Tag Archives: Birds in your garden

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

Oregon Native: Helianthus annnuus

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Plant Name: Helianthus annnuus
Common name: Common Sunflower
Plant Type:  Annual
Plant Height:  1.5’ – 8’
Spread:  1.5’ – 3’
Bloom Time: July – October
Flower Color:  Yellow with Bicolor Rays & Brown to Purple Center Disk.
Exposure:  Sun
Soil Requirements:  Average Moist, Well-Drained; Tolerates Poor Soil.
Water Needs:  Medium
Attributes: Birds seek seeds; Deer & Drought Tolerant; Nectar Plant for some Insects.
Note:  Spread rapidly by seed; Extensive crossing & hybridizing results in large number of cultivars; rust, leaf fungal spot, & powdery mildew can be a problem.
Uses: Back Borders, Cottage Gardens; Bird Gardens; Wildflower & Native Plant Gardens.
Native to:  Manitoba to Minnesota to Texas & westward.
Oregon Native:  YES
USDA Hardiness Zone:  2 – 11

Report by: Viki Ashford

Photo by: Carlotta Lucas

Attracting Pollinators: Part 3

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Food:  A pollinator garden, with carefully chosen plants, will provide pollen and nectar for pollinators, but you can also supplement with special feeders for birds, hummingbirds, and even butterflies with Butterfly Feeders.

Water:  Birds, bees, butterflies, all living creatures need water!

 Make a Butterflies mud puddle!
For butterflies:  Butterflies are attracted to water along the edge of rivers and creeks, which provides them with salt and nutrients. You can create a “mud puddle” watering station for them. Use a shallow dish such as a plastic or terracotta plant saucer in a sunny area of your garden that is protected from the wind. Fill the bottom of the pan with sand, gravel, and a few small stones, add water to the dampen sand.

Bees: Bees drink water, but they also gather up to a gallon of water a day in hot weather to create “air conditioning” to cool the hive. Bees can drown while gathering water, so it’s important to provide them an escape; this can be done by adding pebbles, rocks, wood, or other types of “bee rafts” into a dish of water, birdbath or bucket of water. Bee rafts can be anything that floats like wine corks, small pieces of wood even packing peanuts.

Birds: provide a bird bath, a dish of water, install a water garden or a fountain.

Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas

Birds in the Garden

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The following is a summary of Wild Birds Unlimited owner, Laura Fleming’s, talk on “Birds in the Garden”

There are 4 key elements to attracting birds to your yard.

    1. Water   2. Shelter   3. Nesting Spaces   4. Food

      Photo from Wild Birds Unlimited – Nature shop

Water: it’s VERY crucial to birds, so providing a birdbath with fresh water, or a saucer of water on the ground is very beneficial in attracting birds to your yard.

Shelter & Nesting Spaces: Different types of birds need different types of habitat, so planting a variety of plans in your gardens encourages birds of all kinds to visit your garden. By planting a mixture of deciduous and conifer large trees, small trees and shrubs in your yard provides natural shelters and nest building areas. Birds are attracted to edges where they can escape, so a plant hedgerow and/or a variety of small & large shrubs & trees on the perimeter of your yard.

Read here: Plants for Birds

Food: Many kinds of flowers and grasses provide food and also nesting building materials.  Some natural food sources in your yard should be: Seed-producing flowers, berry-laden shrubs, a healthy insect population living in leaf litter and fruit trees.  Be a messy gardener; leave leaf litter and dead trees (snags) in your yard to enhance your bird habitat.  Supplement food sources with bird feeders. Different birds like different foods so supply a variety of foods in many feeders throughout your yard; hanging at a different heights.

* Read here: Seed Preference Guide

Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas