Reaching to gather nesting materials, a female Baltimore Oriole has her eye on wind-borne cottonwood seeds (Populus deltoids), perfect plant fibers for creating her hanging nest.
“We conserve only what we love; we love only what we understand; and we understand only what we have been taught.”
—BABA DIOUM, Senegalese environmentalist and forestry engineer
It’s been an exciting journey. You completed an inventory and an evaluation of your yard, identified the assets and liabilities, and organized your yard map, choosing the plants you want to add. You have all the guiding details at hand: what you want to plant and where you want to plant it. This chapter will ease the way toward putting your plan in action.
Step 5: Put the plan in action.
We recommended earlier that you implement your plan in baby steps, choosing only a section of the yard at a time to birdscape. Assuming you’ve made that choice, we’ll proceed, assuming also that you’ll repeat the steps later for other sections of your yard.
But first things first.
Perhaps in the course of your inventory and analysis, you discovered some plants that were not especially beneficial to birds. Maybe some were old, no longer attractive in the landscaping. Maybe some were nonnative. In fact, perhaps many were nonnative. In the course of thinking through the many options offered in previous chapters, you may have decided to remove some of these plants, perhaps because they’re creeping into other parts of the yard or because you simply want to plant something else in that spot—something that will use the space more productively, providing more benefits to birds. For whatever reason, if you plan to remove any plants, now is the time, before you begin planting anew.
You will recall, however, that we focused especially on the necessity of removing any of the Disaster Dozen nonnative invasives: Bradford pear, princess tree, tree of heaven, bamboo, nandina, privet, Russian and autumn olive, burning bush, honeysuckle bush, Japanese honeysuckle, and winter creeper. Now is the time for action on that plan.
Since the Disaster Dozen invasives are particularly noxious, you probably suspect that many are difficult to eradicate. You’re right.
When eradicating anything, however, invasive or not, always begin with the most benign methods—cutting back, pulling, or otherwise manually removing, and then treating any re-sprouts responsibly. When faced with persistent invasives, however, a more aggressive attack may be in order, perhaps with an appropriate herbicide. Contact a local expert, such as your county extension agent, for specific recommendations, and follow label directions to the letter.
Since troublesome nonnatives have a quirky tendency to leaf out earlier than natives, the early greening lets you take timely action to eradicate them. If you’ve been advised that herbicide application is the only satisfactory route, you can probably apply it during this early greening without affecting natives that have not yet leafed out. Ditto with late-fall greenery, after natives have gone dormant. Again, check with local experts.
Some particularly resilient plants have extensive root systems that, if the plant is cut and not treated, will send up dozens and dozens of new sprouts around itself. The sprouts may resist a single herbicide treatment. In such stubborn cases, you may need to cut the plant to within a few inches of the ground and paint the cut edge and stem(s) or trunk(s) with herbicides prescribed for stump treatment. Again, a local expert can recommend what’s best for your area. Be certain to follow label directions for safe and successful application. In addition, most herbicide labels include a toll-free number; give the company a call if you’re uncertain about any part of this process.
Know that some of the most aggressive of the Disaster Dozen species will require repeated treatment as new sprouts arise from far-reaching roots, sometimes several years later. Persistence is key to eradication.
Get rid of it! Highly invasive winter creeper, one of the Disaster Dozen, mostly smothers everything on the ground; but when it climbs trees or other structures and blooms, the berries, closely resembling bittersweet, attract birds that then spread the plant even farther.
In the process of eradicating invasives, keep in mind two cautionary notes: First, use caution spraying under tree canopies with an herbicide that, if it soaks into the ground, can kill roots, thus damaging or killing valuable, perhaps prized, trees. Second, some herbicides are highly volatile, and the vapor can damage or kill nearby tender plants. In short, herbicides are killers, so take care to target only the enemy. Above all, when using herbicides of any kind, read label directions carefully and always follow them exactly to assure safe and effective treatment. If in doubt, check with local experts such as your county extension agent, or call that toll-free number on the product label.
Eradicating the nonnative invasives will require keeping a regular eye out for seedlings and sprouts from remaining root systems. Just be prepared. Patience and persistence are in high demand for this operation.
Once the yard is rid of invasives, you’re ready to move on. You can choose to replace the invasives with some of the suggested native alternatives below, or you can choose to alter your yard map to include other kinds of birdscaping plants—depending once again on space, budget, and time.
We could probably come up with at least 100 suggestions for plants to replace any of the Disaster Dozen, so the following suggested native alternatives represent only a fraction of suitable options. Thus, don’t hesitate to consider plants described in earlier chapters of this book. Most of the suggested native alternatives below appear on our plant lists, but don’t shrug off those that do not. We can have only so many favorites on our lists, but all of the following are fine plants, equally suited to birdscaping.
Native alternatives to Bradford/Callery pear: Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis), fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus), green hawthorn (Crataegus viridis), yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea)
Native alternatives to princess tree: northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), red mulberry (Morus rubra), but not Asian invasive white mulberry (Morus alba)
Native alternatives to tree of heaven: yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea), pecan (Carya illinoinensis), butternut (Juglans cinerea), smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus)
Native alternatives to bamboo: arborvitae trees (Thuja spp.), especially tall narrow cultivars like ‘Emerald Green’, synonymous with ‘Green Giant’, or eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) for a living screen
Native alternatives to nandina: Florida leucothoe (Agarista populifolia), yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
Native alternatives to ligustrum privets: blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium), devilwood (Osmanthus americanus), Carolina cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana)
Native alternatives to autumn and Russian olive: silky willow (Salix sericea), silverberry (Elaeagnus commutata), silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea), bayberry (Morella/Myrica cerifera), American snowbell (Styrax americanus)
Native alternatives to burning bush: black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica)
Native alternatives to honeysuckle bushes: winterberry (Ilex verticillata), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
Native alternatives to Japanese honeysuckle: scarlet/trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), rock/American clematis (Clematis columbiana), American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens), but not Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis), another invasive
Native alternatives to winter creeper: bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), climbing hydrangea (Decumaria barbara), creeping blueberry (Vaccinium crassifolium), crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)
Virginia creeper, a berry-producing native vine, can be considered invasive because it spreads readily. However, its berries are highly prized by migrants, and the bright red foliage adds a lovely note to fall. Keep it if you can.
With your yard map and plant lists in hand, you’re off to shop. Finding native plants at neighborhood nurseries currently remains a challenge in most places. But being the savvy business folks that they are, most nursery operators and horticulturalists recognize a market when they see one. The more we ask for specific native plants at area retail nurseries, the more the owners and managers will realize it’s a market they can meet. They have at their command numerous wholesalers that specialize in native plants. Let it be clear: Native stock is readily at hand for retail outlets to purchase. Retailers simply have to be assured that they will sell what stock they order. Good marketing is always about meeting demand. Tell them which plants you want. Tell them you’ll be buying. Better bet they’ll be selling!
Since 96 percent of all songbirds, including Great-crested Flycatchers, feed their babies bugs, neonics destroy the very purpose we bird lovers have for planting.
Neonicotinoids
LONG-REACHING, LONG-TERM POISON
While you seek plant sources, also inquire about the use of neonicotinoids, usually shortened to neonics. It’s too important not to revisit the issue here.
On plants, neonics work as a systemic insecticide so that every part of the plant—including stems, leaves, flowers, seeds, berries, nectar, and pollen—is toxic to whatever eats any of those parts. Thus, the plants are insect-free. The problem? Not all insects are bad. Think bees, butterflies, and caterpillars. What kills one insect kills all.
Research is ongoing. But many well-placed authorities report that bees nectaring on treated plants lose their sense of direction and can no longer find flower patches or their way back to the hive. They don’t survive. Other insects, including butterflies and their caterpillars, that feed on nectar and leaves of treated plants also succumb. Some fairly solid studies, including over 200 reported by the American Birding Association, seem to verify the effect on birds. If they eat the seeds of treated plants or bugs, including caterpillars, that fed on treated plants, the birds do not survive. Nestlings, given their tiny size, need only minuscule exposure to neonics to cause death.
The problem with neonics is compounded by their very long half-life—from 2 to 10 years. In spite of the inherent dangers, some growers treat every plant—necessary or not—to keep them insect and disease free, lovely for the marketplace. Plant them in your garden, and you’re adding long-term insect-killers to your plot.
The lesson: Always verify that the plants you purchase are free of neonics. Fortunately, most native plant growers understand that their plants support bugs. They tend to avoid insecticides. Still, be sure to ask.
Meanwhile, until established commercial nurseries start regularly stocking native plants to meet our needs, look to the following options:
Online sources ship native plant seed, plugs, or dry-root plants. Be aware, however, that some growers stock plants specific to their own region. So, unless you live in that region, the plants may not be suitable for your planting zone. In other words, don’t order native plants grown in Wisconsin for Wisconsin if you live in Georgia.
Local and state native plant societies typically post on their websites or blogs the names, addresses, and contact information for regional native plant sources, both retail and wholesale. Sometimes wholesalers will accept large minimum orders that you and your friends can place cooperatively.
Native plant societies at state and local levels often host plant sales. In general, you can be comfortable knowing the stock is reputable.
Master Gardeners often host plant sales that may include an assortment of native plants. Depending on their sources, the “native” stock may or may not be reliably native. Every organization handles these matters differently.
Choosing 6, 10, and 18 plants of 3 species makes better sense than choosing 2 each of 17 species.
Mom-and-pop businesses often cater to niche gardening interests and may special-order plants for you. Shopping local always helps the area’s economy, and garnering a group of like-minded friends to place orders at a mom-and-pop business will generate additional local interest in planting native.
When all else fails, you may choose to raise your own plants by seed. You will find reputable native seed sources online. If you have the space and time to tend the seedlings and do the transplants, you will indeed save dollars. And maybe, given more seedlings than you can use, you can have your own plant sale, furthering the message about natives!
Shopping specifically for natives or native varieties can turn into a hair-pulling challenge. As you roam nursery greenhouses, how do you check labels to make sure you get what you want? Let’s assume by way of illustration that you’re shopping for eastern purple coneflower. Your search leads you to a display of perhaps a dozen kinds of “purple coneflower.” They’re all different. Are they all natives? Highly unlikely. Are some of them native varieties? Maybe. Are some of them native cultivars? Possibly. Are some of them hybrids? It’s a sure bet.
So how do you know?
Labels may help. But the bad news is that there’s nothing standardized about labels. Each company, or grower, makes its own labels. If nurseries receive shipments unlabeled, or if they grow their own stock, they may purchase labels from stock companies. In any of these situations, the labels vary. They may include complete information—including common name, scientific name, and variety and/or hybrid name—or not. Mostly not.
But do look for possible clues:
The scientific name will let you check for native origin. So, for example, in the case of eastern purple coneflower, the scientific name should read Echinacea purpurea.
The abbreviation “var.” indicates that the specimen is either a variety or cultivated variety (used interchangeably on most labels). So if a label reads something like Echinacea purpurea var. arkansana, you’re good to go with this one.
The use of single quotation marks also indicates a variety or cultivated variety, with or without the “var.” abbreviation, like this: Echinacea purpurea ‘All That Jazz’. Probably good to go here, too—except that sometimes the hybrid name appears in single quotation marks.
The symbol × means the plant is a cross between, probably, two varieties; in other words, a hybrid. So a purple coneflower hybrid label could read E. purpurea ‘Magnus’ × ‘Kim’s Knee High’. Probably should skip this one. It could be sterile, and there’s no way to know. Worse, chances are that no one at the retail nursery or outlet can tell you.
Plant labels, which have no standardization, range from a handwritten common name to colorfully printed details. Only with mobile Internet connection at hand while you shop can you sort out the poor, good, better, and best choices among these labels.
Sometimes hybrids are not clearly marked. Sometimes the name in single quotation marks turns out to be a hybrid. Sometimes the label includes only a common name, period.
Given the range of plant-label information—or lack thereof—can you somehow verify what’s what? Well, maybe. In the age of ready portable access to the Internet, you can shop with devices in hand and go online to the USDA Plant Database (www.plants.usda.gov) right at the retail business. A quick check of the maps answers all. While the database accepts both scientific and common names in its search engine, common names are less likely to turn up accurate results. Common names, after all, vary by region and by grower. Still, the search is worth the effort. There’s nothing to lose but a few minutes’ time.
I wish I had better news about this labeling business, but with no standards in the industry, we’re left to our own wits. It’s a truly “buyer beware” market.
Once you’re made your purchases, you’re in the home stretch. You know what you want to plant where, so follow your plan. Most plants you can handle yourself, but trees and maybe certain large shrubs may present a separate issue: They may be too large for you to transport or handle. Thus, when you’ve made your final choices and purchased your large plants, decide whether you want to plant it/them or have a landscaper do the deed. Some nurseries accompany plant sales with short-term guarantees, but usually the guarantee is effective only if the nursery’s own personnel do the planting. The planting fee may be equal, or nearly equal, to the tree’s cost. Consider your options before you decide.
Most plants require nothing more than following good planting practices: good siting, careful planting at the correct depth, and adequate water. Of course, always follow your nursery staff’s advice about planting and watering, knowing that natives don’t need fertilizers and, after they’re established, little or no water. But getting plants established merits your TLC, making sure plants settle in nicely; watering them until they begin rooting, perhaps for three seasons; and protecting small plants from raiding rabbits, deer, raccoons, skunks, or other yard rascals.
If you have chosen a vine for your birdscape, you no doubt know already how you want it to function. If it’s to serve as a ground cover, perhaps twining over some unsightly part of the landscape, you have no pre-planting prep. On the other hand, if you want it to vine upward, you must provide suitable support. And that support must be permanently in place prior to your putting the vine in the ground.
Whether you purchase or build it, here are some considerations for a suitably strong supporting structure:
Regardless of construction material—wood, metal, or vinyl—the support structure must be sufficiently sturdy to support heavy vines. Consider whether the structure will bend, crack, sag, or break under, say, 20 pounds of tangled vine. Yes, vines can grow surprisingly heavy.
Four-footed structures stand more firmly than two-footed structures. And the more widely separated the feet, the more stable the structure. Of course, the more windy the planting site, the more important the structure’s stability.
Wild grape vines feed and otherwise support many birds, including female Baltimore Orioles that use the shaggy bark for their pendulous nests.
Joints should be fastened securely in order to withstand flexing in wind, under weight. If you can wiggle or twist the store model, reevaluate.
Wooden trellises can rot unless made of rot-resistant or treated lumber. Paint or stain does not sufficiently protect wood long-term from rot.
Metal structures can rust without suitable rust-preventative paint or sealant. Any structure can topple in strong winds unless securely anchored, either on concrete piers or with sturdy metal stakes driven probably 2 feet deep. Trellis legs made of treated lumber can be set directly into the ground at similar depths.
Once your chosen plants are in place, stand back, take a look, and study the effects. Look for landscape gaps or spots you think would look better with some sort of filler or accent. Consider an additional clump or so of native ornamental grass. Or add a native fern. Maybe cluster a few more perennials. Consider which plants will increase the visual appeal while simultaneously improving bird habitat.
Beyond a few additional native grasses or ferns, consider additional accents in the form of containers. Almost any garden can benefit from strategically placed pots—large or small, tall or squat, formal or rustic, made of whatever suits your fancy. Using natives, you can create the formulaic pot planter: a thriller, a spiller, and a filler.
Using a sizable pot, begin with the thriller—that tall plant that spikes interest—maybe a long-blooming agastache like ‘Purple Haze’ (Agastache ‘Purple Haze’), or maybe the thriller is one of the native ornamental grasses. Add a compatible spiller—the plant that drapes over the side—such as a small ground cover like trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens). Then add the filler—the plant (or plants) that provides the background for all the rest—maybe a bushy aster (Aster dumosus). Voila! A lovely pot next to a stone bench, that bit of hardscape in the corner of your bird-busy garden.
Consider other hardscape as well, maybe statuary, boulders, a decorative rain gauge, or other accents that suit your fancy. But before you settle back to bask in the glory of the task accomplished, you’ll want to add one finishing touch: mulch.
A fully mulched garden in spring eliminates weeding for the remainder of the season. Here, wood chips keep paths clearly delineated, while thickly spread shredded leaves keep the entire planted area weed-free.
There’s no denying you’d be pleased to have a (relatively) weed-free landscape. The miserable truth, however, is that unwanted weeds are sure to sprout—unless, of course, you wrestle them under your control. After years of working through the dilemma, I recommend mulching—the finishing touch in a garden. Not only does mulch dress up the appearance, it also helps retain moisture and shade delicate roots. Over the long haul, it also enriches the soil. But above all, it smothers the weeds that would love to rear their annoying heads.
In our yard, mulching is an annual rite of passage from winter into spring. After I clear away winter’s debris, divide and thin big clumps of plants into sharable sections, prune the over-growth, replace some old plants with new, and weed, I set myself up for a relatively work-free summer. I mulch. And I use lots of it. The best part of the mulch I use: It’s free. Each fall, we gather bagged leaves from curbsides (and prevent bags from jamming the landfill), add them to our own, and shred the entire pile. Exposed to the weather all winter, the pile melts down and becomes a wonderful partly decomposed mulch by spring. Used liberally, it smothers summer weeds and provides birds leaf litter for yearlong gleaning.
Compared to other types of mulch, shredded leaves work exceptionally well as mulch because:
Leaf mulch is 100 percent natural and 100 percent organic, readily available, and free.
Leaf mulch is Mother Nature’s nursery, cemetery, and breeding grounds.
Leaf mulch harbors bugs in all forms—adults, eggs, and larvae. In winter and early spring, leaf mulch is the gold standard for housing essential protein for birds.
Breeding female birds need an abundance of calcium in order to produce eggshells, and they meet most of their dietary demand for calcium by foraging for small snails amid leaf litter—another reason to leave some leaves every fall.
Leaf mulch harbors calcium-rich snails. Breeding female birds need huge amounts of calcium not only to produce eggs, but to produce eggshells stout enough not to crush under their weight.
Leaf mulch naturally enhances the soil as leaves decompose and, literally, turn to soil.
Using shredded leaves as mulch prevents bags of autumn leaves from overloading landfills.
Be certain, however, to avoid leaf mulch containing walnut tree leaves or debris. Walnut tree parts are toxic to most other plants.
If leaf mulch is not readily available, maybe pine straw is. Depending on where you live, pine straw may be more suitable—and more readily and reliably available—than is leaf mulch. It has most of the same attributes as leaf mulch, and it’s lightweight, natural, and attractive.
Using just any mulch, however, is neither environmentally sound nor healthy for birds. A few guidelines:
Using non-organic mulches defeats the purpose of creating bird-friendly habitat. Avoid non-organic mulches like rock or shredded rubber. They do not support bugs—or birds—and in summer increase the heat load on plant roots.
Avoid using mulch containing anything unnatural, like dyes or other treatments. Colored mulch can contain arsenic from pressure-treated wood. As mulch from treated lumber deteriorates, it most likely contaminates the ground, affecting the natural biodiversity you’re trying to achieve in a bird-friendly habitat.
If neither shredded leaves nor pine straw is readily available, look toward natural hardwood mulch. It’s usually either a by-product of the lumber and paper industries or made from tree-trimming debris.
While not as dense as shredded hard-wood mulch, hardwood chips function nearly as well. Wood chips are almost always a by-product of the tree-trimming industry, so make sure the product is walnut-tree-free. Since light can penetrate the chips somewhat more readily than it can shredded mulch, a few weeds may work their way through. Still, as wood chips deteriorate, they enrich the soil, serving as Mother Nature’s nursery and grocery store. Birds will forge through the layers, looking for bugs in all stages.
Using cypress mulch is environmentally unfriendly. Why cut down a vital tree to grind it in order to protect a few flowers? While cypress mulch supposedly has rot-resistant and termite-resistant qualities, only old-growth cypress contains the resistant qualities to any degree. Now that most old-growth cypress is gone, commercial ventures grind up any cypress they find, thus harvesting an important bird resource. The cypress trees in my yard are my go-to spots for watching spring warblers. Why would I want them cut down—anywhere—especially only to grind into mulch?
Having found an ample seed supply, an adult White-crowned Sparrow and a juvenile refuel after arriving on their winter range.
Oh, and one more thing: Termites are highly unlikely to find a home in mulch. They munch solid wood, not loose shreds.
Come winter, you’ll want to leave standing the frost-killed plants. They’re loaded with seed, and they offer protection against winter’s elements. But wait—if you don’t clean up your garden each fall, mustn’t you worry about bugs in your garden? Contrary to popular belief, the answer is no. In our yard, we never use insecticides; we leave all our leaves, some whole and some mulched, and the bugs don’t eat our plants. There’s a simple reason: The birds, here in abundance, eat the bugs—in abundance. It’s nature’s balance. As the leaves enrich the soil, the birds enrich our lives.
So your Five-Step Plan is now complete. Well, at least phase one of your birdscaping plan is complete. Whether you have finished what your space, budget, and time allow or have several more phases in your master plan, it’s time to evaluate what’s what.
Give the new landscaping about a year to establish itself, go through the four seasons, and show off its results. You’re then ready to move on, perhaps tweaking your master plan. Everyone who gardens know that it’s always a work in progress.
With the plantings in place, you may want to turn your attention once again to lawn. Perhaps you’ve already reduced it with the just-completed plantings. But if any lawn remains, think about the following options.
Native turf can add a touch of magic and function to your yard. Yes, we’ve been openly critical of lawn, the second-most-desertlike habitat for birds—second only to pavement. But there’s a huge difference between lawn and grass. Contemporary lawn turf has been developed with the use of exotic grasses, mostly from the Eastern Hemisphere. Virtually no “lawn” is native. And virtually every lawn demands fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, frequent mowing and trimming, thatching, and reseeding, followed by additional fertilizing and irrigation. But more and more folks care about water conservation. They strive to reduce or eliminate pesticides and fertilizers that pollute waterways; and they aim to reduce or eliminate the gas-guzzling, pollution-emitting use of mowers and weed whackers. So conscientious folks are looking to eliminate useless and environmentally negative lawns and take advantage instead of no-mow or low-mow alternatives.
If you’ve decided to lose the lawn and are considering incorporating sedges, native turf, or flowering bee lawns, now’s the time to take that next step. Again, though, start with a small section of the yard, see what works best, give it time to develop, and then move to the next section. You’ll never regret the one-section-at-a-time approach.
One up-and-coming alternative to lawn is sedges, and the Carex genus includes several natives suitable for eastern US yards. They include Pennsylvania sedge (C. pensylvanica), Baltimore sedge (C. senta), and Catlin sedge (C. texensis).
All have similar characteristics: They grow in dense mats of fine-textured leaves, reaching no more than 6 to 8 inches tall when left unmowed. Baltimore sedge tolerates deep shade; Catlin accepts part to full shade. All thrive best with little or no fertilizer or chemicals and far less water than traditional lawns—maybe none at all, depending on where you live. Some Carex species tolerate wet soils. All are best mowed only two or three times a year (yes, a year!) to a height of 3 to 4 inches, and all are best planted via plugs set out on 6-to 8-inch centers.
There’s yet another alternative: The only truly native warm-season turf grass in the mid and southern US is buffalograss (Buchloë dactyloides), so named for its being buffalo’s favored grazing grass. Having evolved on the Great Plains, buffalograss is a sod-forming efficient user of water. Short and fine-leaved, it does not tolerate shade or sandy soil. Instead, it’s deeply rooted and thus tolerates drought.
Buffalograss turf can be planted as seed, plugs, or sod. If needed, it can be watered once a month to get established, and then be watered once a month later to prevent dry-weather dormancy. Or not. It’s a personal choice. Once established, however, it spreads by seed or runners that take root to create new plants. Mowing depends on use. On a golf fairway, for instance, more frequent mowing may be necessary than in your yard—probably depending on nothing more than how you prefer your turf.
A Chipping Sparrow finds bugs, one in its beak, in a bird-friendly flowering bee lawn. Although the dandelion and white sweet clover in this lawn are nonnative, similar flowering bee lawns can be developed using natives.
Currently about 15 buffalograss cultivars are available for regionally specific markets, from northern to transitional to southern regions. Check with local experts to choose the one best suited for your eco-region.
Either of these alternatives—sedges or native-turf buffalograss—will serve well as a substitute for lawn. But what do they offer birds? Any native grass supports native grassland insects like grasshoppers, katydids, and various beetles. Give some thought to yet another way to add native habitat to even the smallest yard.
Recent research from Michigan State University and the Bee Lab at the University of Minnesota recommends flowering bee lawns to support pollinators, many of which are in decline. The general principle is simple: You can mow and still maintain habitat where you mow by allowing turf to mingle with miniature flowering plants. Of course, the plan automatically precludes the use of any herbicides or other lawn treatments. Instead, to gain the full impact, you’ll likely need to introduce the appropriate flowering plants into the turf. Suitable flowering species will, of course, vary by region, so check with your local county extension agent for advice about a suitable bee-lawn mix and the procedure for incorporating the flowers.
Many flowering bee-lawn seed mixes include introduced species like sweet clover (Trifolium repens) and creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum), but the Bee Lab recommends four excellent natives: lanceleaf self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), ground plum (Astragalus crassicaprus), lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), and calico aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum). All of these make fine native flowering options for a high-mowed lawn. Set the mower at 3 or 4 inches, thus providing the opportunity for small plants to blossom. When mowed, these plants, usually growing much taller, will form low, dense clumps—and keep on blooming. What an imaginative way to add biodiversity to the yard, support declining pollinator populations (which ultimately affect the bird populations), and still maintain a “lawn”—only this time it’s a smart lawn!
As an added benefit to you, the flowering bee lawn increases your lawn’s resilience to environmental pressures. And you’ll enjoy the pleasure of the flowers.
As your native plants are becoming established, keep an eye on the habitat. Have you seen more pollinators? More butterflies, moths, and skippers? More birds? Which of your new plants host the most bees? Which plants attract birds to their seeds? Which plants are the best berry producers in each of the four seasons? Which plants attract the most hummingbirds?
You may wish to keep a journal, recording new sightings, their frequencies, and behaviors. My own journal tells me when bird species were first spotted in the yard—all the way back to 1973, the year a blizzard brought Snow Buntings to my yard for the first, and last, time. I also keep a garden journal, noting when which plants were set out where. In most cases, I’ve filed the labels as well. I don’t often read these journals, but I often use them as a reference for names and sources. And I keep photographic records. The photos identify butterflies and skippers sighted in the garden. Photos of plants and their blossoms take up a few megs on my hard drive. And well, yes, of course, photos record the birds, too.
Acadian flycatcher, dependent on bugs for survival, hunts from a perch in a black locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia).
But along with monitoring the birds, bugs, and butterflies, you’ll also want to keep an eye on what’s growing. Are invasives creeping in? Are new plants showing signs of stress—from too little water, too much water, too little drainage, too much drainage, too much sun, too much shade? Are some plants sending up sprouts or multiplying by seed? Is that okay? If you prefer to keep plants more tightly contained, use a spade to cut off suckers and transplant seedlings, perhaps to share with others.
I’m betting that at the end of every growing season, you’ll see something you want to change: a new plant that will attract a new bird, an old plant that nothing finds attractive—not even you. Maybe there’s something you want to prune to keep it tame, or something you want to stake for support to keep it away from the front walk. Making at least a weekly trek past every plant assures me of the health and well-being of each—and gives me time to react in case something is awry.
Indeed, we all love our feathered friends. They bring us song. They bring us color. They bring us joy. Returning habitat—native, life-giving habitat—to these tiny songsters will help save their lives. As climate change affects even more habitat, as some forests move north and west and others disappear altogether, and as the equilibrium of biodiversity hangs in the balance, every shrub we plant, every nectar source we encourage, every tree we support—all will matter in the life cycle of these feathered creatures that serve as a measure of our own quality of life.
So here’s a challenge: After you’ve added as many natives to your birdscape as space, time, and budget allow, and after those plants have become established, consider your own year-long bird tally in your native bird-friendly habitat. I’m betting you’ll have a dramatically improved count.
This handsome male Northern Cardinal obviously found adequate native berries in order to produce his healthy, brilliant-red plumage.
Of course, it’s not about the numbers, but it is about what those numbers mean: As a result of your efforts, birds have a new shot at survival, and not only in your yard and garden. Just think: If everyone in your neighborhood—or county, or state—follows your footsteps, what a difference those footsteps will make. Visualize a diverse green corridor of native plants supporting a diverse bird population, aiding them on their breeding grounds, supporting them on their migratory routes, and fostering them during the four seasons. What an impact that would make!
Rest well, knowing you’ve done your part. May you and the birds in your yard live well.
