Habitat Gardening

My native plant gardening has morphed slightly into habitat building.

My initial attraction to native plant gardening was the lack of continued work needed. In theory you plant something according to its needs and you're done. Almost all native plants are perennials so they only get stronger. After that I liked the idea of using local products, local retailers for those products and I liked having plants that were different than what you buy at your regular garden store. A lesser point of interest was that by planting the right mix of items you will build a naturalistic, native habitat in your yard. But what does that mean? It means animals! You add sun-loving wildflowers to get bees, butterflies, moths and hummingbirds. You add shrubby plants to provide shelter for small birds, mammals & reptiles. You add water elements (rain garden) with appropriate plants because everything needs water. You add fruit bearing shrubs and trees so the animals have something to harvest in the colder seasons.

Granted, gardening brings its own beauty with the flowers and foliage and shaded areas and benefits but to think that you are giving sustenance and shelter to creatures who used to have an abundance, right where you live, is an amazing concept and a wonderful benefit of good natural landscaping. Its also a teaching tool; as a new parent I can see that having this type garden I can show Julia the cycle of life and death, the efficiency of nature, and the harmony within nature. Shoot, I can even teach her colors, shapes, numbers and Latin...pretty much the only Latin I know is related to the plants I've been buying.

I have been intrigued and excited about this habitat stuff recently b/c I have seen some cardinals in abundance (or maybe I am seeing the same two over and over) in my yard. There is something between my house and backyard that they seem to love, I see them perched or flying through the same spot every day. I don't remember seeing them this often in years past. Of course, there are rabbits and snakes and squirrels (who have been planting black walnuts all over my yard) too, who are all showing up with minimal help from me.

My goal is to bring more animals by way of proper habitat building gardening. My front yard gets sun all day which means its great for bee attracting plants and flowers. I started with a little square where I planted rose verbenas, penstemon digitalis and butterfly weed (2 each) last summer. This year they have all exploded. The verbenas have spread more than I imagined, the penstemons are taller than I imagined and the butterfly weeds are bolder in color than I remembered. My goal is to have those flowers repeating throughout my wildflower garden with the addition of some herbs, other wildflowers, shrubs and grasses mixed in. I don't know how I am actually going to put it all together but the ideas are coming. I also anticipate adding some more trees and a rain garden. I don't want it to be too overgrown with plants but I want to replace as a lot of the sod.

The west side is almost all shade and would be a great starting point for the rain garden. There is a strip near the garage that someone suggested as an edible garden (blueberries, serviceberries, etc). The back yard is for Johnders and will remain the same (grass, natural groundcover like wild ginger and common strawberry) but I also will let trees that sprout grow as 2 or 3 already have. Lastly, there is the fence line, a space about 15' wide that runs then entire north/south length of the yard. The grassy portion has underground cables so I have to be careful what I plant. This is not my property even though I, like my Dad before me, keep it mowed. If I can plant the right things I can block the view of my neighbors unhappy yard and house as well as eliminate the need to mow.

As all gardens it is a work in progress but I am excited about the potential.

Obsession

We have had a crapload of rain since winter and the plants are loving in. Late last spring I plants some new plants (alumroot, ninebark, and eco-lacquered spider) and they struggled through the summer drought and didn't impress during fall but this spring they are going nuts, especially the goldenstar/eco-lacquered spider. I bought four or five and one didn't make it through the summer at all, another struggled and is still a drawf but it is green and healthy. The other 2 or 3 are spreading like mad and yesterday their gold flowers started to pop. These things have, at least double, if not tripled in size. They are creepers, or as some website called them, leapers. They spread out and some of the new feelers root down and so on. Its fun to watch. Last weekend I weeded and put down some mulch which makes them pop that much more.

Near them I have some alumroots (one green and 2 purple). The green one is in front and it has exploded in size. Some of its leaves are the size of my hand and, of course, this is making it difficult for the ones behind it to get the sunshine they need but they are getting there. Tonight I will trim the hedge behind them to give room for more light.

The ninebarks are moving slowly. A couple of years ago I tore down the wood fence on one side of the yard and we replaced it with some shrubs. I went to Home Depot and picked up some butterfly bushes, crape myrtles and burning bushes...OOPS. I didn't know all three are considered no-no plants. We went to Growild and were told - if memory serves me right - that the butterfly bush is in the same category as japanese honeysuckle which is a step below kudzu on the "we hate this plant" list. Burning bush was a step below that and crapes weren't invasive they were non-native. They suggested ninebarks. We bought 3 and one did not survive. The other two are popping with leaves. I like these shrubs, they are bold and unique. We are going to Growild in a couple of weeks and I plan on getting at least one more.

Because of all this plant life I have become obsessed with native plants. I don't know where I first heard about native plant gardening but now that I have some I don't know why this isn't more popular. This is no brainer gardening, especially in the South. You buy plants native to the area and you don't have to do much more than put them in the ground. They are made to grow in our climate, they react naturally to the problems like drought and cold.

So what does this mean environmentally? It means no pesticides. It means less weeds, native plants used properly will win the competition with weeds. It means natural predators and prey (insects, mammals, birds, and reptiles). It means supporting local businesses (you shouldn't have to mailorder plants native to your area, you should be able to drive no more than an hour or so). Its cool to be able to say everything you grow is from your area.

Please check out your local nurseries. If you live in the Southeast I know there are some great books but please go to a nursery instead of Home Depot and Lowes, who rarely have any decent selection of native plants.

Summer

I've been pretty quiet on the green front but let's talk about summer. Its hot, I mean really hot. In Nashville its also really dry. I can't remember the last good rain. What that means for me is a lot of time inside with air conditioning and a lot more watering of plants.

We have two air units. One heatpump for up and one furnace/forced air for down.

Step one for proper heating and air, as it was told to me when I was replacing the old system, was getting the correct size. If you get a system too small you will over tax and burn the system out. If you get one that is too big you will have a big ol mess of inefficiency and that is what we replaced. We had a 40 year old furnace and a 15 year old air compressor (that didn't match style or size, which apparently affects efficiency as well). I had one guy tell me the furnace should have been in a museum.

Next part is the need for programmable thermostats. If you get a new system they are pretty much a given but if you aren't upgrading go ahead and buy one. They are easy to install and they can be very easy to use. Most seem to have 7 day sets and the ability to change the temp 4 times a day (morn, away, home & bed). And of course you can override what's set. I have mine set cold to get up, really warm (b/t 77 & 80) as the away setting, pretty cool when we get home and a little cooler for bed.

Third is maintenance. Change the filters regularly, our return vent filters upstairs are chnged every 30-60 days. The one filter for the furnace should be changed every 6 months. One tip they game me about the 30 day filters was buy cheap then spray with oil (like Murphy's) that will help catch more airborne allergens while putting very little strain on your system. The "HEPA" or other convoluted filters put more strain on the system than necessary. I also need to get the guys to come out and look but I figure I will wait for the weather to break.

Plant watering. I haven't been good at the watering schedule. I know the best time to water is early morning but I haven't done it then. Mostly, I have done it late afternoon/early evening. I need a timer. I need to do better.

Native Landscaping

Last summer Tara and I started a landscaping project. We tore down a decaying wood fence along the property line and decided to replace it with shrubbery. Like most novices we went to Home Depot and bought some shrubs we liked. I had done research and thought I was getting native Tennessee plants but I was WRONG. More to this later. Most didn't do very well, which we figured was because it was Summer when we planted. Winter came and we finally got around to planting our anniversary tree (we decided to give ourselves a tree for our 1st wedding anniversary). To do this we called a nursery Tara's Mom has used and loves, Growild.

Let me stop here and say I cannot recommend these guys highly enough. They made the whole process one of the most satisfying shopping experiences I have ever had. I went to them with a few trees in mind and they made alternate suggestions based on where the tree would be placed and which ones would fair better for us. Keep in mind that they handle native plants only.

We chose a variegated tulip poplar, a yellowwood and a purple robe. They were planted in winter so I was quite excited to see what they would look like in spring. Spring sprang and they looked great, the purple robe was especially spectacular and then we had the record lows and extended freeze around Easter. These three trees have recovered wonderfully, I swear the purple robe is 5 feet taller already. The shrubs are a different story. Originally we bought a few butterfly bushes, a few burning bushes and a few crape myrtles. The crapes have done the best out of the lot. In the meantime we got a card for an open house type thing at Growild. There were nature walks and hay rides and food and music and a big sale. We took one of our nieces and came back with 3 shrubs and some ground cover plants (I am actually attempting to landscape).

Now I'll go back to what I said in the first paragraph about buying what I thought were native plants. I had a couple of books on landscaping and gardening in Tennessee which is where I got the idea for the shrubs we bought last year. This year at Growild I find out that none of them are native species and what's worse, Butterfly Bush is a "Category 3" invasive (Kudzu is a Category 1). Burning Bush is invasive & Crapes are non-natives but are not invasive. I ended up with three Nine-barks to replace the Butterfly Bushes. My point in talking about this is that you have to be very careful where you get your info. My sources were legit but at the least misleading, at the most incomplete and/or inaccurate. Last week a ran an experiment, I took Growild's list of available plants to Lowe's to see which natives they carried and out of all the plants Lowe's had only about half a dozen were natives. If you want native landscaping you won't find much at the big box home improvement stores.

Why am I stressing the use of natives? Two main reasons:

1. they are easier to maintain, they belong here so you really don't have to work too much with them
2. we've already caused enough chaos and destruction in our environment why not promote the growth of something natural.

The other plants I bought are used in an attempt to beautify my air conditioner compressors; you know, the big ugly outdoor part of a HVAC system. I wanted something that wouldn't get in the way but something that would look nice. I got several eco-lacquer spider plants and three heucheras; 2 "Autumn Brides" & 1 Purple Leaf Hairy Alumroot or maybe its a purple palace, I forget. These spider plants are small but they apparently grow a lot and quickly. They are low growing so they won't really cover up anything but I won't have to cut grass and these are interesting little plants. We'll see how it all looks after they grow and then I will chance some other areas, I already have ideas.

That is the saga of a landscaping novice.