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Hunger Moon

Ellen Sousa — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:35:00 GMT

Good news for gardeners! Yesterday's full moon, on the last day of February, means that spring is in sight! New England's native Americans, who had a name for each full moon as a way of tracking the calendar, called February's full moon the Snow, or Hunger Moon. This time of year, food must have been tough to come by when you depend upon your natural surroundings to survive.

It's also the toughest time of year for the birds that spend winters in New England. Many seed plants are buried under snow, and the tastiest berries were eaten months ago from the winterberry hollies, dogwoods and wild cherries. Insect populations are at their lowest, making it tough for woodpeckers and other insectivores to keep themselves going til the bugs of spring start to arrive.

Remember this time of year when you plan your gardens. Some shrubs have berries that taste awful until they have been through a few freeze and thaw cycles, meaning that birds won't eat them unless they are starving. My Virginia Rose still has most of its berries (hips), but in the past few snowy weeks, I have finally seen birds picking at them. In some years, birds don't touch our flowering crabapples until late winter, when the cardinals or early arriving cedar waxwings pick them clean. Strangely, in some years these berries disappear well before Christmas...

And try to keep as many of your seed plants standing into winter as you can, instead of hacking your perennial beds to the ground in the fall. Especially if you live in an urban area with few natural food sources, your garden's seed heads poking out of the snow might mean the difference between life or death for some of our hungry feathered friends!

Above is a northern junco picking at the seed heads of Agastache foeniculum during a snowstorm. Juncos breed in northern New England and Canada during the summer, but they migrate south to New England to spend the winter! They are cute but tough little birds that rely on the seeds of goldenrod, asters and other native flowering plants to keep them fed all winter.

So look around your yard and ask yourself. Do your local birds have natural food sources to keep them going during the Hunger Moon? Feeders are great for supplementing natural food sources, but they often attract the "wrong kind of birds" and squirrels, and keeping them stocked can get expensive. Invest in some bird-friendly plants and shrubs, and you'll feed birds, for free, for years to come.

Microclimates...or Garden Hotspots

Ellen Sousa — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:36:00 GMT

Despite a few days above freezing this week, most of our central MA farm is still under a thick blanket of snow. As I look out my front window, I can see the farm across the valley from us, completely free of snow. Why is that? It's all about topography and the angle of the sun as it moves across the sky. Our farm is perched low on the north-facing slope of a river valley. The low angle of the winter sun passing across the southern sky means that this time of year, many areas are in the shade for most of the day. Cooler air also settles at the bottom of the valley, keeping temperatures a few degrees lower than the rest of town. The farm across the valley is on a south-facing slope, and their fields are perfectly positioned to capture the sun's heat all day, melting their snow more quickly. It's no surprise that apples were once grown on that side of the valley, but not on this side. It's too cold!

Melting snow can tell us a lot about our garden conditions. Watch where the snow melts first in your yard in the spring, and you'll learn where the warmer microclimates are. Use them to your advantage to grow heat and sun-loving plants such as tomatoes and flowering plants that will sulk in a colder spot.

The back wall of our garage faces south, trapping the sun's heat on sunny days and releasing it slowly overnight. The wall also protects plants from cold north winds, keeping the area quite warm and sheltered. This is the only area of my garden where I can grow Mediterranean herbs that need hot, blazing sun to thrive. A mulch of pea-stone gravel also absorbs the heat, warming the ground faster in spring and helping the crowns of plants from rotting in my high-moisture soil.

So watch the snow as it melts in your gardens, and figure out your garden hot spots!

Goat's Beard (Aruncus dioicus)

Ellen Sousa — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:19:00 GMT

If you're a New England gardener looking for a large-impact shade perennial that blooms in early summer, you can't go wrong with Goat's Beard (Aruncus dioicus). Perfect for a partly-shaded woodland edge, its creamy white flowers are especially striking contrasted with a darker background:

Native to the rich woods of Pennsylvania southward, Goat's Beard grows quickly in spring from a woody crown, with flowering stems that can reach 6' in moist soil. Flowering in late June in my zone 5b central Massachusetts garden, Goat's Beard seems to do best with about half a day of morning sunshine. It usually takes a few years to get established, but once mature, it fills a good size area, so give it plenty of room.

Don't confuse the native Goat's Beard to the commonly planted Astilbe, which is also sometimes called Goatsbeard. Astilbe is much shorter than the native Aruncus, growing only about 2'.

Goat's Beard is a good plant for New England habitat gardens...its flowers are an absolute magnet to hordes of beneficial pollinating insects, and its long seed tassels persist well into winter. Don't these winter seed stems look like a nice meal for birds?

Aruncus dioicus is dioecious, which means that there are male and female plants. Only the female plants produce the seed heads, and their flowers are slightly showier than the males, so plant several Goat's Beard at a time to ensure that you have at least one female plant. Even if you are lucky enough to find this plant for sale in a nursery, you'll probably get some blank stares if you ask what sex they are! In central MA, this plant is available at Bigelow Nurseries in Northborough as well as Garden in the Woods in Framingham.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Ellen Sousa — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:46:00 GMT

What are you doing this weekend? Can you spare a few minutes of bird watching to help scientists understand our wild birds better? Be a citizen scientist and contribute data about the winter bird populations in your region of the United States. Scientists use the information to learn how birds are adapting to environmental changes, and to answer puzzling questions about why bird populations fluctuate in areas from year to year.

Here's all you need to do. Simply make a note (and number) of the birds you see this weekend between February 12th and 15th. Enter your results online on the form at the Great Backyard Bird Count website. You have until March 1st to enter your results.

For a list of birds you are most likely to see in your region, click here for a checklist. If you need help identifying the birds you see in your yard, use visit the Online Bird Guide.

Here's a shot of one of our winter bird gardens from last January. Look carefully and you can spot at least 3 birds in this photo:

So, look out your windows this weekend at the trees, and write down which birds you see. Even better, take a hike in the woods with a digital camera and a field guide to birds. Log your tallies online, andsubmit your best photos to the Photo Gallery. And, don't forget to check the GBBC results page later to see which birds your neighbors also saw!

Seed catalog time

Ellen Sousa — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:57:00 GMT

It's February! With apologies to Andy Williams, I have to say that February starts the Most Wonderful Time of the Year for New England gardeners... we are but a hop, skip and a jump from spring now, and within the next month or two, it'll be time to set up the cold frame and sow cold-season seeds outside, as well a start a few flats of flowering annuals indoors. I like to plant hundreds of annuals each year in various areas of my garden, and the only way I can afford such indulgence is to grow them myself from seed.

But first, I need to decide what I'm growing this year. That's the fun part! Our coffee tables are strewn with thick magazine-style seed catalogs which have been arriving fast and furious in the past few weeks....nothing is better than sitting in front of a roaring fire on a cold February day, leafing through beautifully illustrated catalogs, planning our 2010 vegetable and flower gardens and putting together the annual seed order!

The Renee's Garden catalog is particularly scrumptious this year, with wonderful photos and some great specialty seed collections designed for new gardeners, including "A Hummingbird Garden", "Seeds for a Butterfly Garden", and "A Native American Three Sisters Garden" to introduce you to the age-old concept of working with nature to grow healthy plants and crops.

I am definitely going to try growing the newly available yellow Zinnia 'Profusion' (shown above on the cover of Park's Seed catalog). You cannot beat Profusion as a short (12") zinnia that blooms its head off all summer for so little effort. I've used it in containers to bring butterflies up close to our patio, and it's also excellent in garden beds to fill bare spots with pizzazz. Pictured below is Zinnia 'Profusion' Apricot:

This year, I've decided to extend my "locavorous" shopping strategy and buy all my seeds from New England-based seed suppliers. As a locavore, I try to buy as much of our food from local farmers in order to support New England's agricultural industries as well as help protect our region's remaining open spaces for local, sustainable food production and habitat for declining wildlife species. Buying from suppliers who grow their plants in the tough climate of New England also means that their seeds should do well in my cold central Massachusetts valley garden.

So.....Turkey Hill Brook Farm's 2010 seed orders will go to......(drum roll please)

Johnny's Selected Seeds, which is an employee-owned company based in Maine, offering good quality vegetable, cover crop, herb, and flower seeds. They are a member of the Safe Seed Initiative, meaning that they do not buy or sell genetically engineered or modified seeds or plants.

Select Seeds in Union, CT, specializing in old-fashioned fragrant flowers, flowering vines, and hard-to-find heirloom annuals and perennials. Their seed collections include butterfly habitat gardens, hummingbird gardens and an old-fashioned fragrance garden that looks and sounds very enticing!

John Scheepers in Bantam, CT - nicely illustrated catalog for home vegetable gardeners, containing recipes, lots of interesting and useful garden tips, plus seeds for fragrant flowers and collections for habitat flower gardens.

So let the 2010 Garden Season begin! If you're looking for me this weekend, I'll be on the couch with a couple of sleeping dogs and a glass of wine, flipping through catalogs, making my list and checking it twice! I'll blog later on about what seeds I ordered and why.

Special Note: I have no business relationship with any of these companies other than as a happy customer. If you know of any other New England-based seed companies that you think belong on my supplier list, let me know!

Guest Posting at ConservationGardening.com

Ellen Sousa — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:42:00 GMT

As some of you know, the past few months have been a challenge for me, slowly recovering from a badly broken leg, but the silver lining of my recovery is that I've had lots of time to read, write and spend time in cyberspace. Along the way, I've 'met' some great people who share my passion for earth-friendly gardening. Carole Brown, who has a website and blog called Ecosystem Gardening, invited me to showcase our habitat garden in a guest posting this week.

Click here to read my guest posting about our habitat landscaping on ConservationGardening.com!

Thank you Carole - I am honored!

Where are the Monarchs?

Ellen Sousa — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:25:00 GMT

Where oh where have the Monarch butterflies gone? I heard this question many times this past summer. Mostly, it seems the weather was to blame, at least in New England. Butterflies need sun and warmth in order to fly, and they need to fly to locate Milkweed plants to lay their eggs. Their wings are like little solar chargers, soaking up the sun to fuel their flight. This year's cold and rainy weather in New England provided few opportunities for female Monarchs to fly to areas containing Milkweed plants (Asclepias species), which is the only plant that Monarch butterfly caterpillars can use as a food source.

The good news is that this could be just a regional blip. According to Journey North, a project that documents Monarch numbers during their fall and spring migration, in the past week, Monarchs have been seen crossing into northern Mexico in numbers that have not been seen in years. Hopefully this means that although Monarchs were scarce in New England this year, the weather simply kept them away.

But the weather isn't the only problem affecting Monarch populations. Illegal logging in the forested regions of central Mexico, where Monarchs make their winter home, has reduced the winter habitat available to those butterflies who survive the long flight south. And according to research at the University of Georgia, since 1976 the female-to-male ratio of Monarch butterflies shows a major decline east of the Rockies. Because females can lay up to 400 eggs over the course of their lifetime, any reduction in their numbers is troubling for population stability.

Researchers are not sure why female populations are declining, but as gardeners we can all help Monarch populations by planting Milkweeds in our yards and gardens to provide food for Monarch caterpillars. If you think they're weedy looking, think again. There are several types of Milkweed that will grow in New England, and whatever your conditions, there's a beautiful variety suitable for your garden.

Well-drained, sunny spot? Just perfect for the neon-orange Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), shown below (alongside our poser border collie Speck):

If your soil contains some moisture, Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is a good choice. It's tolerant of drier soils, too. Besides being the sole food source for Monarch caterpillars, Milkweed flowers contain huge amounts of sweet nectar that all butterflies (not just Monarchs) love. Below, a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly sips nectar from Swamp Milkweed flowers:

If you have a larger property with areas that you can let "go wild", Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) has gorgeous ball-shaped pink flowers with an intoxicating honey scent. Common Milkweed grows naturally in waste places and old fields in New England, so who knows, if you have an area that you can leave unmowed, it may just pop up on its own...

Although not native to New England, Scarlet Milkweed or Bloodflower (A. curassavica)is a worthwhile annual to include in flower beds and patio pots. Its flowers bloom in a striking red, orange and yellow:

The first year we planted Scarlet Milkweed in a container on our patio, almost immediately a Monarch butterfly found it and laid her eggs. To our delight, two of them hatched, and one climbed onto a nearby trellis to start its transformation into a butterfly:

Below is the chrysalis that eventually morphed into a brand new adult Monarch butterfly:

How do they do it?
Scientists and naturalists have always been fascinated by the complex life cycle of the Monarch butterfly, but new research published in Science magazine is showing just how these tiny creatures are able to navigate their way 2000 miles to the same small region of Mexican forest each fall to spend the winter. It turns out that Monarchs have a type of GPS navigation system and circadian clock built right into their antennae, which allows them to use the sun to guide their travel as well as to correctly adjust their direction based on the time of day. Amazing!

Remember, no Milkweed, no Monarchs. Let's help these unique winged wonders survive for future generations to enjoy by growing Milkweeds!

Nature's Highlights (Frost in the Garden)

Ellen Sousa — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:21:00 GMT

Anybody who has taken one of my classes knows that I always harp on about NOT doing the traditional fall cleanup of the garden...instead of scalping your perennial beds to the ground in fall and removing most of the dead plant material, I persuade my students to leave plant stems standing right into the winter, and delay the cleanup til the following spring. Seed heads provide valuable forage for those birds who spend the winter here, and the leaf litter, hollow plant stems and decaying plant materials all provide plenty of opportunities for beneficial insects to hibernate through the winter in some form. Remember, many of those bugs are are the superheroes of the insect world, who will wake up and start patrolling for pests starting in early spring! And hungry birds picking around your gardens in the dead of winter will appreciate those insect eggs, caterpillars and other protein-rich insect morsels hiding in your garden beds.

But sometimes, it's not about the wildlife at all. In summer, it might be the colors of a palm-sized zinnia flower or the scent of a rosebush in full bloom that stops you in your tracks to marvel with all your senses. Late fall might not have such flamboyance, but it has its own highlights. Early in the morning, seed heads, touched by an early morning frost or dusted with little snow caps, might give you pause to stop for a moment and take in an unexected but quite lovely view of the familiar. And in this crazy world we live in, dictated by schedules and commitments, any pause to consider nature has got to be a good thing...

Above: Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) flowers tipped by frost on a cold October morning

Backyard Habitat in Autumn...part two

Ellen Sousa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:18:00 GMT

Nature continues to take center stage in central Massachusetts this week, with American Beech foliage stealing the show:

Our habitat pond is a relaxing place to drink in the view and look for frogs, before they dig themselves into the pond's muddy bottom for the winter:

Ornamental shrubs against a backdrop of mature trees creates a layered look on a steep north-facing slope:

I've blogged about summer's "profusion vases" before, but the fall has its own flower bounty...my husband's creation of New England Aster, Goldenrod and grass stems lights up the breezeway:

Asters, Goldenrod and 'Chocolate' Eupatorium are still blooming, despite being hit by several frosts now. Their flowers continue to provide late-season nectar for whatever pollinators are still active...

Backyard Habitat in Autumn

Ellen Sousa — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:42:00 GMT

As any New England 'leaf peeper' will tell you, there's a unique beauty to the annual decay of our natural surroundings. Our Massachusetts backyard, landscaped as a natural habitat, takes on a whole new life in the autumn, when berries ripen, plant stems are loaded down with seeds and the songbirds that eat them, and foliage changes to its fall plumage of earth tones. I always love the contrast of the earliest changing plants (usually ferns) which are a harbinger of the symphony of color still to come:

Below: Possum-haw Viburnum (Viburnum nudum) berries are starting their transformation from green to pink to purple. They will continue to ripen into the winter, providing valuable food for our winter birds. Viburnum is a shrub with multi-season interest - in the months to come, their leaves will also take on a gorgeous burnished tone...

Gardens are now a medley of reds, browns, yellows and everything in between:

Below: Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) climbing up a pine tree. Did you know that poison ivy is one of the best native vines for birds? Yes, there IS something good about poison ivy!! Its white berries are a food source for more than 50 species of birds. But poison ivy is one plant I would NEVER recommend planting in gardens. Its foliage and stems cause a severe allergic reaction in most people that touch it...even if you seem to be immune now, you can lose immunity at any point in your life. This is not a plant to encourage in your yard, but if it pops up in an out of the way area where people or pets do not travel, why not let it climb up a tree and provide food and perhaps even nesting for your local birds? It will reward you with its flaming red, orange and yellow foliage:

The View from the Porch: Great Blue Heron

Ellen Sousa — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:29:00 GMT

This time of year, we spend a lot of time on the back porch. Skies are clear, temperatures are comfy once again and the mosquitoes are gone! We sit with friends, laugh at the dogs, feed raisins to our chickens and watch birds crashing around the gardens as they forage on seed stems of old plants.

But when the dogs are indoors and all is quiet, that's when we see the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) flying towards our pond. He's kind of hard to miss, looking like a giant pterodactyl flapping its enormous wings as it lands:

Standing 4' tall with a 6' wingspan, the Great Blue Heron is the largest heron in North America, and we are always thrilled to see one visiting our small farm pond to hunt for frogs and fish. I can't say the same for my horses though...when the heron flies directly over them as he lands or takes off, those nervous horses dive for the safety of their stalls!

The heron always uses the same landing strip (the road to our barn) where he first checks out the scene to make sure everything's safe:

From there, he makes a quick flyover to the other side of the pond where he stands silently in the shallows, like a living sculpture, waiting to spear an unsuspecting frog or catfish for dinner.

Great Blue Herons will visit small backyard ponds and water features, which does not make them popular with pond owners who raise expensive Koi and Goldfish! A small, shallow water feature full of brightly colored exotic fish is like laying out an all-you-can-eat buffet for herons, raccoons and neighborhood cats. But, in a natural ecosystem backyard pond containing deep pools, aquatic plants and other places for fish and frogs to hide, the Heron is simply part of the food chain in action. In our pond, they mostly eat the abundant Catfish, minnows and frogs, but they also eat mice, snakes and some insects, so they can be useful in keeping other undesireable populations under control.

We've noticed that our heron usually visits early in the morning, when the farm is quiet. Our 3 dogs have a zero tolerance for large forms of wildlife on the property, so they usually run the Heron out of town when they see him! But on a still evening, we might get lucky and see the Great Blue Heron at work in our pond...and witness nature in action. All that from the back porch!

Floppy Plants

Ellen Sousa — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:32:00 GMT

My last blog entry lamented about the cold, wet summer of 2009, in which many plants grew so tall from all the moisture that they fell right over, creating a huge mess in many of our gardens...

Large plantings of Bee Balm and Obedient Plant on the pond banks collapsed in a tangle, their flowers smothered. So much for my lush summer pondside color display and all that nectar for the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds! And there is nothing more sad than beautiful peonies flattened by heavy rain. Looking on the bright side, my husband (who has a hidden talent in flower arranging!) tells me that the longer stems were great for big flower vases. But what can a gardener do about floppy plants?

It's OK to pinch plants!
Staking plants is definitely an option, but somehow that seems like too much work to me. Not to mention, the plants still might flop over. Gardener's Supply sells plastic stem supports (kind of like horticultural girdles) which seem to work, but they are expensive for those on a budget. Next year, I plan to pre-emptively prune some of the worst offenders on this summer's flop list. In late spring, after the plants have emerged and are between 4-8" tall, shear or pinch their stems closer to the the ground, leaving some foliage intact to help the plant rebound quickly. Each stem then sprouts multiple stems from from where it was cut, resulting in slightly smaller (but more numerous) flowers and sturdier stems less likely to fall over later in the year.

Below: the flowering stems of Sedum (Autumn Stonecrop) toppled over:

Below: Sedum when grown in half-decentsoil with some moisture, benefits from an early season stem pinching tokeep the plant stems from toppling from the sheer weight of its blooms.Autumn Stonecrop is a late-season pollinator magnet, and as long as itgets some sun, will grow in most New England garden soils. It usuallyneeds no pruning at all in poor,dry soils, making it a goodlow-maintenance choice for a dry roadside planting or an area with hotblazing sun.

You might be asking yourself, why pinch plants back if the aim is to have a natural garden? Plants growing in the wild seem to stay upright without any help from us. But take a look an old field blooming with wild flowers and notice how dense the vegetation is. There's no room for flopping, because the crowd of plants hold each other up. And chances are, the soil in that old field is not as rich as your typical garden bed, so plants do not grow as tall. So if you are trying to achieve a meadow effect of your own, plant the area as thickly as you can to allow plants to support themselves on their own. And don't over-fertilize. A little compost on occasion is all a natural-style garden should ever need to keep itself thriving.

Plants suitable for pinching to control height:

The following plants will grow sturdier, more heavily branched stems (and more flowers!) if you cut their stems back early in the season:

New England Aster
New York Aster
Taller Sedum varieties (Autumn Joy, Blackjack, etc)
Bee Balm
Ironweed
Coneflower
Eupatorium
Helianthus
Goldenrod
Heliopsis
Boltonia
Helenium
Leucanthemum
Chrysanthemum
Dendranthema
Lobelia
Hibiscus
Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)

Some plants, such as peonies, are just not suitable for cutting back to prevent collapse. Your only option for the larger flowering peonies is to either situate them where their heavy flowers can cascade freely over the edge of a wall during bloom time, or stake the stems and keep the plants rigid using peony rings. Horticulturalist and plant author Tracy DiSibato-Aust also suggests removing the first terminal flower bud on peonies to prevent the weight of the large first flower from pulling the remaining plant down.

In a large scale landscape design, pinching back your plants is probably too labor-intensive, but for most of us with smaller garden areas or vignettes of natural habitat, pinching plants can keep a habitat garden tidier and more manicured, something your neighbors will appreciate if you live in the 'burbs.

Lessons from a Wet Summer

Ellen Sousa — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:15:00 GMT

Anybody who gardens in New England will agree that this year has been a tough year for growing things. A rainy spring that continued right through July, then something like one week of heat and humidity, and now we're straight into fall. What happened to summer? And where are my tomatoes?

While New England weather has always been changeable, what we're seeing now is the effects of climate change, and as gardeners, we need to get used to it. More severe weather patterns, wetter summers, and crazy swings of temperatures during all seasons now seem to be the norm rather than the occasional blip on the weather map.

How can gardeners adapt? To be honest, adapting is the essence of being a successful gardener. Observing what works, what doesn't work. Picking your battles and learning from your mistakes. If a plant doesn't thrive, either move it somewhere else or move on to something more appropriate for your conditions. Accept that nature usually has the final word.

So what worked and what didn't here in our cold (z4/5a) north-facing valley farm in central MA? In our raised veggie beds, our leafy crops did fairly well as long as they got a little sun at the start of the season. Onions, garlic, carrots, arugula, radishes, leeks, spinach and lettuce were all bumper crops, most likely because for these crops you want to encourage green leafy growth rather than flowers. My basil plants took a while to get going, but a rare warm sunny spell in early July gave them a kick start and I have had 4 great harvests. My freezer is now full of small portions of homemade pesto, which will bring a welcome whiff of summer into our cold winter evenings.

Cherry tomatoes (below) seemed unbothered by rain clouds, and we had a decent harvest of those. But our late (large) tomatoes were a bust. Those huge green tomatoes simply rotted on the vine for lack of heat and sunshine. Peppers were small and their "heat" only lukewarm. Next year I might just give up on growing the big toms and peppers and buy them from our local farmstand. My beans never even germinated (too much rain), but our squash and cucumbers provided a small harvest, thanks to an occasional reprieve from the rain when pollinators were able to do their job. Potato plants grew tall and provided a decent harvest, although many tubers were small and could have used an extra month of summer heat to grow to full size.

As for flowers, I watched sadly as beautiful white peonies were flattened by heavy rains and my Gateway Joe Pye Weed flopped over into the pond, its flowers drowned. The Bee Balm collapsed under the weight of the rainfall and took down most other plants around it. Very disappointing to the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds who rely on all that sugary nectar to fuel their high-octane lifestyles. Next year, I'll pinch back the growing stems of some of these plants early in the season to control their height and prevent these kinds of garden disasters.

Plants that stood tall...

In spite of the weather, a few of the flowering plants in our gardens stood out from the crowd. Our 4 year old patch of Virginia Rose (Rosa virginiana) stood unperturbed from the rain and produced its finest floral show since we planted it 4 years ago. Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata) also stayed upright despite the wind and torrential rain battering its snowball flowers. The flowers were a little smaller than usual, but their fragrance was still strong and I saw butterflies and hummingbirds visit them frequently. This season was very tough on butterflies (who need sunny warm weather to complete their life cycles), so the nectar-rich Phlox (both white and hot pink varieties) was welcomed by many winged creatures right into September this year.

One plant that grew to monster proportions yet still remained upright was Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). Shown below (back left) is a single plant that I put in last year. Obviously it likes these conditions...in the wild it usually grows to about 2-3' but this plant grew to at least 7' without a single stem flopping over!

A close relative of the more common Bee Balm (M. didyma), Wild Bergamot has pink flowers that attract every pollinator in the neighborhood, including hummingbirds. Like Bee Balm, Bergamot plants tend to mildew as the summer goes on, but with the Wild Bergamot, I am finding that the ghostly grey-tinted foliage actually looks nice contrasted with nearby plants later in the season. I don't need to resist the urge to cut down the mildewed stems the way I always do with Bee Balm...

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) laughed at the rain and clouds and bloomed their cheerful heads off right into September this year, without flopping once. This plant is one of the most reliable of flowering plants for New England gardens, requiring little irrigation and fuss, and its flowers provide a huge bounty of nectar for pollinators and seeds for hungry birds trying to bulk up for winter.

Low-growing plants with small flowers such as groundcover Sedum, Coralbells (Heuchera), Running Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) and Lamb's Ear also enjoyed the summer's extra moisture, producing lush new growth and spreading by leaps and bounds. Although not native to our region, Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina) is a great nectar plant for bees and its soft feltlike foliage makes an excellent groundcover that contrasts well with just about everything else in the garden. I usually cut flowering stems down after blooming, to allow the remaining foliage to fill in and and keep plants tidier (as a non-native plant, they are not a significant food source for local birds so I do not let them go to seed).

Plants with less weighty flowers such as native grasses, sedges and rushes also fared well and stayed upright through torrential rains. Grasses and grass-like plants are great "filler" plants for your flower beds, instantly adding a natural effect to your garden. They are also an essential food source for the caterpillars of many butterfly and moth species, and their seed heads feed many birds.

As for the plants that flopped over, next year, I plan to pre-emptively prune some of the worst offenders on this summer's flop list. My next blog entry will discuss pinching back plants to control height prevent them from falling over later in the year.

Above: Lambs' Ear and Black-eyed Susans thrived during this year's wet summer, growing lush without flopping over. Tall varieties of Sedum ('Black Jack' with the pink flowers at left) when grown in rich soil, benefits from having its stems pinched back early in the season to create a sturdier plant that doesn't fall over from the weight of its blooms.

The good news is that the rain and cool weather made it a great year for newly installed plants, shrubs and trees. I was able to divide perennials and plant new gardens for clients right into August, when normally I wouldn't consider either of these past late June. Most new shrubs and trees responded to the extra rainfall by putting out healthy new growth and establishing good root systems. And for habitat gardeners who allow their plants to set seed to feed the birds, it was an excellent year for increasing your plant populations through self-sowing plants.

Reseeders running rampant

Although weeds were a real problem for gardeners this year, the wet conditions did provide excellent conditions for existing plants to reseed themselves. New England Aster, Swamp Milkweed, Butterfly Milkweed, Boneset, Liatris, Helianthus, Globe Thistle, Yarrow, Goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed, Solomon's Seal, Evening Primrose, Purple Coneflower, Agastache, Sweet Alyssum and Foxglove, to name a few, all responded to this summer's consistent moisture by germinating here and there across our zone 5a garden of mixed woods, lawn and fields. Many of them I will be able to share with friends, family and my garden coaching clients. I'll move others to a suitable spot elsewhere on the farm.

Reseeding lets you strike a great deal with your local birds and plants. You just leave the flowers alone after they bloom, allowing them to turn brown and set seed, the birds will feast on the seeds, and excrete them elsewhere in your yard. New plants for almost no effort!

Above: This self-seeded Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) grew to almost shrublike proportions from this year's constant rain. In areas with full sun, their stems did not flop over at all, but some stems collapsed on plants in shadier areas. Boneset flowers feed hordes of tiny pollinators during their long blooming cycle.

2009...the summer that nearly wasn't

Because they need the heat from the sun to live and fly, summer butterfly populations were noticeably low in our yard (which is a message I am hearing from other butterfly gardeners up and down the east coast). Even though we grow many different Milkweed species here, we saw very few Monarch butterflies or their caterpillars, compared to previous years. Time will tell how this year's weather will impact their populations, but hopefully our little Monarch way-station will have nourished a few of them on their long journeys south. Eastern US Monarch populations are at risk due to habitat loss in their southern home (a forested mountain range in central Mexico), so they need all the help they can get from us gardeners along their migration path.

Butterflies are back!

But now that September has brought some sunny weather and warm days, our butterfly populations seem to be on the rebound. Last week I found a single Black Swallowtail caterpillar on my self-sown Dill plants (picture below) and today I noticed a Monarch butterfly. Yellow Bear caterpillars (the juvenile form of the white day-flying Virginian Tiger Moth) have been spotted on our front porch, as well as autumn's familiar Wooly Bear (the caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth).

Dragonflies are again cruising open areas on the farm, gobbling up the season's last mosquito populations to fuel their migration. And thanks to the ever-abundant Goldenrod, Boltonia and New England Asters, late season pollinators bulking up for winter still have plenty of nectar and pollen, which means good seed supplies for birds this winter.

Still to bloom on the farm this gardening season are Eupatorium 'Chocolate' (Eupatorium rugosum) and the single pink daisy-like Korean Mums (Dendranthema rubella), which will give me a late blast of color in my autumn-fading gardens, as well as a rare nectar source for whatever pollinators are still alive next month. My own gardening season is over, due to a bad accident early this month that will keep me from gardening or riding for some time. For now, I can only sit back and watch life unfold in our backyard habitat. Not a bad way to recuperate!

White Wood Aster...the New England "Grow-anywhere" Plant

Ellen Sousa — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:57:00 GMT

As a garden coach, I am often asked the question "What can I plant in dry shady garden conditions?" Most of New England's landscape is dominated by trees (and if you don't believe me, look down when you fly across most of Massachusetts...mostly what you see are trees and water!), and gardening in the shade of a dense tree canopy can be a major challenge to gardeners here. Limited light in summer means less flamboyant blooms, and evergreen trees (which soak up water from the surrounding soil) leave little moisture for understory plants to grow. Peek inside a dense Hemlock or Pine forest and you'll see very little undergrowth.

So what plants do thrive in dense evergreen shade in New England? More than you might think. Once again, let nature be your guide, and take a look around nearby natural areas and see what's growing already. Use a good field guide so you can rule out any of the invasive non-native plants (eg Garlic Mustard!) that are muscling their way into our forest ecosystems. In cold areas such as north-facing hills with evergreen Hemlock trees, you'll probably notice different types of Ferns, as well as low berry-producing groundcovers such as Wintergreen (Gaultheria species) and Partridgeberry (Michella repens). You might be lucky enough to see the Massachusetts state flower Trailing Arbutus aka Mayflower (Epigaea repens), and soak up the jasmine-like fragrance of its blooms. In drier upland woods, you may see Canada Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), or Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) with their diminutive but not unattractive blooms. All of these plants are garden-worthy for a naturalized "edge" garden, but a little hard to find at nurseries.

One native plant that I see growing in just about every growing condition in Massachusetts is White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricatus). On our property, it even grows (and blooms!) at the base of an old Hemlock tree in bone-dry conditions and heavily-compacted soil from our 3 dogs chasing each other round and around the tree! (see below):

Granted, its blooms are somewhat sparse under these inhospitable conditions, but the fact that it returns each year to bloom again is certainly a testament to this plant's iron constitution! White Wood Aster does grow more luxuriously in areas with some moisture and sun, and has recently started popping up on the partly-shaded edges of our stream, where Jewelweed, Boneset, Goldenrod and Swamp Aster are also thriving. I always welcome these garden "volunteers", because they are nature's way of telling me what plants are suitable for the unique conditions in my yard. If they seed themselves in an inconvenient spot, just dig them up and move them somewhere more suitable. Your shade garden will quickly fill with color and life!

White Wood Aster is an excellent plant for a natural woodland "edge" to link your lawn with nearby woods. Pollinators find ample supplies of nectar and pollen in the aster's pale late summer blooms, and if you leave their seedheads standing into winter, birds can feast on the numerous seeds produced late in the season.

So if you are looking for a tough plant to add a little pizzazz to shady areas of your garden, give White Wood Aster a try. You won't find it at the big-box stores or the supermarket (yet!) but it is now readily available from nurseries selling native plants. In central MA I have seen it sold at Bigelow Nurseries in Northborough, Project Native in the Berkshires and the nursery at Framingham's Garden in the Woods. It is easy to grow from seed collected from wild plants. Or, if you see it growing in one of your neighbor's yards, ask them if you can dig up a seedling or two. Chances are, they'll have plenty to spare, and you only need one or two plants to start your own populations of this native plant.

Garden Tours (aka Meeting of the Garden Minds)

Ellen Sousa — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:20:00 GMT

One of the reasons I love to host garden tours here is because when lots of gardeners get together, I never know what great information I'm going to pick up myself. The collective knowledge, experiences and diverse perspectives of a group of gardeners always seems to result in an exciting and dynamic interchange of information and useful advice. Not to mention, sometimes I learn a thing or two about my own gardens. This weekend I hosted a tour of our habitat landscaping, sponsored by New England Wild Flower Society. As we passed one of the Serviceberry/Shadblow (Amelanchier) trees on the property, somebody pointed out a large caterpillar on one of the leaves. When I finally spotted what she was pointing at, I saw this little guy, very well camouflaged on the leaf:

We all marvelled at her sharp eyesight for picking this caterpillar out of the background! His green and yellow coloring almost perfectly matched his surroundings. That's a survival tactic on the part of the caterpillar to make itself invisible to birds looking for a nice juicy caterpillar snack.

But what kind of caterpillar was it? What butterfly or moth does it morph into at a later stage of its life? Not to worry, Bonnie Drexler (Education Director at NEWFS and a teacher/naturalist herself) happened to be on the tour. She took one look and said "Tiger Swallowtail". That makes sense - we have lots of those butterflies here in summer (see photo below). Bonnie also went on to explain that what appear to be large eyes on the top of the caterpillar are not actually eyes but another protective device, to try to look like a snake to scare off predators. Their eyes are actually at the opposite end of the caterpillar. This survival tactic must be fairly successful, because I see Tiger Swallowtail butterflies in just about every garden that I visit for my work.

I later checked one of my caterpillar books, and sure enough, Amelanchier is listed as an alternative host plant for Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars. They more frequently prefer plants in the Cherry or Magnolia family, however. Cherries and Magnolias are very common in home gardens of the northeast, which is why the Tiger Swallowtail is one of New England's most familiar butterflies.

House Sparrows - Bird Feeder Thugs

Ellen Sousa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:49:00 GMT

If you hang bird feeders, have you figured out which birds are visiting? If you buy your birdseed mix from the grocery or dollar store, have you ever noticed that only a few types of bird visit and hog all the food? If so, it's very likely that you're hosting House Sparrows (below), whose presence in New England and the Northeast is being blamed for declines in some native songbird species. If you are concerned about the welfare of our bird populations, you do not want to feed, house or otherwise encourage House Sparrows!

It may seem cruel to single out certain types of birds to discourage, but House Sparrows (also called English Sparrows) are an invasive species in the US. Brought to this country from Europe in the 20th century, they quickly established large populations that have spiralled out of control, outcompeting native songbirds for food, shelter and space. Along with European Starlings (another invasive bird in the US), House Sparrows are considered a threat to many bird species already at risk due to habitat loss and pollution. In fact, these birds are among the very few species in the US not protected under Federal species protection laws.

Since the mid-1990s, populations of invasive birds have increased significantly. House Sparrows thrive around human habitation, and you can often see them picking at food scraps in parking lots of fast-food joints or big-box stores (where they also find safe housing inside). They are quick to find a residential bird feeder, and will gobble up large amounts of birdseed, leaving little to the less aggressive birds indigenous to New England.

It's easy to see why House Sparrows are considered destructive to other birds. They will attack nesting fledglings of other species, throwing the babies out of their nests which they then use for themselves. This nest predation is especially detrimental to birds such as Bluebirds who nest in the cavities in old or rotting trees, and who already struggle to find suitable nesting sites in our increasingly suburbanized landscape.

This weekend, we witnessed a dramatic attempt by a pair of House Sparrows to evict some Tree Swallow fledglings out of a nesting box on our pasture fence. The parent Swallows put up a good fight and we saw and heard a tremendous scuffle at the box. We tried to help out by chasing the House Sparrows away, but they returned several times as the nervous parents tried to keep guard. In the end, Rob sat down in the grass near the box so he could ward off any continued assault, and the House Sparrows finally gave up and left.

We just had to help - our Tree Sparrows migrate from the tropics every year to nest in this box (see below), and they are like old friends to us!

So how do you tell a "bad sparrow" from a "good sparrow"? It can be hard to tell one sparrow from the next, but House Sparrows tend to congregate in large flocks, and the males have a large dark blob right under their beaks (see top photo). Once you learn to identify them, they are easy to pick out of a crowd. See the National Zoo's photo gallery to learn how to distinguish them from other sparrows.

Some ways that I have found to discourage House Sparrows from taking over feeders and nest boxes:

Use non-perching birdfeeders
Feed Safflower seed instead of Sunflower seed. House Sparrows and Squirrels do not like Safflower seed, but many colorful songbirds such as Cardinals, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Tufted Titmouse and non-invasive sparrows love it.
Do not feed seed mixes containing millet (House Sparrows are particularly partial to millet seed, often found in inexpensive seed mixes)
If House Sparrows take over existing songbird nests, immediately remove their nests and monitor the area, because they may try several times to use the nesting box before giving up. You may need to be persistent, but removing their nests will eventually persuade these birds to give up and move on.

Luckily, our Tree Swallow babies survived their traumatic House Sparrow onslaught. Today, they're back to peering out of their box, waiting for their exhausted parents to provide the next fly-by feedings of mosquitoes and other tasty bugs...and all is peaceful again at Turkey Hill Brook Farm.

When Life Gives You Rocks, Make Terraces!

Ellen Sousa — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:47:00 GMT

If life presents you with a sticky situation, such as emergency excavation work, why not turn it into a gardening opportunity?!

When we recently arrived home from a much-needed break, to our horror we found a flooded lawn from a burst well pipe that necessitated excavation work to repair (see above). We watched, cringing, as a backhoe removed half our lawn, patio and stone wall to uncover the burst pipe. However, much of what the backhoe removed was enormous rocks. A plan started to form....instead of paying the contractor to remove the rocks to "somewhere else", why not use them to create new gardens?

I talked the contractor into dumping a truckload of the excess rocks at the top of an unused hill on our property, which he was happy to do. The area is rough and steep, and covered in Asiatic Bittersweet (an exotic invasive that is choking out native plants all across New England). Why not terrace this steep hill, smother the weeds with cardboard, fill the terraces with compost, and use it to grow vegetables? The area is nicely sheltered and receives full sun in summer. Perfect for vegetables!

Fast forward a few weeks. After carefully rolling some of the rocks down the hill into position, we were able to fill each level with a foot of good compost using our tractor, and plant immediately. As we have time, we'll continue to build more terraces into this section of hill and refine their appearance, but in the meantime, potatoes are already thriving on the top terrace and I have just planted squash and beans in the lower levels. Marigolds and Sweet Peas will brighten the beds and attract beneficial insects and help repel pests.

When life gives you rocks, make gardens!

Our Apothecary Shop was the Woods and Fields

Ellen Sousa — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:13:00 GMT

Samuel Thomson wrote in 1835 that his "apothecary's shop was the woods and the fields."(1) He was promoting the health benefits of plants and herbs, something that is perhaps even more relevant today with our increased life spans. We're probably not even close to discovering all the curative powers that exist in nature, but one thing IS clear, time spent outdoors in nature has many benefits to adults and, especially, children.

Nature doesn't have been somewhere you go, or something you see on TV. Natural habitat gardens, and the life they encourage, invite the beauty and daily miracles of nature right into your backyard, allowing you to "share the magic" with the kids in your life. Children are usually fascinated with the complexities of nature, and a backyard habitat is a great way to give them a lifelong connection to the outdoors.

'A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.' (RACHEL CARSON)

Above: Peering at a caterpillar in a "Bug Viewer" with a magnified lid....

But alarming increases in childhood obesity reflect that children are spending much more time indoors than they ever have, leading to poor health as well as social, mental and learning disorders.

The National Wildlife Federation is leading initiatives to try to reconnect our kids with nature and get them outdoors. Their Reversing Nature Deficit program encourages kids to play outdoors for at least an hour a day. According to studies, unstructured activities in natural environments (“free play”) helps kids develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills, stimulates their creativity, and even dramatically improves test scores and grades. Other studies show that children who spend time in nature show reductions in hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder.

Kids do benefit enormously from time visiting natural areas such as beaches and mountains, and exposure to outdoor education programs can increase their self-esteem, confidence, cooperation and improves grades. However, landscaping your yard as a haven for friendly wildlife such as birds and pollinators lets you AND your kids have those beneficial interactions with nature everyday.

A habitat garden's not just good for kids, though. If you're a gardener, you already know how good it feels to get your "hands in the dirt", and a stroll through a summer garden with a glass of wine and weed fork can be a great after-work stress reliever. Gardening is a highly therapeutic process, teaching us patience, acceptance of those things out of our control, and a sense of rootedness to nature and its cycles. Horticultural therapy is becoming a widely accepted means for addressing physical and mental illnesses and disabilities, and “healing gardens” are often used as a therapeutic tool for the critically ill. The process of gardening is holistic, combining cognitive, creative and physical activities, and can be a valuable tool for helping people improve the quality of their lives.

'Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.' (MAY SARTON)

So start looking at your backyard as more than just a place to put a pool, a BBQ and a lawn. Consider it a prescription for better health, for you, your kids, and the planet. Even if all you do is give up the chemical lawn treatment and add some bird and pollinator-friendly plants, tending them will keep you healthy in more ways than one. Gardening is a great form of exercise - 45 minutes of gardening burns can burn as many calories as 30 minutes of aerobics! And, gardening can help relieve stress and anxiety, and their related diseases, by providing a creative outlet and a place to relax and escape from our frenzied lives. Plus, you can garden in your own back yard, without using fossil fuels to drive to a heated gym.

So what's stopping you? Start planning your backyard habitat and grow your own "apothecary of woods and fields"!

Footnote 1:
New Guide to Health: or Botanic Family Physician (Boston: Adams, 1835 p. 9)

Red Buckeye

Ellen Sousa — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:32:00 GMT

Last week I did a talk on pollinator-friendly landscaping at the annual conference of the

Ecological Landscaping Association. It was a great place to spend a Friday, because the conference and marketplace was something of a meeting of the minds of every 21st century plant geek on the right coast. Case in point: After I finished my talk, a woman approached me and told me that she grows Red Buckeye, (which I had mentioned in my talk as a good tree for pollinators), and that when it blooms, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are ALL OVER the flowers. She lives in central New Hampshire, which is a similar climate to our cold Worcester Hills river valley.

Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) is an understory tree native to the woods from North Carolina southwards, so it's not a tree you'd see in the wild here in Massachusetts. I've seen it growing at Garden in the Woods (the botanic garden of New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham, MA) where it blooms in early June:

When you look at the flowers (below) you can immediately see why this tree is so popular with hummingbirds. The red tubular flowers are perfectly adapted for them to drink nectar from the base of the flower, using their extra-long tongues (pollinating the flowers in the process).

When choosing native plants for my own garden, I tend to look for plants that are native to the ecosystems of central Massachusetts. Plants that originate locally are best for a wildlife garden because they are adapted to meet the needs of the local wildlife who co-evolved alongside them.

But, when somebody tells me about a non-native Hummingbird magnet plant that is not invasive here, I simply MUST grow it! The presence of feisty Hummingbirds in our garden is something that inspired my interest in gardening for habitat, so I'll plant anything that brings 'em in. The Red Buckeye shown above is growing in the moist meadow-edge garden at Garden in the Woods....just the habitat that we have in abundance here!

Now, where can I find a Red Buckeye, either plants or seeds? It's now on my Plant List for 2009 ....

Seeds of Content!

Ellen Sousa — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:27:00 GMT

It's a Sunday in mid February and we are having yet more snow! This has been the longest and toughest winter I remember in 9 years of being back in New England. We groaned when we heard the weather forecast (another "biggie"), but I don't mind too much because today I put in my annual seed order from Johnny's Seeds! I always order from Johnny's - they are based in Maine so not only am I supporting our regional New England economy, but I know that anything that's hardy enough to grow in Albion, Maine will probably survive our cold valley winters in central MA.

Johnny's is a very wise company, sending their catalogues out in early January to tempt us flower-starved northern gardeners with lush photos (I call them "eye candy")! I usually spend a month looking through the catalogue and making my list. It's fun to dream about summer flowers in the dead of winter when the world outdoors is covered with the white stuff....

So, here's what I ordered. I grew "Purple Majesty" Ornamental Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) (below, the tall plant with dark foliage) a few years ago and really liked the vertical structure and contrast it brought to my "butterfly garden". Not to mention, later that fall, I saw American Goldfinches picking at the seeds from the tall waving stems. Anything that feeds the Goldfinches is always welcome here! The birds did beat me to all the seeds, eating them before I had a chance to collect a few for myself! So I've shelled out for a new packet of 10 seeds. I have a new bed next to the barn paddock where I plan to grow it this year. I just need to plant them far enough from the fence that the horses can't munch the seed heads, which is what they did to my tall Sunflowers last year...

I also ordered seeds for American Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum pilosum), an eastern native plant which is excellent for natural-style gardens, offering white flowers that attract hordes of enthusiastic pollinators. I first fell for this plant when I saw it growing in a moist meadow garden at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary (below) happily mingling with native Sedge (Carex), Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and Goldenrod. Choosing plants that grow naturally in those kinds of conditions means that this established meadow area requires no irrigation or fertilization. I plan to try Mountain Mint in my dry, upland meadow garden as well as right next to our farm pond, to figure out where it will best thrive.

The foliage has a minty taste, so Mountain Mint is worth investigating as a deer-resistant plant. Many of my clients have a problem with deer devouring their prize plantings, so I'm always looking for plant suggestions that might be less likely to become deer forage.

I also picked up seeds for pink and white cultivars of Hummingbird Sage (Salvia coccinea). I love the "Lady in Red" cultivar of Salvia coccinea because of its vigorous growth and drawing power for hummingbirds and other long-tongued pollinators, so this year I'm adding some more varieties to add to some garden areas that need a little pizzazz from mid to late summer. Below is "Lady in Red" growing in a pot hidden in a Cotoneaster bed, bringing those Hummingbirds right up close to our porch!

Another new plant I'm trying this year is Flax (Linum usitatissimum). In winter, I feed my horses ground-up Flax seed to add some valuable Omega-3s to their hay-based winter diet. So this year I'll try growing a small patch of Flax, and if it does well without too much fussing, I'll set aside a larger area for it in future years. I try to make the most of our small but fertile patch of earth, and if I can save money on my equine costs and reduce our carbon footprint by "growing it ourselves", all the better. The tiny flowers of Flax look as though they are insect-pollinated, so hopefully they will provide good yields in our "pollinator-friendly" landscape here at Turkey Hill Brook Farm.

So....what's stopping you? Start dreaming of spring and order some seeds of wildlife-friendly plants.The days are getting longer and it won't be long til the lush greenery of summer returns to our frozen landscape! Promise!