Herself’s Houston Garden

The Great Backyard Bird Count

New York, NY and Ithaca, NY—Bird watchers coast to coast are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Friday, February 12, through Monday, February 15, 2010. Participants in the free event will join tens of thousands of volunteers of all levels of birding experience to count birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges.

Each checklist submitted by these “citizen scientists” helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how the birds are doing—and how to protect them. Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.

“Taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to get outside with family and friends, have fun, and help birds—all at the same time. Anyone who can identify even a few species can provide important information that enables scientists to learn more about how the environment is changing and how that affects our conservation priorities,” said Audubon Education Vice President, Judy Braus. “Everyone who participates in the GBBC—families, teachers, and young people—will get a chance to hone their observation skills, learn more about birds, and make a great contribution to the future!”

GirlWindow_TerieRawn_NY09_web.jpgAnyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. One 2009 participant said, “Thank you for the opportunity to participate in citizen science. I have had my eyes opened to a whole new interest and I love it!”

This shrub will easily reach 6′ tall in Houston and 4′ across. It is a very dense shrub right down to the ground. There’ll be no bare legs hanging out underneath.

Thryalis prefers full sun, it will grow in part shade but it’ll get leggy on you.

Blooms prolifically mid spring to early winter.

Drought tolerant once established. Excellent for barriers and low maintenance areas.

Birds, bees and butterflies are attracted to this plant.

Hardy to zone 8 but will die back in the winter in zone 8.

Propagate by cuttings.

Sometimes referenced as thryallis

Nothing interesting to report yet, this plant is only glancingly referenced in my books and I just picked it up this week.

Who knew? Recently gardening for insects to attract birds has been making the rounds in gardening circles. After all if you want to attract birds that eat insects, you need to offer them food, same as you do for your suet and seed eating birds.

It turns out that birds are also attracted to trees that show insect damage. So don’t be too quick to lop off those damaged limbs. Birds use the damage on the trees and increased levels of volatile organic compounds to locate the insect damaged trees.

An understanding of the evolution of potential signals from plants to the predators of their herbivores may provide exciting examples of co-evolution among multiple trophic levels. Understanding the mechanism behind the attraction of predators to plants is crucial to conclusions about co-evolution. For example, insectivorous birds are attracted to herbivore-damaged trees without seeing the herbivores or the defoliated parts, but it is not known whether birds use cues from herbivore-damaged plants with a specific adaptation of plants for this purpose. . . [ read more From Plants to Birds: Higher Avian Predation Rates in Trees Responding to Insect Herbivory]

I attended a talk given by Greg Grant of the Piney Woods Nursery. This is a summery of what I heard. If it catches your imagination you should let him know and find out more about what he is hoping to do.

Texas is a unique state in that its size gives it a multitude of micro climates. Rainfall across the state ranges from 6″/year to 60″/year. We have desert, tropical, forests and bayous that all come together to form a unique patchwork not found anywhere else.

Over time we have paved and polluted this unique area driving many of the local critters and plants to extinction. Much of the extinction is due to lost habitats like those of the once common bald cypress swamps.

As gardeners we listen to the news about flora and fauna losses and wonder if we, as individuals, can do much of anything that will make a difference. Gardeners in particular are accustomed to shaping our yard to the garden of our choice. But when we choose plants and the design of our gardens we need to consider the larger picture.

Most of the plants of choice now are plants from Asia, not Texas, or they are the weeds ( annuals ) our ancestors brought over from Europe. Our gardens have become a hodge podge of plant materials from around the world and not part of a larger plan.

If we, as gardeners were to all choose plants native to our areas ( pre colonialist ) then we could create a patchwork of native plant habitats that would grow over time. These habitats would provide food and shelter for native species to grow and thrive.

Unfortunately some have taken gardening with native plants as an excuse to let the yard grow wild with weeds. This have given native plants a bad name and created the stereotype of native plant people to be a bit daffy. Native plant gardens need to follow the same basic design principles that our more common gardens follow. They can and should be just as pretty to look at as what we now plant.

Get familiar with invasive species. Remove them from your gardens, enlighten your neighbors and any stores you find selling invasives to an unwitting public. Limit the amount of lawn. Ditch those plastic and silk flowers made from petrochemicals. They are an abomination.

Remember that when you spray an insecticide something, perhaps a young bird, will come and eat those insects you poisoned.

Do the research. Find out what plants are native to your area. Plant them and the native species will grow. Use local materials for your hardscape. The place will look more natural. Anything that comes local takes a lot less gasoline to get to you.

Put up bird boxes. Put out water for the birds.

Use rain water collection systems and don’t let our water go to waste.

Grow more of your own food.

Recycle.

Most importantly relax and enjoy your garden. Leave some dead trees for the woodpeckers. We have lost most of our cavity dwelling birds because the woodpeckers who create the homes for them have no material to work with.

Send your children outside to play. The world is a wonderful place.

Remember that most butterflies, moths and insects have a specific host plant. Lose the plant and you lose the butterfly.

And that is how you, as a local small gardener can make a difference.

While his philosophy is not my own, it was an inspiring talk. I left fully intending to rip out my gardens and plant all natives. Then I realized my garden is more than half natives so I didn’t feel so bad.

If you are even a little bit inspired or interested be sure to check out The Stephen F Austin State University SFA Mast Arboretum and the Piney Woods Native Plant Center. They would love to hear from you and tell you more about what they are doing.

If you build it they will come.

See also:
Texas Invasives