Category Archives: Gardening for Wildlife

A Winter Garden Can be a Wildlife Habitat

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Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Thinking about ‘cleaning up’ your garden for the winter?  You might want to reconsider.  You may be disturbing the winter homes of many of the creatures you enjoy seeing during the warmer months.

For example, butterflies may be present in our yards and gardens in some life cycle stage year-round.  Except for species that migrate or live in more hospitable climates, butterflies will need to find a safe haven to survive the cold winter months in northern locations.   Fortunately, providing winter butterfly habitat may be less work than you think.

Swallowtail Chrysalis

Swallowtail Chrysalis

Leaving leaf litter is one of the most beneficial things you can do, for both the plants in your garden and the critters that live there.  Great Spangled Fritillaries and Baltimores are among the many butterfly species that spend the winter in or under this free, natural insulation and rich fertilizer.  A mulch that’s automatically replenished by nature every year, leaf litter helps to minimize the need for watering your garden, while protecting soil from erosion, and controlling weeds.  As the leaves gradually break down, they replenish the soil with essential nutrients plants need to survive and flourish.  Leaf litter is the best, most cost effective mulch you can use for your plants, and provides important habitat for insects and birds.

Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa)

Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa)

Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum)

Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum)

Many perennials and grasses have lovely forms in winter, while providing food and shelter for insects, birds and other critters, so it’s best to leave them standing as much as possible.  Pictured here are just a few of the many plants that provide visual interest in winter.  Butterflies that use some of these as food plants will often spend the winter in leaf litter below them, or on the plant itself.  Some skipper caterpillars may make a winter shelter in grass leaves, while overwintering Eastern-tailed Blue caterpillars may take refuge in a seed pod.

Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis)

Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis)

For those lucky enough to have a meadow, maintenance recommendations include mowing to a height of 12-16 inches in late winter, but it’s best not to mow more than a third of a site in a given year.  Although some overwintering butterflies and other beneficial insects will be lost as a result of mowing, the height helps to minimize harm to those whose shelters are at ground level or just above.  The timing offers winter food and cover for birds.  Mowing only a partial site enables the area to be repopulated by residents from the unaffected portions of the meadow.

Brush piles, logs, standing dead trees, tree cavities and loose bark may also provide overwintering sites, so preserve or make these available if you can.  Eastern Commas, Question Marks, and Mourning Cloaks are some of the last butterflies active in late fall, and the first to emerge in spring.  They spend the winter as adults, and are among the species that may use these winter shelters.  Butterflies that overwinter in other life cycle stages may also take refuge here.

Eastern Comma

Eastern Comma

Birds may visit some of these plants for their seeds, like the Chipping Sparrow pictured here, feeding on Indian Grass.  Hungry foragers like Chickadees and Goldfinches are likely to visit the mints and coneflowers.  Birds may also find and feed on insects sheltering among these plants, including some of the overwintering butterflies.  But to make up for it, they will feed on insects that may otherwise parasitize the butterflies.  So over all, birds help keep the insect population in a healthy balance.

Chipping Sparrow eating Indian Grass seeds

Chipping Sparrow eating Indian Grass seeds

I like the look of nature in winter.  It’s fun to search for signs of critters, like a butterfly chrysalis attached to a tree or shrub branch.  A few leaves of grass tied together with silk may be a winter haven for one of the skippers.  With birds foraging for seeds, fruits or insects, that’s all I need to keep me interested.  That’s a good thing, because the more we can leave their habitat in a natural state, the more good we will do for the insects and birds we enjoy so much.

Goldfinch in winter plumage

Goldfinch in winter plumage

Asters Yield A Treasure Trove!

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Orange Sulphur on New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Orange Sulphur on New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

A few days ago the weather was beautiful, with temperatures in the mid-60s, cloudless blue skies and a bit of a breeze, so we went for a walk at a wildlife management area in West Amwell, New Jersey.  We were looking for birds, fall fruit and foliage, and any other interesting critters that happened to present themselves.

We didn’t expect to see a lot in the way of butterflies because of the cool temperatures, and because it’s so late in the season.  We didn’t see many butterflies, but those we did see were pretty spectacular.  Orange Sulphurs were out and about, which was to be expected, since they are among the species that stay active as late as November in this area.  But the surprises were a Fiery Skipper and an American Snout, both of which are fairly rare in New Jersey, especially in late October.  All were nectaring on various species of asters, or other aster family members, the goldenrods.

American Snout

American Snout

Fiery Skipper on New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Fiery Skipper on New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Asters family members are the primary source of food for late season pollinators.  They are prolific in their long bloom period, often continuing into November.  Their flowering structure reflects a very clever strategy, and suggests this plant family’s alternate name, ‘composite’.  What looks to us like a single flower is actually a cluster of tiny flowers, potentially of two different types, ray flowers and disk flowers.

Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)

Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)

The photograph above of Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) shows the classic flower heads of the Aster family:  a circle of ray flowers that look like petals, pale blue in this species, surrounding a cluster of tiny tubular disk flowers in the center of the head.  If you look carefully at the disk flowers in this photo, you can see that the outer rows are open and blooming, while those in the center of the cluster are still in bud.  This gradual bloom habit supports a long period of flowering, offering nectar to fall pollinators for many weeks.  The disk flowers of this plant are a pale yellow in bud and when they first open, then turning pink or magenta as they age.  This color change is thought to be a signal to pollinators, directing them to the receptive yellow flowers which are not yet pollinated and that will reward them with nectar, and steering them away from those blossoms that are already satisfactorily pollinated.  (Plants are so clever!)  Notice the pink and magenta disk flowers in some of the flower heads in this photo.

As soon as the temperature gets into the low 50s on these crisp late October mornings, the Bumble Bees begin foraging on billowing clouds of luminous Blue Wood Asters outside my windows, soon joined by other tiny bees and flies.  Large dense clusters of bright pale blue flowers top the heart-leaved covered stalks of this woodland beauty.  The shape of the leaves is reflected in the species name, cordifolium, and also gives this plant another commonly used name, Heart-leaved Aster.  Pair Blue Wood Aster with White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata) and Wreath (Bluestem) Goldenrod (Solidago caesia) or Zigzag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis) for a spectacular late season shade garden display.

New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Favorites for a sunny garden or meadow include New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), which is also seen blooming in many spots along roadsides, and Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium), whose intense blue flowers are irresistible to insects and humans alike.

Following are more asters and their visitors.  You never know what treasures asters will yield!

Flower or Hover Fly, Helophilus sp, on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Flower or Hover Fly, Helophilus sp, on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Orange Sulphur on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Orange Sulphur on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Orange Sulphur on Awl Aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum)

Orange Sulphur on Awl Aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum)

Hover or Flower Fly, likely Toxomerus geminatus, on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Hover or Flower Fly, likely Toxomerus geminatus, on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) with Bumble Bee

Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) with Bumble Bee

Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) with Common Buckeye

Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) with Common Buckeye

Common Checkered Skipper on Aster

Common Checkered Skipper on Aster

Mating Bees on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Mating Bees on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Fall allergies? Don’t blame Goldenrod!

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American Lady on Goldenrod

In mid summer and throughout fall, if your eyes start to water and itch and you can’t stop sneezing, you look around for something to blame.  You see fields of bright clusters of tiny yellow flowers belonging to various species of goldenrods, and you think, “Aha!  They must be the culprits!”

If that’s what you think, you would be wrong.

The perpetrator is something far more subtle, something that you could walk right past without really noticing, something with very inconspicuous, greenish flowering parts.  Continue reading →

Mountain Mints Are Pollinator Magnets!

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To enlarge an image, click on the thumbnail below.

Looking for a deer-resistant pollinator magnet?  Mountain Mints are your answer.

Usually blooming from late June through August, Mountain Mints attract a spectacular assortment of butterflies, bees, moths, and other critters.  These beneficial insects graze amiably together for nectar, since the profusion of tiny blossoms offered by these plants provide enough food for everyone to dine in harmony for many weeks throughout the summer.  From morning until evening Mountain Mints are alive with the dance of pollinators.

There are several species of Mountain Mints, but my favorites are Short-toothed Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) and Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum).  The genus name, Pycnanthemum, means densely flowered, hinting at the reason that these plants can accommodate so many hungry visitors simultaneously.  The foliage of these two species is as showy as the flowers, enhancing their visual appeal.

Plants are all about surviving and reproducing, and Mountain Mints are among the plant species whose survival strategy is to produce clusters of diminutive flowers, together forming a showy inflorescence, a strategy that has evolved to attract insects as assistants in the pollination process.  Individual flowers in each cluster bloom progressively over many weeks, increasing each plant’s chances for successful reproduction.  This works out really well for their pollinator partners, who are looking for a continuing reliable source of food.

Short-toothed Mountain Mint grows to a maximum height of about three feet, topped with round heads of tiny white flowers smudged with bright magenta.  The plants are truly ‘densely flowered’.  A soft velvety bed of pale blue-green foliage frames the blossoms.  Rub or crush the leaves and you’ll be rewarded with a scent that confirms that this is a mint family member.  Short-toothed Mountain Mint can tolerate part shade to full sun, and likes moist but well-drained, average soil.

Hoary Mountain Mint, as the name implies, has foliage very similar to Short-toothed Mountain Mint, with the leaves just below the flower heads looking as if they had been lightly but evenly dusted with powdered sugar.  Each delicate flower is white with a sprinkling of tiny purple spots.  The flowers grow in rounded heads much like Short-toothed Mountain Mint, but the blossoms are somewhat larger, growing in multiple tiers on each stem. The branching habit is open and graceful, showing off the layers of flowers, and providing easy access to their many visitors.  This species grows to a height of 2-4 feet, prefers sun, and average to dry soil.

Virginia (Pycnanthemum virginianum) and Narrow-leaved (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium) Mountain Mints are also good garden candidates.  Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint grows to a height of 1-3 feet, while Virginia may achieve a slightly taller stature, depending on growing conditions.

The seemingly endless supply of nectar makes Mountain Mints a great option for attracting butterflies.  Short-toothed, Narrow-leaved and Virginia Mountain Mints all attract small to medium-size butterflies;  expect to see hairstreaks, blues, Common Buckeyes, ladies and smaller fritillaries.  Hoary Mountain Mint flowers are large enough to also accommodate larger butterflies, like some of the swallowtails.

If you have a vegetable garden, you might consider planting some Mountain Mint nearby.  Good nectar producing plants like these attract many bee species that will help increase your garden’s yield.

Because of their strongly fragrant foliage, foraging deer reject Mountain Mints.     In fall the flower heads dry to a dramatic steel gray, and can be an eye-catching addition to a garden in winter.

The Mountain Mints have adapted to thrive in a fairly broad range of weather conditions.  All of these species are native to much of the eastern half of the United States, some as far west as Texas, and as far north as the eastern Canadian Provinces.  In the northeastern U.S., they have been holding their own very well even during this hot, dry summer.  To see if a particular species is native in your area, and for additional Mountain Mint species, check the USDA website:  http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PYCNA

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Cardinal-flower – A Perfect Partnership!

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Ruby-throated Hummingbird drinking nectar from Cardinal-flower

From late July to early September, Cardinal-flower’s brilliant scarlet blossoms beckon to thirsty little Ruby-throated Hummingbirds like a neon sign to a hungry traveler, promising a long satisfying drink to this industrious bird.  Hummingbirds can’t resist bright tubular flowers that are shaped to accommodate their long narrow bills and tongues, a design that allows them to access the bounty that is out of reach to less compatibly designed diners.

Each Cardinal-flower (Lobelia cardinalis) plant has a tall cluster of flowers that bloom around a central stem.  In order to maximize the chances of successful pollination (and by happy coincidence, our viewing pleasure), Cardinal-flower stages the opening of its flowers over a period of weeks.  Blooming begins with the lowest buds on the stem, gradually moving up until all the flowers in a cluster have opened for business.  Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will likely be regular visitors throughout this process.

But the Cardinal-flower expects something in return from the Hummingbird for its gift of nectar.  The unsuspecting little bird carries out an essential service for the Cardinal-flower:  pollination.

When the Hummingbird inserts its bill in the center of the bright red corolla to drink, the top of its head is snugly brushed by a long tube that arches above the flower’s scarlet lobes, the flower and the Hummingbird fitting so perfectly together that it looks like a custom tailoring job.  In newly blossoming flowers, the tube is tipped with a fused set of pollen-rich stamens that brush the Hummingbird’s head, leaving a precious cargo of pollen for the little bird to take to the next Cardinal-flower it visits.  In the picture above, you can see the yellow pollen at the tip of the stamen resting on the Hummingbird’s head.

As the flowers mature, the stamens are succeeded by the flower’s female parts, called pistils, which are now perfectly positioned to receive the pollen transported to them on the head of a Hummingbird.  As a plant matures, it will likely have flowers in their female stage lower on the stem, with flowers higher on the stem in the male stage.  In the photo above, the flowers on either side of the Hummingbird are lower on the plant’s stem than the one from which the Hummer is drinking, and they have matured enough to be offering the reddish stigmas as pollen receptors at the tips of the pistils.  The little bird drinks systematically from the lowest flowers in a cluster to the highest, bringing the pollen acquired from the male flowers of one plant to the female flowers of the next.  This helps increase the likelihood of cross pollination, which will result in genetically stronger offspring.

In between visits of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, keep an eye out for butterflies. Cardinal-flowers don’t offer much of a landing platform for pollinators, since their perfect partner, the Hummingbird, hovers and doesn’t need one.  (Why invite freeloaders?)  But Swallowtail butterflies are also willing to put forth the effort to grasp the tenuous flower platform and hover for a drink.  Spicebush Swallowtails like the one pictured below  seem to be especially drawn to these flowers.  From the Cardinal-flower’s perspective, however, they are a much less effective pollinator.  The butterfly’s anatomy is not so perfectly tailored to acquiring and distributing the pollen of this plant, so successful pollination by a butterfly would be much more random.

Spicebush Swallowtail drinking nectar from Cardinal-flower

Cardinal-flowers depend on Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to effect pollination and continuation of the species.  In return, the Hummingbirds depend on this reliable nectar source.

Cardinal-flower can grow to a height of three feet, and will tolerate sun to light shade.  Although it prefers moist soil, established plants usually do well even in hot, dry summer weather.

This gorgeous gaudy plant with its bold blossoms is a wonderful way to entice Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to visit your garden.