Why Aren’t There any Birds at my Feeder?

We get this question A LOT at this time of year. There’s no need to worry however. The cardinals and chickadees and all the others will be back—right after they strip the land around us of every berry and seed they can find. It’s all ripening right now, and even our best supreme blend cannot compete. Some autumns our feathered friends abandon us for only a week or so. Other years it seems they’ll never come back—but they always do. How long we’ll have to wait depends on the season’s bounty. Until then keep your feeders clean, but don’t fill them. There’s no point in having a lot of seed go stale. Just keep enough on offer so the birds will not find empty feeders when they do return.

And cheer up—the silver lining to this cloud is right around the corner. We’re heading into the best season for backyard birding in Tallahassee. Just a few of the many migrating species you can hope to see are Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, American Goldfinch and Chipping Sparrows. You’ll want to stock up on white proso millet, thistle and our home-made suet cakes for these winter guests. So come see us at the nursery, and we’ll help you plan the party.

Elliott's Lovegrass and Purple Lovegrass

Purple Lovegrass

If you like low maintenance and you have lots of sun and well-drained soil, you’ll love Elliott’s lovegrass (Eragrostis elliottii – pronounced EAR ah grohs tis ell ee OTT ee eye) and purple lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis – pronounced EAR ah grohs tis SPECK tah buh liss). That is their preferred growing condition; but if you have only so-so sun and moist loam that is occasionally inundated with fresh or brackish water, you can still enjoy these two perennial native grasses in your landscape. They are that tolerant of a wide variety of conditions . . . drought tolerant, salt tolerant *, hardy to minus 10 degrees . . . you can hardly go wrong with these plants. Having said that, do not plant them in heavy clay or deep shade.

Elliott’s lovegrass and purple lovegrass are clump forming with fine-textured leaf blades. Elliott's are a pretty silvery-blue-green, and purple lovegrass foliage is green (occasionally with a reddish tinge at the tip). Their rate of growth is fast; but with their short rhizomes, they spread slowly. They grow to a height of two to two and a half feet here in Tallahassee. Apparently they can get a little taller further south where they do not die back in the winter. They both work well in rain gardens, as specimen plants or in a mass planting and are attractive to birds and butterflies.

You’ll enjoy them most in the late summer and fall when they bloom. Elliott’s lovegrass has white to tan blossoms, and (you guessed it) purple lovegrass’ blossoms are a reddish purple. The UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions site describes these wispy blossoms as resembling ‘a tinted mist above the foliage’. I think that’s an excellent description.

* Tolerates moderate amounts of salt wind without injury and occasional (but not long-term) flooding by salt or brackish water.

At Native Nurseries, we typically stock Elliott's lovegrass and purple lovegrass in 1-gallon pots. Currently we do have some in stock. As always, give us a call to check availability before making a special trip (although we’re always happy to see you). Sorry . . . we do not ship plants.

Some information for this blog post came from the following sources –

http://alachua.ifas.ufl.edu/pdfs/lawn_and_garden/FFL%202013%20Tour%20Fact%20Sheets/FS%2067%20Select%20FLorida%20Native%20Grasses%20for%20North%20Central%20Florida.pdf

http://nassau.ifas.ufl.edu/horticulture/demogarden/printables/Elliot's%20Love%20Grass.pdf

http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/lovegrass.html

Hardy Native Hibiscus

There are a number of Hibiscus species that are native to North Florida. They are fast growing, herbaceous perennials that can reach heights from four to fifteen feet and widths of four to eight feet depending on the species. They’re close relatives to the tropical hibiscus that’s grown in Central and South Florida, but they are much more cold hardy and have larger flowers that attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees.

These native hibiscus are a great way to add color to your yard, even in areas that stay wet and cause problems for so many other perennials. Don’t worry if you do not have such a wet area however. They also do well in average, somewhat dry garden soil, making them a good choice for rain gardens. Plant native hibiscus in full to part sun, and give them some room. They can produce many stems from the caudex or from the ground around it, and as you read in the previous paragraph, native hibiscus can get quite large.

Propagation is by seed, which will require scarification. In their natural setting, the thick-coated, boyant seeds are dispersed by water. High storm tides sometimes carry them for long distances.

Currently, we have three species available in our native wildflower section. They are:

Crimson-eyed Rose Mallow – Hibiscus moscheutos (pronounced hye BISS kus moss KUE tohss) which has a four to five inch wide white or light pink flower with a blood-red center. Crimson-eyed rose mallow is native from Ontario, Wisconsin and New York south to the Gulf of Mexico, extending west to New Mexico. It is common in marshes and wetlands and is salt tolerant.

Pink Swamp Hibiscus - Hibiscus grandiflorus (pronounced hye BISS kus gran de FLOOR us) has beautiful six to eight inch rosy-pink flowers and blooms from late spring to fall. It has rich, fuzzy gray-green foliage on a plant that can grow to fifteen feet in height. It is salt tolerant and can grow in brackish water directly in tidal zones. Don’t be put off by that however. It will also grow in your average garden soil.

Red Swamp Mallow or Scarlet Rose Mallow - Hibiscus coccineus (pronounced hye BIS kus kock SIN ee us) can reach a height of four to eight feet with a three to four foot spread. It has deep red flowers that are five to six inches wide. Unlike crimson-eyed rose mallow and pink swamp hibiscus, red swamp mallow is not salt tolerant. It is however tolerant of a wide variety of soil types and conditions – extended flooding, acidic, sand, loam and clay. The owners of the nursery have had red swamp mallow in their yard for two years. It is four to five feet tall, and Donna says it blooms from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Here’s one last note of interest about red swamp mallow. Half a dozen times or more in the fifteen years I’ve worked here at Native Nurseries, I’ve had customers (with a grin and a twinkle in their eye) point this plant out to me. They’re always male and of a certain age (they were young men in the 60s or 70s). At that point I know I’m about to hear The Story. The Story can vary – especially as to whether it happened to this particular customer, someone he knows or someone he knows who knew someone. It usually involves The Feds, helicopters and mistaken identification (plant identification). You see the foliage of red swamp mallow looks a whole lot like marijuana. It’s an entertaining story, and maybe it even happened somewhere, sometime. Whether it did or not however, red swamp mallow and the other native, hardy hibiscus make great additions to any yard or garden that has the room for them.

At Native Nurseries, we typically stock native hibiscus in 1- and 3-gallon pots. Currently we have red swamp mallow in both and pink swamp hibiscus and crimson-eyed rose mallow in 1-gallon. As always, give us a call to check availability before making a special trip (although we’re always happy to see you).

Some information for this blog post came from the following sources –

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fp253

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/hibmos/all.html

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep245