Landscaping for the birds

When designing a landscape always start with a plan. It doesn’t matter if you are planting for yourself or for the birds. Take measurements of the area you wish to landscape and make sure to include in your drawing any existing structures or plants that will remain in the area. Draw the bed shape first and then add the plant material.

Variety is important in attracting birds. Use a combination of evergreens, grasses and deciduous plants for the best results. A succession of blooms and fruit throughout the seasons is also a good attraction. This provides birds a year-round food source. There is a host of plants you can use, just make sure you choose plants adapted to our zone (5), and give ample room for plants to mature.

Water is very important all year long, especially moving water during the summer.

If you need help choosing plants or designing the right plan, stop by Blueville’s Garden Store and we’ll give you the help you need.

Additional ideas to attract birds include placing dead wood around your yard. This is a great lure for woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches, which like to explore for bugs and grubs underneath the bark. To add a further source of food, drill large holes in dead wood and fill with suet.

Brush piles provide a great shelter for birds as they dart in and out of the pile between feeding and drinking. If you still have last year’s Christmas tree, use this as a beginning to your brush pile. Sparrows and Towhees really like to hide in the branches on the ground.

Instead of cutting back annuals and perennials, leave the seeds intact to provide food for birds. Coneflowers and rudbeckia are great source of seeds, and finches love coneflower seeds.

Following is a list of plants you might consider planting to attract birds and wildlife to your own backyard. These colorful and fragrant trees, shrubs, vines and perennials are some you also will enjoy!

Trees
Small – Serviceberry, Cherry and Plum, Amur Maple or Crabapple
Medium to Tall – Maple, Pine, Oak or Hackberry

Shrubs
Sumac, Chokecherry, Holly, Juniper, Pyracantha or Viburnum

Vines
Bittersweet, Grape, Honeysuckle, Trumpet Vine or Virginia Creeper

Perennials
Aster, Black-eyed Susan, Coneflower, Coreopsis or Ornamental Grasses

It's for the birds

We are excited to once again feature Chuck Otte as a speaker at our Bird Feeding Frenzy! He will visit about how to attract birds to your yard, identifying species and lots of other great tips! This will be presented on January 21, at 10 am and 1 pm. Be sure and call to sign up, seating fills up quickly.

Bird feeding is a great past time! They have really been eating at the feeder. With the drought we had this summer, I believe they are looking for other food sources. Squirrels can be a real problem stealing seed. Try using an addition of hot pepper to your food. The birds don't seem to mind, and it gives the squirrel a hot mouth. We also have food available with pepper already added or a liquid you can mix in to your seed.

Stop by anytime this winter, we are open 8:30 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday!

Avery's Additions

Houseplant Care & 0₂ Production

This time of year houseplants pacify our green thumbs and it becomes all too easy to ‘over care’ for our plants. Here are a few good things to remember when caring for houseplants.

Just like your outdoor landscape plants, houseplants go through a dormancy phase as well. This is brought on by shorter day lengths. Because of this hibernation period you should not, I repeat, should not fertilize your houseplants! Wait until spring when you start to see the outdoor landscape waking up and then it is time to feed those indoor plants.

Watering houseplants this time of year can be tricky. Because of their dormancy they don’t use as much water and it becomes easy to overwater. Overwatering in the winter can be detrimental. It’s best to water less and even allow stretches of dry periods in between watering to prevent them from having ‘wet feet’ and consequently root rot. Just because the top of the soil is dry doesn’t mean it needs water. Stick your finger as far as you can into the soil and see what it feels like. Is it dry? You might consider watering. Is it wet or damp? You might have to leave it alone.

Meanwhile, if you get the urge to do something for your hibernating hibiscus or your dormant dracaena, give it a bath! Dust builds up on plant leaves throughout the year and with less light during the winter months every little bit helps. When your plant’s soil has sufficiently dried, stick them in the shower and rinse them off with luke warm to room temperature water. Let them dry and put them back. While there drip drying, wash their windows! This will increase the amount to light coming through the window making your plants more content.

A great thing about houseplants is not only do they bring the outdoors in, they help to purify our indoor air. The following plants do the best job:

Blueville
Nursery Inc.