Category Archives: Wildlife in the Garden

Horticulture Report: Arctostaphylos nevadensis

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Oregon Native & Firewise
Plant Name:  Arctostaphylos nevadensis       

                Pinemat Manzanita

Common name: Pinemat Manzanita
Plant type: Evergreen Shrub
Height: 1’ – 2’
Spread:   3’ – 5’
Bloom Time:  Spring, Summer, Winter
Flower Color: White
Exposure: Partial Shade
Soil Requirements: Acidic Soil; Fast Draining
Water Needs: Low; Don’t Irrigate Once Established

Attributes:  Supports Bees, Birds, Butterflies, Caterpillars, Hummingbirds; Pollen & Nectar for Native Bees; Nectar for Hummingbirds
Note:  Not easily established at low elevations
Uses:  Soil Stabilization; Ground Cover; Lawn Alternative; Rock Garden    

Arctostaphylos nevadensis

Firewise:  YES
Native to: Western North America
Oregon Native: YES
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5b – 9a

Report by: Viki Ashford, AGC Member

Photos from Oregon State University https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/arctostaphylos-nevadensis

Observing Fall Migratory Birds and Garden Delights

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Fall migratory birds are starting to show up in my garden. I saw this Black headed grosbeaks at the feeder today. Rufous hummingbirds are competing with Anna’s in the garden. Rufous Hummingbirds travel from breeding grounds in Alaska and Canada to wintering sites in Mexico. All critters seems to be enjoying a bit of cool air, And finally the vegetable garden seems to be relaxing from the intense heat and starting to produce. I had a lot of male flowers on the cucumber plants, and finally I am getting some female flowers and some cucumbers.
Goly Ostovar, AGC Member

Backyard Birds; Black-capped Chickadee

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Black-capped Chickadees:   Black-capped chickadees are found in deciduous and mixed deciduous-evergreen forests, especially near forest edges. They are commonly found near willows and cottonwoods.  And, they prefer nesting in alder snags and birch trees. Their diet varies by season, in the summer they eat mostly caterpillars, insects, some spiders, snails, and other invertebrates. In the winter their diet consists of insect eggs and pupae, seeds, small fruits and berries. At feeders they take mostly sunflower seeds that they stuff into bark crevices, but they will also eat peanuts, peanut butter, mealworms and suet.

Photo by: No machine-readable author provided. Mdf assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Backyard Birds: Red-breasted Nuthatch

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Red-breasted Nuthatch:  Red-breasted Nuthatches are tiny colorful song birds. At the bird feeder they like to eat peanuts, sunflower seeds, nyjar seeds and suet.  During the summer, they eat mainly insects, beetles, caterpillars, spiders, ants, and earwigs. Red-breasted Nuthatches breed and winter throughout Oregon. They live in conifer and mixed hardwood forest and in winter they can be found in woodland areas from the valley floors to the mountains.

Photo by Kathy Munsel, Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife

Backyard Birds: American Goldfinch

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American Goldfinch: The American Goldfinches are songbirds found throughout the United States in riparian areas, woodlands, orchards, weedy fields, agricultural lands, gardens and parks. The males’ bright yellow and black plumage makes them very recognized at the bird feeder. Females are brownish yellow with brownish black wings with white streaks; both are identifiable by their short conical bills and short notched tail. They are year-round residents west of the Cascades in the interior valleys. In the wild they eat sunflower seeds, thistle, asters, grasses, and tree seeds of alder, birch, western red cedar and elm. At the feeder they prefer sunflower seeds and nyjer thistle seeds.

Photo by  Mdf, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

Backyard Birds: Lesser Goldfinch

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Lesser Goldfinch: Lesser Goldfinches are in great abundance in the Rogue Valley where they are year-around residents. Lesser Goldfinches forage on grains and seeds so they are often seen in weedy fields, steam side trees, bushy thickets by open fields and in the treetops by open areas. Their habitat is lower valleys to high in the mountains. They are very common in the suburbs during the winter when they migrate to lower elevations for food. Lesser Goldfinches are regular visitors to backyard feeders where they eat black oil sunflowers seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, nyjar thistle seeds and suet.

Lesser Goldfinch, male

Photo by Richard Griffin, Flickr