Wild about Wildflowers, Part 1

Bluebells at Denver Botanic Gardens, where it’s hard to find the ice cream but easy to find the flower.

This week I had great fun with the Ft. Bend Master Gardeners in Rosenberg, Texas. They wanted to hear about one of my plant passions: wildflowers. (I’m sharing a list of my favorite wildflowers at the end of this post, plus a FREE BOOK for a lucky winner!)

Many Americans alive today were not around to remember when wildflowers were called “weeds.” That transformation in thought is a recent developement. (RECENT if you are an old fart, like me.) The Beautification Act of 1965, championed by then 1st lady-Lady Bird Johnson, brought much deserved appreciation for our natural beauties. (Okay, I wasn’t in school yet when LBJ was president, so maybe I’m not THAT old.)

The entry sign at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, TX. For more info on the childhood of Lady Bird Johnson, read MISS LADY BIRD’S WILDFLOWERS, by Kathi Appelt with art from Joy Fisher Hein, illustrator of my book, BLOOMIN’ TALES.

For many years, our native wildflowers were sought after as foreign favorites, proven to be hardy additions to European gardens. A prophet in his own land, right? Mrs. Johnson’s love for her Texas roots – and the attached flowers – bloomed into a determination that her fellow Americans were missing the boat. Or at least the wheelbarrow.

So what is a wildflower? “A flower not intentionally planted or seeded,” says Wikipedia. How is that different from a weed? Maybe it’s not. A new friend from Ft. Bend Master Gardeners (thanks, Vic!) says “a weed is a plant that no one has discovered a use for yet.” In my experience, a weed could be a misunderstood wildflower. It’s often a plant that happened to take hold in a spot where it’s unwanted. A wildflower in a flower bed might be okay, but that same plant in the lawn is considered a weed. Why do they seem to thrive in the lawn instead of the well-tended garden? Because most prefer a depleted soil. We take too good of care of them, in other words.

Butterfly weed attracts and feeds the monarchs.

A monarch caterpillar on butterfly weed: if you want butterflies in your garden, give ‘em their favorite food!

There’s some disagreement on whether a plant should be indigenous to an area to be truly considered a wildflower. Insects, animals, and birds probably prefer dining on natives over foreign plants. Most of us are leery of unknown foods, right? In my book, an INVASIVE plant is always a WEED. Intent on crowding out our native plants, gorgeous flowers lull us into a stupor as they plot to take over the world.

Weed or wildflower, here are 10 of my favorites. Next week I’ll share 10 more easy-to-grow wildflowers.

I’d also like to hear and see some of your favorite wildflowers. Share your wildflower stories and shots with me as a comment here to be in the running for a FREE copy of my children’s book BLOOMIN’ TALES, full of legends telling how some of our wildflowers got their names. And if you are in the Austin area next weekend, the illustrator -Joy Hein- and I will be signing copies on Saturday, April 27th, from 1-4 in the Wildflower Center’s bookstore.

• fragrant aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)
• beauty berry (Callicarpa americana)
• beebalm (Monarda spp.)
• blackfoot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum)
• bluebells (Eustoma exaltatum)
• blue sage (Salvia farinacea) (Salvia x ‘Indigo Spires’)
• butterfly weed (Aeslepias tuberosa)
• cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
• Hinkley’s columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha var. hinkleyana)
• purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Nurturing nature(al) readers: YOU CAN GROW THAT!

My dad, Dr. Bob Foster, with me at 18 months old.

Watching the nightly news is painful, isn’t it?  I hate it in the same way I hate coming up on a bad car-wreck: I look but I always wish I hadn’t.  From the newscasts, it would seem playing outside is one of the most dangerous things a kid can do. As a child of the 60′s, I played outside a little bit every day and most of the day during summer. Nature called each morning. (Didn’t mean it THAT way….. I was young and had camel bladder!)

There were things to do and my brothers and I answered by doing them. We were in trees, making mud pies, pretending to be on safari (remember “Daktari” on t.v.?),riding bikes through paths or making our own. Imagination and room to roam were in ample supply.  We had a world to conquer, after all.  Either that, or my mom locked the screen door and told us not to return till lunch.  Regardless, I believe playing outside is one of the major influences in my life.  I think it made me a lover of nature.

Each month, dozens of landscaping professionals gather virtually during the 1st week – usually on the 4th – to share their expertise for an online event called YOU CAN GROW THAT! Although my  contribution typically emerges from gardening questions coming to my blog or from my landscaping clients, this month’s entry celebrates my new children’s book – BLOOMIN’ TALES.  I’ve been designing learning gardens and Schoolyard Habitats for the past twenty years.  I found using wildflower legends helps students and their teachers remember names of the plants in their new garden.  Often the stories also tell about habitat and pollinators necessary for the plants to thrive.  Generations handed down these legends, a tool for their children who were to become stewards of the land after them.

Recently, my friend Linda Lehmusvirta – who also happens to be the producer of Central Texas Gardener on PBS, – asked me to stop by and introduce her audience to some of my favorite BLOOMIN’ TALES and talk about my passion for wildflowers and their stories.  It was fun (and even a little intimidating) to walk into the old AUSTIN CITY LIMITS studio, but the CTG crew soon had me talking about growing up with plants.  Central Texas Gardener on PBS, Austin

So where will children’s love of nature come from if they can’t experience what I did?  While they are a poor substitute, t.v. and books do offer hope for the disaster MY generation created, dropping the baton somehow, leaving our world defenseless except for some slogans and cute animal pictures begging us to save things “before it’s too late.”  I hate to be dramatic, but in my view, if we don’t intentionally emerge kids early in nature, making it a NATURAL part of growing up for them to play outside, it might already be too late.

A special TEXAS edition of BLOOMIN’ TALES is available, too.

By the way, I’ll be giving away a copy of BLOOMIN’ TALES on my website – www.CherieColburn.com – on Friday!

“I Don’t Like Spiders and Snakes…”

“Any natural organic way to keep snakes out of the yard? I am not opposed to killing them, but would rather annoy them so much they go off and bother someone else.  Thinking specifically copperheads and garden snakes.”

This year’s record drought in some areas of the country and record rains in others are bringing varmints that used to live in holes out where we can see them.  Many folks do not like this.  I actually want these creatures in my yard since they are voracious eaters of other things I prefer not to have there.  I don’t even mind SEEING them.  It is NOT unreasonable, in my opinion, that I don’t want an up close and personal relationship.  At six years old, a spider bite nearly rotted two fingers off my right hand.  And even God tells us not to like snakes, doesn’t he?   I have a slinky friend that lives in my yard.  He’s not my pet and doesn’t have a name, nor does he “sit” or “roll-over.”  I’ve found him quite trainable, though.  He responds appropriately when I say, “get-the-heck-away-from-me-if-you-wanna-stay-alive!”

Non-poinsonous Gulf Coast ribbon snake in my yard

Unlike Joan in the  Hormel commercial who doesn’t shave under her arms and keeps a goat on the roof, my dear friend Diane Cabiness is a real naturalist.  In fact, she’s a certified Texas Master Naturalist and the one I go to when I have a native plant question. She’s also the number on my cell phone’s speed dial for critter queries.  She rehabilitates injured snakes and spiders and then takes them to visit school children, which to me is cruel but the kids LOVE ‘em.  Nerds get a chance to be cool kids when they let things crawl around on them without screaming or peeing their pants.  Diane’s cool even without her reptile and arachnid collection.  She has an authentic love of creatures, which is not the vibe I get from hairy goat gal who appears lazy instead of an embracer of nature. So I asked Diane what constitutes a yard where snakes would not be happy.  Her answer?  1)  no food, 2) no water, and 3) no cover.  That simple.  Since snakes snack on small mammals like mice, getting rid of wood stacks, brush piles and similar vermin friendly habitats could remove their food source.  (Those are favorite spider hang-outs, too, by the way.)  In dry conditions, use less water and make sure you don’t have leaky outside faucets.  If you have shrubs, ground-cover, or a thick mulch (more than 3″) around the house, you’ve also inadvertently created a cozy snake spot.  

HIT: snakes and spiders are free, NATURAL pest controls for the garden

MYTH: effective snakes REPELLANT, or snake OIL?

As far as repellants, moth balls and sulphur/sulfur – often the ingredients in products touted as SNAKE REPELLANTS - might make the small mammals that are known snake treats scarse, but are ineffective for keeping away snakes themselves.  Their awful scent more likely keeps YOU out of your garden so you don’t see the snakes there.  Beware using both, which are dangerous to mammals.  (“Mustard gas” is made with sulphur.)   I’ve planted pungent herbs such as rosemary and onions surrounding my roses and veggies where I’m puttering around a lot, often with bare hands.  Mint under the hose bibs, too.  The deer are less likely to browse where these plants are present and I’d heard snakes don’t like them either.  I’ve not seen any snakes anywhere near the rosemary….yet.

Keep snakes at bay with a SNAKE-PROOF FENCE....

SNAKE-PROOF FENCING can be installed where small children or pets need to be protected, but cost prohibitive in a large area.  Check out the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management for more information.

While death is natural and organic, the North Carolina Extension Service lumps things into “lethal” and “non-lethal” when it comes to snake control and, like my friend Diane, prefer the non-lethal controls.  (Not sure “decapitation-by-hoe” is considered a death by natural cause, anyway.) They also amen Diane’s suggestions about what works best to keep snakes at bay near homes.  Then they talk about snakes IN the home.

Close cracks and crevices in buildings and around pipes

and utility connections with 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth,

mortar or sheet metal. All doors and windows should have

tightly fitting screens.  

(http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/snakecontrol.htm) 

 

Thanks, guys.  I’d never even thought about them coming inside…..till now!

For the birds: keeping squirrels out of birdfood and birds out of people food!

How do I keep squirrels out of birdfeeders?  I don’t mind feeding both, but can’t keep the feeders full because the pesky varmints keeping raiding my feeders!   Bob

I’m fed up with my tomatoes getting pecked by birds just as they start to ripen. HELP!  Sarah

A multi-pronged approach at my house seems the best remedy for feeding the birds without their main food source becoming squirrel lunch or MY lunch.

HIT: hot pepper + birdfood = NO SQUIRRELS

birds love it, squirrels... not so much

For bird-food, I’ve found pepper suet the best solution for the feeder outside my kitchen window. The woodpeckers adore it, but any mammal that comes close gets a big whiff and does a backflip.  (Not a pretty sight until I learned gloves and glasses prevented the unprecedented HEAT WAVE not seen since my pre-hormone therapy days!)  You can make it yourself, but I buy mine at my local Ace Hardware because I almost always have a coupon in my inbox.

Another trick I’ve found useful is the recycled bird cage rescued from a landscaping job I did a few years ago.  (I’m not sure what the original owners kept in the PINK cage, but the bottom was intact so I guess it held very large birds, not chicks.)

my anti-squirrel cage

I promptly sprayed it black with a non-toxic paint and removed the door.  Where the perch hung before, my feeder dangles now full of an inexpensive songbird mix.  I’ll often find the birdcage loaded with everything from cardinals and red-winged blackbirds to indigo buntings and chickadees to cooing doves grazing on the seed knocked below.  A squirrel DID find his way in once, but his trauma undoubtedly convinced all others there must be a better way to make a living.

The plants I’ve chosen to use in my landscape are feeders in themselves.  Natives that boast lots of berries, seeds and nuts keep everyone fed, even when I’m out of town and can’t supplement it for them.

As far as keeping the birds from munching the plants I grow for my family to eat, I’ve found netting to be an effective deterrent. I don’t cut it off the roll, though.

A net keeps the plants IN and the birds OUT!

I pull off the needed amount of netting for that part of the garden (most of my fruiting plants are grouped since that’s really the only part of my yard that gets sufficient sun) and lay it atop metal fence posts so that the plants continue to get good air circulation.    Don’t forget to give the birds a CLEAN water source, too.  Often when they peck a hole in fruit such as a peach or tomato, they are actually looking for something to drink, not eat.

We love watching the wildlife that live around us.  What are some of your tips for keeping it from getting TOO WILD at your house?

MYTH: feeders are the best feeders. Not true...native plants were feeding the birds long before we came along!