Native bee nesting update

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

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.

8th Street Pocket Park update and volunteer night

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.