Vic MacBournie 3/31/22 Vic MacBournie 3/31/22

Cornus Kousa: Outstanding tree and why you need to reconsider planting it

The Cornus Kousa is a spectacular accent or understory tree for the woodland garden. Although it is a spectacular tree in full bloom, it is native to China.

Consider starting with the native Cornus Florida

Without a doubt the most impressive understory tree in our woodland garden is the Cornus Kousa, but I urge gardeners thinking about planting one to reconsider.

It’s not that the Cornus Kousa isn’t spectacular in flower – it is.

It’s not that the fruit that follows is not impressive and a favourite of our local squirrels and chipmunks because they are.

And, it’s not because these elegant, horizontally branched trees are susceptible to disease and deer predation, because they are almost totally free of disease and other garden pests.

Sounds like the perfect tree, right?

Just one big problem – and it’s a problem many of our most visually pleasing and impressive plants and trees have in common, – it’s not native to North America. Its home is in China and other parts of Asia where, I am sure, it is a favourite food source for their native insects, caterpillars, birds and mammals. In fact, you will often find the plant referred to as the Chinese Dogwood.

Our mature Cornus Kousa in full bloom among the ferns. To the left is a Cornus Florida and the small mound in the centre is a variagated Cornus Mas.

The difference is, their local fauna has grown up and adapted to Cornus Kousa and, as a result, are able to use it as a host plant, a food source and provider of habitat.

With all that said, I have two massive Cornus Kousa trees growing in my yard and absolutely treasure them for their mid-summer display of large, cream-coloured flowers that bloom for months during the summer followed by bright red eatable raspberry fruit that eventually get picked off by red squirrels, grey squirrels and chipmunks.

Be sure to read my detailed look at the Six best Dogwoods in my garden.

How to grow Cornus Kousa

The Cornus Kousa grows in zones 4 through 9 and likes a rich, well-drained acidic soil and adequate precipitation to look its best.

Chinese Dogwood is a multi-stemmed deciduous tree with an expected growth of between 25-40 feet (8-12 m) tall at maturity, with a spread of about 25 feet. If left natural, it has a low canopy with a typical clearance of about 3 feet from the ground. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal growing conditions should live for 40 or more years.

Cornus Kousa’s best features

Cornus Kousa’s most prized feature is its horizontally-tiered branches along with its showy clusters of white flowers (actually bracts, the flowers are contained inside the four bracts) held upright atop the branches in late spring through summer depending on its location in the garden. The Cornus Kousa flowers are more pointed than the native Flowering dogwoods more rounded ones.

It has bluish-green deciduous foliage that turns an outstanding brick red in fall. It does best in full sun in cooler climates to partial shade and will not tolerate standing water. Cornus Kousa is also resistant to the dogwood anthracnose disease making it popular in areas that experience outbreaks of the fungus disease that can be fatal to the trees.

How to prune Cornus Kousa

This low-maintenance tree should be pruned sparingly after flowering to maintain its horizontal branching that looks at home in any Japanese-style garden as well as a traditional woodland. It’s also a good idea to mulch around the extensive root zone to protect the tree’s roots from drying out.

Hybrids offer best of both

The popularity of the Cornus trees have prompted Rutgers University to create a host of hybrids between Cornus Kousa and Cornus Florida, selected for their disease resistance and flower appearance.

Some of the popular cultivars include: Beni Fuji with deep red-pink bracts, Elizabeth Lustgarten and Lustgarden Weeping notable for its smaller size and weeping habit, Gold Star a slower growing tree with a broad gold band on its leaves and reddish stems, Satomi with deep pink bracts and leaves that turn purple to deep red in fall.

Vic MacBournie 3/29/22 Vic MacBournie 3/29/22

Flowering Dogwood: The queen of the Woodland garden

The flowering dogwood is an icon of the American landscape with its spectacular spring flowers followed by red berries that birds cannot get enough of as they ripen.

The Flowering Dogwood (Cornus Florida) combines everything a gardener could want in a backyard tree.

If you are lucky enough to live in a region where you can grow this iconic native American flowering tree, whether it’s in your front as a specimen tree or as an understory tree in the backyard woodland or shade garden, you should waste no time sourcing one or even several for your front and back gardens.

In our backyard woodland garden, we have several that fill the garden with showy spring flowers followed by berries in summer and outstanding fall colour.

Flowering Dogwood (rubra) in bloom in the spring garden.

Its native range is New England south to northern Florida, west to the Mississippi and even beyond. In Canada it finds its range in Southern Ontario’s Carolinian zone.

In the cooler growing zones found in Northeastern U.S. and parts of Canada in zones 5-6 for example, Dogwoods can take more sun than the hotter zones farther south where they are best grown in light to partial shade.

Travelling through the Great Smokey Mountains and along the Blue Ridge Parkway in early spring is perhaps the ideal way to experience magnificent Flowering Dogwood and Redbuds both in full bloom along their still-bare branches.

The Flowering Dogwood grows to about 30-35-feet tall in the wild (often smaller in gardens) with a spread that is about two-thirds or almost equal to its height. It’s a wide spreading mounding tree with branches that can droop right to the ground if left to grow naturally. It likes to grow in partial shade to full sun and prefers moist to dry woodsy loam to a clay-loam.

Flowering Dogwoods flowers from March, April and May followed by clusters of 3-5 red berries (or drupes) from August through October – that are highly favoured by birds and other mammals. It is the queen of the Carolinian forest and and is at home growing in zones 2 through 9. Its mottled bark creates winter interest to the already elegant, horizontal branching of our native tree.

*A cultivar of the Cornus Florida complete with pinkish flowers shades a blue jay stopping by at the bird bath.*

Be sure to check out my extensive article on the Six Best Dogwoods for the Woodland Garden.

What’s the difference between Cornus Florida and Cornus Kousa?

It’s important to note that the native Flowering Dogwood is not the same as the non-native Cornus Kousa, which is a popular dogwood sold at many local nurseries.

Although the two understory trees share many similarities – including large white flowers followed by red fruit – their differences are so widespread that they are really not interchangeable in the landscape.

Where they do stand out in the landscape is when you can combine them for early spring flowering in the native dogwood, through summer and late summer flowering by the non-native Cornus Kousa. The combination brings the woodland to life in an elegant display of gorgeous dogwood blooms that last almost throughout the gardening season.

Dogwood berry hanging on in early fall. — A dogwood berry hangs on as fall approaches.

• Where the native dogwood flowers in spring into early summer, the Cornus Kousa flowers pick up where the native ones begin to die out and offers flowers into late summer.

• Where native dogwood flowers grow more or less on bare branches that really show off the flowering bracts, Cornus Kousa flowers later in summer after the leaves fill out on the tree providing a beautiful showing but not quite as impressive as that offered by the native Flowering Dogood.

•Where native dogwood’s fruit is more like a drupe in clusters of 3-5, Cornus Kousa tends to put out singular fruits that look like raspberries.

• Where native dogwoods grow in a mounding, horizontal habit, Cornus Kousa tends to grow in a vase shape that eventually sends out horizontal branching if left untrimmed.

• Where the native dogwood is susceptible to disease and deer predation, Cornus Kousa, is more or less free of these problems including Anthracnose.

• Where the native dogwood is a magnet for local wildlife both as a host plant for larvae and insects through to providing an excellent food source for birds and other mammals, Cornus Kousa is neither a host plant for native caterpillars and insects, nor are its berries a great source of food for birds. Some birds and mammals (Squirrels and chipmunks) will eat the fruit but its certainly not their first choice.

• Cornus Florida supports up to 117 moths and butterflies, whereas Cornus Kousa is not known to support any in the larval stage.

• Cornus Florida also supports close to 100 birds from caterpillars that use the tree as a food source, while Cornus Kousa is not known to support any birds as a larval host.

Dogwood flowers from a pink cultivar are actually bracts that unfold to reveal the true flowers seen here in the greenish pinkish interior of the four bracts. A cluster of berries form after the flowering is complete.

How to water a Dogwood tree

Since the dogwood grows in a very horizontal fashion it has a very wide “drip zone.” And, because this drip zone extends out so far from the trunk of the tree, it serves little to no purpose watering the tree close to its trunk.

Look up to establish how far the tree’s branches stretch out from the main trunk and use that as your watering zone for the tree. Slow, deep waterings are necessary to keep the soil around the tree’s roots cool and moist. An all-day drip being moved around a mature tree throughout the day would be ideal during hot, dry periods with low rainfall.

Smaller, or newly planted trees would need less watering, but be sure to water deeply around the entire perimeter of the tree.

Flowering Dogwood bud in fall. — Flowering dogwood bud in early fall.

How to prune a flowering dogwood

The dogwood is a slow growing tree that tends to self prune over time. Deadwood can be cut out as it appears, but it’s important to maintain the tree’s elegant horizontal branching habit rather than try to shape it into something it does not want to be.

If grass is growing under the tree (never a great idea, better to have either living, or bark mulch), it’s best to limb up the tree as it grows and then maintain it by pruning the trees outer branches lightly to reduce the weight of the branches laden with flowers.

Try not to heavily prune the tree by taking out large branches because you will be removing the best attributes of the tree – primarily its spring flowers. It is best to just remove the smaller outer branches to reduce the weight and thus help to keep the skirt of the tree high enough to walk under.

I always prefer, if possible, to plant the tree in an area where it can take on its natural shape and not be severely pruned up.

If you are unsure how to get the most out of your dogwood, it’s probably best to hire a well-respected pruning expert to maintain the shape of these trees. Ensure the tree company is familiar with pruning ornamental trees and not just one that specializes in removing trees or large dying branches.

Vic MacBournie 3/23/22 Vic MacBournie 3/23/22

Cornelian Cherry: Elegant addition to woodland garden

Cornus Mas is the perfect replacement for the overly common Forsythia. It’s early spring yellow blooms flower at about the same time as Forsythia but the small tree offers much more architectural elegance in the landscape than the straggly-look of the Forsythia.

Consider replacing Forsythia with Cornus Mas or Spicebush for spring colour

It’s hard to imagine why homeowners choose to grow a Forsythia bush when a Cornelian-Cherry dogwood (Cornus Mas) is a much better choice in every way, shape and form.

In other words, when it comes to shape and form, Forsythias fall short in every way.

Imagine a small rounded tree with horizontal branches sporting elegant yellow bunches of flowers that eventually give way to bright red fruit or drupes. Now, compare that to a scraggly green bush that needs constant pruning, which is all homeowners are really left with after the forsythia blooms in early spring.

There is no competition.

While the over-used Forsythia has a straggly, vase shape that is not particularly pleasant after its brief early spring blooming period, for some reason it continues to dominate the suburban landscape over the inherent beauty of the Cornelian Cherry’s early-spring clusters of yellow flowers.

Right about the same time as the forsythias are blooming, the bare branches of the Cornelian Cherry (Cornus Mas) are covered with delicate yellow blooms giving the already elegant dogwood an even more beautiful look in the woodland landscape.

Native Spicebush is an even better replacement for Forsythia

An even better choice than Cornus Mas to replace forsythia is our native Spicebush – often referred to as the “Forsythia of the wilds.” Not only is it covered with soft umbel-like clusters of yellow flowers in early spring like Cornus Mas, Spicebush is an excellent plant for native wildlife, including pollinators and native mammals.

The flowers are followed by aromatic glossy red fruit, and its leaves turn a colourful golden yellow to light up our gardens and lowland woods where it likes to grow in the wild. It is a host plant for both the Spicebush swallowtail and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

It grows to between six and twelve feet tall in sun, part shade and full shade making it the perfect under story addition to our woodland. It is not particular about soil feeling at home in dry, moist or wet soil.

The flowers of the Cornus Mas are quite small (5-10 mm in diameter) with four yellow petals, that are produced in clusters of 10-25.

For more information and excellent photos of more mature specimens, check out the Seattle Japanese Garden website.

Be sure to check out my earlier post on Six Dogwoods for the Woodland Garden.

When does Cornelian Cherry flower?

In warmer areas, the Cornelian Cherry can bloom as early as February, but in colder climates (zones 5-6) you can expect yellow blooms in late March or more likely into April and May.

Where does Cornelian Cherry grow?

Growing in zones 5-8, in full sun to partial shade, Cornus Mas is native to Southern Europe and Southwestern Asia.

Can you eat the cherries?

The edible fruits or drupes (fleshy fruits, with a single hard stone, like cherries) are red berries that ripen in mid- to late summer, but are mostly hidden by the foliage. The fruit is edible, olive-shaped and about ½ inch long, they have relatively large stones when ripe and often described as a mix of cranberry and sour cherry. It is primarily used for making jam but also has a reputation in some parts of the world as a fruit used for distilling vodka.

Do birds eat the fruit?

Birds and mammals are also attracted to the bright red fruit that is very tart, but attractive to birds and squirrels as it ripens and falls to the ground.

How to propagate Cornelian Cherries?

Cornelian Cherries are easily propagated from cuttings, but can also be grown from seed.
Are there cultivars of the Cornelian Cherry/Cornus Mas

There are at least three different cultivar available including:

• Aurea that has yellow leaves and flowers with red fruit in late summer.

• Golden Glory which is grown for its abundance of yellow flowers, followed by shiny red berries.

• Variegata grown for its variegated leaves that help light up shady areas of the garden. It also sports the glossy red fruit in late summer.

Vic MacBournie 3/22/22 Vic MacBournie 3/22/22

Pagoda Dogwood: Shade-loving native tree for woodland, wildlife

The Pagoda Dogwood or Cornus Alternifolia is a small native tree or shrub that is perfect for a woodland garden and vital to native wildlife, including birds, caterpillars, insects and mammals. It’s also an elegant, multi-layered tree with a beautiful horizontal habit that works as well in a woodland garden as it does in a Japanese inspired garden.

My love affair with dogwoods actually had its roots not with the showy Flowering Dogwood, but with a lesser known native dogwood – Cornus Alternifolia.

You may know it as Pagoda Dogwood or Alternate-Leaved dagwood if you know it at all. Trust me, if you don’t already know about Cornus Alternifolia, you need to get to know this outstanding little gem of a dogwood. My first experience with it was in our previous home where I planted it outside the office window where I could admire it and its avian visitors spring, summer, fall and throughout the winter.

When we moved to our current home more than 23 years ago, the first tree/shrub I planted was another Pagoda Dogwood, and it continues to impress me to this day with its longevity and strong presence in the garden throughout the seasons.

Be sure to read my article on six of the best native dogwoods.

The native to the Carolinian forest is not always the showstopper, taking a back seat to the more showy Flowering Dogwood, but it’s like a younger sibling fighting hard to unseat Cornus Florida for top spot in the forest.

Cornus Alternifolia (Pagoda Dogwood) is a semi-colonizing 25-foot tall shrub or tree with a strong horizontal layering habit, that spreads by both seeds and layering. It grows in partial shade to full sun in moist, well-drained rich loamy, slightly acid soil.

Cute chipmunk eats the berries of the Pagoda Dogwood or Cornus Alternifolia — This little chipmunk wasn’t waiting around for the birds to help themselves to the berries of the Pagoda Dogwood in the backyard. She searched out the ripened blackish berries as soon as they were ready for eating.

How big do Pagoda Dogwoods get?

Cornus Alternifolia or Pagoda Dogwood is a small tree or shrub reaching anywhere from 15-25 feet tall with an impressive spread of between 12 to about 32 feet.

Is the Pagoda native to areas of Ontario and the United States?

It’s native to Ontario and Northeastern United States and elsewhere including parts of the upper Midwest and even into parts of Minnesota.

How can you tell a Pagoda Dogwood?

In nature, you can spot a Cornus Alternifolia by its characteristic horizontal branching habit, creamy umbrel-style flowers, black berries and deeply veined, ovate leaves that turn a lovely shade of redish, orange in fall. Also, its Latin name is derived from the alternate position of the leaves on the stems.

Without a doubt, however, its most impressive feature is its truly elegant horizontal branching habit that gives the tree its beautiful shape in the woodland garden and makes it a valuable addition to a Japanese-style garden.

When does the Pagoda Dogwood flower and produce berries

The Pagoda Dogwood’s creamy, umbrel-like flowers bloom from May through July depending on location, followed by clusters of black fruit in July that attract a host of birds from the Eastern Bluebird to Scarlet Tanagers just to name a few. Chipmunks and red squirrels are also regular visitors and will strip the berries as fast as they ripen.

Pagoda dogwood berry clusters — *Pagoda Dogwood berry clusters are loved by both birds and chipmunks in our yard.*

What is a Pagoda Dogwood’s Lifespan?

Our original Cornus Alternifolia is still doing well after more than 23 years in the garden. It’s no surprise that it is still gracing our woodland considering the longevity of these tough little trees. Pagoda Dogwoods can live between 50 - 150 years old so there is a good chance it will still be around for a few years yet. A second Pagoda Dogwood was planted a few years ago in the understory of two very old crabapple trees located not too far from the original Pagoda.

What birds are attracted to the Pagoda Dogwood?

The list of avian visitors is almost endless and include the highly sought after Eastern Bluebird, a variety of Vireos and Thrushes as well as Cedar Waxwings, Gray Catbirds, Cardinals, Scarlet Tanagers, Eastern Kingbirds, Rose-Breasted Grossbeaks and Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker.

Pagoda Dogwood in summer bloom. — Our original 23-year-old Pagoda Dogwood in spring bloom showing off its multitude of blooms. The umbrel-type, creamy flowers are not the show stoppers of the more showy Flowering Dogwoods, but they hold their own in the woodland as a lovely understory tree.

The same 23-year-old Pagoda Dogwood in its fall coat.

Is Cornus Alternifolia a host plant?

The Pagoda, like most native plants, is a host plant to a number of Lepidoptera (caterpillars or larvae of moths and caterpillars) including: The Fragile Miner Bee, Summer Azure butterfly, the impressive Cecropia Moth, Fragile White Carpet Moth and Unicorn Caterpillar.

What Native bees does Cornus Alternifolia attract?

The spring and summer flowers provide nectar and pollen for a number of our native bees including: The bright flourescent Sweat Bees, Miner Bees, Masked Bees and Hover Flies.

What other species is the Pagoda Dogwood related to:

Dogwoods represent a large species ranging from the impressive and equally beautiful Flowering Dogwood (Cornus Florida) to the diminutive Bunchberry (Cornus Canadensis) with its familiar dogwood flowers in minature form growing in large swaths as a ground cover. Other related species include: Red-Osier Dogwood, Rough-leaved, Grey, silky and Round-Leaved.

What cultivars are available for the Pagoda Dogwood?

Using the native, non-cultivar or species tree/shrub is always a solid choice if you want to attract or provide food for the largest variety of wildlife in your garden. There are, however, popular cultivars of Cornus Alternifolia if you are looking for specific traits in the plant.

Golden Shadows: This brightly-coloured variety (zones 3-8) from Proven Winners sports variegated leaves that help the plant stand out in a shady area of the garden where it reaches heights of 10-12 feet with an equal spread. The highly successful company describes the plant as: “bright yellow with a splotch of emerald green in the cenre, taking on pink tones on the new growth in cool weather. Spring sees the plant graced with lacy white blooms. Beneath all this beauty lies a tough North American native that can grow in many difficult conditions; Golden Shadows Pagoda Dogwood is especially noteworthy for its ability to thrive in light shade, its bright foliage bringing colour and beauty to otherwise dim sites.”

C. alternifolia 'Argentea' is known as silver pagoda dogwood and is similar to Golden Shadows but sports a green and white variegation rather than the green and gold.

Cornus controversa: Sometimes called the Wedding Cake Tree, it is a spectacular, extremely showy giant pagoda dogwood with a mature height of 60 feet. When this tree is in flower it is simply a spectacular site. Grows in zones 6-9 and is the winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.

Vic MacBournie 3/22/22 Vic MacBournie 3/22/22

Six Dogwoods for the Woodland Garden

Six Dogwood species that make their home in our Woodland garden. From the ground cover Bunchberry, to shrubs and small understory trees like the Pagoda Dogwood and Cornelian Mas. Dogwoods offer great alternatives and are a valuable addition to any wildlife, woodland garden.

Ground covers, small shrubs and trees for everyone’s taste

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that I have a soft spot for Dogwoods – big and small.

I consider them to be the perfect genus providing everything from the perfect ground cover for shade, to shrubs and mid-size trees that create an anchor for the understory layer. Add to this, outstanding spring flowering followed by a profusion of berries that birds, butterflies, native bees, chipmunks, squirrels and a host of other mammals can’t get enough of, and you’ve got yourself the perfect group of plants for the woodland/shade garden.

Oh, and throw in some spectacular fall foliage just to round out the reasons every garden needs to have plenty of Dogwoods.
Buying plants from local nurseries is the common method of obtaining these plants, but be aware that many of Dogwoods have been cultivated and may not provide all the benefits that the straight species provide to our native wildlife.

*This flowering dogwood shows off its splendid fall colours in the back garden.*

This article should help provide readers with a better understanding of the various dogwoods available. Most of the links in the article will take you to more extensive posts I have written about the individual plants, trees and shrubs.

It’s always best to use a native variety which are more beneficial to local birds, insects and pollinators.

Our Woodland garden boast six varieties of Dogwood. Let’s start with the smallest.

This detailed native dogwood poster is best viewed on a tablet or desktop and was created by Justin Lewis

Cornus Canadensis: A native ground cover for a shady area

Often called Bunchberry (link to my story on this native ground cover) or creeping dogwood, this perennial creeping rhizomatous ground cover grows 3-6 inches high and is topped by a blossom that looks very much like a miniature version of the familiar Dogwood tree (Cornus Florida) blossom. The flower cluster, held on a short stalk just above the leaves, resembles a singe large flower.

Not unlike the tree form of Dogwood, the flower is followed in the fall by a cluster of bright red berries surrounded by wine-red foliage.

Cornus Alternifolia: Perfect small tree for the woodland/wildlife garden

This common under story species that is often called Pagoda Dogwood (Link to my full story) is the tree/shrub that got me started down the Dogwood trail. We planted one at our former home right outside the office window and I absolutely loved that small tree. It was also the first tree we bought when we moved to our current home 23 years ago. That tree has become known as our “Africa tree” because of its flat-topped appearance and the fact the deer have eaten it so perfectly from the bottom up.

The tree’s attractive horizontal branching habit creates a lovely tiered look as it ages. Large clusters of cream flowers appear in spring or early summer (very unlike the familiar Cornus Florida bracts) followed by dark blue-black berries by mid summer. What’s not to love?

It grows to about 20-30 ft tall high, preferring moist soils in partial shade. Unlike other native dogwoods, this species has alternate rather than opposite leaves, hence its name. They grow naturally in rich, deciduous and mixed woods, in zones 4-8 often found on forest edges, along streams and on swamp borders.

The bracts of the Cornus Florida Dogwood are beautiful even from below.

Cornus Florida: Crown jewel of the Carolinian forest

In my opinion, the Flowering Dogwood (link to my post on best Carolinian under story trees) is the queen of the under story trees in a Carolinian Woodland setting.

Here is a link to my full story on the Flowering Dogwood or Cornus Florida.

The horizontal branching of the Cornus Florida shows off its spring bracts above the blue jay.

When it comes to the perfect tree, it’s a tough one to beat. Its spectacular in spring flower but still stunning when not in flower. Cornus Florida grows to about 20-40 ft as a single or multi-trunked tree with outstanding showy, white and pink spring blooms, with a horizontal branching habit, red fruit and scarlet autumn foliage.

Flowering Dogwood in its fall colours. — *Flowering Dogwood beginning to take on its fall colours.*

The flowers, which are actually bracts, can grow to 3 inches wide and attract butterflies and bees. The fast-growing trees prefer partial shade but can tolerate full sun if they are kept moist. They are native to the eastern United States and the Carolinian Canada Forest in southern Ontario and throughout zones 5 through 9. Although they may seem like the perfect tree, they are subject to anthracnose – a fungal disease that causes leaf spotting and twig dieback. Diseased twigs and branches should be pruned off and disposed. Ensuring good air circulation to keep the foliage dry and maintaining moisture in the soil throughout the summer will help reduce exposure to the fungal disease.

The bright red fruit of the Cornus Kousa.

Cornus Kousa: Popular non-native with spectacular summer show

A close second to the native Cornus Florida is the Kousa dogwood, which also goes by the names of the Chinese, Korean and Japanese dogwood. One of the advantages this tree offers over Cornus Florida is the fact it is resistant to the common dogwood anthracnose disease. As a result, it is being used more and more as an ornamental tree in areas where the disease is common.

The Kousa dogwood is a plant native to East Asia but is widely available where the Florida Dogwoods grow. It’s upright habit, later-flowering (about a month later) and pointed rather than rounded flower bracts makes it an ideal companion to the Flowering Dogwood.

Be sure to check out my full story to get much more detailed information on the Cornus Kousa Dogwood.

Although it can be incredibly showy in its own right, the Kousa dogwood tends to flower after the leaves come out rather than the Florida Dogwood that blooms prior to the tree leafing out, Combine both trees in your understory and you have glorious Dogwood flowers from late spring well into summer. Both species have a number of cultivars that include variegated leaves that add to their showiness in the right situations.

Cornus Mas: Early yellow-flowering tree for the shade

Often referred to as the Cornelian-cherry dogwood, this family of dogwood is native to Southern Europe and Southwestern Asia. It can be grown as a small tree or medium to large deciduous shrub with small yellow flowers produced in clusters along the branches either in late winter or more likely early spring in North America.

Here is a link to my full story on Growing Cornus Mas in the woodland.

The fruit has many uses including as an herb and is used widely for jams and and in some European countries distilled to make vodka. In the Woodland, the large oblong red fruit is a favourite of many birds and mammals.

In my garden, the Cornus Mas is one of the earliest flowering trees that blooms alongside the forsythia. I suspect many people mistake the small tree for a forsythia bush.

In our garden, we have a variegated form that grows up through our large ostrich ferns, and provides a spot of colour is a sea of green. The Cornus Mas in our garden is a small tree/shrub and is one of the few variegated plants in our entire Woodland garden.

Cornus sericea: Popular red-twigged shrub ideal for winter interest

Commonly named the Red-osier Dogwood, it is probably one off the most common shrubs in garden landscapes providing much-needed winter interest for gardens, especially when planted in large clumps. Often mistaken for the popular Asian equivalent Cornus Alba, with its variegated leaves which is seen in gardens everywhere.

Cornus sericea is native throughout parts of North America from Alaska east to Newfoundland.

In the wild, it most often grows in dense thickets in very moist areas. Our native species have dark green leaves that turn bright red to purple in fall. The spring flowers are creamy clusters and the fruit are a cluster of small white berries.

These Dogwoods not only look good, the native varieties provide multiple sources of food for backyard birds. While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens.

I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

If you are interested in exploring Dogwoods further, check out Dogwoods: The Genus Cornus. This is another outstanding gardening book from Timber press.

Now you can turn your yard into a Certified Firefly Habitat

Now homeowners, groups and organizations can get their properties certified as Firefly habitats and purchase a sign to announce their commitment to ensuring firefly habitat.

What you can do to save fireflies

Fireflies should not just be a childhood memory when we sat out on the porch and watched fireflies flicker all around us.

And they don’t have to be. Even if you live in the heart of an urban area you can take steps to make fireflies a part of your life again.

Or, maybe fireflies never stopped being a part of your life. Maybe you have been doing everything right and still enjoy plenty of the little insects lighting up your summer evenings.

Either way this is good news for you.

Firefly Conservation and Research, an organization committed to saving fireflies worldwide, has just announced a new program for homeowners and other groups such as schools to have their properties approved as “Certified Firefly Habitats.”

For homeowners who want to bring back fireflies to their properties, the program will guide you to create the right habitat to encourage fireflies and encourage you to reach the goal of creating a Certified Firefly Habitat.

And, for those homeowners or groups who have already been working hard to create these favourable habitats, they are more than welcome to share their hard work with neighbours in the form of a sign that can be displayed on your property.

Check out my earlier post on attracting fireflies to your backyard.

Image of the Certified Firefly habitat sign from the webite.

How to get your Certified Firefly Habitat

Make a firefly haven in your own yard and join the thousands of others who have done the same. Join individuals and organizations who have committed to providing the essential elements needed to create and sustain a healthy habitat for adult and larval fireflies.

Proudly display this sign to demonstrate your commitment to protecting firefly habitat. The sign is made of recycled aluminum, is easy to read and waterproof. The size is 9″ x 12′′. “Made in the USA.” Exclusive.

The organization behind the habitat certification

Firefly Conservation & Research is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by Ben Pfeiffer, a firefly researcher, and Texas-certified master naturalist with a degree in biology from Texas State University.

Ben points out that fireflies need protection now. “Across the United States and worldwide, rapid and large-scale changes to our lands and watersheds mean fireflies are losing the habitats they once knew. Every step we can take to protect land for the fireflies to thrive is a step towards a literally ‘brighter’ future for new generations to enjoy,” he writes on his website Firefly.org.

“Join us in our mission to help to certify habitats, backyards, and nature preserves to provide a permanent place for fireflies to exist,” he adds.

• 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.

“The Certified Firefly Habitat program is a first of its kind certification program to address the issues leading to declining habitat for fireflies. Ben will teach participants how to curate their habitat so that it provides all of the elements needed for fireflies to establish an existing and growing population on their land.

Those wishing to start the certification program will be asked to provide the following elements on their land:

Providing undisturbed cover for adults and glowing larvae
Encouraging plant diversity to preserve soil moisture
Reducing Light Pollution
Restricting Pesticide Usage

A certification guide will be available for you to download to help guide you in this process. This checklist will help you meet all the requirements necessary to provide firefly habitat.The guide will also teach you about:

The Firefly Life Cycle
What kinds of fireflies you are protecting
How habitat degradation and loss affect fireflies
What invasive species do to firefly habitat
Methods to manage your habitat from surveying methods, documentation, putting up protective barriers to prevent trampling.
Other insightful and creative ways to protect fireflies beyond just your land.

Vic MacBournie 3/14/22 Vic MacBournie 3/14/22

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

Wild Bergamot is a valuable native wildflower that should be in every garden, both for its beauty and its importance to wildlfe from native bees to moths and butterflies.

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.

Wild bergamot growing in a garden. It's an excellent plant to attract pollintaors — 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.

Vic MacBournie 3/10/22 Vic MacBournie 3/10/22

Three great woodland gardens in Canada

Canada boasts its share of woodlands both in its National Park system as well as its extensive series of provincial parks and conservation areas, but it’s the public gardens that makes areas from east to west that makes it a tourist destination. Check out three of Canada’s finest woodland gardens and public gardens.

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.

Vic MacBournie 3/8/22 Vic MacBournie 3/8/22

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

Gardener’s Supply Company is a United States based garden nursery that operates a web based on-line store and printed catalogue. The company is employee owned and goes to great lengths to promote its mission to make the world a better place through gardening.

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.

Vic MacBournie 3/3/22 Vic MacBournie 3/3/22

Five of the best woodland gardens in the United States

Five of the best woodland public gardens in the United States you need to visit. It might be a mini vacation or just a drive down the road, but it’s the perfect time to plan a garden destination vacation. Here are five of the best.

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.

Vic MacBournie 2/23/22 Vic MacBournie 2/23/22

Why do I smell skunks in mid February?

Why am I smelling skunk every night when there is still snow on the ground? Chances are you are experiencing a female skunk sending a strong message to an amorous male looking to mate or quite possibly two males letting off a little steam over the chance to mate with a female.

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.

Vic MacBournie 2/14/22 Vic MacBournie 2/14/22

Bunchberry is the ideal woodland ground cover

Bunchberry or Cornus Canadensis is the perfect ground cover for the woodland garden. It is happy in a moist, acidic soil growing in a coniferous or mixed forest. The small, ground-hugging dogwood looks great in spring summer and fall complete with perfect little flowers and bunches of bright red berries.

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.

Picture collage shows different images of Bunchberry or Cornus Canadenis — *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).”

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.

Vic MacBournie 2/8/22 Vic MacBournie 2/8/22

Little Bluestem is BIG winner in 2022

The native perennial Little Bluestem is an outstanding, little-used prairie tallgrass that has its place in naturalized gardens as well as more formal beds. It’s an important grass for native wildlife including butterflies and insects and provides a food source for our native songbirds.

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.

Little Bluestem grows alond a dry river stream complimenting the mass of Black-eyed Susans. — 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.

Skippers are important little butterflies in our gardens. Little Bluestem is host to nine varieties of skippers. — *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.

• 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.

A close up of Little Bluestem showing its coppery-bronze fall colour. — *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.

Little Bluestem sits alongside Northern Sea Oats native grasses in our window box. — *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.

Clumps of Little Bluestem growing in the garden alongside Milkweed and Black-eyed Susans — *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.

Attract Juncos: Habitat might convince Snowbirds to stay all year

Dark-eyed Juncos are common visitors to our gardens, especially in winter when these sparrow-sized birds are scene looking for seed on the ground beneath our feeders.

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

Vic MacBournie 1/29/22 Vic MacBournie 1/29/22

Wildlife rescue: Living with foxes and other garden wildlife

If you are fortunate enough to have foxes living in or near your garden consider yourself lucky. These entertaining little critters are great to have in your yard to control mice and rats.

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

Vic MacBournie 1/23/22 Vic MacBournie 1/23/22

Wildlife Rescue: The year of the Fox

Mange in foxes can be deadly if left untreated but it is relative easy to cure if the application of proper medication is given in a timely fashion. Follow Procyon Wildlife volunteer staff as they tackle an onslaught of wild foxes inflicted with mange. Their rescue and recovery and eventual release.

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

Vic MacBournie 1/21/22 Vic MacBournie 1/21/22

How to bring the magic of fireflies to your woodland garden

Fireflies have always added a magical experience to our natural areas as well as our gardens. Creating habitat for these insects is critical to their survival and our ability to continue to watch these fascinating insects light up our gardens. This article provides tips on how to attract fireflies to your garden as well as resources on how you can help fireflies survive.

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.

Vic MacBournie 1/15/22 Vic MacBournie 1/15/22

How to create bird artwork from digital watercolour paintings

Creating artistic interpretations from photographic images can be an extremely rewarding endeavour that is not only a way to get your creative juices going during the cold days of winter, but an excellent way to see your photographs in a different light.

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.

Digital imge of a hummingbird — *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 bird image has been turned into artwork of birds through manipulation in digital photography programs. — 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 digital artwork of a female cardinal was created from a photograph. — 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 bird artwork illustrates how a photograph can be turned into a beautiful piece of artwork of birds. Here a Goldfinch is caught in a snowstorm. — 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.

Creative interpretation of a Junco in a snowstorm using a frosted forest floor as a backdrop. — 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.

Vic MacBournie 1/12/22 Vic MacBournie 1/12/22

How do our bright yellow Goldfinches get their colour

The stunning colour changes of the American Goldfinch is unmatched by most backyard birds. These changes can be traced, in part, to its almost entirely vegetarian diet of seeds, most notably the seeds of thistle, sunflower and milkweed.

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

A female American Goldfinch waits for its turn at the Nyjer seed feeder during a winter storm. — 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.

An American Goldfinch sits atop a seedhead in the woodland wildlife garden. — 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.

Vic MacBournie 1/11/22 Vic MacBournie 1/11/22

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

Finding a fox den in the forest or in your backyard is always an exciting experience. Consider yourself lucky to be able to watch the kits grow up and the dedication the parents have as they teach them how to make their own way in the world. The den is often a series of tunnels with separate compartments for sleeping and stashing a cache of food.

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

A fresh mound of dirt and a hole about a foot in diameter.
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
location of the den is often near former, well-used dens where the fox have moved on to construct a new den.
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.
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.

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Cornus Kousa’s best features

How to prune Cornus Kousa

Hybrids offer best of both

More of my posts on Dogwoods

What’s the difference between Cornus Florida and Cornus Kousa?

How to water a Dogwood tree

How to prune a flowering dogwood

Consider replacing Forsythia with Cornus Mas or Spicebush for spring colour

Native Spicebush is an even better replacement for Forsythia

More of my posts on Dogwoods

When does Cornelian Cherry flower?

Where does Cornelian Cherry grow?

Can you eat the cherries?

Do birds eat the fruit?

How to propagate Cornelian Cherries?

How big do Pagoda Dogwoods get?

Is the Pagoda native to areas of Ontario and the United States?

How can you tell a Pagoda Dogwood?

More of my posts on Dogwoods

When does the Pagoda Dogwood flower and produce berries

What is a Pagoda Dogwood’s Lifespan?

What birds are attracted to the Pagoda Dogwood?

Is Cornus Alternifolia a host plant?

What Native bees does Cornus Alternifolia attract?

What other species is the Pagoda Dogwood related to:

What cultivars are available for the Pagoda Dogwood?

Ground covers, small shrubs and trees for everyone’s taste

Cornus Canadensis: A native ground cover for a shady area

More of my posts on Dogwoods

Cornus Alternifolia: Perfect small tree for the woodland/wildlife garden

Cornus Florida: Crown jewel of the Carolinian forest

Cornus Kousa: Popular non-native with spectacular summer show

Cornus Mas: Early yellow-flowering tree for the shade

Cornus sericea: Popular red-twigged shrub ideal for winter interest

More links to my articles on native plants

What you can do to save fireflies

How to get your Certified Firefly Habitat

The organization behind the habitat certification

What to plant with Wild Bergamot

How to grow Wild Bergamot

When does Wild Bergamot bloom

What flowers are related to Wild Bergamot

What pollinators does bee balm attract?

What eats Wild Bergamot

In conclusion: A native wildflower we all need to grow

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

Toronto Botanical Garden’s Woodland Walk and Bird Habitat

Stanley Park: Canada’s ultimate woodland garden

In conclusion

What makes Gardener’s Supply Co. so special?

A mail order and shopping website just for gardeners

Gardener’s Supply on a mission to improve the world

Gardener’s Supply helps the hungry

Gardener’s Supply helps pollinators

Gardener’s Supply helps children

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

Garden destination vacation is perfect for landscape design ideas

How close is Garden in the Woods to Boston?

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

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

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

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

Finding inspiration in Garden in the Woods

Garvan Woodland Gardens: A must visit for the whole family

A garden for the kids

Garden beginnings

Hixson Family Nature Preserve

Don’t miss out these features at Garvan Woodlands

Lady Bird Johnson: A celebration of native wildflowers

Missouri Botanical Gardens: A St. Louis refuge

What to watch for in the woodland garden

The Chicago Botanical Garden: A woodland rewilded

Morse family Woodland Garden, Georgia

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

What are skunks’ breeding habits?

Skunks and Great Horned Owls: A deadly combination

Cornus Canadensis has a place in every woodland garden