Category Archives: Wildlife in the Garden

Backyard Birds: Brown Creeper

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Brown Creeper:  This tiny woodland bird eats mostly insects, but in winter at a backyard feeder they will eat suet, peanut butter, and occasionally sunflower seeds and corn. During the breeding season, Brown Creepers eat a long list of insects and their larvae. This includes stinkbugs, fruit flies, gnats, beetles, weevils, bark beetle, butterflies, moths, lacewings, caddisflies, scale insects, leafhoppers, katydids, flat-bugs, plant lice, ants, and sawflies along with spiders, spider eggs. Brown creepers are found throughout Oregon in forested areas. They use large conifer forests for foraging and breeding, but they need dead trees for nesting, because they build a hammock-like nest behind a flap of dead bark.

 

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

Backyard Birds at the Feeder

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Dark-eyed Junco is a common bird found in Oregon at bird feeders. Juncos are primarily seed-eaters, with seeds making up 75% of their year-round diet. At feeders they eat millet, hulled sunflower seeds, nyjar seeds and cracked corn. During the breeding season, Juncos also eat beetles, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, ants, wasps, and flies. Their habitat includes conifer and pine forests, deciduous forests of aspen, cottonwood, oak, maple, and hickory and during the winter they can be seen in open woodlands, in fields, along roadsides, and in parks and gardens.

Photo by: DKRKaynor, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Providing water for birds in winter

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From the National Wildlife Federation  https://blog.nwf.org/2014/12/dont-forget-water-for-birds-in-winter/

Here are some tips for easily—and safely—providing water for wildlife during the cold months:

Dark Eyed Junco
  1. Before the cold sets in, replace delicate solar or fountain birdbaths with sturdier, winter-ready water features. Because ice can cause cracks and leaks, concrete baths should be stored or covered in winter.
  2. Place baths in a sunny area to make them more visible to birds and to help keep the water liquid.
  3. While birds are unlikely to submerge themselves in very cold weather, you can help them stay dry and drink more easily by adding several stones to the bath or placing a few sticks on top that the animals can use as perches.
  4. Even during winter, birdbaths (as well as feeders) should be cleaned regularly.
  5. To keep water from freezing, consider adding an immersion-style water heater. More recent models will turn off if the water in the bath dries up.
  6. If using a heater, add a ground-fault interrupted circuit (available at hardware stores) to prevent electric shorts. Check that cords and outlets are sheltered from snow or ice buildup.
  7. As a homemade alternative to a heater, place a light bulb in a flower pot and put a small water basin on top of the pot.
  8. A simpler option—particularly if you have no outdoor electric outlet—is to buy several heavy-duty plant saucers that will not be cracked by ice and replace frozen baths with fresh ones each morning.
  9. Avoid adding glycerin to a birdbath as antifreeze; if birds ingest too much, it can dangerously elevate their blood-sugar levels. Glycerin solutions also may mat birds feathers, decreasing insulation at a time when the animals need it most.

Posted by: Carlotta Lucas,

Photo by: Jocelyn Anderson, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Squash Bees are in Oregon!

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Few insects can digest the pollen of squash plants. But where squash plants go, squash bees have followed. Now, they’ve made it from Mexico and the Inter-mountains West all the way to Oregon. Learn about the journey of these special bees and their kinship to this family of plants.

Oregon State University https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/pollinators/great-oregon-squash-bee-hunt

Journey of the Squash Bee:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQVNl0C-H0

Rogue Valley’s Bee Girl Website: https://www.beegirl.org/blog/squashbee

Squash Bee Peponapis pruinosa ~ Photo USDA ARS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Winter Interest: Crabapples Part II

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Crabapple cultivars are versatile; they are available in various sizes, flower colors, fruit colors and fruit sizes.  Flower colors vary from white, light pink, deep pink and magenta, these blossoms are showy, often fragrant, and they attract pollinators. Crabapple fruit differ in sizes from ¼-inch to 1 ½-inch, and ripening times range from July through November. For fruit colors you can chose a tree that produces bright red, deep red, maroon, rose red, pink, deep pink, rose pink, golden orange or yellow-green fruit.  Crabapple apples provide an abundant food source for birds during the winter, and they provide winter interest in your landscape. Look for trees labeled with “persistent” fruit, meaning fruits stay on the tree extending garden interest and food for birds.

Crabapples are hardy in Zones 4-8.
Sun Exposure:  Full Sun 6+ hours, Part Sun 4-6 hours, Full Shade up to 4 hours. Select disease resistance varieties best for your growing area. Selecting disease resistance varieties should be a 1st priority for successful growing.

Semi-dwarf Crabapples (15ft-18 ft High)

Sugar Tyme

Sugar Tyme Crabapple:  18ft H x 15ft W; Upright spreading oval form. Foliage: Green.  Flowers: Pale Pink buds, Fragrant Single White Flowers. Fruits: Red, ½-inch, Persistent. Disease resistant ratings-Excellent: Mildew & Cedar Apple Rust. Good: Fire Blight & Scab.

 

Red Jewel

Red Jewel Crabapple: 15 ft H x 12 ft W; Tree is upright pyramidal form. Foliage: Green. Flower: Pure White, Single Flowers. Fruit: Brilliant Red, ½-inch, Very Persistent, in mild winters fruits often hold on until new buds appear.  Disease resistant ratings – Excellent: Mildew & Cedar Apple Rust. Good: Scab. Fair: Fire Blight.

Indian Magic

Indian Magic Crabapple: 15 ft H x 15 ft W; upright spreading branches. Foliage is dark green. Flowers: Deep pink 1 ½ inch singles. Fruit: Orange Red, ½-inch, Persistent. Disease resistant ratings- Excellent: Mildew. Good: Cedar Apple Rust & Fire Blight. Fair: Scab

 

Coral Burst

Coralburst Crabapple:  15ft H x15 ft W; slow growing tree forming a compact dense rounded head. Foliage: Dark Green. Flowers: Coral Pink buds, Double Rose Flowers.  Fruit: Yellow-green, 1/8-1/2- inch. Disease resistant ratings- Excellent: Mildew, Cedar Apple Rust & Fire Blight. Fair: Scab.

Standard Size (20 feet or higher)

Royal Raindrops

Royal Raindrops Crabapple:  20 ft H x 15 W; upright and spreading with good branching habit, deeply lobed leaves. Foliage: Purple, Cut-leaf lob, turning orange/red in the fall.  Fruit: Bright Pinkish-Red, 1/4-inch, Persistent.  Disease resistant ratings-Excellent: Scab & Cedar Apple Rust. Good: Mildew & Fire Blight.

Donald Wyman

Donald Wyman: 20 ft h x 24 ft W; Tall and wide rounded shape. Foliage: Glossy Green. Flowers: Single, White. Fruit: Bright Red, 3/8-inch, Abundant, Highly Persistent.   Disease resistant ratings-Excellent: Mildew & Cedar Apple Rust. Good: Scab. Fair: Fire Blight.

Note: Where fire blight is a concern, avoid spring pruning (when bacterium can enter fresh open cuts).

Article by: Carlotta Lucas

Resource: Forest Farms, Williams Oregon https://www.forestfarm.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=crabapple&cat=&order=genus_species_cultivar&dir=asc

Resource: J. Frank Schmidt & Son, Growers, Boring Oregon

Chart: https://www.jfschmidt.com/pdfs/JFS_CRAB_CHART.pdf

Crabapples Add Winter Interest

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Crabapples are an excellent choice for creating winter interest in a landscape and their small fruits are a desirable food source for birds. Crabapples have a reputation of being messy, but if you purchase trees with “persistent” fruit, then the fruits stays on the tree longer, making less of a mess on the ground and leaving more fruit on the tree for birds. Persistent fruits also provide longer winter interest with red, pink, orange or yellow fruits hanging on trees.

Crabapple blossoms come in white, light pink, deep pink and rose-colored, which attracts butterflies and bees in the spring.  Some varieties have fragrant flowers and some have purple foliage.  Crabapples come in various sizes to accommodate small, medium or large yards.  In this first posting I am listing three dwarf varieties for small spaces and ones with excellent to good disease resistance; there are many more. (*chart)

Hardiness Zones 4-8.  Sun Exposure:  Full Sun 6+ hours, Part Sun 4-6 hours, Full Shade up to 4 hours.  Note: Where fire blight is a concern, avoid spring pruning (when bacterium can enter fresh open cuts).

Dwarf Crabapples

Lollipop Crabapple:  10 ft H x 10 ft W; Neat formal compact dwarf tree with rounded head, fine texture with small leaves and dense growth habit and symmetrical form. Foliage: Green. Flowers: White with yellow stamens. Fruit: Bright red, 3/8-inch. Disease resistant ratings- Excellent: Mildew & Cedar Apple Rust. Good: Fire Blight & Scab.

Sargent Crabapple: 8 ft H x12ft W; Natural forming dwarf tree with horizontal spreading branches. Foliage: Dark Green. Flowers: Profuse ½-inch white fragrant flowers. Fruit: 1/4-inch Bright Red, Profuse, Persistent. Disease resistant ratings- Excellent: Mildew, Cedar Apple Rust, Fire Blight & Scab.

Pink Princess Crabapple: 8 ft h x 12 ft W; Natural dwarf tree with low spreading branches. Foliage: Purple turning to Bronze-Green. Flowers: Rose Pink. Fruit: Deep Red, ¼ -inch. Disease resistant ratings-Excellent: Cedar Apple Rust, Mildew, Fire Blight & Scab.

Article by: Carlotta Lucas, AGC Member

*Chart by: J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co https://www.jfschmidt.com/pdfs/JFS_CRAB_CHART.pdf