Beware of Deer and be observant of the small creatures that visit your Garden
I’ve had a lapse in my Nursery Journal writing. Not for lack of writing, just have had other priorities mixed in with a week off to enjoy family and the water.
Tom and I talked yesterday and he commented it’s time to beware of the deer buck rubbing. It usually starts in late September and they can destroy the health of a tree. Get those young trees…any tree under 4” truck diameter, wrapped, unless you are the fortunate homeowners that don’t have a deer issues.
Because we water daily sighting insects that visit plants is a lot of fun. Tom and Earl found a Monarch nectaring on Prairie Dock using its long tongue to reach the nectar, Also a White Lined Sphinx Moth nectaring on Bee Balm. Earl found a Polyphemus caterpillar crawling in the grass looking for a tree leaf to wrap itself for the winer months. It’s now in the vivarium with our other Polyphemus caterpillars feeding on a steady diet of maples leaves. Half of them already curled around a leaf for their winter home. Thank you Tom for bringing a vivarium to the nursery…what a great learning experience not only for us and to those shopping at the nursery.
Turtlehead, Aster and Goldenrod are blooming now bringing in many pollinators. Fruit of the alternate-leaf Dogwood, one of the first fruits to ripen, have been consumed by many species of birds at the nursery. We have spent the last month potting up the next batch of native plugs into 1 gallon containers. Many are from locally collected seeds and if not local the rest collected from a seed source in Michigan. While potting obedient plant this week we noticed many tiny native bees nectaring. If familiar with the plant, it has many small flowers clustered tightly and the pollinators literally crawled into the flower. While watching this activity a bumblebee did a fly over, it hovered for a bit and away it went; flowers were too small. There are 4000 different bee pollinators in America and as many different plant flower types that have co-evolved. When you get into your garden you’ll witness all this unfold over the summer months.
We at the nursery love this time of year. It’s a little less hectic and we can take the time to watch nature unfold. The Goldenrod, which we have 5 different native species, some for dry some for wet and some for shade. It really brings in the pollinators. Many customers equate Goldenrod with Ragweed, they are an entirely different plants and not related at all. I’ve been watching the bumblebees entering the turtlehead flower, the only insect heavy enough to open the hinged flower to enter. And the reward is one of the biggest nectar banquets, maybe that’s why they did the fly over of the Obedient Plant. Our closed gentian is just about to flower and the bumblebees will wiggle their way into the closed flower. So fun to watch. Nature must feed all creatures great and small, each insect having carved out their place and each flower devising ways to bring them in. Flowers are very specific to their pollinating needs, they need to be sure there is the next generation.
Our nursery has created an environment that welcomes insects and they have come. I’ve been doing some reading about habitat loss and how it impacts insects/wildlife that rely on plant food. When equating insects needs and our own needs I think of it as a grocery store. Insect come to plants as their grocery store and if they aren’t available, they starve. For us, imagine all the grocery stores shutting down?
We live in a modern world and many want no pest to interfere with our daily lives. Those bees and wasp that sting, those insects that eat holes in plants. We have sprays to rid us of the inconvenience. However, we need these insects. We could not exist without them or the plants they visit. Plants can‘t move around. They are anchored to where they decide to grow, so their vehicle in moving genes to the next generation is pollinators. What is the reward for the pollinators? Food, be it nectar or pollen to feed both themselves or their brood. Next time you see holes in your plant leaves don’t wonder how do I kill, ask what insect is using this plant for food.
Get into your garden to witness nature and all its wonders. And, don’t forget to wrap those young trees so deer don’t have their way with them.
