but it may also be that the adults were communicating either between themselves or with their kits.

Here is a fun video of a fox seemingly wanting to play with a friendly dog in the middle of the day and letting the dog know it was not impressed when it ignored the fox. The video is particularly good because you can see the interaction and see the fox actually scream.

More Ferns & Feathers article’s on foxes

Wildlife Rescue: The Year of the Fox

Wildlife Rescue: Volunteers key to Wildlife Rehab success

The Fox Den and how to find it in your garden

Why foxes steal from our gardens: Fox got my croc

The urban fox: Easy Rodent control on four legs

What other vocalizations do foxes make?

Foxes, not unlike our dogs, coyotes and wolves, use numerous vocalizations to communicate with other foxes and kits. Their vocalizations are not as varied as our family pets.

The most common vocalization from a red fox are a quick series of high-pitched, almost yippy barks. Studies have shown that the bark sequence can be used as an identification system by other foxes.

The bark and scream are quite loud so are the most often heard sounds from a fox, but their are a host of quieter vocalizations used when foxes are in close proximity.

Gekkering is a guttural chattering with occasional yelps and howls that is often used by adult foxes during aggressive encounters as well as amongst kits playing around the den.

Parents will also use a sharp bark as an alarm call to alert youngsters of potential danger.

Submissive foxes will, not unlike wolves and coyotes, often emit piercing whines that often become loud shrieks as they approach more dominant animals.

Why foxes scream: A conclusion

If you are out at night in your woodland garden or hear a load scream through an open window, chances are good it’s a fox communicating with a partner or warning another fox that it’s intruding on their territory.

Having fox in your garden is a positive sign that your property is working as a natural resource for a host of animals including predators that help to keep rodents under control.

Rejoice, in their presence and embrace the many benefits they bring to our properties. They are fascinating animals that mean no harm to our family including our pets.

There are many examples of foxes hanging out with cats and dogs and growing so accustomed to people in the garden that they will tolerate a close approach as they explore the garden.

Remember, though, that these are wild animals and not pets.

Don’t be surprised if they decide your garden is as much their garden as it is yours. And don’t be surprised, if shoes, garden gloves and other potential “toys” go missing.

Check out my earlier story about why foxes steal from our gardens.

Create your own custom garden photography book: Ten simple steps

Mixbook: Focus on my favourite photo book creator

I am hoping this article will plant the seed for readers to dig into their digital images and treat themselves to the best gift ever – a beautifully bound custom photographic memory of their gardens.

Creating a custom photo book featuring images from our gardens could not be easier, more rewarding or satisfying. And don’t be surprised if it also awakens your creative juices inspiring more photo books documenting other areas in your life – vacations, children, grandchildren… the possibilities are endless.

Online book publishers are everywhere and the good ones, including my personal favourite Mixbook, have gone to great lengths to make the creation of a high-quality photo book using your digital images extremely simple for even the most novice of computer users. If you can click a few buttons to upload your images to a website, you can create a beautiful memory of your garden. You can even let the online software place all your images onto the pages, making the process as simple as possible.

Looking for a great camera to photograph your garden? Check out my extensive review after using the Fujifilm X10 after ten years.

(If you are interested in exploring garden photography at a higher level, be sure to check out my comprehensive post on the Best camera and lens for Garden Photography.)

Turning your garden and wildlife images into a memorable garden book is not only a rewarding experience but a creative one as well.

Ten steps to create a custom garden photo book

1. Gather existing digital photos of your garden, or, if you have not been documenting your garden, begin taking photos on a regular basis throughout the seasons for a future book

2. Organize the images in a single folder or divide them into 12 separate folders – one for each month.

3. Optimize the images you want to use in the book in a photo editing program

4. Save the images as large files –preferably in the neighbourhood of 5-10 megabytes or larger. These large files allow you to use the images as full 8X12 pictures without losing quality when they are printed.

5. Log on to the website and upload your images.

6. Drag and Drop the images on the template you have chosen. It’s helpful to have both vertical and horizontal images to choose from. Once they are on the page, make any needed adjustments to the photographs

7. Fill all the remaining photographic boxes on the pages and write headlines and/or captions of the photos if you want.

8. Add more pages if necessary.

9. Finalize mailing address and payment requirements

10. Now sit back and wait approximately two weeks for delivery of your garden book.

A screenshot of the Contemporary White template I chose to create my Woodland/Wildlife custom photo book.

I know these photo books have been around for quite some time, but I suspect many people have put off creating one for a myriad of reasons. Wedding photographers have used these photo books for years as a replacement for the traditional wedding album as well as a convenient way to show potential clients their portfolios.

I want to plant the idea in gardeners’ heads that these photo books are excellent resources that we really need to use to our advantage. So, it’s time for gardeners to dig their hands deep into the digital dirt, get their photos organized and begin putting their books together. And what better time than over the winter months to create a memory of the previous year’s garden.

The first page of my custom Woodland/Wildlife custom photo book from Photobook Worldwide.

The making of my Woodland/Wildlife Garden book

Recently, I created my own garden coffee table book made up primarily of garden and wildlife images taken this year in the Woodland/Wildlife garden.

I only wish I had done this years ago, so I could look back and trace the annual growth of our garden. My plan now is to create a garden book on a yearly basis not only to monitor the changing face of the garden and its visitors, but to document annual highlights so I can use it as a visual resource to easily recreate successful plant combinations.

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For years, I put off exploring the many companies offering to print your photographs in book form. In fact, the garden book is the second photo book I recently completed. The first was created as a Christmas gift for my daughter using her digital images of the Tokyo Olympics, where she attended to work with the Canadian Olympic team. The book, full of her Olympic moments, is the best souvenir she could hope for of her trip. We plan to do another for the upcoming Beijing Winter Games in China.

But, back to my gardening book.

One of many spreads in the custom photo book.

The result: I could not be happier with the finished book and the price. This will become a book I will treasure and one that will take its rightful place as the main act on our coffee table.

Technology has made these professional looking books not only incredibly easy to create even for beginners, but exceptionally inexpensive for a one-off printing.

By inexpensive, I mean cheaper than getting similar sized photographic images printed at your local photo shop.

Using a discount code, I recently created a hardcover, 36-page, 8.5-inch by 12-inch book with 110 of my favourite garden images for just over $50 Canadian. Many of the images were full-page bleeds that covered the entire 8” by 12” page.

For the price of an inexpensive dinner out with your partner, a small selection of annual or perennial plants, even a single high-priced shrub, you can produce an outstanding memory of your garden and the wildlife that call it home.

If you don’t use your camera often in the garden, the book will inspire you to get out more often to capture images.

The book could be a one-time event or even a yearly endeavour used like a tool to document the changing nature of your garden and the fauna that live in it.

What better way to document the plant combinations that worked so well together, or, where exactly the 150 bulbs that you planted last year are located.

You don’t need a fancy camera, your smartphone is more than capable of getting high-quality photos for the book. My book is a combination of images taken with a host of cameras and lenses from expensive DSLRs with telephoto lenses for the bird images and wildlife, to simple point-and-shoot cameras and images captured on my smartphone.

One of several templated pages showing multiple images.

How easy was it to create the garden photo book?

After much research into various companies that create these photo books, I chose Mixedbook.

The company’s list of recognitions and awards is impressive – New York Times, techrader, Good Housekeeping and Digital Camera World all give it awards for Best Photo Book Service, and c|net recognizes it for Easiest software to use.

I don’t know how the folks at Mixedbook could make it any easier.

That’s not to say that creating a beautiful photo book does not involve putting in some work to prepare for the project.

Just gathering my best photographs into a digital folder took more than a little effort. But, I’m sure many readers are much more organized than I am and would be able to organize their images much easier than me.

Although the entire book is templated, changing the templates to suit your images is easily done.

Once I got the images into a single folder, I imported them into Adobe Lightroom where they were all edited for proper exposure. Some were cropped and others took a little more work to enhance the colours etc. I happen to use Lightroom, but any photo editing software will get the job done.

In fact, if you are careful when you shoot the images, and you are not too worried about the quality, you could skip the editing process entirely.

At this stage, all you do is log onto the Photobook website, pick a book template you like from the many available and upload your images.

Once the images are uploaded to the site, you can either begin to drag-and-drop them on the various pages or allow the computer to populate the pages for you.

You can add descriptions under all or just a few of the images if you like. Add stickers if you are doing a fun book or one for your children or grandchildren.

If you need more pages, you can add them two at a time for a small additional cost.

Before you complete the purchase, ensure that any discounts are applied before pressing complete, but if you do complete the purchase, you have a half hour to change your order.

When I created my book, I recognized that I did not get the 50 per cent discount and quickly texted the support line. They were extremely helpful and guided me to the location where I made the proper changes to ensure the discounted price.

I was very impressed with the service.

Once completed, it’s as simple as adding your mailing information and paying with a credit card.

Press complete and your finished book will likely be delivered in less than two weeks.

In conclusion

If you are like me and have put off creating a photo book, don’t procrastinate any longer. They really are exceptional keepsakes of your garden, favourite vacation or a year in the life of your children or grandchildren.

The print quality is exceptional. The Photo book’s binding for my hardcover book proved to be very professional, and the quality of paper is very impressive (upgraded paper is available). Without the discount, my cost would have been more than $100.00 Canadian, which I would consider good value. The discount made it an outstanding value and there are discounts available throughout the year.

If you currently do not have images to create a book right now, make a promise to yourself to begin regularly photographing your garden so that you will have plenty of images for a future book.

Seed to Dust: A gardener’s journey

Finding solace in the art of gardening

Is it the gardener who breathes life into the landscape, or the garden that provides meaning and purpose to the person tending it?

It’s a question many of us have contemplated while we work our own gardens, and it’s the underlying question that author Marc Hamer explores throughout Seed to Dust, Life, Nature and a Country Garden, his latest novel detailing a year in his life as the lone gardener of a 12-acre private garden in the Welsh countryside.

Seed to Dust is another outstanding book from Canadian publishers Greystone Books, publishers of Peter Wohlleben’s NYT bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees and follow-up book The Heartbeat of Trees.

Seed to Dust follows Hamer’s successful book How to Catch a Mole, described in the Wall Street Journal as a “quirky and well-received 2019 memoir” and “account of how Mr. Hamer, a pacifist, came to retire from catching moles, since getting them out of a garden usually meant killing them.”

Hamer’s 400-page Seed to Dust memoir begins in January exploring – one month at a time in easy-to-digest chapters – a full year in the life of the professional gardener as he maintains the estate of his mysterious and wealthy employer, affectionately nicknamed Miss Cashmere.

“Anyone who loves the earth knows that a tidy-mindedness is death for nature. I am a wildflower, and untidy weed.”

— Marc Hamer

Seed to Dust is the perfect book to curl up with a good coffee on a winter’s afternoon remembering what soon awaits us in spring.

Over the course of the year, he reflects on his life and that of Miss Cashmere’s since he began working for her: her husband’s death, the departure of her children from the stately home where she now lives alone.

It’s the reflections, however, on the difficulties he has faced – homelessness, loneliness, hunger, extreme poverty – that gives the readers great insight into his approach to gardening and the natural world.

Much more than a monthly how-to garden calendar, Seed to Dust tells the story of a young man finding his way in a world that sees him as somewhat of an outcast, struggling through depression, thoughts of suicide, self-discovery and, finally, as an older man ready to retire from working the land, content with his lot in life and the world he has built for himself, his wife and grown children.

Let nature guide your way

This is a tale for all garden lovers. It’s particularly valuable for those gardeners who struggle to let nature guide them in their journey. It’s for the gardener who is looking to get closer to nature, and for the gardener struggling to find meaning in the trees, plants and wildlife.

It’s a book I found both inspiring and very personal. Hamer and I – being of a similar age – share many of the same garden and life views, and struggle with similar health ailments as we try to complete everyday garden chores.

The book, which has been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, is for those searching as much for gardening advice as they are searching for answers to some of life’s most complex questions.

His is, what he himself admits, a simple life; one that is reflected in his approach to life, nature and the art of gardening. In his garden there are no “special” plants, just common flowers, shrubs and trees that, when put together in just the right way, create a beautiful vignette or natural landscape.

““I do not spray the aphids on my roses, although in the past I have lost whole crops of broad beans to them. I am nurturing sparrows and ladybirds, beetles, ants and underground fungus instead.””

— Marc Hamer

He writes early in the memoir about the garden he maintains for his employer Miss Cashmere: “This is not my garden, but it’s not hers, either. Just paying for something doesn’t make it yours. Nothing is ever yours. People who work with the earth and the people who think they own bits of it see the world in totally different ways.”

We can all benefit from a garden’s healing powers

“Any garden belongs to people who see it – it is like a book, and everybody who visits it will find different things.”

This theme of self discovery in the garden guides his belief that we all benefit from the healing powers a garden brings.

Later, he writes about how his gardening style changed. Over time, the garden evolved from the formality that once dominated the 12-acre site. Flowers are allowed to wander to create their own natural drifts – some even creeping into the once manicured lawns – giving the garden a naturalistic feel and welcoming pollinators, wildlife and critters that inhabit the garden’s wild areas.

He speaks of the hidden corners where he feels more at home among the grasses and overgrown plants.

“The way I choose to shape this or that space; wild, or tight and neat, closed or open. … If it were left alone for a few months, nature’s fertile beast would take over and it would become something else entirely. There are places where I let that happen, hidden from the house, where things grow wild and nature thrives. Damp spots for ferns and rotting wood, fungus and beetles, and hideaways for hedgehogs.”

It’s not difficult to see his respect for living things in the garden, and there is little question that his life experiences have helped shape his garden style.

“We were all deliberately sown with seeds of fear and hatred, but I chose not to water mine. I leave those seeds in arid ground: the racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic beliefs that I grew up surrounded by. I will not give them my attention, will not allow them to take root in me.”

No room for chemicals in the garden

His life experiences also reflect his views about the use of chemicals in the garden.

“There are chemicals available to spray lawns with, so that it shouldn’t grow so quickly; others to kill the worms and beetles so there are no worm casts, no moles feeding on them. … These are for the people who are not gardeners, people who want to control nature.”

“To speak of controlling nature is like the waves wanting to control the sea, the song singing the thrush, the flower creating the earth. We are not the sea, we are not the thrush, we are not the earth. We are the wave, the song, the flower.”

Man’s maddening machines of destruction

Hamer has harsh words about the machinery of gardening.

“I work around the buildings with the brush-cutter. It screams and makes smoke, a senseless thing that slashes back the grasses and native wildflowers. A ‘weed’ is a word that tidy-minded use for plants they do not want.”

“Anyone who loves the earth knows that a tidy-mindedness is death for nature. I am a wildflower, and untidy weed,” he writes.

“The scent of petrol, engine fumes, hot oil and blended greenery fill the air, and behind me the meadow is flourishing. The machine is violent and stupid. The violent and stupid nearly always win; it’s why they are created: to fight and win for their owner’s gain.”

His message to all gardeners, but especially Woodland and Wildlife gardeners is straight forward and one we would do well to heed: “I do not spray the aphids on my roses, although in the past I have lost whole crops of broad beans to them. I am nurturing sparrows and ladybirds, beetles, ants and underground fungus instead.”

Seed to Dust: Life, Nature and a Country Garden is published by Greystone Books. I encourage readers to check out this Canadian publisher who has made publishing Naturally Great Books its focus. The impressive list of nature-inspired books including The Hidden Life of Trees and The Heartbeat of Trees puts them in a class all their own for nature lovers. You can check out their catalogue here.

Tips to keep rats away from bird feeders and out of your yard

Aim for a woodland garden where everything is in balance

Attracting rats and mice to your backyard is without a doubt the biggest reason most people give up feeding backyard birds, or worse, choose to not even begin feeding backyard birds for fears of attracting the rodents.

The problem is not feeding the birds, the real issue is feeding the rats on the ground under the bird feeders or, even worse, allowing mice and rats access to the feed on a feeding table or on your feeders.

I am happy to say that in the 20 plus years we have lived here, I have only seen two rats in the woodland garden. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of mice I have seen in the garden as well.

And, I have fed the birds since the day we moved here. I think setting up the bird feeders was actually one of my first jobs on moving day.

Creating a functioning natural woodland garden where nature is in balance will help to keep rodent infestations in check. Eliminating predators, for example, is a sure way to invite problems.

(Be sure to check out my article on The urban fox and how it controls rodents like mice and rats.) Be sure to check out my post on setting up a Bird Feeding Pole.

It’s important to understand that rats and mice are primarily night-time ground feeders. Our job is to ensure that there is no birdseed or even shells left on the ground in the evening to attract rats and mice. Also proper baffles will help keep rats and mice from getting to your feeders.

Seed cylinders are one of the ways to keep access seed from falling to the ground where mice and rats can get to it. I use a screen under the seed cylinder to catch any seed the woodpeckers might knock off and not eat.

Six ways to keep mice and rats away from bird feeders

1. Use a single pole system that includes several baffles including a large racoon/squirrel baffle to keep squirrels off of the bird feeders and force them to clean up whatever feed falls to the ground.

2. Place the pole in an area where squirrels or rats cannot jump to it from nearby trees, fences or other structures. Obviously we don’t want rats to have direct access to the feeders, but squirrels will often throw out a lot of food onto the ground if they get direct access to the feeders.

3. Use a no-mess, high quality bird food and seed cylinders to ensure there is no waste at the end of the day gathering on the ground.

4. Always use a screened seed-catch tray under the bird feeders but above the baffles to further reduce the amount of seed that falls to the ground.

5. Encourage night-time predators such as owls and foxes to your yard. There is probably no better way to eliminate rats than having a resident owl on your property. Keep the area around the feeders open to allow these predators easy access to your night feeders.

6. Reduce or eliminate areas in the garden where rats may choose to set up a home. Under sheds and decks are particularly favourite places where rats and other animals like to call home.

Here is a full length view of the bird feeding pole, baffles and seed catcher tray – all vital to keep rats and mice off your feeders and the ground underneath free of seed.

Three key ingredients to keep rats, mice and squirrels off of your bird feeders. It begins with a high-quality pole, followed by a large squirrel or raccoon baffle, a smaller cap baffle and a seed collecting tray to keep most of the seed from reaching the ground.

The importance of using a no-mess food

Ensuring that little or no bird seed reaches the ground and begins to build up under your feeders, involves a multi-faceted approach, but it starts with providing your birds with the highest quality feed.

A no-mess bird seed purchased from a bird store such as Wild Birds Unlimited is a very good start. If the birds, squirrels and chipmunks clean up all the birdseed that drops to the ground during the day, then there is nothing left for the mice and rats to eat in the evening.

Yes, the no mess blends can be very expensive.

Wayne Huggins created a patio under his bird feeders to allow for easy cleanup to keep rats and mice out of the yard.

It’s hard to justify spending three or four times the cost for a bag of no-mess feed vs a similar sized bag of mixed seed from a big box store. Remember though, the no-mess food is almost like a concentrated bird seed. You should use less seed than you would if you were using a less expensive, all-purpose mix.

I don’t necessarily fill up my feeders. This way, if a squirrel mananges to get up on the feeder, it is limited in the amount of food it can get to and possibly spill on the ground.

The problem with most mixed seed is that any millet, corn or other filler is likely not to be eaten by the birds. In fact, birds such as blue jays, mourning doves, grackles, woodpeckers and a host of other birds will throw out the “filler seed” to get to the prized sunflower seeds resulting in a large mess building up on the ground.

Some of the seed that spills to the ground will be eaten by squirrels or ground-feeding birds such as Juncos and mourning doves, but the majority of filler seeds will remain on the ground to be cleaned up by mice and rats throughout the evening and into the night.

You may think the mixed seed is not a problem because the space under your feeders is always clean. You might not know that rats and mice are cleaning up the mess under the feeders until their numbers increase to the point that you begin seeing them during daylight hours.

It’s best to ensure you don’t develop a problem, than to have to deal with one after the fact.

Many will argue that a shelled black-oil sunflower seed is all that you need. I agree that it is an excellent seed to use but its shells still leaves a mess under your feeder. Consider combining it in small amounts with the no-mess seed to reduce the expense of feeding only a no-mess blend but not adding so many shells that they begin to add up under your feeder.

Many birds such as nuthatches will take the shelled sunflowers and hide them in trees during the winter months for use later further eliminating the build-up of shells under the feeder.

Use a high-quality pole system

I find that a centralized, single pole system with the proper baffles and seed-catching trays helps to focus my efforts to feed the birds and at the same time monitor any rodent problems in a single area.

Not unlike the high cost of no-mess food, a bird-feeding pole system that works to feed the birds and keep rodents off the feeders can be expensive.

The good news is that you can start simple and expand the pole over time. But whatever you do, don’t skimp on the tools needed to keep rats and squirrels off the feeder.

Buy a pole with a hook, a high-quality squirrel (preferably the larger raccoon baffle), a hat baffle, a tray to catch seed and a spike for the top that accepts seed cylinders. That should be sufficient to feed birds and keep rodents off the feeders.

I included a seed cylinder spike for the top of the feeder because it is an excellent source of food for woodpeckers and other birds but, more importantly, is inherently a no-mess form of feeding birds.

I wrote an extensive article on the value of seed cylinders that you can read here.

Our pole system is located far from the house, but close enough that I can monitor it from a window. I check it every morning and most evenings to ensure there are no unwanted guests helping themselves. In addition, because I regularly sit in my photographic blind near the bird-feeding station for hours on end, I know what is hanging out under the feeder, at least during daylight hours leading into the evening.

I also get to see first-hand how efficiently the ground under the feeders is cleaned up by a myriad of chipmunks, red and black squirrels and, of course, ground feeding birds most notably the Juncos, doves and wrens that love to root around in the mulch looking for scraps of seed.

I can say that they do a heck of a job keeping the area spotless.

Directly under the feeder, I have devised a system to ensure that little to nothing grows up. The no-mess food is the first component. Under the feeder is a thick layer of mulch that gets topped up a couple of times over the summer. Under the mulch, however, are thick plastic bags that were originally used to hold the mulch. This stops bits of seed from getting to the ground and sprouting up under the feeder and discourages mice and other rodents from burrowing underground near a potential food source.

I use other feeders in the garden, but they tend to be feeders that take only a handful of seed at a time and do not create a magnet for rodents. I use a small amount of no-mess seed that is eaten in a single day either by the birds or by squirrels who come across it before the birds get there.

Encourage natural methods to control rats

One of the best ways to keep rats at bay is by attracting, or at least not deterring, natural predators to the yard.

I realize that not every yard is lucky enough to have a resident fox or owl living in or visiting their small urban backyard. But, you might be surprised what actually visits your yard in the evening when you are sleeping. Fox are common even in very urban areas and owls can live in a large tree in your backyard without you even knowing it unless you are lucky enough to see them flying about in the early evening or morning or hearing their calls.

Many of us would likely not recognize the call of an owl unless it is the common call of a Great Horned Owl, which is unlikely to be living in your yard anyway.

A single screech owl feeding their young is known to kill several rats and mice over the course of one night.

Putting up an owl box in your yard is a good first step to attract them. I have written an extensive article about attracting screech owls to your yard. Be sure to check it out here.

If you are lucky enough to have a fox family set up a den in your yard, celebrate it. Watch the kits emerge and play in your yard. At some point they will move on to their own territory but in the meantime, they will clear your yard of any rat and most mice that live there.

Most importantly, do not use pesticides, including rodenticides on your property. Mice and rats that eat this poison could be eaten by the very predators you are trying to attract to kill them naturally. Also, the poison can kill animals that were never meant to be targeted including chipmunks, possums and racoons as well as your cat or dog.

What backyard animals kill rats?

There are a host of animals that will prey on rats.

• Raptors (including owls)

• Fox

• Coyotes

• Snakes (especially harmless but scary looking rat snakes)

• Possums

• Dogs (especially terriers)

• Weasels

Reduce your artificial feeding stations

One of the simplest ways to keep rats out of the garden is to get to the point where the birds depend less on artificial feeding stations and more on the natural supply of seed, berries and nuts that grow naturally in your yard.

By providing these natural food sources in your yard, you will be able to reduce the birds’ dependency on the seed provided by your feeders at the same time as reducing your cost of purchasing extensive amounts of expensive bird feed. It will also help to attract a wider variety of birds to your backyard.

I have written an extensive article here about planting a backyard feast to attract and feed your birds naturally.

Attracting and feeding backyard birds naturally is worth checking out.

In conclusion: Putting it all together naturally

Try to establish a garden that is in balance with nature – one that welcomes predators as well as other animals that compete with rats and mice for food sources.

Create natural food for birds such trees, shrubs and flowers where they are less dependent on artificial, centralized food sources such as bird feeders, and ensure that your feeders are set up to discourage rodents from accessing them and from any food staying on the ground.

If you follow these suggestions, you are less likely to attract unwanted visitors and, if you do, they are more likely to disappear one night and provide food for the offspring of hungry predators.

Let nature be your guide.