Montana Wildlife Gardener

Now is a great time to design paths. In the snow.

2012-01-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

You might not be thinking about garden design right now, but with all the snow our part of the country just received, you should be. Now is a great time to grab the snow shovel and consider paths in the garden. Having a lot of snow on the ground is like a fresh canvas (albeit a 3D one) to draw or carve out paths and the locations of other features. You can even erase them by covered them up with snow. So, take your shovel, and start creating. Spend some time looking at the paths you've created, but more importantly use them over the next few days and weeks. And don't forget, add some curves in your paths!

Paths aren't the only things the snow lends itself to- hills and mounds are fun to create now, without the expense and labor of using soil. If you've ever wanted to try to add some interest in your landscape with some topography the snow offers a great, and ephemeral opportunity.
No matter what you decide, take some pictures are make some sketches, because the snow won't last forever!

And, by the way, loyal readers of Montana Wildlife Gardener, Junebug soundly defeated Alex and Natalie to repeat as title holder of Cat of the Year. A post summarizing her victory (the only two-time champion) is coming soon.

2011 Cat of the Year: Voting is Now Open!

2012-01-01T14:25:00.001-07:00

Squeak, 1993-2011

It's time to vote for the coveted title of 2011 Cat of the Year.

The voting was lively last year, with touching comments submitted and several voters expressing very strong opinions, and it is clear that the readers of Montana Wildlife Gardener take the responsibility of voting seriously. We apologize for the delay in getting this year's contest up and running, but we experienced a high volume of veterinary trips and health scares in late December, and we had to incorporate those results into the competition (in the interest of fairness and full disclosure).

We offer the 2011 Cat of the Year (COTY) Award in loving memory of Squeak (pictured above). We loved Squeak dearly and were very sad to lose her. She died from complications of old age (she was about 18) and went quickly. As much as we miss her and honor her memory, we regret that she is ineligible for the 2011 COTY Award. She passed away in May, which means she did not meet the minimum requirement of participating in 50% of the year. But she was a good cat.

Voting will be open until January 15 2012; polls close at midnight.
As you recall, Junebug was the 2010 COTY winning by a landslide, receiving 54% of the vote and easily winning over the electoral college to claim the coveted title. Alex, the 2009 champion, made a strong showing, but ultimately he was no match of the giant political machine that is Junebug (that was a shout-out to Missoula local politics).

Obviously, this has nothing to do with wildlife gardening or native plant landscaping, other than to say keep your cats indoors.

The nominees are listed below (alphabetically).

Alex in the foreground; Natalie staring daggers in the back of his head

Alex

Age: 10

Weight: 7.5 lbs

Breed: Turkish angora x Persian

Background: Innocent victim of a hoarder. He was at the shelter for 2 years because no one wanted to adopt an adult black cat. We adopted him in summer of 2007 as a friend for Natalie. Boy was that a bad idea.

Pros: Good attitude. Greets all visitors at the door. Does fantastic acrobatics. Plays hard. Tries to play with the other cats (they don't play back), and he respects Junebug and her issues. After the passing of Squeak, the undisputed leader of the house, Alex has assumed a more prominent leadership role. This despite his age (our youngest cat), and that he is about 56% the size of Natalie.

Cons: Rarely purrs. Bites your toes while you sleep. Sometime bolts out the door to check out the yard (but in his defense he stops after 10 feet).

Accomplishments in 2011: Alex grew one white whisker in 2011, contributing to his more distinguished appearance. Although he lost his closest friend, Squeak, this year, Alex maintains a cheerful and outgoing personality.

Squeak and her friend Alex, enjoy the sun.

Gregarious, yet modest and unassuming, Alex just likes to be close to people. He spends the most time in Junebug's room- he loves it there, and he never uses her litter box (see below). His ¾ length tail, though not new in 2011, is always worth some points. He had a strong year overall, but in November we discovered pre-cancerous skin tumors on his trunk and neck. On the upside, he has been very stoic about this and hadn't complained at all. On the downside, if he had called them to our attention sooner, he might have ended up getting a dental check up sooner and avoided 3 extractions. Alex: it's ok to ask for help sometimes.

Expenses: 2 vet visits, 3 teeth pulled, 5 tumors excised.

Cost per pound: $80

Junebug cleans yet another plate in 2011

Junebug

Age: 12 (No one expected her to make it this long)

Weight: 4 lbs 1 oz. (down 1.5 pounds since last year)

Breed: Silvertip Persian

Background: Oh, June. We adopted June from the Humane Society in fall 2009 after she suffered years of horrific neglect.

Pros: Ridiculously cute with a big purr. Cuddly, despite her very bony little arthritic body. Her only two teeth are in pretty good shape (although since she is allegic to her own tooth enamel, we have to give her daily antibiotics to keep those 2 teeth there). Despite only 2 teeth (both on the bottom), she eats more than the other 2 cats combined. Given her love for meat, blood, and related, another pro is that she has never tasted our blood. If she ever tastes human blood, well, you can imagine.

Cons: Her litter box improvement actually plateaued in 2010. Whereas her litter box use has "improved" since adoption it is only because we make sure she is in her room when she has to use it. Side note- she will only use her litter box if she is in her room, and only if no other cat ever uses it. Fortunately she lives a simple life and it's easy (kind of) to predict her schedule. Also, we can't make eye contact with her when she is considering using the litter box. Oh, June.

She doesn't like to take her medicine (she gets 2/day and 1 every other day). She is not a cat for beginners. She also helps with the dishes (she will eat anything).

Accomplishments this year: No teeth extractions, and only 2 or 3 vet visits all year (more than a 50% decrease from last year!). Although June is a finicky eater and her canned cat food bills add up, we have switched her over to a more wild game based diet. In fact, all the scrap we once would throw away, we now save for June and grind it up for her. She is saving our wallet and the environment. She continues to improve her grooming habits (well, they are not getting worse). She is okay with home-administered haircuts. She sleeps by our heads in bed with us every night, and she lets us scratch her belly.
Ventured outside a couple of times this summer (under close supervision).

Junebug went outside in 2011

Editors note: this is not an activity we condone for cats, but her vet said that June can do anything she wants.

Expenses: multiple vet visits, daily anti-anxiety meds and antibiotics, constant awareness of her litter box routine

Cost per pound: $50, but priceless, really.

Natalie in one of her several beds.

Natalie

Age: 16

Weight: 13 lbs.

Breed: Domestic long hair

Background: Disemboweled by her previous owners’ dog. Medically neglected. Borderline diabetic (type 2 lifestyle diabetes, I'm calling it what is is). She’d prefer to be the only cat in our house.

Pros: Classic beauty, good stomper, good at polishing things with her declawed paws (including the computer monitor when you are trying to read or write something). Great purr, skilled exfoliator of the human face. Very helpful when you are reading a book, looking at a monitor or doing anything that she can sit on, sit in front of, or otherwise interrupt (see below). Very friendly with human visitors.

Cons: Diva complex. Not a team player. Generally dislikes Alex and Junebug (who she doesn't recognize as a cat). Not to anthropomorphize, but it really seemed like she was happier after Squeak died. I think there was gloating. Natalie is not very helpful when you are reading a book, looking at a monitor or doing anything that she can sit on sit in front of or otherwise interrupt (see above)

Accomplishments: Natalie continues to be the largest of our cats and had no surgeries this year. Glowing report from the vet (who she hates). She is a wonderful, happy cat, and if not for her utter disdain of Alex and Junebug (and Squeak), this would be her title to lose every year.

Cost: Expensive diabetic food, but only 1 vet visit this year.

Cost per pound: $7.70

Make your own native plant suet for the birds in your garden

2011-11-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Making your own suet for a backyard suet feeder is a fun project for the fall. Suet, by the way, is animal fat, and it is a popular winter bird food. You can buy suet for bird feeders in the store, and often they have berries or insects or nuts mixed in. "Suet" technically refers to the animal product (fat) but in the context of bird feeding, it refers to the fat plus whatever else is in there. More on fat later.

With the holiday season coming, homemade suet combined with an easy to make suet feeder is a great holioday gift for your bird-loving friends, or a holiday gift to the birds in your garden. Plus, it is great way to use an otherwise unused product (tallow aka fat).

I am not a huge fan of bird feeders (click here for some thoughts on why), but I do set out a few suet feeders in the winter. The main reason I don't like bird feeders is that they are not really effective if your goal is to get a lot of diversity. Of the 60 species of birds that use our garden, less than 20% use the feeders. Birds come to the garden for the structure, for the native plants and for insects, seeds, and berries, not the bird feeders. However in the winter, the birds we are likely to encounter in the garden eat suet and need the high calories and fat it provides, and winter is an important time to consider your wildlife garden. Suet is a natural food that in the wild (before backyard feeders were invented) comes from animal carcasses- either as a result of natural death (old age),winter kill or predators. This is a seasonally importatnt source of food for a variety of birds ranging from little nuthatches and chickadees to ravens and magpies (and bald eagles, though we don't get them in our garden).

My favorite suet feeder is a rib cage. It might look odd, but the birds recognize it! Click here for more information)

Making your own suet is easy, and free, especially if your hunt or have access to suet. A word about suet- there are many kinds of animal fat, and here I use the term "suet" to describe tallow, or the thick, chalky, white fat found just below the hide on an animal that provides them with insulation. This is the least palatable of the fats and is discarded when butchering game. Tallow covers the back and hind quarters and the rump of animals. This is different from other types of fat, and is not "trim" which contains meat that you might get from a butcher to mix in with ground meat for burger.

If you butcher your own animals, you know what this is and you have a source for it, but even if you don't, or don't have a friend that hunts, you can still get this from the butcher (it is really cheap). Just make sure to explain what you are looking for and what you are using it for. You don't want to get anything that has meat on it.

Anyway, back to the bird food. Below are all the ingredients we used today, and I got these from a quick lap around our garden- blue elderberries (Sambucus cerulea), rose hips from Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii), and mountain ash berries (Sorbus scoulina). All native plants.

This brings up another reason I don't like conventional bird foods and mixes you get in the store: they contain plants that are either not suited to the native birds you might be trying to attract or there are weed seeds in the mix. By using native plants you are guaranteed weeds won't be spread around. Rose hips and elderberries are some of ther last berries to get eaten- birds seem to rely on freezing to make them more palatable.

If you don't have any berries or seeds in your garden, this is a great opportunity to get outside and look for what is available in your area. And while to are out there, see if you can find a log for a suet feeder (see below).

This is what the tallow looks like.

The next step is optional. I like to run the tallow through a grinder through a coarse grinding plate. This breaks it down to uniform pieces and makes the rendering go quicker and smoother.

Here is the coarsely ground tallow.

The key to rendering the tallow is to melt it over a low heat. You just want to melt the fat, do not boil it or cook it. Stir it frequently, and, as is liquefies, and add more. Once it is all rendered you could skim the top to get out any dirt, meat or cartilage, or if you really want, you could run it through a sieve, strainer or cheese cloth. I don't think it is really necessary, though.

Add the nuts or berries to the rendered tallow and mix it thoroughly. Again, you don't need to cook it, just make sure it is mixed and smooth. There are many suet recipes that suggest adding flour or corn starch, but I don't think it is really necessary.

Once it is all mixed, ladle into a form that best fits you suet feeder. My favorite suet feeder (apart from a rib cage) is really simple to make and is really enjoyed by the birds. Click here for more information on how to build it, but all it is is a log with some 1-2" deep holes drilled into it.

Because of these cavities I like to put the suet into ice cube trays. Each hole in the suet feeder is about the size of an ice cube, so it makes the kind of messy job of filling the feeder, easy.

Set the suet outside to cool , and then fill up and install your suet feeder.

Spontaneous Construction

2011-10-09T08:44:00.000-06:00

Yesterday our team (Butterfly Properties- our garden coaching business) spent the day participating (or as our friend and teammate Barry would say "competing") in Spontaneous Construction. This is an annual event at Home ReSource that is all about creative and adaptive reuse. It is a wonderful event and fun for kids and adults. Contestants have six hours to build anything from materials found in Home ReSource. This year was our first time in the building competition and we built a mobile garden cloche (little greenhouse).

Abe Coley, contest registrar, registers a contestant

Our little mobile greenhouse (actually 3 items in 1- see below), was selected as one of the contenders for the grand prize. The prize determination will be revealed at a benefit auction on November 10th at the Missoula Winery. At the auction, among other things, you'll be able to bid on our mini greenhouse and all the other top pieces that were built yesterday. All of them will be on display at Home ReSource (1515 Wyoming Street), until November 10, so you can stop by and check them all out.

We wanted to build something for the garden that was functional and beautiful that was made from from discarded building materials. All the wood for the greenhouse was painted redwood (you'd never know it from the paint) deck balusters, and the frame was built out of an ugly steel fence. The glazing was single pane glass- and there is always tons of this at Home ReSource, ready to be cut up and put to use.

Six hours is not a lot of time. For maximum efficiency, we divided up tasks- Barry did the metalwork, I did the woodwork and glass cutting, and Marilyn did the site cleanup and all the painting.

We dressed up the cart with some shelf brackets and even garden shears for the handles (below).

The greenhouse (displayed in front of the proud team, Barry Cummings, Marilyn Marler, and me), is actually three items in one. It can be used as a mobile greenhouse (as is), you can remove the greenhouse and use it directly on the ground as a cold frame, and then you can use the cart as a very study, heavy-duty garden cart.

The cart features 20" solid rubber wheels, and is made with 1" square steel tubing, expertly welded and fabricated by Barry. The floor of the greenhouse is expanded steel for drainage.

Home ReSource is a wonderful place thanks to all the hard work, vision and dedication of its staff and supporters in the community. Below is Lauren, the co- founder and co- director, his wife Aimee and father Larry.

Simon, the longest tenured of the many dedicated staff members. Staff at the store are more recognizable now with the new, handsome uniforms.

And Matt Hisel (addressing the contestants, going over the rules for the contest), the other Home ReSource visionary- the co-founder, co-director and organizer for this years' event and fundraiser.

It was a fun time with activities for all ages and creative interests (art, music, community, ice cream and more).

I hope to see you on November 10th for the Benefit Auction!

Brown Roof; a Green Roof Update

2011-08-24T20:46:00.000-06:00

Apparently brown is the new green. This isn't really surprising though, and the golden grasses look appropriately colored for this time of the year. After a wet and unseasonably cool spring and early summer, it's been hot and dry for weeks and it looks like the same is in store for weeks to come.

Everything is dormant now, in the hills and prairies around Missoula, and in our native plant garden, too, save for some goldenrod (Solidago rigida, and S. canadensis), blanketflower (Gaillardia arristata), fleabane (Erigeron spp.) and hairy golden aster (Heterotheca villosa)

In my last update about the green roof on July 5, I said I'd water it once a week to get it established. I didn't. I guess that is one of the downsides of planting things on a roof is that they are easily overlooked. It is a little startling to look back to the first week of July and see how much the roof has changed- I'd forgotten it was so lush (see photo below). And that happens every year.

I think the plants are fine, though. If you look closely through the brown of the roof, a little life is showing itself.

Despite the temperatures in the mid 90's, the days are shorter, the nights longer, and and soon rubber rabbit brush (Ericameria nauseosa) will flower, and that takes us into fall.

Garden "weeding": preparation for fall planting

2011-08-21T10:52:00.000-06:00

The culprit: a Wilcox's penstemon too close to a path. A good plant in a bad place.

A question I get asked a lot is how much time I spend weeding the garden. This is a really interesting question and it brings up all sorts of issues from "what is a weed", to people's notion of what maintaining their landscape or yard means. Unfortunately, to many homeowners, maintaining their yard is a chore that only involves mowing, watering and weeding- most of which are detested by their owners. So, when you see our garden, people notice that I don't mow, probably recognize that I don't water it, and so the only thing left for me to do must be to weed it. Weeding a lawn or garden is often the only way people interact with their landscape, and this saddens me a little, but it is a really interesting concept, too.

The time I spend maintaining our landscape is not work, or drudgery or something I dread. Instead, in the native plant garden, it is an activity I love. I look forward to it. It is a way of exploring, discovering, and working on the aesthetic. Seldom do I mow or "weed". Well, I do weed the garden a lot, but weeding is probably a different activity than people think. A "weed" is simply an unwanted plant (click here for more information). In our garden, most of the weeding I do is to remove native plants that are coming up in the "wrong" place. Typically it s usually a tall plant that ends up coming up in a place I want a short one, like next to a path. Or plants that sprout where I just don't want them.

It is actually rare that we have non-native garden weeds. This is surprising to many and it is probably the result of our site preparation, the fact that we don't water, and by removing all of our lawn, we have limited the source of non-native weeds. What we are left with though is a strong source of native plants.

My typical strategy is to dig up the young plants, pot them up and put them in our "nursery" for a couple of weeks. There I baby them- water them daily and take good care of them (both of which don't happen in the landscape!). After a couple of weeks, I'll plant them out in the garden in their new location. I try to do this when the weather is favorable and if possible, try to time it around some rain. Usually this is the main activity of mine in the spring, but fall is another great time to plant, and in preparation for September, I am digging stuff up and putting it in the nursery now.

Our nursery full of weeds.

It is not much to look at now, but in a few weeks they will be looking good and ready to get out in the garden. Lots of new, free, desirable plants, no longer "weeds".

Community Native Plant Garden Volunteerism: International Edition

2011-08-14T20:21:00.000-06:00

A guest post by David's wife.

We just got home from a week in Glacier & Waterton Lakes National Parks. Together the parks have been designated an International Peace Park because of efforts to manage the landscape cooperatively, and because the shared boundary between the parks (Glacier in Montana, USA, and Waterton Lakes in Alberta, Canada) is the longest stretch of unprotected border between the two nations. It's a nice feeling. The parks are completely breathtaking. We did a lot of hiking, fishing, wildlife viewing, and of course, we volunteered at the native plant garden in the Waterton townsite.

Yes, that's right, there is a beautiful native plant demonstration garden right in downtown Waterton. And because we were on a charmed trip (staying in the Prince of Wales Hotel for a few nights, backpacking back and forth across the Canada-USA border, spotting 11 bears on the trip, seeing not only two white-tailed ptarmigan on the Carthew Ridge, but also TWO pomeranians- Chester and Sadie) it worked out that we were there in time to participate in the weekly volunteer sessions. Can you believe it? I know!

When we found out about the volunteer night at the garden, we were all over it. Volunteer nights in the garden are fairly new (Friday from 3-5 pm), and are led by Parks Canada Interpretive Specialist David Musto. Lois from Lethbridge is a regular volunteer in this and other plant restoration projects in Waterton (both are pictured below). We enjoyed visiting with them, exchanging ideas about community garden projects.

We loved the garden. It surrounds an old cottage-y style government building and has huge swathes of goldenrod (Solidago spp.), fireweed (Epilobium angustifolia), asters (Aster spp.) and blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata). Penstemons (Penstemon confertus, and other P. spp.) and dryas (Dryas octopetala) were in seed.

We spent some time weeding familiar things like black medic and cheatgrass. I was just getting set to go after some quackgrass when it was already time to go.

It's a wonderful project and I hope that people will participate as part of the outstanding interpretative programs offered in the park. If you are going to Waterton, stop by and check it out!

And now for the important, local segue...

If you aren't going to be in Waterton, there is a similar awesome volunteer opportunity for you just south of the border here in Missoula. This Thursday August 18th from 6:30-8:00pm we're having a volunteer night at the 8th Street Native Plant Pocket Park. Tasks include collecting seeds, pulling some bindweed, and a general cutting back of things (for aesthetics). Here is the link to the Facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=210942235621783

and of course we want you to go to the new Facebook Fan Page for the Pocket Park and "Like" it.

See you there, or right here on the blog. Happy Late Summer and best wishes to our international friends working on urban native plant gardens. We just found a like minded project in Chile thanks to the wonders of Facebook. We're happy to see people everywhere embracing their native species in urban areas.

BOW Native Plant Gardening Class Wrap-up

2011-08-06T19:40:00.001-06:00

Thanks so much to all the participants in today's Montana BOW Native Plant Gardening Class and Garden Tour. It is always wonderful to meet so many interested and enthusiastic people. I wanted to especially thank Liz Lodman and Barb Furlong for continuing to organize such a wonderful program. I look forward to teaching again at a Montana BOW workshop in the future.

Here is a link to the presentation I gave:

Click here to download the presentation

Below are some links to blog posts I covered in class or referenced in discussions.

Below are some of the books and references I talked about in the class:

Prairie-style gardens- Lynn Steiner
The American Meadow Garden- John Greenlee
Front Yard Gardens: Growing more than grass- Liz Primeau
The Magic of Montana Native Plants: A Gardeners Guide to Growing over 150 Species from Seed- Sheila Morrison
Bringing Nature Home- Douglas Tallamy
Shrink Your Lawn- Evelyn Hadden
Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards- Sara Stein
Paradise by Design, Native Plants and the New American Landscape- Kathryn Phillips
The Forgotten Pollinators- Buchmann, Nabhan, and Mirocha
Landscaping Ideas of Jays- Judith Larner Lowry
Gardening with a Wild Heart -Judith Larner Lowry

Another opportunity to learn about native plant gardening!

The Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant

Also, I forgot to mention in the class today, but you all are invited to join us for more seed collecting and to learn more about native plant gardening. On August 18, from 6:30-8:00 pm, we are having a gardening night at a small neighborhood native plant garden my wife and I installed and have been maintaining (see the photo above). Stay tuned for a blog post about this upcoming event, but, if you can't wait, you can RSVP to the event via the Facebook page for our business, Butterfly Properties, or "like" the new Facebook Page for the neighborhood garden, the 8th Street Native Plant Garden, or click here for more information.

Thank you all again for attending the class- I look forward to hearing about all your garden projects!

These are not the Hymenoptera you are looking for

2011-07-29T16:38:00.000-06:00

In May I started an insect collection. I simply wanted to document all the insects in our garden. Apart from our vegetable garden we have landscaped our yard with plants native to the Missoula area, we have over 100 species, and we don't water any of it. More than 60 species of birds have used the yard, and annually three species of birds nest in our nest boxes. I figured with all this diversity, it would be interesting to collect, document and learn about all the insects that come here too.

I got my inspiration from this from various sources, including Douglas Tallamy's papers and books, and my friend Jen who is starting the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium.

I have taken a couple of entomology classes in college (aquatic and terrestrial) and I thought I knew the deal. I was wrong. I had no idea how much diversity there was, and how interesting so many of these insects are. I have now refined my collection to mainly flies (Diptera), bees, wasps and such (Hymenoptera), beetles (Coleoptrea), some moths (Lepidoptera), bugs (Hemiptera), and grasshoppers (Orthoptera). I'm not even really collecting butterflies (I'm not that great at preserving them), dragon and damsel flies (Odonata- I'm not very good at catching them), really tiny things (not good at mounting them), and nocturnal insects (I'm diurnal). Despite these various limitations and restrictions, I have collected well over 150 species of insects, and the summer is only half over.

Through all this, the thing that has stood out as the most interesting is all the mimics. Beetles that are hairy and imitate bumblebees, flies that mimic wasps, moths that mimic yellow jackets, bees that mimic wasps, and so on. So far, I have collected over 20 genera of these mimics and as the summer continues I am sure there will be many more.

At the top of the post is one of my favorite yellow jacket mimics- it is actually a flower fly (Spilomaya sp.). It does such a good job mimicking a yellow jacket that its deception is nearly complete. It flies like a yellow jacket, in flight it extends its front legs- these have black fronts that make it appear to have longer antennae, like a yellow jacket. The wings have a dark leading edge, that give it the appearance of a yellowjacket at rest folding its two sets of wings (like bees and wasps have), but it only has one (like any fly).

The insect below is a moth- a poplar clearwing moth (Sesia tibialis) that mimics a yellow jacket. It is very convincing- as its name suggests, its wings are clear to complete the mimicry. I was fooled at first, too. The first time I saw one in our garden, it was crawling out of the ground at the base of one of our decadent quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), and its wings had not expanded yet. I thought for sure it was some solitary ground nesting yellow jacket or hornet, so I gave it its space. I kept a eye on it, and the closer I looked, the more I realized it was not a yellow jacket at all, but a moth.

Adult poplar clearwing moths lay their eggs in the cracks or crevasses of stressed popular, aspen and willow species, and similar to the poplar borers in our garden (Saperda calcarata), the larvae of the clearwing moth bore into the tree- pushing out sawdust and feed for a couple of years before they emerge.

This is another fascinating chapter in the aspen ecology story I have been telling as I track the aspen in our garden (click here, here and here for more information.

It is really only when you see its face, you recognize how harmless the moth is.

Now that I am paying attention I see so much more than I ever knew was out there. I have learned so much and have a new appreciation for insects, their life histories, and the importance your garden can have.

New Grape Arbor

2011-07-28T07:08:00.000-06:00

There is always room for another structure in the garden, and this was a this was a fun weekend project.
The materials only cost $14.40 from Home ReSource- it is all made out of reclaimed wood; redwood, and Douglas fir. This is what it looked like when I started.

I used the existing fence posts for the posts for the arbor- a situation many people have in common. This arbor is an example of using a small amount of space for a big impact.

By adding the arbor over the bench it creates a sense of enclosure, and the bench is more inviting- even a destination now.

The next step is to add a new grape plant- and that will happen this weekend. Kathy from the Blackfoot Native Plant Nursery has about 25 grape plants and I am eager to try one of her varieties (a table grape, but I can't remember the variety). So, in addition to being our favorite native plant nursery, Blackfoot Native Plants is also our newest grape supplier!

Scenes from the Garden: mid-July

2011-07-23T08:28:00.000-06:00

My blog is simply a garden journal, and though I write a lot of how to articles or post information on ecology and wildlife int he garden, at its most basic, it is a place to simply depict what is happening in the garden. This post is just about capturing what's going on in the garden now.

It is a showy time in the garden, but I do look forward to when the grasses cure, and things die back quite a bit, and reflect the dry hot summers.

This is the time of the year when we have an abundance of flowers, and have to prune our showy fleabane (Erigeron speciousus), goldenrod species (Solidago spp.), bee balm (Monarda fisulosa), and others on a near daily basis, just to maintain our walking paths- especially after our summer thunderstorms.

Even though our garden does not get any irrigation, it provides a wealth of flowers for wildlife, and cut flowers for the house.

Inside the vegetable garden, structures like raised beds, arbors, and benches are prominent. The vegetables are a focal point, too!

My next garden project is to make another grape arbor to cover and shade the garden bench (below).

Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) and monarchs butterflies are in the news a lot these days, especially encouraging people to plant milkweed species in their garden for monarch conservation. In the right location this is great and effective, and I think every garden deserves a native milkweed or 20. Here, in western Montana, we are too far east and too far west for monarch butterflies (except the rare stray). I love our native milkweed (A. speciosa), and the benefits of this plant and its beauty, are not limited to monarchs.

Our hammock finally succumbed to weather this year after eight years of being exposed to too much weather. It was a cotton hammock- I gave it to my wife as a present for our second anniversary (cotton is the traditional gift). This year (our ninth anniversary) pottery is the traditional gift. I have to think about that one.

I have a new hammock on its way- a more weather resistant one, made from recycled pop bottles.

The red breasted nuthatches are close to fledging: this is plain adorable

2011-07-09T17:43:00.000-06:00

Make sure your volume is turned up when you watch the quick little video.

The red breasted nuthatches in the backyard nest box are growing quickly and they will soon fledge. This was the nuthatches second attempt at a clutch. For whatever reason, the first clutch failed, but it looks like these little fellas are doing well. A few years ago a pair of red breasted nuthatches had three failed attempts, but finally on the fourth try, all the nestlings fledged. The adults were noticeably smaller and really haggard after building nests and finding food all spring and summer for four different clutches. Watching that whole experience all spring and into late July gave rise to the expression my wife and I have- "we can all learn a lot from the nuthatches."

OK, I couldn't resist, here is another video.

2011 Garden Projects update

2011-07-05T19:01:00.001-06:00

At the beginning of the year, I didn't think I had too many projects planned for the garden, but I took a little time to write down a list of things to do, and I posted it here. This is why I have a blog- it is my garden journal and it is a place to keep track of everything I'd otherwise scribble somewhere or forget to write down about the garden.

I planted some mountain ash (Sorbus scopulina), to replace the decadent aspen (Populus tremulodes)- and I even planted another one this weekend to replace an aspen that died suddenly last weekend in front of the hammock stand (below). I have come to think of aspen as short-lived perennials, and that is fine. Aspen bring so much wildlife- including wildlife that eat and kill them to the garden, that it is a fair trade (click here for more information). Plus, we actually have more aspen in the garden now than when we started- they are just in different places, and they are always coming up in new areas.

I rearranged some plants in the front prairie, including getting rid of a green rabbit brush (Ericameria viscidiflora) and added a few Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii) close to the house. In case you are wondering, the green rabbitbrush is now living at the Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant. Trust me. It is fine.

I made a "cut-off" trail in front of the onion/ garlic bed (it is kind of obscured by the plants from this vew). The area near the grill shed is kind of a congested area in the garden and by adding this new trail/ path, people will be able to flow better.

And along the way on the list, I added more things- a "green" or "living" roof for the grill shed, I started an insect collection to learn about and document all the insects in the garden (more on this soon), I removed the overhead garage door to the shop and replaced it with French doors (below), and I did some landscaping around the new space the French doors provide.

Adding the French doors to the shop was a fun little project and one I wished I had done a long time ago. The doors add so much light and usable space in the shop. Plus, they just look better. I got all the materials for this at Home ReSource (a building materials re-use center, and my favorite place in the world to shop).

Green roof update
I didn't realize how much the green roof had grown, until I looked back on the post and slideshow from this spring. In general it is doing really well. It is starting to fill in, and weeding has not been an issue. I watered it for the first time yesterday (I planted it on April 24, but it was a very cool, wet spring). Now that the weather has dried out and it has gotten hot (Sorry Susan, I know this mid-80's weather is not hot) or, perhaps, the weather has gotten more seasonal, I might water it once/ week through the summer. Here are some pictures showing the progress.

The picture below was taken right after planting, and as you can see, since then it has really filled in.

Below is a view looking down on the green roof. It looks like a little prairie- just as planned. All the plants are native to the Missoula area and include: Prairie June grass (Koeleria macrantha), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Rosy pussytoes (Anntenaria rosea), Cutleaf daisy (Erigeron compositus), Lanceleaf stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum), and Elkhorn clarkia (Clarkia pulchella). Click here for information about the green roof, including why I chose these plants.

To see the changes on the roof- here are a few pictures:
Before- the old metal roof.

After I installed the green roof.

After some growing- it has really changed a lot. A little tip- for garden projects, always take your "before" pictures in late winter, and your "after" pictures in the summer!

I made great progress on the list, but I still need to make that 3 bin composter for my wife, our compost management supervisor. But a new project has come up- another grape arbor. There is always something to do, and a place to write it down.

Garden Update for Independence Day Weekend

2011-07-03T22:37:00.000-06:00

A guest post by David's Wife (David is pretty busy with his insect inventory of the garden, so I figured this is a good time for a guest post).

We stayed in town this weekend and I'm glad because the garden is extremely pleasant and interesting right now. Here is a sampler of some gorgeous pictures David took this morning .

It's hard to believe that we're already well past the "early" wildflowers, like sagebrush buttercups, biscuit roots, larkspur and even lupine and arrowleaf balsamroot. The bunchgrasses are towering, the blue penstemons are fading, our chickadee family has left the nest box, and we are on to the true summer blooms, like Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum, the bright orange) and clarkia (purple).

Clarkia are one of the only native annual wildflowers that put on a good show for the garden. They look beautiful scattered about singly, or when they pop up in huge clusters like the photo on the right. Some people call these elk horns because of the shape of the petals. Here's a little Latin name geekery for those who might enjoy such things: clarkia's latin name is Clarkia pulchellum and was named after that one guy in the Lewis and Clark expedition. Lewis, the other guy, had the Montana State Flower named after him, the bitterroot: Lewisia rediviva. Of course it wasn't the state flower at the time, since Montana wasn't a state for a goodly time after the expedition, but my point is that they got some nice plants named after them.

Even though the early flowers have passed their flowering time, many of them have really stunning seeds or fruits. For example, look at this prairie smoke in the photo below. It's the pinkish one that looks like something out of a Dr. Suess book. Each flower of this plant makes dozens of seeds, and each seed has a feathery, wispy tail attached, which is how it got the common name prairie smoke. It looks like smoke. The other common name for it it is old man's whiskers. Check out the yarrow blooming in the background- they are starting to bloom like crazy. By the way yarrow is a great perennial to include in your garden. It has a bad reputation for spreading when it gets too much water, but it brings a lot to your wildlife garden (read more in this post "yarrow is not a four letter word").

Here's a close up of one of our serviceberry bushes- another early blooming species that is getting on with the seed formation. About a month ago serviceberry shrubs around Missoula were covered with white flowers the size of quarters. This individual looks extra cool right now because it has some kind of rust disease growing on the leaves. This is usually not a problem for the plants- lots of Montana shrubs have various rusts growing on them in the wild, and I've not heard of it becoming a problem (except for that situation with the blister rust and white bark pine, but that was an introduced disease). Notice the young berries hanging in the center of the photo. Don't they look like a combination of rose hips and baby apples? Serviceberries are related to both of those. The berries are edible but usually pretty pithy, so leave them for the wax wings.

I mentioned yarrow above, and below are two more work horses of the Montana native plant and wildlife garden: showy fleabane (purple) and blanket flower (yellow and red, often with orange). So simple and so beautiful, and so easy to grow. They love sunny dry places, and although we never irrigate them, we always have plenty of flowers for bouquets.

A slightly more delicate plant (but not too much more delicate, it just likes a little bit of shade) is shown here growing near my backyard hammock. It's gorgeous. My hammock, that is. And the plant is nice, too. It is the mountain hollyhock, and the flowers look like they are made of porcelain or maybe the most terribly fine parchment paper you've ever seen. They hardly seem real. I like the non-native cottage garden species of hollyhock but this one is even better, almost too good to true. Fortunately for everyone it is not only true, but easy to grow and you can find starts at many of the local nurseries and Saturday markets in Missoula. Latin name is Iliamnus rivularis, just so you don't buy the wrong thing.

And another summer favorite is blooming its head off right now is mock orange (aka syringa). We have about fve of these, and the branches are bending down with the loads of flowers, which smell like citrus. This is the state flower of Idaho but that doesn't mean they are the only ones who get to enjoy it. It grows wild in Montana, too, you know. Today I snapped a picture with my cell phone of a swallowtail butterfly eating nectar from one of these. It was almost too much beauty all at once.

I've not even mentioned the scarlet gilia, golden aster, giant collomia or yellow evening primrose. Suffice it to say, the garden is off the hook. We're having an Open House Garden Party later this month, and if you are on our Butterfly Properties Constant Contact email list, you'll be getting an invitation soon. If you don't get an invitation, you are still invited. Let us know if you need the address and time.

When you get here, you'll probably get to see the red breasted nuthatches feeding their nestlings. However you won't be able to gain access to the nest because the parents have cleverly covered the opening in impenetrable sap. So don't even think about it. We, on the other hand, would welcome your visit!

Native Plant Gardening Events June 25 & 26

2011-06-17T07:58:00.000-06:00

Next weekend my wife and I are organizing two native plant and wildlife gardening workshops/ events. The first would help us complete a portion of the landscaping at Home ReSource (my favorite Missoula store), and the second is some maintenance work at the Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant (pictured above).

My wife and I have a native plant, wildlife, and sustainable garden coaching and consultation business, Butterfly Properties, and each year we select a community project to work on as volunteers. We enjoy spreading the beauty of native plants throughout town, and promoting an appreciation of Montana's flora. The Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant and Home ReSource's landscaping are two of our on-going projects.

We also support non-profits in other ways: offering discounted services to the Green Blocks participants, donating services to charity auctions, even giving actual money when we have it (we are even in the process of devleoping a grant program for community groups and non-profits).

We're planning some work at both these sites next weekend and we hope you will join us for a few hours and learn about landscaping installation, site preparation, design, and of course, weeding.

Saturday June 25, 10 am- 1 pm at Home ReSource, 1515 Wyoming Street

We are finishing the Home ReSource project by adding a "landscape pocket" on the Russell Street side. This new bed is an opportunity to learn about site preparation, native plant species, and garden maintenance. We love Home ReSource (their mission, their staff, and all the cool stuff they have for sale), and we have been donating our time and materials to this site since last year. (Here's a blog post from several months ago about spring maintenance in the HR gardens).

Topics/ activities:

Site preparation (when do you need to add topsoil? Why? Where do you get it?

Soil grading (What is it? How?)

How to plant plants

Mulch (Why? How? Where do you get it?)

Tour established native plant landscape at Home ReSource (completed in 2010).
Weed identification and removal (minimal)

Bring work gloves, sturdy shoes and questions!

Sunday June 26, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm at the Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant

Stop by and check out how beautiful this little park has become, and see what's flowering this week! Help clean up the park and learn about native plants and wildlife gardening. We will be weeding, pruning and maybe even planting a few plants. Bring gloves, and tools for weeding (if you have them). You can learn more about the park here.

Maybe we'll throw a few horseshoes in the horseshoe court, if there's time and energy. It's a wonderful community spot and we'd love to show it to you. Sunday June 26th, 6:30 pm- 8 pm.

You can view and even RSVP for both of these events on our Facebook site

2011 will be remembered as the year of the aphid

2011-06-15T19:44:00.000-06:00

WARNING! This blog post contains explicit images of mucivory.

Every year, and every season, is different in the garden. This year has been cool and wet, and some plants have really benefited like the arrow leaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), and some are having a tougher time like bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva). That is why diversity in the garden is so important; and interesting. The biggest benefactor, this year seems to be the aphids, though I am not sure why. The abundance and diversity of aphids this year is incredible (on our native plants that is, not on our eggplants and peppers).

A few years ago I was excited to find the red goldenrod aphids had finally colonized a little patch of goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis). Last year though, none were in sight.

This year it seems there are aphids on many species, different aphids on each of our goldenrod species (S. missouriensis, S. canadensis, and S. ridgida).

Not just goldenrods, though. There are aphids on our big basin sage (Artemisia tridentata - though they are there every year), red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea),

chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), and

Wilcox’s penstemon (Penstomon wilcoxii).

This is even the first year I’ve seen aphids on our Ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa). There are over 350 species of aphids, and most are host-plant specific. That is, they only feed on a species of plant or plants that share a common genus.

Compared to when our eggplants or peppers get aphids, when our native plants get colonized by a lot of aphids, it rarely results in damage to the plant. Actually, our big basin sage seems to thrive in the presence of aphids.

On our Ponderosa pines we have the giant conifer aphids (Cinara spp.). These feed on the branches and stems, not on the leaves, and few arborists even consider these a threat.

All these aphids, though are really providing a lot of food for all the birds in the garden that glean insects from the leaves. Also a benefactor is all the insects that feed on their soft bodies, which I am learning about thanks to my latest project- my insect collection.

So far that has been a wonderful experience, and I am learning so much, even more than I expected (thanks again to Jen Marangelo from the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium ). I am simply amazed by the diversity of bees, and flies that are wasp- and bee-mimics. I am even really impressed by all the species of ladybird beetles in the garden- the sworn, mortal enemy of the aphid.

My new garden project- an insect collection

2011-05-23T20:47:00.000-06:00

One new project I didn’t add to my list of garden projects for 2011 is documenting all the insects in our garden in the form on an insect collection. I am really excited about this project. I haven’t made an insect collection since my college entomology class, so I am eager to relearn some identification and preservation skills. One of my inspirations for this project came from Jen Marangelo (who was in that college entomology class with me) who is starting the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium.

Jen, who has quickly emerged as the insect-human liaison in Missoula, was eager to help me get my little project underway and quickly gave me a list of tools, equipment and supplies I needed to get stared. Today a box of everything I ordered arrived (I should note that it took over a month to get all these supplies from a company I won’t be promoting anytime soon.). Nevertheless, all my stuff is here, and I am excited to start searching for, documenting and "preserving the biodiversity" of our garden!

If you don't know about the Missoula Butterfly House, it is a great cause, and in a moment with Jen and seeing her enthusiasm for the project, you know it is going to succeed. The mission of the Missoula Butterfly House is to promote an appreciation and understanding of insects and their relatives through public education and the development of an invertebrate education facility- a year round tropical butterfly house and an insect zoo with live insects, spiders, etc and hands-on exhibits.

The Missoula Butterfly House is a wonderful idea, and needs your help to become established, so consider becoming a member- membership is only $35 (and tax deductible).

I'm going to go outside and look for some more bugs.

Backyard Birding, Bird Nesting and Garden Update

2011-05-18T18:42:00.002-06:00

Do you ever take your laptop out to the back porch and use it to call in a ruby crowned kinglet, just to piss him off? I do.

Anyway, I thought I’d take a moment to provide an update of what’s going on the in the garden. It is a really busy time now- lots of stuff happening in the backyard (and elsewhere in life). Spring is really here and birds are coming and going, plants are growing and flowering, and things are changing all around.

Garden update
Every year is different in the garden and that is what often makes it so much fun and interesting. This year is shaping up to be another good year for arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) in the garden (the last time I proclaimed this was in 2009, ironically on almost the same date – May 15). By the way, 2010 sucked for balsamroot in our yard. The exciting thing is so many of the volunteer balsamroots are still going strong, and in probably only 4 years our front yard will be awash in them (just as I predicted in 2009).

2015, baby- lots of balsamroot. Check back.

The other good news is that this year, volunteers from another one of our long-lived, slow to flower, plants, the silky lupine (Lupinus sericeus), is flowering! This is the first time that has happened. It takes about 5 years to flower and my wife started the originals from seeds in 2000. So, a mere 11 years later we have flowers from the second generation. This whole feat is probably worthy of a dedicated post (maybe I’ll try to convince her to write a guest spot).

Looking back on the pictures and the post about balsamroot in our garden from 2009, it shows how everything in the garden is on the same pace this year. We had a slow spring, but now it seems like everything is suddenly caught up.

Speaking of getting caught up, I recently revisited my list of garden projects for 2011, and I am making some progress, and I’ve even added a few more projects. The garden is never done, which is a good thing when you like to garden.

I planted some mountain ash (Sorbus scopulina) in the decadent quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) stand.
I rearranged some plants in the front prairie, including getting rid of a green rabbit brush (Ericameria viscidiflora) and added some wood’s rose (Rosa woodsii), wax currant (Ribes cereum) and shrubby cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa- by the way, when was the genus changed?) close to the house.
I made a "cut-off" trail in front of the onion bed. The area near the grill shed is kind of a congested area in the garden and by adding this new trail/ path, people will be able to flow better.
While I was at it making new trails and installing urbanite, I moved our concrete path 3’ to the north to make the bed larger and for traffic to flow better. I am really happy how this turned out, and with all these projects, when things settle down, I’ll devote some time to individual posts.

Flax management

My motto with blue flax (Linum lewisii) is “a little goes a long way”. Sure, it is aggressive, but it is beautiful, and the blooms last for 6 weeks or more. It is a great accent plant in the garden to provide almost electric blue flashes of color. But too much flax looks really weedy. So, I actively manage it in the garden. My plan usually involves removing older individuals- they get woody, too big, and they produce a lot of seeds. In the wild, flax you see are typically about 3 stems or so, and, to me flax this size these look like they are appropriate in the garden. I usually wait until after a rain, and pull them out by their taproot. Plants I get all the roots out of I save for friends (or enemies- a gardeners joke!), and the other ones I compost (though they are very slow to breakdown) or put on the brush pile.

This bucket of flax is heading to Kathy at Blackfoot Native Plants Nursery, who is a friend, I assure you. She asked for them. I swear.

Bird Nesting Update

Nuthatches

They laid their eggs around May 4, so the eggs should hatch around… May 18^th- today! I need to spend sometime this evening loitering around the box.

Chickadee

The chickadees have 8 eggs in their box, and hatching should be around May 24 (incubation is around 12 days). You can always look into their box and see what’s happening on the nest box camera.

Flicker

The flickers have been around and have excavated the box. They also excavated two holes in my neighbor’s silver maple. They tried this last year, and I was so happy for them, but ultimately they got displaced by squirrels and nested in our backyard nest box. I suspect they will nest here again.

Backyard Birding
The backyard birding has been really good this year. Species are coming and going on their way north, and to nest. White crowned sparrows and Townsend’s solitaires in particular have spent a lot of time in the garden this year. Also, Varied thrushes, Chipping sparrows, Bohemian waxwings, Song sparrows, Ruby crowned kinglets (including the angry little guy at the top of this post) and other species arrived at the same time as past years; hummingbirds seem a little farther behind. There have been reports of hummingbirds from all over town over the last week or more, so they are here, and any day they’ll come to our garden.

Locally, the feeling is that things are behind schedule- owing to the cool spring, but the fact that species arrivals are in sync with past years speaks to the larger spatial scale at which they travel and interact with the landscape as a whole. It is like the difference between weather and climate. Interestingly, yellow warblers arrived in our garden three weeks ahead of past years.

Looking back on the pictures and the blog post on balsamroot from 2009, I referenced earlier, it shows how everything in the garden is on the same pace as last year. So the gist is, a lot is going on and it is just about the same as it always is. Or something like that.

Nuthatch and chickadee nesting update

2011-05-04T21:51:00.000-06:00

The red-breasted nuthatches completed their nest, and apparently have begun incubating eggs. Today the female remained in the nest and the male visited regularly to feed her. He also spent quite a bit of time smearing sap around the entrance to the nest (shown above). This behavior is characteristic of the red-breasted nuthatch, but several nuthatch species perform tasks that help keep their nest free of pests and parasites. For example, white-breasted nuthatches with scrape the outside of their hole with bad smelling insects to dissuade intruders.

The female will incubate the eggs for two weeks, so around May 18th the young should hatch.

This year we installed a camera on the outside of the nuthatch box, and we will stream it when things get interesting. Next year, we'll probably move that camera inside their nest box.

The chickadees are just about done with their nest construction and similar to the past, it is made mostly of squirrel fur, and some antelope hair. The female has been roosting in the nest box for the last couple of nights, and I suspect she will begin laying eggs anytime now (if she has not already). Unlike the nuthatches, we have a live streaming camera inside the nest box- click here to see what is going in inside 24/7.

Green Roof for the Grill Shed; phase 1

2011-05-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

I posted a slideshow depicting my little green roof project last week (click here) and this is a follow up with some details about its construction and the plants I used.

Building this "green" or "living" roof was a really fun weekend project and one that I have been thinking about for a long time. My initial thoughts about green roofs came about from discussions with Kevin DePuy of Adapt Design + Build. He and I have talked about putting a green roof on the entrance to the Home ReSource building, and we each expressed our desire to try some new things; I wanted to try native plants, and Kevin was looking at it from a building perspective- about making some low-cost green roof solutions for a variety of roof pitches.

So after some thinking and reading books about green roofs this winter, I figured the best way to learn is to try it, literally, in my own backyard. What I learn here, I will hopefully incorporate into the green roof at Home ReSource, but really, I want to add a green roof to my garage (that will be Phase 2!).

Ironically, a few years ago, my friend Mike joked that my wife and I had already finished landscaping our yard, so what were we going to do next? Then he quipped are you going to add another level? Well, it turns out he was right!

Roof construction

The first step in this project was removing the metal roof (it went back to Home ReSource, where I will probably end up buying it again!), and reinforcing the framing to bear the weight of the new roof.

I added reclaimed 2x5 purlins on top of the rafters, and sheathed the roof in exterior grade plywood.

Then I added a reclaimed metal drip edge,

and framed the rest of the roof with reclaimed, rough cut 2 x 6.

I then installed a self adhesive waterproof membrane- this is the most expensive part of the whole project, but luckily they have a bunch of this type of material at Home ReSource. After some looking around, I found a lot of options there. One was a rubber pond liner- this would work great, but I wanted to keep weight down, so I went with the membrane.

On top of the membrane, I laid down landscape fabric, and fully encased the gravel drainage layer.

I added about 2” of gravel to the roof, and the reason I fully enclosed it was so the roots did not penetrate it, and so the gravel wouoldn’t shift or fall out of the drainage in the roof.

In retrospect, this is a lot of weight. Although gravel is cheap, I’d look for another alternative for future green roofs. I know many manufacturers sell plastic drainage layers and that might be the best alternative. We’ll see.

Soil mix

On top of the landscape fabric I added a rooting media. There are a lot of differing options and opinions on soil mixes for green roofs, and this is one area I wanted to experiment with. Over the course of mixing it and applying it, I changed the ratio a few times. My initial plan was to use equal parts of compost, pumice, and perlite. The whole idea is to have a light weight soil mixture, that has a fair amount of volume for roots, but drains well, and does not contain too many organics. Although I considered using other materials like sphagnum peat, crushed Styrofoam and others, I eventually ruled them out. As this progressed, I eventually stopped using compost- I was afraid of too much nutrients for the plants and the compost I also feared might hold too much water (for weight), and I switched to composted bark mulch (soil pep) and perlite.

This is a really light and loose mix. I went with 3”, and I think this will work out well. In the end, it is probably ¼ perlite, 1/3 compost, ¼ composted mulch, and 1/6 pumice.

To hold everything in place while the plants got established, I covered the roof in burlap. This will breakdown over time, and to plant it, I just cut holes in it.

Plant selection

I really wanted to use native plants for a green roof, and that is how this whole thing got started. We’ll see how my selection goes, but my goal is to find a mixture that includes a diversity of plant species (read: not all sedum, like many green roofs), for human interest, wildlife (insects and the like) value and aesthesis, low rooting depth (that is, no taproots), fibrous roots that with help to bind the soil, plants that seed prolifically (to fill in the roof), a diversity of heights and textures, drought tolerant, plants that are easy to grow, species that are commercially available, and plants that are relatively low growing.

Here is what I settled on:

Prairie June grass (Koeleria macrantha), bunchgrass, prolific seeder, deepest root depth of the group
Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), bunchgrass, prolific seeder, low rooting depth
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), forms a mat and spreads with rhizomes, tallest plant (when in flower)
Rosy pussytoes (Anntenaria rosea) - forms a mat and spreads, their light foliage reflects sun
Cutleaf daisy (Erigeron compositus) - these form a low mat and flower for a long time (starting in April)
Lanceleaf stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum). I used sedum because it is a requirement on any green roof. It is mandatory. And they enforce this. A nice succulent, though.
Elkhorn clarkia (Clarkia pulchella) this is for color- they are annuals, with very shallow roots, but they readily reseed

Plants for this project I got from my own garden, from the UM Conservation Nursery at Fort Missoula and from Kathy at Blackfoot Native Plants Nursery, and the Elkhorn clarkia I grew from seeds from Native Ideals Seed Company.

I'll post updates about the successes (or failures) and we'll see how it goes.

This is what happens at the nest box while I'm at work...

2011-04-26T06:43:00.000-06:00

So, I've always wondered what goes on when I am not watching. That is one of the reasons we installed nest box cameras in the flicker and chickadee boxes. In order to see if anyone is checking out the boxes for nesting, I devised what I call a NIB (Nesting Indicator Bar), some might call it a twig. I install the NIB in the entry hole of the nest box, and if it gets removed, I know something has been exploring the nest box. So, when I leave for work, the NIB is in place, and when I get home, it is gone. Sure, I know something has been in there, but what happened? To figure this out, I recently installed a motion activated camera in front of the nut hatch box. For eight years or so red breasted nuthatches have been nesting in this box, so I assumed that every time the NIB is gone, it is because a nuthatch took it out.

In the end I was right, but if you watch the slide show, you'll see a lot more happens. Watch closely and you'll see that it begins and ends with a nuthatch on the box and excavating, but in between it gets visited by a black capped chickadee, a northern flicker, a house sparrow, my neighbor's cat and a squirrel. Let's just say, that squirrel, isn't going to bother the nuthatches.

By the way, the nuthatches have excavated the box, and are just about done filling it with nesting materials.

Green Roof for the Grill Shed; Day 1 slideshow

2011-04-24T06:11:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I replaced the metal roof on my grill shed with a green roof. Above is a photo album from the first day of construction, today I am going to finish adding the soil mixture and plant some plants. I'll have more photos and a longer post coming soon with an explanation of the green roof.

How to plant a plant

2011-04-14T09:02:00.000-06:00

This is another installment of the “how to” series, which after reviewing some of the web statistics from my site are far and away the most popular.

This one sounds pretty basic and simple for a gardening blog, and at the risk of boring or offending some readers, I do think it is really important, not just knowing how to plant a plant, but why certain steps are done. This is intended for Montana native plants (planted in Montana), but for the most part is applicable to most others (expect things like orchids, hemi- parasites and saprophytes, I guess- you are on your own there).

Locate utilities (plan to do this if you are going to dig deeper than a foot), this is typically a free and fast service
Determine location- spend a day or so with the plant where you think you’d like it (this is especially important if you are planting a tree or something that will get really large), a small forb can be relocated, but you don’t’ want to plant a tree I the wrong spot. On the other hand, nothing is permanent.
Dig a hole that is at least twice as wide as the container the plant is in and deeper than the container height
Set plant in hole- check the location of the plant and check hole dimensions. In the photo below, the hole is not wide enough.

Determine final height- This is important, you want the plant to set proud, or higher than the surrounding surface- you want to have a “crowned” effect. The old adage is “plant it high, it won’t die. Plant it low, it won’t grow.” Words to live by. Add loose soil to bring plant up to this height.
The reason for digging the hole deeper than you need to is so you can loosen the soil below the plant and encourage quick root growth and plant establishment. There are some exceptions to this, though, and some plants that root from the stem (like tomatoes and really water loving plants, I'm sure there are some others, but none really come to mind).

Remove the plant and fill the hole with water. Wait for the water to drain from the hole (as an aside, if you’ve ever wondered if you have well-drained soil or poorly-drained soil, you’ll find out now).

Remove the plant from the container (carefully). If the plant is root bound (hopefully it is- this is a good sign of the plant being ready to plant), break up the roots. This is important and don’t be gentle or shy. You want to loosen the roots and break up the tendency to grow in the previous container. You want the plant to spread its roots and exploit resources. If the roots stay bound they will quickly deplete the nutrients form the soil. Also, by breaking the roots, the plants will release a hormone that prompts root growth. Don’t however, break any taproots, or major roots- you are just trying to break the roots free of the container shape. The only exception to this is if you are planting fairly mature annuals or if you intend to do a lot of feeding or something. I don’t know why, but the technique of not breaking the root ball up seems to be all the rage now, but I don’t agree with it, nor do I have any experiences to suggest you should not do it.

Depending on how tightly bound the roots are, you may need a soil knife (I am very partial to the A.M. Leonard Soil knife it is one of my favorite tools), or even a pruning saw will work great.
OK, now that you have abused the plant (kidding, you did the right thing, really) set it in the hole. Since this is a native plant, you don’t need any fertilizer, soil amendment, compost or anything! In fact adding too much compost or nutrients can be deleterious to the plant- it can lead to rapid leaf and stem growth, poor or shallow root development, and a faster life-cycle- that is, they might flower their heads off the first year and die. In ecology it is like switching from r selected (species whose traits are selected to emphasize high growth rate and short life span) to K selected (slower growth, more investment in offspring, longer lived) traits. Most of our native plans are water limited and slow growing (long-lived). They have adaptations to deal with seasonally scarce nutrients and water sources. Don’t over water or feed our plants.
The only exception to this is if the plant is damaged or severely stressed prior to planting, in that case you may have to add some nutrients to correct a problem, but not to promote excessive growth.
Stand back and see if the plant is where you want it, and the best "face" is forward, make any adjustments, and add some more water and let it drain. This might dislodge soil form the roots, but ultimately it will help remove any air pockets (aka, root killers). Add soil, and when you get it about half way full, water again and let it drain- this step should get rid of any air spaces. Finish filling the hole, and crowning the top. Water again until it is saturated.
Mulch. Mulch is really important, but don’t add too much around the base- you don’t want to end up planting to plant too low (see above and read adage), or promoting secondary root growth around the base.

Step back and admire your work. Plan on watering every other day or every third day for a month, and then weekly thereafter (depending on weather, precipitation, plant species, etc...) through the first growing season. As always, water deeply and infrequently to promote deep roots.

Black capped chickadee nest box excavation in full swing!

2011-04-09T14:22:00.000-06:00

The Black capped chickadees have been really actively excavating the nest box in our backyard today. Click on the above video for an example, and follow along as they complete the cavity excavation, build a nest and raise some chicks. Stay tuned, and follow all the action on the nest box camera by clicking here.

Chickadee Nest Box Camera is Live!... sort of

2011-04-07T22:02:00.000-06:00

Camera installed in the chickadee nest box- this photo is from 2010.

The black capped chickadees have done a lot of excavating- including removing enough saw dust to reveal the camera inside of their nest box. So, now I will start streaming video from inside their nest box - at least most of the day. It is probably not going to be too interesting for a while (I suspect for the next few days you will just see sawdust), but stop by the nest box and check out the activity as the chickadees complete their excavation and start building their nest.

Here is the link to the broadcast of their nest box. And, just to warn you again, it will just look like sawdust for a while, it is still pretty early, but I can't help myself.

It was really incredible watching the nest box cameras last year, and if you visit the the website you can see recorded videos from last year. You can also read more about the cameras I installed in some posts from last year by clicking here, here and here.

Below is a little example of the chickadees getting fed last year, and an example of what is in store from the camera this year.

I also have a nest box camera in the northern flicker box, and once the flickers excavte the box enough to uncover the camera, I'll stream that, too. So, stay tuned- it should be an exciting spring.

Native Plant Gardening Workshop Wrap-up

2011-04-03T22:19:00.001-06:00

Karen Brower address the group before showing her amazing presentation on Penstemons.

Thanks again to Catherine Cain and the Calypso Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society for arranging such a wonderful native plant gardening workshop. This year there were around sixty attendees, and it was a great, interested and engaged group. I look forward to to the workshop next year.

Catherine Cain tells the audience to start blogging!

All the talks were wonderful and I especially liked Catherine's presentation on how to start a garden blog. It was a veritable call to arms to the audience, as Catherine encouraged (and demanded) all the gardeners in the room to start blogging, tweeting and Facebooking. And as she reminded people, having a computer is not an excuse for not having a blog (!)- they have one in the library. I love that this chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society is embracing social media and technology- it is very progressive, and frankly rare in the society.

In fact, one of the speakers, Kathy of Blackfoot Native Plant Nursery, just started a blog of her own http://blackfootnativeplants.wordpress.com (perhaps inspired by the workshop agenda).

Kathy from Blackfoot Native Plant Nursery sells some plants- the first plant sale of the year!

As promised, click here to download a .pdf of my presentation on wildlife gardening.

Click here to download presentation

Also, here are some links to posts on my blog that have more information about topics I covered

How to build a native bee box (including a link to download a field guide to Montana Native bees)
The ecology of quaking aspen in our yard
The ecology of yellow evening primrose
Mixed feelings for bird feeders
Hummingbird plants
Growing a bird garden (also a link to download a copy of the article featuring our garden in Montana Outdoors).
Bird house basics (including a little video of a nut hatch excavating a nest box)
Spring cleaning for nest boxes
How to build a brush pile
Plant a standing snag for wildlife

It was an inspiring workshop, and a great way to get excited about gardening this spring. As soon as I got home, I planted three fantastic looking wax currants (Ribes cereum) I bought from Catherine's nursery, Southwest Montana Native Landscapes, and some forbs I bought from Kathy. It was good timing, too, because this morning my garden was covered by about 3" of snow- or, as I call it, time-release water.

Buttercups. They are back, and so is spring.

2011-03-29T17:02:00.002-06:00

It is amazing what one nice day will do to inspire folks to get out and do some gardening. Around Missoula this weekend the near 50 degree weather got everyone out and it looked like someone kicked the anthill. Hypothetically speaking, no one kicked our anthill, nor the anthill at the native plant garden at 8^th and Grant. FYI, that one is getting pretty big, and it moved! It now resides in the shelter of a brush pile we built last year.

Anyway, I digress, the signs of spring are all around and for those looking to foster their gardening thoughts, Saturday is the native plant workshop in Divide hosted by the Calypso Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society (click here for more information). It is a beautiful drive and there will be lots of great speakers, seeds and native plants for sale. I hope to see you there.

It is FREE, but RSVP to Catherine Cain.

Spring Cleaning in the Garden

2011-03-19T19:25:00.024-06:00

(Special Guest Blog by David's Wife)

Spring is here and what better way to celebrate than by puttering around in the garden? It’s a good time to see actual plant growth (the new leaves are almost here) and do some tidying up. Here’s a recap of our Big Garden Clean Up Putter over at Home ReSource.

Sidebar: you may recall that David and I designed and installed the native plant landscaping at Home ReSource as volunteers. We think the world of HR and want the landscaping to reflect their mission of sustainable living.

Our tasks for the day:

Pick up trash that had been hiding under the snow
Trim back shrubs for better shaping
Use the trimmed branches for creating (or reinforcing) brush piles for wildlife
Install birdhouse
Repair a bird bath

In the above photo, David installs a bird house above a landscape island in which the trash has been removed, shrubs trimmed, and a brush pile created. It went really well. If you live in Missoula, this is the time to clean up. It was fun seeing the staff at HR and they provided us with some good natured high school kids who were working off a community service requirement. So the whole thing went quickly and easily.

Here’s some more detail.

Step 1: Self explanatory. It’s depressing when the snow comes off to see how much crud was hiding under there for months. But it’s really satisfying to throw it away. Another positive note: David found my Leatherman Mini under some snow. I didn’t even realize I had lost it. Thanks David!

Step 2: David trimmed back unruly branches of Wood’s rose (it just makes them stronger- top photo) and snowberry (just for shaping purposes- bottom photo).

A few wayward branches of chokecherry, shrubby cinquefoil and Ponderosa pines got cut too. I want to stress that this trimming is for aesthetic reasons. Of course, these native plants do just fine out in the world without gardeners showing up to trim them. But when we use native plants in a landscape setting, it is perfectly reasonable to impose a little bit of order on them.

Step 3: The high school kids and I took all the branches and piled them for brush piles. These are nice little refuges for ground feeding birds, insects (like butterfly chrysalises) and who knows what else. There isn’t really any way to mess up a brush pile, but David has directions on his website: http://montanawildlifegardener.blogspot.com/2009/04/build-brush-pile-for-wildlife.html

Here’s one of the new brush piles, near Wyoming Street.

Soon creatures will be piling in there for refuge from all kinds of things (weather, stray cats, hungry birds). You know who loves a good brush pile?

The Mourning Cloak, Montana’s state butterfly. It spends the whole winter as an adult, stashed away in a brush pile somewhere.

Step 4: Install a bird house. If you want birds to nest in your yard this spring, PUT UP YOUR BOXES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Birds are looking for nest sites now. Read more at

http://montanawildlifegardener.blogspot.com/2009/02/birdhouse-basics.html

Here’s David installing a nest box above the parking lot at Home ReSource today. It’s mounted about 9 feet off the ground and facing east. It could be used by chickadees, nuthatches or wrens.

If you haven’t put up a bird house yet STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING and go over to Home ReSource, because they sell bird houses for native species made entirely out of recycled materials. They even come with sawdust (for stuffing the box, making it nest-y-er for birds) and an instruction sheet.

They have a lot of great garden items over at the Home ReSource ReVamp Store. In addition to bird houses, they have Mason bee houses, a big garden cart, and creative toys for the kids to play with outside (stick horses by Josh Decker).

Step 5: Repair the bird bath. Last summer David installed a bird bath made from a re-purposed light shade, and connected to the drip irrigation system so it was always fresh and full. Unfortunately the glass bath didn't survive the winter, so he made a new one. Also out of glass. We'll see how it goes. Bird baths are one of the best things you can provide for birds, especially in winter.

As you can see from the photos, it was a pretty grey day here in Missoula Montana. But it was fun to get into the garden and work. When you are up close with the plants, you can tell for sure that they are in fact growing.

We plan to have some clean up days at some other public native plant gardens around town, including but not limited to the 8th Street Pocket Park. So keep your eye out for updates, especially over on Facebook. Don't forget to LIKE us!

Gardening with Natives Workshop, Update

2011-03-16T18:37:00.003-06:00

How cool is this. Here is the updated program (In no particular order) from Catherine Cain president of the Calypso Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society:

"Local Gardener's Favorite Native in Their Garden" Karen Porter, Pipestone

"Developing a Garden Blog" Catherine Cain, Glen

“Native Plant Garden Design and Installation” Kathy Settevendemie, Potomac

“Wildlife Gardening” me, Missoula

Plus: Heirloom vegetable & flower seeds, native plant seed packets, books, "Bee Motels" and native plants for sale

The whole event looks great, but one thing that really caught my eye is that Catherine is giving a talk at this workshop on how to start a garden blog! That is so cool and progressive. I have always thought that a place like Montana, especially more rural areas of Montana (and for those reading this outside of Montana, that might sound redundant), garden blogs are wonderful tools to share what is going on in your garden. In wide-open Montana, it's not always as easy as leaning over the fence to talk to your neighbor and compare garden notes... and that's a big part of enjoying gardening.

I am really impressed that the Calypso Chapter is taking on this topic, especially since many chapters don’t maintain their websites and haven't embraced the “new” social media like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs for sharing information, interacting with members and recruiting new members. It seems like recruiting new members is a big issue facing many chapters.

Like I mentioned in the last post, the event last year was really well attended and there was a lot of interest and enthusiasm. I am looking forward to this years’ program even more.

I hope to see you there.

Upcoming Native Plant Gardening Workshop, April 2 in Divide, Montana

2011-03-12T07:01:00.005-07:00

Once again, I'll be giving a talk at the Native Plant Gardening Workshop in beautiful Divide, Montana, co-hosted by the Calypso Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society and the Big Hole Watershed Weed Committee. Thanks again to Catherine Cain for organizing the workshop, this should be a wonderful event, on April 2. Last year about 80 people came out for the workshop and I look forward to attending it again.

My presentation will be a follow-up to the talk I gave last year and my talk will focus on gardening for wildlife, including bird houses, feeders (natural and home made), pest (squirrels, starlings, house sparrows, etc...) control, pollinators, creating habitat, and of course native plants.

Also, Kathy Settevendemie from Blackfoot Native Plants Nursery will talk about garden design, choosing the right native plants, proper installation, maintenance and pests.

And I am sure there will be a lot of great native plants for sale from Blackfoot Native Plant Nursery and Catherine Cain's nursery Southwest Montana Landscapes. Also, if it is like last year, there will be a lot of vendors selling things for the garden like seeds, including native plant seeds from Native Ideals Seed Company.

Montana Wildlife Gardener is now on Facebook

2011-03-11T19:38:00.004-07:00

OK, so I am starting to get the idea that this Facebook thing is here to stay. I am not saying it will last, but apparently as of Feb 2010, over 400 million people were using it. I was not one of them. However, on a recent trip to explore the unique flora and fauna of the remote rainforests of Guyana, I learned my naturalist guide from a village of about 250 people, uses Facebook, I thought my blog and I should probably try it, too. Now you can follow Montana Wildlife Gardener on Facebook. Thanks, Alex Honorio.

Stop by and "like" the page and you can stay up to date with what is happening in my garden.

The buttercups are there- waiting

2011-03-09T06:34:00.008-07:00

With most of the snow melted from the front yard (our short grass prairie), yesterday my wife and I did what animals and fire would do in the wild. We raked and cut back all the plants. We normally do this in the fall, but for whatever reason this year we didn't. And now that most of the snow is gone, I was eager to clean the garden up in anticipation of the spring ephemerals.

People always ask about maintaining the garden, and what to do with all the tall grass and seed head. Leave them or cut them back? The Answer is "yes". It is all about a balance. leaving the tall stems and seed heads add structure and interest in the garden through the winter. The seeds also provide food for birds and other animals. On the other hand, cleaning everything up (cutting thins back and building brush piles with the materials), leaves the prairie ready for the spring and the small, "under-story" early spring flowers will really shine. So it is all about maintaining a balance. Normally I cut about half or more of the prairie back in the fall and leave some grasses and forbs tall through the winter- just a way I find aesthetically pleasing.

Though last fall I didn't really cut anything back and this winter I've been a little stressed about getting all the leaves and grasses cut back. If left they form a mat and mildew or mold grows- until the summer that is, which is fine, but it really puts a damper on the spring ephemerals like the bitterroot (Lewisii redivia), sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus), larkspur (Delphinium bicolor), yellow bells (Frittalaria pudica) and shooting stars (Dodecatheon conjugens). In nature, or outside of 8th Street, grazers, browsers and fire would do this seasonally.

But in our neighborhood, we don't have elk, deer, and although there are periodically fires in our neighborhood (not good), I think the neighbors would frown on intentionality setting a prairie fire, though my wife and I do think about it from time to time.

So while cutting back the prairie temporally removes all the structure we've been seeing this winter- the tall bluebunch wheat grass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) stems, the yarrow (Acheillia millifollium) and blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) seed heads and the tangles of blue flax (Linum lewisii), it does reveal the green new growth and as soon as we get a day of sun (and the snow that fell last night melts) the tiny harbingers of spring, the sagebrush buttercups, will bloom.

Flathead Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society Landscaping with Natives Talk Wrap Up

2011-02-18T18:28:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Terry Divoky for inviting me to come to the Flathead Chapter's monthly meeting. It was a fantastic turnout, and the questions and interest were excellent. I hope you consider me for gardening talks in the future.

As I promised, here are links to information on my blog on topics that I covered in my talk, and don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Click here to download the list of easy to grow versatile and diverse native plants.

Here are some past blog posts that might be helpful:

Below are some of the books and references I talked about in the class:

Prairie-style gardens- Lynn Steiner
The American Meadow Garden- John Greenlee
Front Yard Gardens: Growing more than grass- Liz Primeau
The Magic of Montana Native Plants: A Gardeners Guide to Growing over 150 Species from Seed- Sheila Morrison
Bringing Nature Home- Douglas Tallamy
Shrink Your Lawn- Evelyn Hadden
Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards- Sara Stein
Paradise by Design, Native Plants and the New American Landscape- Kathryn Phillips
The Forgotten Pollinators- Buchmann, Nabhan, and Mirocha
Landscaping Ideas of Jays- Judith Larner Lowry
Gardening with a Wild Heart -Judith Larner Lowry

Thanks again, and I hope you all enjoyed the presentation.

It's time to clean the nest boxes; spring is almost here

2011-01-30T15:57:00.014-07:00

I took a break from shoveling snow to do some annual cleaning of the bird houses. This is a post I write about annually, but it is always a good reminder.

For more information about cleaning details click here and for more information about bird houses click here, and for some general bird stuff on this blog click here

Bird nest boxes need to be cleaned and inspected annually. It is a good time to look for water damage, and a good opportunity to inspect the boxes to see if they need any other repairs. At the minimum, remove the old nesting material, scrape off any mildew, and repack if you will be packing the house with saw dust (see here for more information).

I used to clean and re fill them right after the nestlings would fledge, but now I usually wait until early February to clean and refill the bird houses. I don't know if it is because of wisdom or laziness.

If left empty through the winter, birds may use the empty boxes as roosts. For example, this winter when we had several days below -10 F, flickers roosted in the flicker box and chickadees roosted in the chickadee boxes. However, in the past, squirrels have roosted (albeit temporarily) in the flicker box. But let’s just say that squirrel won’t be telling any of his friends about that warm spot to spend the night. Anyway, I digress, another reason to leave them empty after the nestlings fledge, is that our chickadees typically have two clutches and they will build their second nest right on top of their first nest.

Nevertheless, the sooner you get them repacked, the sooner you can watch for excavation activity. It is always amazing how quickly they start checking out the boxes, especially if we get a few warm days, and the little birds' thoughts turn to love.

Here are some important dates on nesting activities in the Missoula area from my backyard:

Red-breasted nuthatches are the first to begin excavating their selected box- they begin excavating in early to mid February (between February 5 and 21 at my house) and they are usually complete by the first week of April (April 1-9) when they begin to fill their boxes with nesting material.

Black-capped chickadees start excavating about a month after nuthatches, with peak excavating around first week of April (from March 25- April 4), until middle April when they bring in nesting material (April 11-15). But they investigate and start defending nest sites in February.

Northern flickers are on a similar schedule as chickadees and they begin excavating in late March – early April (March 24-April 8), but they search for nesting locations in February and may do some exploratory excavating as early as the beginning of February.

2010 Cat of the Year: The story of June bug

2011-01-24T22:45:00.001-07:00

The people have spoken and by a landslide June bug was named the 2010 cat of the year for the Marler-Schmetterling household. June bug received 54% of the vote and easily won over the electoral college to claim the victory...

I have to say, though, I voted for Alex. Three times.

I love all the cats deeply, and clearly June has the saddest story, but sometimes I feel most for Alex. Alex is very quiet, he doesn’t even purr. When we adopted him, he didn’t even know how to be a pet. His major problem is that he has systematically been ignored. He is small, but not the smallest and his size might be from neglect or malnutrition.

He does nothing wrong (save a few midnight toe bites), and inevitably gets ignored. Even in the post on our cats on a Missoulian reporter's blog, Missoula Red Tape, Alex got left out of the headline ("Vote for June bug! And Squeak! and Natalie!").

Thank you to everyone who voted. I especially appreciated all the thoughtful comments, some were a riot. It is clear that readers of Montana Wildlife Gardener took this responsibility very seriously.

The story of June bug:

This competition turned out to be the story of June bug, and here is a little more background.

As far as we know, she was kept in a dog crate (not kennel, but crate) outside for 8 years. The reason started from her poor litter box use. The previous owner even put her in a diaper, and then ultimately a crate. Outside.

When she was surrendered to the Humane Society the staff was shocked by her appearance and health. The intake form read simply “rough shape”. She had to be completely shaved. She had ticks, fleas, internal and external parasites, a mouth full rotten teeth and infections from the flea and tick bites, and only weighed about 4.5 pounds. Frankly, given her age and condition, I am surprised they kept her alive.

After years of neglect and abuse, she stopped grooming herself.

I first saw June in a description on the Internet, I forwarded the link my wife the link and we decided we had to go see her. We went to the Humane Society and were told she was sequestered in a cage in the staff bathroom (the same place we got Squeak! pictured below).

This was clearly a good sign. "You had us at 'bathroom'," my wife quipped.

When I picked up this tiny, bony, but surprisingly hot, little thing, she started to purr. It was from her purring, I was convinced she was a cat (and that was about the only thing that lead me to believe she was feline- see the picture).

She spent the next hour on me and my wife getting petted and given attention. The staff remarked that this was the first time she’d been loved. It only took us a minute or two to realize that she had to come home with us. However, it would be weeks before she could come home. She had to get dipped for various ailments and could not be exposed to our other cats. So, since we couldn't take her home, every couple of days I’d go down to the Humane Society and carry her around and pet her. She purred when I’d open the door to her room and she’d purr and drool on my lap.

We got her home, slowly introduced her to the other cats, and made her comfortable in her own room. She ate and purred and ultimately put on a pound. Her health though was still really shaky, and we made many more trips to the vet, almost weekly.

Her teeth continued to rot, and we found out she was allergic to her own tooth enamel. The vet pulled all but two of her teeth and we give her daily doses of antibiotics.

She suffered signs of stress and anxiety, and we give her Prozac daily. Her years of abuse have clearly taken their toll. All the trips to the vet made us realize that we might not have her very long, and that she was clearly not a healthy cat. We resigned ourselves to fact that maybe all we were doing was providing her with a comfortable place to live out her life, however short that might be.

Nevertheless, she continued to follow us around, sleep on us, and purr. And eat. She has the biggest appetite of any of our cats, even the 15 lb Natalie (or "Fatalie" as my friend Trisha calls her, lovingly of course). For the record, Natalie is big-boned.

June's hair grew in, and it was the softest fur I have ever seen. Evidently her guard hairs did not grow back. As a result, her coat quickly got incredibly matted.

We discovered everything she liked to eat, which is everything. Or at least everything that my wife and I eat. She is especially fond of meat. Any meat, and raw. She seems to really like deer, antelope, turkey, grouse, pheasant, and cheese.

We eventually had to get her a lion cut. Not the best day.

But she got some adorable sweaters out of it.

Then it seemed like her underfur did not grow back and all she had was her guard hairs. Not the best look either. Her vet tested her for various skin fungi. Yes, it looked that bad. Finally after about one year, she has the right balance in her coat, and she is looking really good. She even grooms her face now. Well, she tries anyway.

Her litter box habits were a very frustrating mystery. We tried everything to get her to consistently use a litter box. Attractants, pheromones, multiple boxes, mood lighting, privacy, etc... It was hard to get mad at her, since her litter box behavior is probably what got her put into diapers and then a dog crate. We've since discovered she will not share a box with the other cats. The most remarkable thing is the other three cats use two litter boxes and they will not use June's! Yay team!

June has her own bedroom (pictured below), and the other cats respect this. Though Alex likes to sneak in and nap in June's bed. But June seems fine with that.

I am continually amazed how adorable and loving this little creature is, and especially in light of how badly she had been treated most of her life. She sleeps between our heads every night, and she continues to get better every day. Her vet never expected her to live this long. Now it seems like she'll live forever, though I know she won't. I was surprised the Humane Society kept her alive, but I am so happy they did.

Upcoming Native Plant and Wildlife Gardening Talk

2011-01-24T19:28:00.016-07:00

Do you live in the Flathead? Or, if you don't, and you'd like to take a little trip, join me at the monthly meeting of the Flathead Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society, on February 16th. This meeting will be held at 7 pm. at Discovery Square, 540 Nucleus Ave. in Columbia Falls (the old First Citizen’s Bank). My talk "Conservation Gardening: Landscaping with Montana Native Plants for Montana Native Wildlife in your own Backyard" will show how native plant gardening can be fun, educational, sustainable and meaningful.

Planning gardens, identifying problem areas in my landscape and thinking of all the potential and the possibilities is one of my favorite parts of gardening. This talk will focus on using Montana native plants to create habitat for native wildlife and to create a sustainable garden for people to enjoy. If you are thinking about adding more native plants or attracting wildlife, I think you'll enjoy this program.

If you've never been to a Montana Native Plant Society event, look up your local chapter and consider attending a meeting, or joining the society. There are a lot of great events and even more wonderful people in the society- it is a great place to learn about native plants and their habitats.

Click here for more information. I hope to see you there.

2011 Garden Projects

2011-01-19T07:21:00.028-07:00

I was inspired by an email I got yesterday from my friend Mike. He asked what I had planned in the garden for the upcoming year and gave me his list of projects. He has a lot of great ideas and some interesting projects planned. Until this point, I really didn't have much planned for the coming year, and this email correspondence inspired me to write up a list of projects and reminded me to revisit last year's list.

2010 Garden Projects:

New raised bed for the vegetable garden (mainly for onions) - next to grape arbor in the photo below

Move current occupants of area that will become raised bed to front yard. Done, and this worked so well, I added a new raised bed in front of the greenhouse- a garlic bed
Reduce bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoreugnaria spicata) in front yard and replace with displaced plants in the area that will be occupied by the new raised bed. Done
Remove one Steuben blue grape vine (we have two vines that produce over 50lbs of grapes/ year. That is a lot of jelly) and replace with a Himrod (seedless table grape). In the photo above one of the grapes is going for a ride. Done. The Steuben blue has a new home at my friend's house in Idaho.
Install cameras in bird boxes and connect to Internet. Done

Complete outdoor grill shed (all I need is to install the roof, so I am waiting for someone with galvanized delta rib roofing to remove theirs and donate it to Home Resource).Done
Remove one section of lawn and replace with natives like hairy golden aster (Heterotheca villosa), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), showy fleabane (Erigeron speciosus) that I will mow to form a meadow.
I liked this so much, I got rid of the last vestigial lawn patch, and replaced it with more flowers and an urbanite path.
Prune clematis on garage. Done, but I have to do it again. It is a bigger job than you'd think.
Start a bunch of native plants in the greenhouse to add to our front yard to replace some bluebunch wheatgrass and blue flax (Linum lewisii). Done. See the Elkhorn clarkia (Clarkia pulchellum), in the photo below.
Make a new compost bin? Not completed in 2010

So, my list for 2011

Make a new 3 bin composter
Plant some trees in decadent aspen stand. I am thinking mountain ash (Sorbus scopulina), but we'll see. The aspen have performed admirably, but it is time to move on. Plus, we have the same number of aspen in our garden, they are just in different places.
Prune the white clematis (Clematis ligusticafolia) on the garage, again a bigger job than you'd think.
Rearrange some plants in the front prairie, including getting rid of a green rabbit brush (Ericameria viscidiflora) and adding more shrubby trees close to the house
Replace urbanite in front of the greenhouse and on the side yard that has settled too low. Replace it with larger chunks. It became painfully obvious this past week that these low spots were too annoying to live with
Start some native plants in the greenhouse. Always a good goal. I want more sticky geraniums (Geranium viscosissimum) in the garden (photo on the top of the post).
Make a "cut-off" trail in front of the onion bed. The area near the grill shed is kind of a congested area in the garden and by adding this new trail/ path, people will be able to flow better.
Stream 2 nest box cameras simultaneously this year. Last year I streamed the chickadee camera, and later the flicker camera. While I am at it, maybe I should invest in another camera to stream the nuthatch box.

Lots to do. It will be another exciting year. And here I thought I didn't have any garden plans!

Build an indoor seed germination chamber

2011-01-17T14:22:00.029-07:00

I read that today, January 17th, is statistically the saddest day of the year. I'm not sure exactly how that was quantified, but few people in Missoula will likely disagree today. It is about 40 degrees and raining outside. Although this is not unheard of for a January thaw, it is definitely pretty dreary today. On the bright side, with all the melting snow, it is a good day to marvel at the beach lines on Mount Jumbo and Mount Sentinel.

Givin the dreariness, I thought this would be a good day to write about a garden project that you make and have inside. This is post is about building an inexpensive seed germination chamber.

This is a fun project and it is really cheap to build (especially if you get all the materials at, say, Home ReSource (1515 Wyoming Street in Missoula). But even if you don't live in Missoula and you have to pay big city prices, you will hardly be out any money.

It is timely to think about ordering seeds and starting them indoors. We just inventoried all our seeds for the vegetable garden, did some planning and deliberating, and last Friday all the seeds arrived. We'll be transplanting many of our germinants out in the greenhouse; if you don't have a greenhouse, consider building a cold frame to get a jump on spring. After the depressing weather the last few days, it is really important to think of spring and remember that it is in fact getting closer every day!

We use our germination chamber for starting vegetables, but of course you could use yours for starting native plants.

Here I will show what materials you'll need to make a germination/ growth chamber, but really

it is nothing more than a box with a light in it. Here are some tips:

If you haven't been before, take this as an opportunity to visit Home ReSource, a building materials reuse center. Home ReSource is my favorite place to shop and come up with ideas for my next project, and it is where I get materials for many of the things I've featured on this blog from my greenhouse to my bee house.

Below is Lauren, the co-founder and co-director of Home ReSource. He and any of the other enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff enjoy helping customers, especially in the treasure hunt-like environment of Home ReSource.

To start, select a fluorescent light fixture. Show below are an assortment of recycled fixtures that cost just a couple of dollars each. Whatever size you select will dictate the size of the box you build. I use a standard 4' "shop light" set up.

The next step is getting bulbs for the fixture. Although you can buy "grow" lights (lights specifically for growing plants) you do not need to.

All you need are fluorescent bulbs that cover the range of the light spectrum, and you can accomplish that with one "cool" bulb, and one "warm" bulb. At Home ReSource, the bulbs are cheap ($0.50, for a 4' bulb).

But even if you buy a new bulb and it is a "grow" light, they are still not terribly expensive.

The bulbs not only provide light for the plants, they also supply the heat for germination and growth. Although a florescent bulb does not give off much heat, it does give off some, and that will be plenty to keep the chamber around 70 degrees, especially with a well insulated box (see below).

The next step is selecting a timer. You want to set the growth chamber so your plants will get 12 hours of light/ day. Again, a trip down the aisles will reveal several timer options.

Here, for example is a new in the box timer for $4.

But if you didn't want to spend that much, there are plenty of other options. Look at the piles of timers laying around at Home ReSource...

The next step is building the enclosure or box. The simplest way is to make a box out of rigid insulation. Insulation with a foil face is best- it allows light to reflect. However white rigid insulation will do just fine. The thicker the insulation the better. The thicker it is, the more rigid the box will be and the greater the insulating value.

Just build the box to allow for the size of the light and the size of the trays you might use for seed starting. In general you want the box to be small, for conserving heat, but you have to allow the light fixture to move up and down.

So the plants don't get leggy, you want the light to be about 1" from the plants at all times, so allow for some space to adjust the fixture height.

Using the rigid foam insulation is a really easy way to build the box- no complex joinery to deal with. I made ours just using foil tape to hold it together.

It is nothing fancy, but it works, and has lasted several years taking up some unused space under our basement stairs.

The good news is, June 17 is statistically the happiest day of the year, and it will be here before you know it, with a whole bunch of plants you started from seed this winter.

2010 Cat of the Year: Voting is Open

2010-12-09T19:08:00.014-07:00

This year I have opened up voting for the coveted title of 2010 cat of the year. You can vote on the right until midnight Dec. 31, when the polls close. As you may recall, last year, Alex was crowned champion of our household. The nominees are listed below- the same as last year. Obviously, this has nothing to do with wildlife gardening or native plant landscaping, other than to say keep your cats indoors.

Squeak (pictured above)

Age: 17

Weight: 6 lbs

Breed:Blue Point Himalayan

Background: Outlived her people. Lead a life of pampered luxury

Pros: Great health, plays with Alex

Cons: Avoids Natalie and June. Requires daily brushing and hates it.

2010 Accomplishments: She has not killed us, plays with Alex, does not require that we feed her from a crystal goblet. She is our fluffiest cat, but also the most flammable.

Expenses: 1 vet visit for yowling, blood work, (diagnosis: dementia)

Cost per pound $16.70

Alex (Defending Cat of the Year)

Age: 9

Weight: 8.5 lbs

Breed: Turkish angora x Persian

Background: Innocent victim of a hoarder. He was at the shelter for 2 years because no one wanted to adopt an adult black cat

Pros: Good attitude. Greets all visitors at the door. Does fantastic acrobatics. Plays hard.

Cons: Rarely purrs. Bites your toes while you sleep.

Accomplishments in 2010: Still modest and unassuming as ever. Defers to Squeak, tries to play with Natalie, and leaves June bug alone (though he recently began sleeping in her bedroom). His ¾ length tail, though not new in 2010, is always worth some points. The cat of the year title was his to lose, but the expensive dental work in November was a blow to his huge lead.

Expenses: 1 vet visit, 3 teeth pulled.

Cost per pound: $47.06

June bug

Age: 11 (her vet did not think she'd live this long)

Weight: 5.5 lbs (up 1 lb since we got her)

Breed: Silvertip Persian

Background: Oh, June. She was kept in an outdoor dog crate for 8 years and badly neglected before someone turned her in to the Humane Society in fall 2009. Struggles with litter box routine.

Pros: Ridiculously cute, and much improved in the litter box area. Big purr. Cuddly, despite her bony little body. Her only two teeth are in pretty good shape.

Cons: Oh, June.

Accomplishments this year: Although June is a finicky eater, she is back to eating soft cat food (after a few weeks of eating only human baby food- read: very expensive). She now grooms herself (mainly just her face). She sleeps by our heads in bed with us every night.

Expenses: multiple vet visits, extensive dental work, daily anti-anxiety meds and antibiotics, only ate baby food for a while (see above). Sweaters. Professional grooming. Etc.

Cost per pound: $100 or more. Priceless, really

Natalie

Age: 14

Weight: 13 lbs.

Breed: Domestic long hair

Background: Disemboweled by her previous owners’ dog. Medically neglected. Borderline diabetic. Required hernia surgery including a Gore-Tex body wall, and is on a diet. She’d prefer to be the only cat in our house.

Pros: Classic beauty, good stomper, good at polishing things with her declawed paws.

Cons: Little bit of a diva complex. Does not play well with others.

Accomplishments: Natalie continues to be the largest of our cats. No expensive surgeries this year. Glowing report from the vet (who she hates). She has not eaten any of the other cats, nor has she squashed them either. She did go through a phase of wanting to go outside, but that passed. She stopped using June’s litter box.

Cost: Expensive diabetic food, but only 1 vet visit this year.

Cost per pound: $7.70

My Favorite Garden Tools, Part 1

2010-12-08T17:12:00.004-07:00

Nothing will say "I love you and appreciate you" this holiday season more than a well-made garden tool. The heft of King of Spades 16” round blade spade or even a 17 lb. pencil point San Angelo bar can communicate the strength and endurance of your love and appreciation to that gardener in your life.

I've been threatening to write a post on my favorite garden tools for a while now. Actually, I guess I have been threatening to write anything for a while. Maybe because it is the gift giving season, or maybe it is because I no longer need for these tools now that it is winter. In any case, I thought I'd write about some tools I like to use. * In the spirit of full disclosure, I have not been paid or received any compensation for the following reviews. However I would really appreciate any endorsements or compensation from these fine companies!

Here are some of my favorite garden tools:

AM Leonard soil knife, my favorite all around garden tool. This is the tool I reach for most often. I use it for transplanting, weeding, and any relatively small digging job. It is very well constructed and stout. You won’t bend or break this- it will last a lifetime. It is made with stainless steel and a orange poly something handle, easy to find, and will last forever, no splinters, and does not need any care. I have used a bunch of hori horis (Japanese soil knife) and other soil knives and this is my favorite. This knife has been redesigned and it is much better than the same model I currently have. The serrations are deeper and sharper, and it even has a twine cutting notch (pretty useful). Mine are several years old and probably have decades more use in them. A close runner up is the Lesche soil knife , it looks really cool and tough with the much more aggressive serrated edge and the hand guard. I have both and I like them. They are both made in the USA, which I also appreciate.

Diggit 2 weeding tool. This tool is nearly indestructible (and comes with a lifetime warranty) , with a bright yellow vinyl handle. It is really narrow to cut through compacted soil to get the deep roots of dandelions and other plants. It is so string and stout, that I use mine to pry up or reset concrete or urbanite pavers. For weeding in a small space it is my favorite, plus it is made in the USA.

Felco #2 pruning shears. I wrote a post about these a while back. A fantastic tool- there is a reason everyone likes these.

17# pencil point San Angelo bar (hard to take a picture of it, but it looks like a bar). Here is my shout out to Texas. The one I have been using for years was a wedding present (no lie, my wife and I registered for it). Around here digging holes does not require a shovel, but rather a digging bar and your hands. My favorite tool for the job is a 72”, hexagonal-shafted, chisel point on one end, pencil point on the other end, carbon steel digging bar. A friend of mine recently dug all the holes for a fence with a screw driver and a coffee can. The coffee can was for the soil. It can be really rocky here.

Drain spades- for general digging and transplanting I use one of these (the green handled one in the picture at the top of the post, and most of mine have been bent from using them as a pry bar or something), but they are light weight and good for general use. But when the digging gets tough, the one to use is this one: The King of Spades 16” rounded blade digging spade. This is a real piece of machinery. Heavy, sharp, unbend-able, with and removable and replaceable foot pad. Although not advertised as a pry bar, you can use it for one, and I have (made in the USA).

Reverse photoperiod and fall fun

2010-10-04T11:06:00.011-06:00

Photoperiod refers to day length (length of both light and dark periods), and it causes significant physiological responses in plants and animals. Photoperiod dictates the onset of animals' sleep, migration, reproduction, and the changing of coats or plumage. Day length signals seasonal changes in many species, and is the first cue to change fur color in snowshoe hares and it even induces estrus in many mammals. Some plants will flower only after experiencing a certain photoperiod for a certain number of days. Yet despite how intricately timed this mechanism is in animals and plants, there can be confusion. Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, the photoperiod is identical twice a year. Anyone that has spent time in the woods knows the tricks that this phenomenon will play on animals.

For example, in the fall the day length is the same as the spring (and vice versa). This is why you hear ruffed grouse drumming in the fall, as though it were the spring. In our garden, northern flickers are making their mating calls and even displaying their courtship rituals, chickadees are making their lovey-dovey pleas for a cheeseburger, and nuthatches are playing their tiny tin horns (maybe this is why the Bike Gardener thinks she is hearing nuthatches today, or maybe it is a personal thing). Many spring nesting species are checking out nest boxes. Reverse photoperiod even fools plants. Many plants that flower in the spring will also flower in the fall, like the erigerons in this post.

Reverse photo period may also partially explain a fall migration of the largescale suckers in the Clark Fork River, but I digress (their spawning migration is in the spring).

If nothing else, it is fun to say that things, often totally unrelated things, are a result of reverse photoperiodism. Give it a try in conversation this week and impress your friends.

A garden is dynamic

2010-09-27T20:56:00.029-06:00

Its been a while since my last post, in part because I've taken some time to do some work in the garden.

A garden is never done.

From time to time it is nice to redo parts of the garden. Perhaps it is because I am never satisfied, or maybe it is just that I like gardening, but more likely it is because the garden is always in a state of change. Unlike interior decorating or architecture, plants grow and conversely they die, or becomes senescent, which sounds better sometimes.

The garden changes, and how you look at the garden changes too. Plans change, the way you use your garden changes, and your tastes and aesthetics change over time. As a result, there is always change, and a garden is dynamic. Embrace this- it s part of the fun. Plan for it, if you are good.

Here is a link to an older post of mine that will give you an idea of the continued change in our garden (Time Series and Change)

This year I put together a list of garden projects, these are always fun to make and a great reason for keeping a garden journal (or a blog).
So this is a little recap of some of those projects, but also a reminder that a garden is not static, or stuck in some level of size, growth, etc... The more plasticity you can incorporate into your garden, the more you will probably enjoy the process of gardening.

Changes:

I finally got rid of the last vestiges of lawn (see photo at the beginning of the post and below). In both cases our lawn had been reduced to a couple of patches of open space, but mainly they were used as paths and as places to gather. Frankly, neither option was a really good use for lawn. These little lawn remnant patches would typically get worn down and trampled. Also, since we had so little lawn, the lawn began to look out of place. So rather than fight it, I dug it all up, and replaced it with urbanite, hills and ultimately more native plants (here is a past post on working with urbanite). The native flowers will come from where I placed new raised beds (see blow).

I also added more raised beds to the garden for vegetables like this new garlic bed in front of the greenhouse,

Or the new onion bed in the foreground next to the grape arbor. All these beds are covered with my cat guard/ trellis system, in case you were wondering what the grids were all about. They also triple there utility as planting grids for garlic and onions since I plant all those with about 6" spacing.
The aspen grove is now decadent- but we did not loose aspen, we gained some sangs. And as aspen are wont to do, we did not actually loose any aspen, they are just in different places, and we now have more aspen, or above ground aspen, anyway.
We got a good decade out of the aspen grove, and frankly I am excited to rework it- while using the snag as a prominent feature.

Throughout these projects was the theme of adding more and more seating.

Cheap gardening.

Like that law of physics, matter is never really lost or gained nor was it lost in these projects- all the elements were just rearranged. I moved plants from one area to the next, moved compost from our compost bins into the new raised garden boxes, moved a hill from one place to another, and ultimately spent nothing, other than a trip to Home ReSource, which, by the way, is having its Grand Opening on Sat. Nov. 6th, to scavenge some urbanite from their take pile.

There are always going to be some places in the garden that just don't work, and that is also part of the fun and challenge. This summer I changed a couple of spots that I thought I fixed last year, or the year before. Some years I do nothing in the garden but enjoy it- enjoy it but secretly plan some changes. Sometimes I think my wife dreads when I say, things like "I'd like to move this or that or put a hill there or take that hill away". Again, this is all part of the fun, that is, thinking about how to change things and solve problems, not annoying my wife.

In a couple of years, the changes I made this summer, I might undo, and I look forward to it.

Native bee nesting update

2010-08-23T17:00:00.017-06:00

A little while back a wrote how to make a house for solitary nesting bees in 5 minutes (part of my wildlife garden stuff in 5 minute series) and above is a video of the bee house I installed at the Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant.

So, here is the update after the bee houses have been in place for about two months...

There has been a lot of activity in the last couple of weeks, and not just at my house, but at all the locations where I set them up- at the Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant (aka the 8th Street Pocket Park) and at Home ReSource. Also the activity seemed to be shared by not just the mason bees (Osmia spp.) but also various leaf cutting bees (Megachile spp.), and even some brood parasites like the cuckoo bee (Coelioxys spp.). The cuckoo bee frequents the nest boxes because they lay their eggs in the nests of the leaf cutting bees. These were the most active bees in our backyard tonight. All are really cool.

Here is a great guide to the common bees of western Montana, with an emphasis on native solitary nesting bees by Jennifer Palladini, and it would be a great compliment to your bee house to keep a copy close by.

By the way, although it is recommended to have them face east, the ones facing south have much more bees in them (I should that this conclusion is based on a small and unequal sample size so, please, view these results with caution).

Although it seemed expected that the native bees would find the boxes in our backyard and at the Native Plant Garden at 8th and Grant, I am most excited they have taken up residence in the nest box in the native plant garden at Hom ReSource. Home ReSource in located in an industrial setting, a place with few native plants, and few gardens. Their presence in this little patch of habitat is especially gratifying.

Though I questioned the efficacy of these boxes for conservation, etc.. in my last post, they are just flat out fun to watch and a great tool for teaching and learning about our native bees. So, by all means build one and install one today. Better yet, make a few and give them as gifts (and include the bee guide).

Yellow evening primrose time-lapse video

2010-08-03T17:12:00.006-06:00

A short while ago, I wrote about the yellow evening primrose (Oenethera flava) and the interesting and intricate role they play in our garden (click here for the post). Above is a time lapse video showing a bud growing over three days and then finally flowering. As I've mentioned before, these time lapse cameras are a lot of fun.

Right now, my time lapse camera is at Home ReSource to document the construction of the Garden of Giving. By the way, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that it is not to late to donate to Home ReSource and have your name immortalized in the garden.

A monarch in our garden

2010-07-31T08:28:00.014-06:00

Yesterday was really exciting for me- I found a monarch butterfly visiting our garden (see photo above). Monarchs are rare here- we are too far west or too far east of their migration routes. As my wife pointed out, it was really windy yesterday, so perhaps they blew in from the Pacific flyway. Though they are common on the coasts and in the midwest, before yesterday, I had only seen two monarchs in western Montana.

The first was about an hour after I proclaimed that there really were no Monarchs in Montana. And though it had been a decade or more since I saw my last monarch, one flitted by us, and there was no doubt it was a monarch. That was about six years ago. Later that same summer I saw another. Yesterday while out in the garden, I saw monarch- it was halfway across the yard, but was unmistakable.

In many parts of the country, monarchs and milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) are inseparable since monarchs can only complete their life cycle with a milkweed. The adults lay eggs on the leaves, the caterpillars will eat the leaves of milkweed, and later they will build their beautiful chrysalis under the leaf of a milkweed. Few other animals feed on the milkweed, and monarchs get some of their defenses from this plant. However, in western Montana, we have a native milkweed (A. speciosa), but it is not a place to go to find monarchs.

The large, showy flowers of our native milkweed do provide food for many species including our native bees, large butterflies (like this swallowtail in our garden), and even hummingbirds.

So maybe consider planting some milkweed in your garden (it is one of my favorites in our garden), and perhaps someday a monarch will visit. Probably not, but at least the deer won't eat milkweed.

8th Street Pocket Park update and volunteer night

2010-07-14T18:25:00.022-06:00

Join us Thursday night (7-8 pm) when we continue to landscape the 8th Street Pocket Park (at the corner of 8th and Grant). Learn about native plants, gardening, wildlife gardening and how to do it! Bring your questions, notebooks and cameras. Tasks for volunteers this week include planting grasses and flowers (in the photo below), screening topsoil, installing lawn edging, and some light weeding.

The 8th Street Pocket Park is a small neighborhood park my wife and I have been volunteering on- planning, landscaping, grant writing and maintaining for the last few years (click here for more information). This was an unused right of way (owned by the city) that was not being maintained, cared for, and had just turned into a gathering area for trash and noxious weeds. We transformed 1/2 of it n 2008, using drought tolerant native plants, and incorporated many wildlife features (see above).

In 2009 we received a grant for plants, mulch and other landscaping materials and last summer we began site preparation of phase 2- the next 1/2 of the park (see above, as the site looked in 2009). Funding for materials for this project has come from the Missoula Office of Neighborhoods, UM Natural Areas, and Montana Native Plant Society. Materials were also donated by Home Resource (like recycled lumber, fencing, lawn edging and more), and plants and bird, bat, bee houses and interpretive signs were donated by Butterfly Properties (that is, my wife and me).

This spring, I installed a fence, horseshoe court, trees, and other wildlife features (see photos below), and last Thursday with help from neighborhood volunteers we planted shrubs, and did some weeding.

Below you can see a standing cottonwood snag (dead tree trunk) I planted and a bat box I made.

We hope to see you there. Wear sturdy shoes, bring gloves (always a nice idea but not mandatory) and your favorite planting tool. We'll have tools too. If you want more information, contact Marilyn at marler@bigsky.net

Flicker fledging has begun!

2010-07-14T08:56:00.013-06:00

Here are just a couple of pictures and a short video of the fledging progress. Once they fledge, I'll post some more information and pictures, as well as some videos, including some time lapse videos of the fledging. Above is a young male contemplating fledging and below is a female doing the same.

Although we have flickers, nuthatches and chickadees nest in our yard almost every year, the interesting thing this year was the addition of nest box cameras (see photo below).

Click here to watch the nestlings inside of the nest box, if they have already fledged, you can still watch videos of the whole process on Ustream. I captured videos almost every day to document the process.

And here is a not very good quality video I took from inside my house but it shows what is happening outside the box for those that have been watching the flickers online from inside.

Stay tuned for more.

My new favorite garden tool- a time lapse camera

2010-07-09T05:17:00.007-06:00

My wife recently surprised me with an early birthday present- a time-lapse, outdoor, waterproof camera for the garden (Brinno Gardenwatch Camera). If you recall, last year she got me another garden camera- a couple of nest box cams. Those have been so much fun and educational, and by the end of this week, our flickers will be fledging so check out the nest camera.

I am totally captivated by this new camera, though. And astounded by all the applications. Suddenly I have so many uses for this one camera that I will have to buy more. I was originally going to write about what garden tools I like and why (I’ve gotten a few questions about that), and I will get to a post about that shortly, but right now, I have to write about this time lapse camera.

This time lapse camera is very easy to use and seems really durable. Right out of the box, it is easy to set up and start taking videos.

At this point, I must digress and reveal that I am in no way benefiting from this review- it is not a paid endorsement, nor did I receive one of these for free to demo or anything- though I do wish someone would contact me about demos, tool reviews or tool trials or something that my other blogging peers seem to get!

Anyway it is really easy to use and I look forward to lots of applications like watching evening primroses, bitterroots (Lewisii rediviva ) flowering, to large long-term changes in our garden, to watching animal heads decompose, to planting and building projects in the garden. I would love to set up one to watch the entire backyard (we have a small yard) for an entire year. The possibilities are endless.

It is easily adjustable and simple to program the camera to take pictures on set intervals from 1 minute on up, and you can even set custom time intervals. You can zoom in to focus in on a single flower or zoom out to look at a landscape. The camera takes remarkably good pictures and has a forgiving depth of field. The camera and housing seem really well built, durable and waterproof, so I suspect I will get many years of use from one. It comes with a 2 GB USB flash drive and I suspect you could plug a much larger one in for huge files or very long term videos. The camera records the videos on the flash drive and you can easily load it to your computer for viewing (without any special software) and editing (with the software provided).

My only complaint or suggestion is that the camera has a photo sensitive shut off so it does not take pictures in the dark, but that is a time I’d like to see what is going on, especially with the evening primroses (see below). It would be great if it came with an infrared camera or option to capture nighttime viewing, like the nest box cameras I have.

At the beginning of the post is a short clip of a white evening primrose (Oenothera cespitosa) (my first video). I recently wrote a post about its cousin and a neighbor in our garden the yellow evening primrose (O. flava). The video would have been better but a neighboring horsemint (Mondara fistulosa) hogged the camera! Nevertheless you can still see the primrose flower's bloom, and the flowers fade, and all that happens with a plant over the course of a couple of days as it tracks the sun across the sky.

Above was my next video, a test, aimed at the flicker nest box (see below for how I mounted it on the side of our house aimed at the flicker box). After I recorded this video I readjusted the camera, zoomed in and changed the record interval from 5 min- 1 minute. When the flickers fledge, I will upload a video with all the action. Now that it is adjusted, it is capturing images of their impending fledging (fledging is scheduled for around July 10).

So exciting. I’ll need to get some more.

Updated July 10:

Here is a better (and shorter) time lapse video of the nest box:

yarrow is not a four letter word

2010-07-06T22:47:00.000-06:00

Yarrow (Achillea spp.) has been coming up a lot lately in garden conversations and I wanted to set the record straight. Is it an annoying invader, or a garden-worthy native? In each case that someone described an annoying invasive yarrow, the plant in question turns out to be not our native white yarrow (A. millefolium) but rather a non-native species or cultivated variety of yarrow.

Yarrow is a native plant that can be used quite well in a variety of garden situations ranging from xeriscape prairies to conventional applications. The native yarrow is an example of a plant that you do not need to use anything but the native. Using a variety bred for showiness or color could get you in trouble (unless you enjoy endless weeding).

Our native yarrow is beautiful, durable, drought tolerant, fragrant and offers year long interest with its beautiful seed heads and adds an important architectural element in the garden if left uncut for the winter. The flowers are also great in cut flower arrangements.

We use yarrow in our own garden landscapes and encourage its use by our clients. It is easy to grow, liked by butterflies (it offers a nice landing pad- see the photo at the beginning of the post), and very versatile. Aesthetically, the native yarrow is the right color for semi-arid western Montana. Its leaves have a beautiful soft and feathery texture and have the silver-grey cast that is common to so many prairie plants. This grayish-blue color is an adaptation to the sunny and dry prairie conditions: it reflects sun.

Over the last couple of weeks people have been surprised that we planted yarrow at the neighborhood park we have been landscaping, at the Home ReSource landscaping project we designed and installed, and a client of ours, wanted to know how to control the “native” yarrow he planted. In the case of the client- the yarrow he thought was native was actually a pink flowered variety, and in other cases, it is always an escaped lawn weed that takes over, giving our native beauty a bad name.

We use yarrow in a a variety of settings in our garden- ranging from naturalistic- in our front yard prairie where there are individual plants scattered (see the white flowers in the photo below ),

and we have grouped several plants together in our backyard to create a wash of colors that compliment the purple clarkia, and fleabanes- see below.Yarrow is a common plant in garden centers and in the landscaping industry, and it represents a great example of why you need to know what you are looking for if you are shopping for native plants. Although we do have a native yarrow, most of what is sold is not native. Yellow flowers, pink flowers, and even white flowers adorn many commercially available yarrow. But most behave much differently than our own, native plant. Many non-native yarrow will turn weedy if watered, and even native yarrow will thrive with water and will spread- so if you don’t want it to spread, apply neglect, and you’ll be rewarded with a prosperous, beautiful, native plant.

Build a Mason Bee House in 5 Minutes

2010-06-23T05:09:00.018-06:00

It is National Pollinator Week, and I figured a way to commemorate this was to build a mason bee nest box (more on this in a little bit). For Missoulians, a great way to celebrate this is at Thursday night's native plant sale with information about pollinators- including mason bees.

Unlike non-native honey bees that nest in hives with many others, native mason bees are solitary and each female builds her own nest. I think it's cute that although these are "solitary" bees they all nest right next to each other in communities, but evidently they have it worked out so they maintain their own identity. Anyway, they nest in cavities in logs, snags and decadent trees from woodpecker or wood boring insect holes. They also nest in hollow reeds and canes (like raspberries). As a result of the loss of native plants, removal of dead or dying trees, etc... many suspect that they are nesting site limited and by providing artificial nest sites (houses) we can help their populations.

Mason bee houses have been around for a while but I’ve been reluctant to build a house for them. Maybe it’s because I liken these houses to butterfly houses (that don’t work and cater toward yellow jackets). Or maybe it was because I thought by providing snags in the yard and or borer hole-filled aspen; we were providing more natural places for mason or other solitary nesting bees. So I did some research and in addition to a surprising amount of literature on the topic, I came across a great literature review that evaluated the efficacy of intervention (people trying to help out bees) on bee conservation: Bee Conservation: evidence for the effects of interventions Lynn V. Dicks, David A. Showler & William J. Sutherland Based on evidence captured at www.conservationevidence.com.

Here is a brief summary:
Yes, mason bees do use the nest boxes (so they have a leg up on butterfly houses). However, in one study in California, introduced European earwigs and introduced European leafcutter bee species used the boxes, and in one instance these introduced species were more common in the houses than native bees.

What about plastic nest cavities or using plastic straws?
Nest boxes with plastic‐lined, plastic or paper tubes were worse for bees than houses with simpled bored wood nest holes. The main reason was mold and even increases rates of parasitism. This is not surprising that just drilling out wood holes more naturally mimics a natural hole in wood. Don’t use plastic or straws.

But the big question: Does this help populations on a larger scale, that is does it boost local populations? In reviewing several studies, the answer is unfortunately not really. The results were mixed, in some studies it seemed to help for a while in other studies there did not seem to be an effect. Kind of disappointing.

Despite the less than exciting results, I decided to go ahead and build some and see for myself. If nothing else, they are pretty fun to have in the garden and I am looking forward to checking on them and learning more about mason bees. But really, the thing that I think put me over the edge is I learned that these make great flicker feeders. I figured this out inadvertently since all the descriptions I read about making mason bee houses involved a phrase like “cover with chicken wire to keep birds out”. At first I was puzzled, since I knew no birds could get into the 5/16” diameter hole. But then I figured out what keeping birds out really meant.

This is the second installment of building things for your wildlife garden in 5 minutes (click here for the first- a suet feeder). This bee house is a great project to do with kids or just with the kid inside yourself. This is also a great project to make out of scraps you have on hand already, or a great use for recycled materials commonly found at Home ReSource.

Materials:

1/4” peg board*
4"x4"x 12” or so
1"x6"x18”*
5/16” drill bit
Drill
Saw
Screws
clamps*

*optional

Step one
Cut 4x4 to size, cut the top at an angle to help shed water

Step 2

Use pegboard as a template for holes, align on 4x4, and drill 5/16” holes, about 3" deep (if you are using a 4x4- just don't drill all the way through the wood). The bees really don’t care if the holes are nicely arranged, and really you could skip this step of putting on a template, but I think it looks nicer.

Now, if you want, you are done. But, there is more if you are interested.

Step 3

Install top and back with screws- having the back on this allow for easy mounting on walls or posts. Now, you are done (again). All that is left is to install, and here are some tips:

Place 3-5 feet off the ground
Place east or south-east facing in a place where you can easily observe it
East is best so the little fellas can get all warmed up quickly by the morning sun
Once you install them, don’t move them until the winter
You can place several in various locations in your yard or give to neighbors for their yards
Try to place near a source of mud

Native Plant Sale and Insect Workshop!

2010-06-22T06:40:00.008-06:00

Do you want skippers in your garden (like the one above)? Now is your change to buy their larval host plant- the prairie Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha ) at a fantastic native plant sale and insect workshop hosted by UM and the Montana Natural History Center.

Join a host of local experts to learn about gardening to attract pollinators, making mason bee nesting boxes, identifying common garden insects and learning to separate the harmful insects from the helpful.

The site for this workshop is the Nature Adventure Garden located out at Fort Missoula, which includes a 2-acre demonstration area of native wildflowers, trees and shrubs. It’s a perfect spot for pollinator observation as well as learning how to use native landscaping to attract pollinators!

Date: Thursday, June 24th

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Cost: $5 suggested donation.

Location: Nature Adventure Garden at Fort Missoula
Call 327-0405 for more information.

Teachers: 2 OPI credits available.

A new visitor to the garden

2010-06-14T19:30:00.008-06:00

This morning I found a raccoon in the garden, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.
I consider raccoons a class 3 non-native species; this is according to my own little classification system (European starlings are a class 1, for example). Raccoons are not native to most of Montana, but are now widely spread across the state (this I have personally confirmed with roadkill observations). They are native to a small area in extreme eastern Montana, but they were never really common there. Their range has expanded throughout the state (and in the northern Rockies) in the last 50 years as a result of urban- and suburban-ization. Development, tree planting and food subsidies (garbage, pet food, and intentional feeding) has facilitated their range expansion. Raccoons are native to the US, and they have not been introduced by people (as far as I know), but since they are not native they have the ability to disrupt indigenous plant and animal communities and compete with other native animals.
They are similar in many ways to other non-natives we have in Montana, like Eastern and gray squirrels and house finches. All three of these are native to the US but not native to Montana, and all have been transported and introduced outside their native range by people. Squirrels have become a conservation issue and are really a problem (read more here , for example). On the other hand, house finches, which are native to the south western US but now occur all over the west, are merely a nuisance. I'm not aware of them being a conservation issue (as a little aside, since we stopped feeding sunflower seeds to birds, the house finches are uncommon in our yard).
So, I am not sure what to think of the new visitor. I will do some research and observation, and keep an eye the the little fellow for now.

The ecology of yellow evening primrose in our backyard

2010-06-12T21:51:00.010-06:00

There have been several great blog posts about pollinator plants and pollinator gardening, calling attention to both the good and the bad. (the latter post very articulately describes the problems with pollinator gardens). A while back I wrote about my disdain for the trend that was pollinator gardening. OK, disdain is way too strong, but you get the idea.

In honor of national pollinator week (June 21- 27), Kelly Senser from the National Wildlife Federation compiled favorite pollinator plants from gardeners from across the country (click here for the story). In this, I wrote about one of my favorite plants in our garden, the yellow evening primrose, (Oenethera flava). Tonight my wife and I watched as one of our yellow evening primroses opened- click here for a video of it happening (the action really picks up at 55 seconds).

Though the flower is gorgeous, large and showy, the real reason I like it so much is it offers a wonderful microcosm of wildlife gardening. In short, the primrose is moth pollinated, because it flowers at night. That is pretty cool in an of itself, and probably not that typical in the run of the mill pollinator garden. However, the neat thing is this is the host plant for a moth that does not feed on its nectar, since it is a daytime flyer: the five- line Sphinx moth, also known as a hummingbird moth. And where this whole story gets more interesting, and typifies the intricate plant/ insect relation ship is that even though the eggs and larvae are tied to the primrose, it needs something else to complete its life cycle- soft duff or sawdust.

In our yard it finds fresh, loose sawdust at the base of our aspen (Populus tremuloides)trees. The reason for this accumulation of saw dust is that the trees are invaded by the larvae of a long horned beetle- the aspen borer (Saperda calcarata). As the larvae tunnel through the aspen they force out sawdust that collects around the base. Also, as a defence, the aspen pushes sap out these wounds. The sap is a critical food source in the early spring for many species of butterflies that overwinter as adults like the mourning cloak or Lourquin's admiral (shown below feeding ion the sap of an aspen).

So, from this one example you can see how interesting and intimate the association of plants and pollinators are. Furthermore, you can also tell how unrelated some of these plants and animals are. Provide native species, and diverse assemblages and you will be rewarded with much more productive "pollinator" gardens than if you tried to plant a garden for pollinators.

Nesting, nestling and fledging update

2010-06-04T05:39:00.013-06:00

There is a lot going on with nesting birds in our garden. We have northern flickers, black-capped chickadee, and red-breastered nuthatches in various stages of nesting and fledging in nest boxes in our small backyard. Here is a breif run down on the actvity....

Black- capped chickadees

The chickadees should fledge any time now- they are ready to go but have probably been delayed by this rain. By the way, thank goodness for the rain!

If you haven't done so already check out the inside of the nest box with our streaming nest camera. But you'd better hurry because they are about to fledge. Click here to go inside the nest box.

At the beginning of this posts is a short video my wife took of the outside of the box and one of the adults feeding the young. For those that only know the chickadees from the inside of the nest box, this view might be interesting.

One thing I am really excited about is that we will be able to capture the mysterious second clutch this year on camera. every year, the chickadees have a second clutch, even after a typically very fruitful first clutch. The second clutch is usually smaller, and takes less time to fledge. It has aways appeared that the young from the first clutch help in raising (or at least with the feeding), the second clutch. Hopefully, though we'll be able to learn a little more of what is going on. It is not really common that chickadees have two clutches, so I am excited to learn more.

Red-breasted nuthatches

These little fellas have been a bit overlooked this year, I am sad to say. Not that they care, but theirs is the only box in which we did not install a nest cam. As a result, we have been so focused on the chickadees and the flicker business, that these little guys have been almost ignored (not really, but relatively). Anyway, they should be fledging any day now, too, but without all the fanfare. One interesting thing to note with these nuthatches, is that there are nuthatches nesting in the nest box I installed at the 8th Street Pocket Park, which is just a block away. Every so often these two nuthatch factions defend their little territories, which is kind of neat.

Northern flickers

Wow, they have had an eventful spring. Here is a little story of their spring...

They excavated out nest box
They also excavated a cavity in a silver maple in front of my neighbors house
They laid eggs in the cavity in the maple
European starlings evicted them from their nest
The starlings are nesting in the tree
The flickers left the area
Last weekend the flickers returned to the nest box, and as of yesterday (June 3)have laid at least 2 eggs (in the photo below- kind of poor qualiy but it is a video capture).

I hope they can raise a clutch- it is getting late for them.

Once the chickadees fledge we will switch to the flickercam for nest box viewing. Exciting.

Native Plant Landscaping talk wrap-up

2010-05-28T04:23:00.018-06:00

Thanks to Liz Lodman and Barb Furlong of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW) program for hosting last week's native plant gardening workshop. BOW is a wonderful program, and if you haven't taken a class you should. And if you have, let FWP know how much you liked it. Anyway, thanks to both for organizing such a wonderful Native Plant Gardening Workshop. It was a fantastic turnout.

Many of you had garden design questions and specific plant questions. I did not mention it at the talk, but my wife and I have a garden coaching and consultation business, Butterfly Properties, LLC, specializing in sustainable garden design- native plant landscapes and gardens for wildlife,

Click here to download the list of easy to grow versatile and diverse native plants.

And here is a link to download my list of deer resistant native plants.

Here are some past blog posts that might be helpful:

How to remove your lawn
Important plants for hummingbirds
Growing a bird garden- a link to download the Montana Outdoors article
How to build a brush pile
Native plants are better than exotics for attracting insects and birds: homeowners are integral to conservation
Chickadee nest cam (better check soon, they will probably fledge around June 3)

Below are some of the books and references I talked about in the class:

The Magic of Montana Native Plants: A Gardeners Guide to Growing over 150 Species from Seed- Sheila Morrison
Bringing Nature Home- Douglas Tallamy
Shrink Your Lawn- Evelyn Hadden
Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards- Sara Stein
Paradise by Design, Native Plants and the New American Landscape- Kathryn Phillips
The Forgotten Pollinators- Buchmann, Nabhan, and Mirocha
Landscaping Ideas of Jays- Judith Larner Lowry
Gardening with a Wild Heart -Judith Larner Lowry

Thanks again, and I hope you all enjoyed the workshop.

The flickers are not nesting in the garden...

2010-05-09T06:55:00.000-06:00

The flickers are not nesting in the garden...and I couldn't be happier. A puzzling statement to be sure, so let me explain...

We began about 10 years ago with nest box for northern flickers. These common, primary cavity nesters are facing many problems from loss of nesting habitat to pressures from invasive species (see here). In order to address the first issue we set up a nest box. This was very successful and effective, and based on how quickly they found the box and occupied it, it is obvious they are looking for, and are limited by, places to nest.

In front of my neighbor's house are decadent silver maples (see above), that you'd think would offer great nesting habitat for flickers, and they do, but unfortunately the cavities get occupied by squirrels instead, and have been for the 10 years we've lived beside them.

But it appears that this year the flickers will finally be nesting in one of these decadent trees and I couldn't be happier.

They did excavate our nest box (see photo at the top of the post), and I thought they were going to nest in it. But at the same time, they also excavated a cavity about 30' up one of the silver maples (photo above, arrow acknowledgement: Bike Garden), perhaps our nest box was a back-up for what inevitably happened when flickers tried to nest in the maples- squirrels would occupy the cavity. But maybe not this year.

Unfortunately wildlife gardening in an urban- or sub-urban setting is not just about planting the right plants and putting up nest boxes, unfortunately it is really about introduced pest management. The primary exotic pests here are starlings, house sparrow and squirrels. Controlling pests is not the most glamorous part of having a wildlife garden, but it is perhaps the most important.

In order to combat these invasive species, we have done several things- making the garden less hospitable for them is the first step , but then there is also control, or killing (click here for more information). As far as making the garden less hospitable, that starts with feeders and nest boxes (click here for information about lessening bird feeders), and native plant landscaping (see virtually any post on my blog for this thought!). Both feeders and nest boxes need to be designed for native birds, so no perches, only food they eat, and really very few feeders, and only seasonal ones (click here and here for more information).

Since we stopped feeding with sunflower seeds, we have seen the number of pests decline dramatically in the garden - including US native, but not Montana native, house finches, which essentially disappeared from the yard. In the summer, spring and fall, there is so much natural food, much of which we have planted, feeding is not important and mainly attracts unwanted, or invasive birds and animals, and it also causes unnatural high congregations of birds, that make them susceptible to other pests, like cats (click here for my thoughts on this).

Secondly we only use nest boxes that are appropriate for native species that we are likely to attract, not bluebird boxes for example (read more here).

Third there is control or killing squirrels. In our garden we have a trap set up, and any squirrel I trap, I kill. This started several years ago, and I went from over 200 squirrels/ year down to fewer than 20 last year and this year will be even fewer. As a result, we have seen birds use the garden much more often and differently than when squirrels patrolled the grounds. And most importantly, birds like northern flickers might just nest in natural places now. Like I said, this is the first year that I am thrilled the flickers will not nest in our garden- perhaps the greatest accomplishment in our wildlife garden so far.

Native plant garden workshop wrap-up and plant sale announcement

2010-05-06T10:41:00.012-06:00

Thanks to the Montana Natural History Center for hosting the native plant gardening workshop- I hope everyone was inspired to start gardening.
Here are links to blog posts of mine that we discussed:

Deer resistant plants- with a link to a list
How to remove a lawn- step by step instructions
How to make an urbanite path- step by step instructions
Squirrel control
Birdhouse basics- lots of information
Chickadee cam!- new to the blog, watch live, streaming video of a chickadee nest in our garden (Warning: this is totally addictive)

You can search for any topic on the blog- make yourself at home on the blog and let me know if you have any questions.

Also, here is some exciting news: Native Plant Sale!

Fort Missoula Native Plant Garden's Annual Spring Spruce-up and Native Plant Sale!

Thursday May 13, 5:00-8:00 pm

Enjoy some refreshments and meet some good people
Learn about gardening for wildlife and sustainability while helping get the Teaching Gardens ready for summer programs
Bargain-priced native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs for sale; all proceeds directly benefit local restoration and education programs.
If you feel like volunteering we’ll be pulling some weeds and spreading mulch. Guided and self tours of the garden available.

Directions: Enter Fort Missoula via Old Fort Road and drive past Community Hospital.At the stop sign, go STRAIGHT.The road will make a T on Officer’s Row. Turn LEFT.Continue till the pavement ends. The garden is in front and to the left on the gravel drive-you'll see our white classroom.

RSVP to Leah Grunzke if you plan on attending or need more info. Hope to see you there!

Nesting and Nest Box Camera Update

2010-05-02T14:43:00.012-06:00

This was an exciting weekend for the nest box cameras. All three of our nest boxes have birds- northern flickers, black-capped chickadees, and red-breasted nuthatches. New this year, the flicker and chickadee boxes have nest cameras, including streaming the chickadee nest cam! The flicker cam will be streaming next. Here is the link to the streaming video of the chickadee box, though not much is going on during the day, but in the evenings and mornings a lot happens.

I installed the cameras and then packed the boxes with sawdust (click here for a description). This weekend, now that the boxes had been excavated, my wife and I focused the lenses and adjusted the camera angles, though based on the quality of the chickadee camera's video, we might need to do some more lens adjustments.

The photo above shows the chickadee nest box, camera, and the freshly excavated cavity filled with moss and squirrel fur. Based on the female's nest construction (see the video below), it looks like she will be laying eggs soon, then the real excitement begins.

Here is link a short video taken this evening of the female burrowing in to the nesting material to carefully create a pocket for the eggs.