Be a Plant Patriot

The word patriot is used quite often in conversations today in our politically divided country. It seems both sides of opposing views believe they are the patriots, and the others are anti-American.

There is one issue facing our country on which we can all agree. It is an aspect of our lives over which we can have complete control. It is an action we can take to improve our country’s natural environment. It is the simple act of choosing to use American native plants in our landscapes.

Every plant in this landscape except for the lawn is native to North Florida, from the trees to the shrubs to the wildflowers. Photo by Donna Legare.

We need to go beyond our personal desires. Rather than selecting a flower color because it is our favorite, choose a plant for its value for bees. Rather than wanting variegated foliage for a splash of color, use a plant that supplies winter food for birds. Rather than a plant whose colors coordinate with the drapes in your living room, go for a plant that will support high protein insect life which is the necessary food for baby birds and countless other animals.

For instance, most favored bee plants are American natives. They range from diminutive wildflowers to huge shade trees. Not only are nectar and pollen important, but the timing of when it is produced can be critical to the survival of our pollinators. Examples are goldenrod, purple coneflower, wild azaleas, native blueberry, red maple, basswood, and Chickasaw plum.

For winter bird food, plant wax myrtle, bluestem palmetto, red cedar, winged elm, and yaupon holly. I love watching cardinals, catbirds, mockingbirds, and hermit thrush eating bluestem palmetto berries in our yard.

Native plants play a critical part in producing insects which, in turn, feed birds throughout the year. Native plants can be added to your existing landscape, or you can make space for them by removing invasive plants such as nandina from your yard. You may even want to make room by removing ornamental landscape plants that do not serve an ecological function. Choose a sparkleberry, greybeard, American plum, or redbud tree instead of a crape myrtle. Choose a mixed row of wax myrtle, Simpson’s stopper, saw palmetto, and yaupon holly instead of a loropetalum hedge.

This caterpillar is eating sassafras. The mated spicebush swallowtail female lays her eggs on spicebush, sassafras, and red bay which are all native to North Florida. Photo by Donna Legare.

Most of a moth’s life cycle takes place in the canopies of large trees. We ground-based humans are seldom aware of the insects living their lives in the tree canopy. Dr. Doug Tallamy, in his book Bringing Nature Home, informs us that there are 543 species of butterflies and moths that lay their eggs in the canopies of all the oak species in our country. In plum and black cherry trees native to North America, 456 species of mostly moths begin their lives. The eggs hatch into caterpillars which are basically soft bags of protein, the perfect food for growing baby birds. The other side of this story is that if you have a Chinese tallow tree taking up space in your yard, only three species of moths are known to use the tree in North America. If you had a crabapple, 311 species may use it.

There are two ways to be an American plant patriot. First is to add American native plants to your landscape, from wildflowers, grasses, shrubs, and small trees to towering shade trees. All of them have an important part to play which helps wildlife flourish. Our nation’s natural ecosystems have evolved over the eons with plants and animals living in a beautiful balance.

Secondly, learn to identify invasive plants such as Chinese tallow, ligustrum, Japanese privet, wisteria, coral ardisia, skunk vine, nandina, and others. Try your best to remove them from your yard. Have a zero-tolerance policy toward invasive plants. If unchecked, these plants will push out native plants and we will slowly become the United States of European or Asian Plants. Let us keep our natural and urban areas American.

Your yard in an urban or suburban setting can be critical for the survival of wildlife. Urban areas suffer the most from invasive plant infestations. Chinese camphor and ligustrum trees now dominate the tree canopy of some of our older neighborhoods.

Whether you are in the city, suburbs, or countryside let us all pull together and remove invasive plants and replace them with American native plants in our yards and gardens. Be a Plant Patriot!

Seven Simple Actions to Help Birds

It is discouraging to read about the significant losses of birds that we have experienced worldwide in the last 50 years. The 2019 report on the status of birds documented the loss of three billion breeding birds since 1970, about the time I graduated from high school. Soon after I read that report, I came across an article by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with a discussion of things we as individuals can do in our own yards and in our everyday lives that have a positive effect on the lives of birds and other wildlife. The author recommends seven simple actions to help birds:

Home-made BirdSaver prevents window strikes at the author’s home. Photo by Donna Legare.

Make windows safer. Most of us have had a bird hit a window now and then, some more than others. Birds are seeing the reflection of trees and think they can fly on through, only to sustain injuries or be killed upon impact. Sometimes a bird just seems stunned and soon flies away but we do not know if the bird has left to die elsewhere. If it is a small enough window, decals will keep birds from hitting the window. For larger windows consider making and installing an Acopian BirdSaver, also known as a Zen curtain, which is constructed of parachute cord. See www.birdsavers.com for instructions or to purchase. They are easy to make and work beautifully.

Rob Williams got started by planting three native trees and a bed of native shrubs that will provide excellent habitat for birds as they grow. Note the pollinator plants along the house foundation. Photo by Donna Legare.

Plant native plants and reduce the size of your lawn. Native plants are the basis of the ecological food web that sustains birds and other wildlife. A good place to begin is to plant a native tree this winter. If you have room, choose one that gets large and provides habitat in its eventual canopy. Live oak, white oak, Shumard oak, and longleaf pine are a few good choices, but there are many from which to choose. If your yard already has large overstory trees, consider planting smaller trees and native shrubs like redbud and arrowwood viburnum in their shade. Keep leaves and pine straw below the crown of the tree, rather than lawn, which will provide additional habitat. For smaller yards, consider planting a pollinator garden focusing on native wildflowers and grasses.

Enjoy shade grown coffee that is certified Bird Friendly. Coffee plants grown in full sun, as most coffee is, require environmentally harmful pesticides and fertilizers and offer no habitat for migrating birds. A forest canopy above the shade grown coffee, which is grown organically, will help migratory birds survive winter.

Use less plastic. Plastic takes 400 years to degrade and 91% of plastics are not recycled. Avoid single use plastic and recycle it if you use it. The article cited that, “to date at least 700 species of marine animals including shorebirds have been entangled by plastic or mistaken it for food leading to suffocation or starvation.”

Avoid pesticides, especially systemic ones like neonicotinoids that are lethal to birds and the insects they consume.

Keep cats indoors. Your cat will be healthier and safer and birds and other wildlife will benefit. Look into building a creative catio (cat patio). One will be featured on Apalachee Audubon Society’s annual Wildlife Friendly Yard Tour in February this year. See www.apalachee.org for more information.

Watch birds and share what you see. Teach others, especially children, about birds and nature. You may want to learn how to use eBird, an app which enables you to become a citizen scientist by reporting the birds that you observe adding to worldwide data.

To this I would add a few more suggestions. If you feed birds, keep your feeder clean and always provide fresh seed. Emphasis should be on creating habitat for birds while using a feeder as a focal point to bring birds up close for observation. Make sure the feeder is squirrel-proofed, so you don’t spend energy on being mad at squirrels. There are squirrel-proof bird feeders that work.

A northern cardinal maintains his plumage by fluffing and spreading his feathers in the bath. Photo by Stephen Gensits.

Provide a source of clean water in your yard. This can be as simple as a bird bath or as grand as a garden pond or stream. During the dry period last October, we set up a sprinkler near our bird bath that watered the native shrubs behind the bath. Within minutes and over the next half-hour two Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Brown Thrasher, four Northern Cardinals, three Carolina Chickadees, two Carolina wrens, a Hermit Thrush, and a Downy Woodpecker all showed up enjoying the spray of water on the branches of the Virginia sweetspire shrubs. Several hopped into the bath and splashed. All seemed to be having a great time!

Birds bring joy into our lives. If you enjoy nature and birds, try to incorporate some of these simple actions to make life better for them and other wildlife. What we do in our own yard matters.

Start Your Own Tomatoes and Peppers from Seed in January

A few years ago, I planted pepper seeds for the first time to make my own paprika. This small start sent me on a journey from my bathroom window to a small growing tent in my closet and eventually to some of the best and most interesting paprika I have ever tasted.

Peppers and tomatoes are both members of the nightshade family. In our area they have similar growing habits and time frames for planting. The timing of seed planting is one of the most important aspects of growing vegetables. Other considerations include available equipment, quantity of plants needed, and the planting and caring of the seeds and seedlings.

When choosing a pepper or tomato to grow from seed, consider how you are planning to use the produce. For instance, if you enjoy pasta with red sauce, a determinate Roma-style tomato might be the best choice. For hot sauces, I have enjoyed some of the super-hot peppers, although one plant is often enough! Sharing or exchanging your extra plants with friends is often an option to gain a diversity of varieties after you have too many plants. If growing a whole seed packet of one variety, I usually have a project in mind that requires lots of the same variety of pepper or tomato.

The equipment needed for starting peppers and tomatoes consists of a heat mat, grow light, containers to start the seeds in, watering can, fertilizer and growing medium. Tomatoes do not need as much heat to germinate as a lot of the peppers. It is possible to grow both in a south facing window or greenhouse but without sufficient light and heat the peppers will be very slow to grow. Peppers prefer to be germinated between 70-90 degrees Fahrenheit, while tomatoes prefer 65-85 degrees. My house is usually under 70 in the winter, so I run a heat mat to keep the soil temperature closer to 80 degrees. This is the same with the lighting situation, which requires me to use a grow light to get sufficient light to the seedlings.

You can use a good quality potting soil or seed starting mix as your growing medium. Your container could be a nursery flat with individual cells or small 2-inch pots. Here is my recipe for sowing the seed:

1. Fill the seed starting flat or individual pots with seed starter mix

2. Place 3-4 seeds per cell or pot

3. Gently sprinkle worm castings to cover seeds (or use more of potting medium)

4. Press down to achieve good seed to soil contact

5. Water lightly using a watering can with a fine shower or water from the bottom to keep disturbance to a minimum.

The seeds will usually germinate in 5-to-10-days, but some peppers in low temperatures can take a few weeks so don’t toss empty containers immediately. During this time, keep the top portion of the container moist. During germination the cotyledon will emerge, followed by the first set of true leaves. Make sure the seeds and plants are getting plenty of light, 14-16 hours. A window will only get a few hours when compared to a grow light. Select the strongest seedling in each cell or pot and cut out the others. At this point the plant can be fertilized with Neptune’s Harvest or other fish/seaweed product which is gentle and promotes a great burst of growth. Continue to water thoroughly and fertilizer once a week.

The best time to plant both the seeds of peppers and tomatoes is in January. Tomato seedlings can be planted outside in late February, then protected from frost, while peppers prefer a warmer temperature and should be planted outside after the last frost, usually in late March or April.

Many of the peppers are slow to grow while tomatoes shoot up very fast. Each growing season will be different and will present different challenges, but the final product is delicious and well worth the effort.