By Jennifer Fairfield
(Publisher’s note: This is the second of a two-part column, Part one published yesterday.)
Flower Gardens:
When deciding what flowers to add to your garden this year, consider ones that will attract beneficial insects. Some of our butterflies are in serious decline, as are honeybees and native bees, so planting things for them can help ensure their survival, as can being careful about using chemicals in your gardens.
Planting a variety of flowers, herbs and shrubs will attract a variety of beneficial insects, and will add lots of color and texture to your landscape at the same time. Some plants to consider for bees and butterflies:
Sage, sunflowers, borage, bee balm, goldenrod, asters, catmint, coreopsis, penstemon, turtlehead, and service berry are great for attracting bees, which are great for pollinating your garden.
To attract butterflies, plant joe-pye weed, butterfly milkweed (not to be confused with butterfly bush, which can be invasive, and really isn’t beneficial to butterflies), dill and parsley (adult butterflies will feed on the nectar of the flowers, but the plants themselves are what the Eastern Black Swallowtail larvae feed on), purple coneflowers, goldenrod, blazing star, spicebush, and eastern ninebark.
For even more ideas on what to plant, check out MSU Extension’s brochure of native plants to attract beneficial insects, Michigan DNR’s table of plants to consider for butterfly and hummingbird gardens, and this article from Mother Earth News about attracting beneficial insects to you yard that includes an exhaustive list of plants (including annuals).
While it’s getting a little late for planting many annual flower seeds, there are still some that can be planted now that will come up quickly and give you a good show throughout the summer. Some to consider are sweet alyssum, calendula, cornflowers, nigella, and nasturtiums.
Putting a very light layer of mulch down over the planting area will help to keep the soil moist, which is needed for germination of the seeds. Just be careful not to put too heavy a layer of mulch down, so as not to crush the tiny seedlings as they emerge. Alternatively, you can plant many flowering annual plants this month for an instant show of color.
Water all of your flowers regularly, especially any in containers. Soil in containers dries out much more quickly than in the ground, even more so if the containers are in the sun and exposed to the wind. Also, don’t forget that plants in containers need to be fertilized on a regular basis, mostly because you will be flushing out what fertilizer is in the soil with all the water you are giving them. Just be careful not to fertilize more than is suggested on the label of the product you are using – chemical fertilizers can cause “burn” on your plants when over-applied.
Fertilizer burn happens because most chemical fertilizers contain salts, which draw the moisture out of your plants. Slow-release and organic fertilizers can help to prevent fertilizer burn.
Indoor plants can benefit from spending the summer outdoors, but be sure to place them in a spot where they will be protected from winds and where they will get some filtered sun throughout the day. Houseplants are not used to the direct sun and can be easily scorched if they are not given a little shade. They will also dry out more quickly outdoors than in, so be sure to increase your watering schedule.
And don’t forget to fertilize them.
Birds:
There have not been any changes to recommendations about feeding birds, in light of the Avian flu. So, if you are continuing to feed birds, please be sure to clean your feeders regularly with a 10-percent bleach solution. Rinse thoroughly after cleaning, and let them dry thoroughly before refilling.
For hummingbirds and orioles, clean out nectar feeders at least weekly – more often (every two or three days, at most) when it’s above 80°.
The same basic advice goes for bird baths. Bird baths can be an important source of water for birds, as the heat of summer gets going and water sources tend to dry up. Keeping them cleaned out is extremely important. Dump water out every day (this also helps to cut down the mosquito population), give the bath a good scrubbing, and then rinse with a 10-percent bleach solution. Follow with a thorough rinsing before filling the bath up again.
All of these things will help to keep our birds healthy.
I’ve seen lots of parent birds flying to nests with mouths full of insects and worms for their babies lately. Pretty soon those babies will be fledging the nest, and may not quite have figured out the whole flying thing right away, so keep an eye out for babies in your yard as you are going about your chores.
If you find a baby bird in your yard, whether or not you should do anything to help it depends on a number of things. Refer to this information from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to help you decide what to do.
