Dead trees part of healthy forests and backyard habitats

My earliest experience with a snag happened when I was a college student rambling through a longleaf pine-turkey oak sandhill forest. I discovered a Brown-headed Nuthatch coming and going from a small cavity in a dead turkey oak tree that stood no taller than me. It was easy to watch and photograph at that height.

That experience sold me on the value of snags.

Snags, either standing dead trees or partially dead trees, provide cavities for nesting birds such as woodpeckers, owls, chickadees, bluebirds, titmice, wrens, nuthatches, wood ducks and others. In addition, snags provide habitat and food for all sorts of other creatures from beetles to frogs to denning mammals like raccoons and opossums. They also serve as perching and roosting sites.

When snags fall to the ground, they are called logs and further provide habitat for fungi, spiders, beetles, termites, ants, grubs, worms and snails, not to mention the reptiles and amphibians, birds, mice and other mammals that feed on them. Decaying logs are essential to the health of our forest and backyard soils and nutrient cycling.

Dead trees and branches are important to forests, but they are also important in our own suburban and urban yards. Homeowners may consider allowing some dead trees to rot and decay in place, as long as there are no safety concerns. In our urban Tallahassee yard, we have had our arborist cut dead pines at 20 feet and these snags have become refuges for wildlife.

When our children were in early elementary school, they were excited to find a pileated woodpecker hammering away at eye level on a large pine snag. They “sneaked” up on it to take a photo. What an experience for young children. Now 25 years later, the remnant of this snag that eventually became a log on our urban woodland floor is still there, nearly decayed to rich soil.

There are a few other things you can do to enrich wildlife habitat concerning dead wood. You can create snags by girdling live trees, especially if they are overcrowded in a wooded situation. Also allow some downed logs to decay over the years.

Barred owl nestlings in a rotted tree trunk. (Photo: Sandy Beck)

Smaller diameter dead wood (branches and limbs) can also be collected and placed in a mound to create a brush pile where birds can seek shelter and escape hawks and other predators and where insects and other wildlife can live.

My husband, Jody Walthall, even “planted” a dead well-branched cedar snag in our bird garden to provide perching places for birds because our 25-year old blue beech tree, the main feature of the garden, blew over in a hurricane.

We planted a young blue beech, but it will take time for this tree to provide much perching space. Likewise, friends Vanessa and Richard Crisler “planted” a snag by their backyard pond for dragonflies to perch on. Imagine their surprise when they found an immature bald eagle perched there. In Betton Hills!

Lovely Herbs of Summer Spice up Your Yard and Kitchen

The summer flowers of garlic chives attract honeybees and other pollinators. Do you see the tiny pollinator near the honeybee? (Photo: Donna Legare)

I am writing this in July and it is hot, hot, hot. But even in September and into October, our high temperatures can remain steadily in the 90s. Despite the heat, my herbs look great.

They are planted conveniently just out the front door for ease of gathering. Rosemary, garlic chives, lemon grass, lemon balm, Greek oregano, bay laurel, and comfrey in our yard are all at least 20 years old, planted in the first few years of living in our house. Of these, I use Greek oregano the most.

Greek oregano is an aromatic perennial that can be used to season many dishes.

Greek oregano is a useful landscaping plant. I shear the new growth with scissors whenever I need some. Cut it regularly during the growing season and it will form a tight, attractive 12-inch tall shrub. In early summer it will bloom and attract honeybees, as well as an assortment of native bees and other pollinators.

I use it in zucchini tomato casserole, in a delicious marinade for chicken, in soups, and in all things Italian. I never have to buy dried oregano because this plant is prolific and provides generous amounts of aromatic oregano for all my recipes.

If a recipe calls for a teaspoon of a dried herb, substitute at least three times as much of the fresh leaves. I generally don’t measure the fresh herbs. Just be sure to use the leaves and the tender new stems as the older stems are too tough for use.

Rosemary is another great pollinator plant and is especially loved by bumble bees. This year I also watched a hummingbird drinking nectar from rosemary flowers. It is another very useful cooking herb. Use in savory dishes, such as roasted root crops (use Greek oregano here too), but also use it in cookies, cakes, and other sweets. For a cake, use three tablespoons of chopped rosemary. Delicious!

Here’s a hint: use scissors to cut the tender sprigs of rosemary that you have gathered. Avoid cutting the woody growth of your rosemary plant. Harvest the tips regularly from your plant and you will have a nicely shaped rosemary bush, approximately three feet tall.

Grow lemon balm to enhance the flavor of summer hydration

Two other herbs that look wonderful right now are comfrey and lemon balm. These are planted along the north side of our house and get good light but little direct, hot sun. They are thriving. I originally planted the comfrey in the sunny butterfly garden with rosemary and Greek oregano, but the plant struggled.

Once I moved it to a shadier spot, it took off. I have only used it once to make a poultice for a friend with a broken foot, but it is a gorgeous landscaping plant and blooms off and on in late spring through mid-summer. The lemon balm is in the mint family; I use it mostly to flavor ice water and tea. Very refreshing.

I have other herbs right now that do not have as long lives as the ones mentioned above. Fennel, both bronze and green, are quite showy and are very attractive to black swallowtails. The adult butterfly lays her eggs on fennel or rue. Fennel is considered a perennial and lasts two to three years.

Rue is a medicinal herb that usually lasts up to five years in my garden. It is a host plant for the caterpillars of black swallowtail and the giant swallowtail butterflies.

African blue basil is colorful, an excellent pollinator plant, and tasty as well.

One of the best pollinator plants in my garden is African blue basil. It is usually alive with bees and other pollinating insects. I substitute it for sweet basil, which has become difficult to grow because of a downy mildew problem.

African blue basil is stronger in flavor than sweet basil, so use less of it. It is a very pretty plant with a somewhat purplish cast to its leaves and is a prolific bloomer. Technically it is a perennial but will only come back if we have a mild winter. Grow it with other sun-loving herbs.

Spearmint is a must have. I keep it in a big cast iron pot that has a crack in it for drainage. Mints will spread rapidly so I always confine them to pots. If it gets a little unsightly during the heat, cut it back and fertilize with a small amount of fish emulsion. It will usually produce a nice flush of new growth.

Keep using it by pinching off the tips and it will shape up nicely. It is my favorite plant to flavor a pitcher of ice water. In winter I put a sprig of it in my hot black tea.

Herbs are indeed some of the most useful and beautiful plants in the landscape. I encourage you to experiment with them in pots or in the ground.

Airplants

Airplants are the common name of a variety of epiphytic species within the Tillandsia genus. Tillandsias are members of the pineapple family, also known as the bromeliad family. Airplants get their common name from their epiphytic habit – they grow on trees without soil. They receive all their water and nutrients through fuzzy gray scales on their leaves called trichomes. In nature, nutrients are provided by decaying organic matter like leaves or insects. The visible, wire-like roots are only used for anchoring themselves to the limbs and trunks of trees.

Florida has several native species of Tillandsia, which includes Spanish moss, but most of the commercially sold plants are native to Central & South America. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Tillandsia likes bright light, but not direct sunlight which can burn their leaves. A bright window in the house or a shaded patio are ideal spots for your plants. If temperatures drop below 45, be sure to bring your Tillandsia indoors, as they dislike cold weather and will die if exposed to frost.

To water, soak the plant once or twice a week, or use a spray/mist bottle to thoroughly wet it. Watering with rainwater or filtered water is best. After watering, shake out the excess so that no standing water remains in the center. Let plants dry in a well-ventilated place so they don't remain wet. Water more frequently in air conditioning, and hot weather, and less frequently in cool, cloudy weather. Also, when "planting" them, avoid tucking them into moss that stays damp, which may cause them to rot.

You can fertilize airplants once a month with a diluted water-soluble orchid or tillandsia fertilizer, following package instructions for dilution. We recommend diluted fish & seaweed emulsion, which can be applied with the misting or dunking methods. Not properly diluting your fertilizer, or fertilizing too often can kill your plant. If your plant is very dry, soak it first, then fertilize it the next day.