My EcoBirder Life
NATIVE PLANTS
How to Winter Sow Native Seeds
You can use all sorts of different containers for winter sowing. Many people use plastic milk jugs, but I find it infinitely easier to use clear plastic containers, such as this one that had lettuce in it from the grocery store. Any container over 2 inches high with a snap lid will work.
Use a knife to poke and twist drainage holes in the lid. I do them about every 2 inches. Twist the knife so you have holes, not slits.
For the bottom of the container I do a slit in each corner.
Use a good organic soil mix for winter sowing. I also mix in coco fibers. You can use seed-starting mix, but only if you are sure you will get to the transplanting promptly. I tend to leave plants in these containers long after they could be transplanted, so I don't use it.
Fill the container almost to the top. You want to develop good strong roots. Gently pat it down with the back of your trowel. No need to squash it down. It will settle on its own once you put the container outside.
Those Cardinal Flower seeds really came out fast! But, no worries, since you don't really have to plant each individual plant when you've winter sowed. You can just break off sections of plants in little squares to transplant to your garden. Follow the seed packet directions as far as depth.
The seeds have been patted down to get good contact, the lid is closed, and we're ready to take this container outside.
Here's a look at my sowing table, which is on the east side of my house. Here you can see some of the other containers I use for sowing--mushroom tubs in a zip bag and grocery store fried chicken containers. In the upper left, you can see Tennessee Coneflowers and Swamp Milkweed flats that I wintersowed last year and never put out in the garden. Because I use a good soil mix, they are fine and will be ready to plant whenever I am.
Seedling Gallery
Host plant for Giant Swallowtail butterfly
The true source of everyone's allergies, blooms the same time as Goldenrod, which people often blame instead.
Cultivated as a garden plant, the species is also quite lovely. Notice the green flowerhead just beginning to form. Host plant for Sootywing Skippers.
Note the second plant to the left with its very thin, pointy leaves. Host plant for Azure butterflies.
Pretty blue flowers. Non native, however. Same habit and growing needs as Butterfly Bush.
Identify the plants growing in your garden and find out if they benefit wildlife
My Story--A Journey Back to Nature
When my family and I moved to this house 20 years ago, I think I was a pretty typical housewife and mother. I liked pretty flowers, especially roses; I wanted a nice lawn and some shade trees, and I certainly didn't want bugs ruining that! I shopped for plants at the local stores, and just bought whatever I thought was pretty; it never occured to me to wonder where the plant came from, or if it had any benefit to nature.
I don't think I knew what a Host Plant was; it never occured to me to wonder how butterflies came to be, I just enjoyed them whenever I saw one.
I started to get into birds at some point. I remember seeing Bluebirds and Indigo Buntings and Killdeer when I was out delivering newspapers at dawn, which I did for a number of years. I had Cardinals and Blue Jays and Robins at home, and when I decided to "do something for the birds," my only thought was to put up bird feeders and a Bluebird house; the former attracted mostly grackles as I recall, the latter was never visited at all. If I hadn't already had a little plot of woods near my house, I doubt I would have ever made the connection between planting natives to feed the birds and provide nesting and cover for them.
Fortunately for me, and them, the little woods contained a few very important native plants. Wild Black Cherry trees, wild grape, poison ivy, and a Mulberry tree. Just those four plants alone provide an amazing amount of food for birds in the summer, and they attract so many birds beyond the yard birds we all know and love. I already had a large Eastern Hemlock tree and a native Red Maple (I'm undecided as to whether it's a Drummond's or a Carolina), and once I really started to observe the birds, I saw just how much real food these plants provided for them. Beyond the obvious berry fruits, these native plants seemed to be covered with insects that the birds would spend hours gleaning from the branches. When I learned that my neighbor's tree was a Tulip Poplar, and learned that it was where the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails laid their eggs, I think that may well have been the real beginning of my journey back to nature.
No matter where you are in your journey, I hope you can find information of interest here, and I especially hope you find the joy that nature can bring to your life. Our children especially need this...to care about those creatures who are so small and fleeting in our lives, to protect those who have no voice, to nurture and embrace the wonder of the world around us.
No matter where you are in your journey back to nature, I hope you can find information of interest here, and I especially hope you find the joy that nature can bring to your life.
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Our children especially need this... to care about those creatures who are so small and fleeting in our lives, to protect those who have no voice, to nurture and embrace the wonder of the world around us.
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Native Plants in my Habitat
Sassafras
Host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly
Sassafras albidum
It's only May as I'm writing this, but I'm proclaiming this the Plant of the Year--no, the Plant of the Decade, because that's how long I've been waiting for the birds to bring me a Sassafras seedling so I can raise Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies. If you're familiar with this small tree, you know it spreads by runners into thickets, which are impossible to transplant until they are too large to even dig up. There is a thicket about a half mile from me, so I knew it was only a matter of time until a bird brought a seed to my habitat, and finally, finally, my wish has come true. I found it growing right next to the Carolina Maple, so I carefully dug it up to move to a better spot. Spicebush Swallowtails have such adorable caterpillars, and I can't wait until the seedling is large enough to support them. Since I waited over a decade to get the plant...I think a couple more years waiting for it to grow up will be a piece of cake!
The birds brought this Sassafras seedling to the habitat.
Woodson Swamp Milkweed, host plant for Monarch butter-flies.
Woodson Swamp Milkweed
​Asclepias incarnata​ ssp. pulchra
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My, and I dare say, the Monarchs' favorite milkweed here in the habitat. A subspecies of Swamp Milkweed, with larger, brighter-colored leaves that are not as strap-like as regular Swamp MW. The Monarch caterpillars love it because the leaves are more tender. Also flowers a bit later than regular Swamp MW, and seems to be utterly loaded with pollen. All the pollinators adore it, when the male Monarchs allow anyone to nectar, that is! Last year I discovered that American Goldfinches feed milkweed aphids to their nestlings, and later, when the aphids have dried up into hard dots, the plants attracted both Ruby and Golden Crowned Kinglets, as well as feeding Chickadees and every other yard bird.
Cedar Waxwing with wild black cherries in a funny place. :o)
Wild Black Cherry
Host plant for Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Red Spotted Purples, and Cecropia Moth.
​Prunus serotina
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One of the best native trees to plant for songbirds, butterflies, moths, and bees. The long flower racemes in late spring are especially attractive to Red Admiral butterflies. During irruptive years, I've had more Red Admirals than I can count on my trees. If you notice other, tiny, butterflies around your tree, it's probably the Coral Hairstreak, which uses it as a host plant, along with many moth species.
Cedar Waxwing with wild black cherries in a funny place. :o)
I love the texture of these Arrowwood Viburnum leaves.
Arrowwood Viburnum
Host plant for Spring Azure butterfly and Hummingbird Clearwing Moth
​Viburnum Dentatum
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If you love Hummingbird Clearwing Moths (and who wouldn't??), this host plant for them is a must-have shrub that also benefits butterflies and bees as well as providing berries for the birds to eat. The white flower clusters that appear in early summer can be as much as 4 inches across, each comprised of dozens of tiny white flowers, and will be covered with both native bees and bumblebees. This viburnum is perfect for making thickets. I am a huge fan of this type of native flowering shrub--the flowers are not necessarily "showy" in and of themselves, but the overall effect is lovely, and the bees really appreciate these small flower clusters. The texture of the leaves is another plus, just gorgeous.