The Purpose of (Native) Weeds

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Meredith

This post is dedicated to Tatiana of mycoldprairie, who commented on my last post regarding the purpose of weeds.

Well, there are multiple purposes, actually. I want to first point out that exotic invasive weeds, to me personally, have no other purpose than to rape native lands of nutrients, water, and space and to destroy balanced ecosystems (guess what’s in my yard and why I’m grumpy). BUT, speaking of native weeds in particular, they legitimately have a purpose in their habitat, and as many will point out, there’s not really any such thing as a weed, anyway, other than being an annoying plant to a gardener.

What was mentioned in class last night was that weeds grow first in poor soil, and over time as they die off and decompose, they make the soil more fertile for other plants to move in and establish. True indeed. But weeds also can be valuable food sources for wildlife, through seeds, nectar, leaves, berries, and whatnot. They can serve as erosion control and as shelter to birds, lizards, and other creatures. Some even have medicinal value or food value to humans! They do have their purpose, even if you’d prefer they not be in your yard. Speaking of which, did I really manage to not get any dandelions this year? I guess they were scared off by the rampant evil nutsedge that has found its way into my yard. It has become the bane of my gardening existence. But it too has a purpose — apparently Canadian geese and ducks and squirrels and other wildlife like it. Guess I’m not wild enough to join them in such fondness for the WEED.

Oh, and weeds are also there apparently to teach Tatiana patience. She said it, not me! 😀

Habitat Steward Class begins!

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Meredith

Training began last night. Although it was the first night, which typically goes over the basics one might already know, I’m pleased to report that it was a great first class and I definitely learned quite a bit. Two of the lecturers shared some of their favorite native plants, some I hadn’t seen before, and I learned of the purpose of weeds (they have a purpose!). Little tips and tidbits here and there, and I said a lot of “Good to Know!” in my mind. One of the best parts was learning to “Read the Land.” This is something I’ve probably done a little subconsciously, but I know more about studying the state of plants and forests to determine how healthy it is (history, condition, and future potential). On Saturday we are going to visit some local habitats. Can’t wait! Here’s a glimpse of something I created for our first homework. The whole drawing is much bigger — I might share it in the wildlife habitat pages I’m working on. Friends know how much fun I have in Paint — the assignment didn’t require anything as detailed as I made it. I just felt inspired. It’s not great art, mind you. Just some fun sketching a wildlife habitat.

Becoming a Habitat Steward

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Meredith

It’s just one week until I begin Habitat Steward training, 2009 class, and I’m very excited. This four-week training program is a volunteer opportunity for the National Wildlife Federation, and in Austin it is co-partnered by the Travis Audubon Society. Habit Stewards work with the community to educate adults and children about wildlife habitats, as well as help remove invasives and plant habitat gardens. There are similar training classes all over the nation, and you can learn more at NWF’s volunteer page or for Austin at the city’s volunteer page. I just finished my first “homework” assignment, and class hasn’t even started!

The berries of this Yaupon, Ilex vomitoria, are in the process of changing color. During winter, the bright red berries are a favorite source of food for mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, robins, and several other bird species. The berries are only on the female trees — there must be a male tree nearby in order for berries to appear on the female. Cooler seasons can bring food hardships for birds and other wildlife, so planting year-round food sources is a major part of creating a wildlife habitat.

Feeding the Hummingbirds

Posted on August 30, 2009 by Meredith

When I started my garden last year, I focused primarily on choosing native butterfly/caterpillar and hummingbird plants, and I kept telling my husband about how different our yard would look next year (which is now this year). But I knew that he wouldn’t really get into it until he saw his first hummingbird. For my husband, hummingbirds remind him of visiting his grandparents in Uvalde, and so the little birds are quite special to him. Now that our garden is growing and we get hummingbirds regularly, it’s fun to watch my husband get such enjoyment out of our garden.

We have many varieties of hummingbird plants now, but the plants are still more or less small, so the main visits are to the feeders, though I’ve seen visits to the Salvia and Flame Acanthus. We had just one feeder up for many months, and then a few days ago, I found a second hummingbird feeder in the back of our garage, and we set it out. I don’t know whether it was the combination of two feeders or the fact that migration is underway, but that very day we had five hummingbirds zooming around. We sat out on chairs and enjoyed trying to identify them. I couldn’t get pictures of them all at once — they were all flitting about trying to push the others away from feeders while trying to sneak in some sugar themselves.

Of the two feeders, I much prefer the UFO-shaped HummZinger feeder over the taller, more traditional feeder. There are a few reasons for this, but primarily the Hummzinger is much, much, much easier to clean, and it has a built in “moat” to keep the ants out. It’s all plastic, which is a bummer, but the design is sound and it feeds da birdies, so I forgive it. It helps keep the wasps out, too. It’s also more affordable than the blown-glass feeders, which my dogs would break anyway. It’s very noticeable how quickly the liquid goes down in the tall one, so I’m not sure if it means the tall one is the first choice for the hummingbirds. This is worth investigating!

We had to visit one of the big building stores yesterday for house repair stuff, and as I wandered through the garden center just to see what was there, I passed by a couple buying hummingbird feeders and food. I decided to offer them some friendly advice, that making your own sugar water is better than buying commercial syrup because red food coloring is reported to be dangerous for hummingbirds, plus making your own saves money. But this couple just looked at me quite annoyed, and the husband stated that hummingbirds won’t come to the feeders unless it has the red liquid, and I could tell by his tone that he considered me to be foolish and ignorant and that I needed to mind my own business. So I said very pleasantly that yes they do come to the feeders without red liquid, and I moved on, hoping that because the wife also said that they would, that maybe she’d actually someday stop buying the red liquid. But I’m not so sure the husband will. Tried to help. Denied. Move on. Clearly this guy is not a friendly garden blogger or garden blog reader!

But I thank him for the inspiration behind today’s post — tips for attracting hummingbirds to your yard, with details on feeders and making the syrup.

Do plant nectar-filled native plants (tubular ones are particularly attractive to the birdies). Here in Austin, some favorites are Turk’s Cap, Flame Acanthus, Red Yucca, Crossvine, Coral Honeysuckle, among others.
Set out hummingbird feeders as well (edit: unless you live in an area with bears — eep! thanks, RoseyPollen). Hummingbirds consume plant nectar and tiny insects for vitamins and protein, and they use a feeder’s sugar water to fuel their crazy energy needs. Hummingbird feeders with perches give tired birds a chance to rest a moment while they feed.

Make your own sugar syrup for the feeders. Don’t buy red commercial products. Use one part white cane sugar to 4 parts water. According to hummingbirds.net, you don’t have to boil the water first, but you do need to replace the feeder’s syrup every three days and replace stored, refrigerated syrup every two weeks. They also state that turbinado sugar and beet sugar are NOT good choices, so stick to the white cane sugar (I laugh because I’m trying to steer my family away from white sugar but I feed it to the birdies? ha). And absolutely NO honey or gelatin or food coloring. I mix:
1 cup white sugar
4 cups water
Clean the feeders regularly (give a good hot rinse each time you replace the syrup; every 3 or so weeks for a major cleaning), but NOT with bleach or soap or detergent or anything toxic. Some sites say to use bleach, but bleach is extremely bad for the environment and potentially reacts with the plastic as well, so I don’t use or recommend it. Vinegar is a great alternative to bleach, but no matter what you use, rinse extremely well.

Other than that, be patient. This time of year, many hummingbirds are in migration. Next month, my family is going to the Gulf of Mexico to hopefully see migrating hummingbirds en masse, so I hope I’ll get a few good pictures to share.

FYI, I looked into making my own hummingbird feeders with recycled bottles. But upon investigation, I learned that the long tubes used for the typical upside-down feeders, homemade or store-bought, tend to leak, causing all sorts of problems. I decided to save the money and avoided purchasing the tubes. I still hope to make my own someday, but I won’t be using an upside-down version.

A green thumb? Mine’s covered in dirt

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Meredith

Just like my mother, I thrive on projects. My latest project has turned out to be one that will keep me busy for years to come. It’s time to finally turn our scorched dead yard into something pretty and useful, so I am planting plants, some for landscaping and some for pure enjoyment. Sure, I’ve planted a handful of things from time to time, but the task of transforming the large yard was daunting and the desire to fully commit to it just hadn’t stuck. Well, I finally found my green thumb, or at least my perpetually dirty fingernails and feet. Welcome to my young garden.

This all started with the deliberate falling of a dead tree in our front yard. We beat it to the punch — the old hackberry was destined to fall on the house (specifically our son’s bedroom) with the next strong wind. Somehow the process of removing it got me inspired to plant a few things. And suddenly a little project became a full property focus.

I started on the entryway, where three beds of almost complete dirt had sat empty (except one yew and some annoying weeds) for far too long. Now they are filled with small shade plants that will someday be big plants. The beds have room to change — in fact one change was made today to save a new plant. We’ve had rain for the past 24 hours, and it turns out the water running off the roof was bombarding my poor little wood violet, trying to drown it in the process. The wood violet is now safely tucked away in a different bed, and I have buckets collecting any additional runoff. On our project list is adding gutters and rain barrel, when money allows. But in the meantime my wood violet may yet live, and for now that is what matters.

Our dogs and newly-adopted cats have been my gardening companions. When I’m in the front yard with the cats, the dogs are jealous and whiny. When I’m in the backyard with the dogs, the cats want to come outside. But they each have their area, and the cats are chaperoned (no hunting allowed).

Tooga loves to garden with me, and she insists on coming outside whenever she sees me heading out there. Any hole I dig in the front yard, she is right there to test it out and make sure it is just right.

Even skittish Cricket, our kitten, has found her adventuresome side, though she still scurries back to the house or garage at every noise.

Tooga doesn’t notice toads if they act like garden rocks. The toads prefer it that way.

The garden is bringing in all sorts of wildlife already — toads, butterflies, lizards, skinks, caterpillars, wasps, birds, and squirrels. A few pest bugs have arrived, too, but nothing to bring alarm (well, except for the goldenball leadtree that was filled with fire ants).

I found an itty-bitty monarch caterpillar on the milkweed:

As one of my plant purchases, I chose a baby Dutchman’s pipevine, only to discover the next morning that it was half gone thanks to a big pipevine swallowtail caterpillar! That hungry caterpillar was awfully cute though.

But I didn’t have enough plant to support it, so I took the caterpillar back to Natural Gardener’s so it could feast on their pipevine. And wow, was it happy. But my poor pipevine then got dragged by the dogs through the yard before I managed to get it planted — amazingly it’s actually growing, and it seems quite happy now.

A toad made use right away of the toad bath we made .

Below is a view of the butterfly garden before I put in the edging — the butterfly shape is at our kids’ request. I’m not going to overdo the edging in the yard, but I wanted to make sure the butterfly shape stayed. It was a pain to get those wings even! You can see the original and much smaller bed in the butterfly shape. The area along the fence and house, separated by a line of bricks, will be a bed we prepare for spring planting.

Next is the garden with the edging and some of the plants put in place. Michael helped dig out the bed, but I did the edging and the planting, giving myself a bit of tendonitis in my right elbow during the process.

Turning our old wheelbarrow into a planter, I planted herbs and colorful annuals. I used some of that basil just this evening! Yum.

Eastern tiger swallowtails came to visit this weekend, and two danced and went off together.

All in all, it’s been fun. I seem to be spending most of my waking hours thinking about plants. The yard is officially certified as a wildlife habitat, and now I’m trying to bring in as many native Texas plants as I can to help get the yard certified as a Texas Wildscape and a Best of Texas habitat. Someday our yard will look very different. Right now it’s in its baby stages.