Thursday's Truths & Tidbits -- Fall Gardening Tips

It's hard to follow up the past two days with the wonderful interview between  Earth Mama® and my daughter Bethany. They're discussion about adopting and breastfeeding an NAS baby was informative and inspiring. Click here to check out Part One of the interview (there is a link at the bottom for Part Two).

My friend and guest blogger, Doris Dumrauf, offers some great tips for how to keep your yard in great shape for the wildlife during the fall and winter. You just might be surprised by her tips.

From Yard to Wildlife Habitat

Fall is the time of year when avid gardeners tidy up their yards until they resemble a barren wasteland. But cleanliness is not a virtue if it deprives wildlife of important habitat.

Image © Doris Dumrauf. All rights reserved.

Flower seeds -- such as purple coneflowers, sunflowers, or asters, to name a few -- provide finches, chickadees, and other seed-eating birds with the necessary nutrition to survive the winter. Moreover, their seed heads add interest to an otherwise bleak winter landscape.

Do you hate raking leaves, but don't know what to do with fall's bounty? Leaves are much too valuable to place them on the curb on trash day. Try this instead: Use them as mulch around shrubs or in your vegetable garden; shred them and place them in your compost bin; or rake them into a corner of your yard.

Image © Doris Dumrauf. All rights reserved.

A pile of leaves provides habitat for birds such as white-throated sparrows, juncos, and towhees. Moths and butterflies overwinter as papae in leaf litter. Birds in turn rely on caterpillars to feed their young. The caterpillars that don't get eaten will delight you as beautiful butterflies next summer.

Offering a brush pile will endear you to ground-feeding birds who find not only shelter from the elements and predators during harsh winter weather, but also insects to sustain them.

These few easy steps will get you well on your way to turn your yard into a wildlife habitat.

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Doris Dumrauf is an award-winning photographer and author of "Create Your Own Backyard Wildlife Habitat" and the novel, "Oktober Heat." She is available for speaking engagements in the Greater Pittsburgh area and can be reached at doris@dorisdumrauf.com. Visit her website at www.dorisdumrauf.com. 

We all need a respite sometimes

It's been a busy, and in some ways, difficult year so far. 

I know many of you have experienced illness and loss, just like I have. 

There have been scary times. Sad times. 

And under-the-gun stressful times.

That's not to say there haven't been bright spots along the way. 

In some ways, it's been an incredibly good year. 

But the bottom line is we all need an occasional break. 

I was blessed with one this past weekend and 

I wanted to share some of the beauty with you. 

I stayed at a farmhouse in Sandy Creek, PA for two nights. Even though there is room for at least 12 people in the house, I was there alone. 

I was presenting two workshops at the Writing Success XXIII conference in Stoneboro, PA on Saturday, and extended my stay for an additional night, which allowed me the opportunity for a peaceful Sunday morning to myself.

The farmhouse was built in 1886 and maintains much of its original charm, from the woodwork to the windows, 

stepping inside is like stepping into the past.

 Early Sunday morning, since I had nowhere to be, 

I stepped outside to explore.

I marveled at the vastness of the countryside,

and appreciated the history represented here on the farm.

Although there were lots of kitties, I was disappointed none of them let me get too close, preferring to scurry to their sanctuary 

through the hole in the barn door.

It made me think about how often I run to my own sanctuary 

to avoid situations, or people, I don't want to face.

Despite my efforts to lure the kitties to me, they fled. No amount of soft cajoling convinced them to trust me. Am I like that with God? Hmm.

Enjoying the warmth of the sun and the lack of a schedule, I headed down the long dirt lane for a morning walk. Before long, I was joined by the farm dog who seemed eager to lead me to places unknown. I followed her lead.

I thought of my usual Sunday morning routine, which involved Sunday School and church. On this day, however, my praise music was 

the bleating of sheep, 

the braying of donkeys, 

the mooing of cows, 

and the singing of birds.

 Look at all the sweet babies.

 The scenery was beautiful.

My mood was serene.

If you have the chance to experience the beauty of creation somewhere other than where you are accustomed to being, 

I highly recommend you take that opportunity. 

We aren't designed to be "on" all the time. 

There has to be some downtime.

I'm hoping you can find that for yourself. 

I can't tell you what it did for me, but perhaps through these photos, you can get a little glimpse of how God blessed me with exactly what I needed.

Appreciating the gift of nature,

Native plants... their place and purpose in our gardens

I met today's guest blogger at the first Pennwriter's meeting I attended at the Eat 'n Park in Robinson Township, PA several months ago. In addition to being a writer, Doris Dumrauf is an award-winning nature photographer and speaker. She speaks to civic groups about backyard habitats for birds and insects. Her blog, Birds with Personality, covers birding and gardening topics. 

Cedar waxwing eating serviceberry

Gardens are works in progress. Years ago, we landscaped our front yard with the usual suspects: Bradford pears, spireas, privet hedges, burning bushes, and azaleas. In other words, our yard looked just like every other yard. 

Then, we became interested in native plants. We removed the ugly pear tree and planted an Eastern redbud instead. Its pink flowers not only brighten up our entire street, but they are also one of the earliest blooms in the spring and attract many insects. These insects, in turn, provide pollination. But insects serve another purpose: they feed birds when they need it most: during the time when they are nesting and feeding their young.

Spicebush swallowtail larva eating spicebush leaf

Insects are the little things that drive the world and are a very important part of the natural food chain. The lawns that Americans love so much do not support wildlife at all. In an effort to have a “perfect” lawn, homeowners use more pesticides per acre than agriculture. These pesticides are not only deadly to birds, other wildlife, and beneficial insects, they also pose health risks for humans and their pets. There is a better way to garden.

When we erected a storage shed in our backyard we had to find a purpose for an about 13x13 feet corner on which nothing grew, except rocks. We brought in topsoil and I planted a wildflower seed packet because I wanted a butterfly garden. A year later, I had the result I had envisioned. We were hooked. We made ourselves knowledgeable about native plants and started another native garden. Every year we add new plants to it and observe more and more insect varieties as time goes by. Two kinds of milkweed – common milkweed and butterfly weed – attract Monarch butterflies. Bumble bees and honey bees are drawn to the purple coneflower. Other butterflies prefer the blazing star. Tubular flowers attract hummingbirds. The spicebush swallowtail lays its eggs in the spicebush. Finches devour the seeds as the flowers mature. You get the picture.

Monarch butterfly on Joe-pye weed

A real eye opener for us was Professor Douglas W. Tallamy’s book Bringing Nature Home (Timberpress). He writes that planting alien plants has several consequences: 

•  Native insects cannot digest alien plants. 
•  Alien plants often beget alien insects or fungi, which in turn cause havoc in our environment. 
•  Non-native plants become invasive and replace native plants in the wild.

Alien plants are any plants which were, accidentally or on purpose, introduced into the United States. Alien plants do not provide any host plants for native insects, and thus are not part of the natural food chain. 

Bringing Nature Home lists native plants by geographical area. It also highlights the plants that support the most Lepidopera species. Soil conditions and amount of sunlight available in your yard also play a role in the decision process. Once they’re established, native plants can also tolerate drought conditions better than alien plants.

No matter where you live, there is a native plant available for your yard. Give it a try!

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For more information and for samples of her work and publication credits, visit Doris's website. Photographs on this post may not be reproduced without prior permission from Doris Dumrauf. She may be reached at ddumrauf@verizon.net.