The Greenway Trail runs between Port Jefferson Station and Setauket. File photo
The 3.5-mile Setauket to Port Jefferson Station Greenway Trail will be spruced up on Sunday, May 21, during the Town of Brookhaven’s annual Great Brookhaven Cleanup.
The event will take place from 9 a.m. to noon, in shine or slightly damp weather, and will include a focus on the trail’s eastern end, at the public parking lot near the 7-Eleven on Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station. According to Friends of the Greenway, the task on that end will be to cut down underbrush and vines by trees and fencing. On the rest of the trail, volunteers will clean up as well as trim branches and vines in the way of the path.
Participants are asked to bring gloves, rakes and garden cutting tools.
To sign up or for more information, visit www.brookhaven.org or call 631-451-TOWN.
Passionflower vines are a nice addition to a garden. File photo
By Ellen Barcel
Last week, we took a look at climbing plants in general and specifically annual vines. This week we’ll examine perennial vines, productive vines and vines to avoid.
Perennial vines I love perennial plants since they’re a plant once and enjoy for many years thereafter plant. Perennial climbing or vining plants include:
Trumpet vines add some color to a garden. File photo
Trumpet vines produce lots of orange colored, trumpet-shaped flowers. It needs little care but can get out of control, so be careful. It’s a vine that does well in some shade. The trumpet shape is a tip-off that it can attract hummingbirds.
Clematis is another vine that does well with some shade. There are several basic varieties, those that bloom in the spring and those that bloom later in the season. Know which one you have since this determines when you are able to prune it back if needed. The rule of thumb to control a plant’s size is to cut it back immediately after a flowering plant blooms, so as not to interfere with next year’s blooming cycle. Clematis are known for their beautiful flowers, making them ideal as decorative plants on a trellis.
Climbing hydrangeas are beautiful plants but can get very large since they grow up as well as sideways. Be prepared to prune it to the desired size and shape. It can take some shade, but the flowers appear where the sun reaches the plant. As a result, you will see lots of greenery closer to the ground and lovely white flowers up near the top. This is an ideal plant for a chimney, for example.
Native wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) is native to the eastern part of the United States. It is much less aggressive and therefore easier to control than Asian wisterias. It’s a perennial, woody plant in the pea family. Like the Asian variety, it has clusters of purple flowers and grows in hardiness zones 5 to 9. In addition to being less aggressive, its flower clusters are smaller and the overall size of the plant is smaller.
Productive vines: If you have limited space and want your vines to do double duty, consider vines that are productive.
Cucumbers are easy to grow and generally very productive. Plant them where their tendrils can grasp onto something, like a chain-link fence, a trellis or wire support of some sort. They do need plenty of water, so don’t let the plants dry out during times of summer drought. Cucumbers are annuals, so you need to replant them each year.
Clematis can be a good addition to the garden. File photo
Another productive, and perennial, vine is the grape vine. See my column of March 10 for more detailed information on growing grapes. Make sure you know how you plan to use the grape so you can select the appropriate type (table grapes, jellies, wine, etc.)
Indeterminate tomato vines keep growing throughout the growing season. They keep setting fruit as long as the weather is mild enough and can get to be very large plants. Tomatoes need plenty of sun and are heavy feeders, so make sure you fertilize periodically.
Honeyberry is a vine that produces edible fruit as does the passionflower. I particularly like the unusual purple flowers of the passionflower and would grow the plant for its flowers alone.
Vines to avoid There are a number of climbers that are not the best to include in your garden. English ivy is one. It takes over. Many years ago I planted a few tiny plants. I’m still pulling out this terribly invasive plant. It seems to have a mind of its own. While a “vine-covered cottage” may seem charming, you will probably regret planting this one. As a result of its nature, English ivy is on the Management List.
Another is the Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). It volunteered in my garden and, before I realized it, had grown through my stockade fence, breaking it. Once I thought I had removed it, for years later, I found tiny plants springing up where the seeds had dropped. While very pretty, with its red berries that break open to reveal yellow seed pods, it’s a real pain to control. It climbs by wrapping itself around things, like your good trees, strangling them. As a result of its extreme invasive nature it’s on Suffolk County’s Do Not Sell list.
Avoid the Oriental varieties of wisteria that, although beautiful, can become invasive. File photo
A third vine that is difficult to control is the Oriental (Chinese and Japanese) varieties of wisteria. This one is filled with beautiful purple racimes of flowers, so is very impressive, but, it too, takes over the garden. If you insist on planting it, make sure you are ready with the pruning shears, so you can keep it under control. It’s a quick grower, which needs little care and seems to have no natural enemies (insects or disease wise). It sends out runners along the ground so can go out as well as up. I’ve seen abandoned houses with gardens gone to weed, but the wisteria is still growing beautifully, even attaching itself to power lines. As a result, it too is on Suffolk County’s Management List — technically legal but do you really want to plant it?
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
Roosevelt Avenue’s park is tucked away in the woods. A path leads from the road to the field, which is next to the railroad track. Photo by Elana Glowatz
A hidden park in the corner of Port Jefferson could soon expand, as village officials line up paperwork on a few small properties they were supposed to take ownership of 45 years ago.
Roosevelt Park, tucked away at the end of a grassy path beyond Roosevelt Avenue in the village’s southwestern corner, is as big as the ball field it contains — but it was meant to be larger. A corporation that built houses in the village in the 1970s, as a condition of project approval, was supposed to give three parcels on the western side of Roosevelt Avenue, opposite the ball field, to the village for recreational use. It was also supposed to contribute $5,000 to the village so it could acquire a fourth piece of land, which is pinned between the existing park, the three adjacent parcels and the Long Island Rail Road track that borders the park’s southern end.
But the deed transaction was never completed, although no taxes have been paid on the group of three parcels since the 1970s, according to Port Jefferson Village Attorney Brian Egan.
Roosevelt Avenue’s park is tucked away in the woods. A path leads from the road to the field, which is next to the railroad track. Photo by Elana Glowatz
The village board of trustees, in a legal action at a board meeting on Monday night, called the discrepancy a “scrivener error.”
It is not clear what happened to the $5,000; the village does not own the fourth piece of land either.
At the meeting, the trustees gave Mayor Margot Garant authorization to record three quitclaim deeds, which would transfer the titles of the properties to the village.
Egan said he has spoken to the family of the construction corporation’s owner, who has since died, and “they don’t want to have anything to do with this property.”
The fourth piece of land might be a little trickier — property taxes have been paid on that lot, and Egan said the village might have to acquire the sliver through eminent domain, an action in which a municipality claims private property for a public benefit and compensates the owner.
When combined with the existing Roosevelt Park, the land could make a spot larger than 2 acres, Garant said at a previous meeting. She has also said that she would like to see the expanded spot become a “dedicated space for peewee programs,” because older players sometimes dominate the Caroline Avenue ball field up the road.
While the mayor had said she doesn’t want to impact the surrounding residences, in the village neighborhood off Old Post Road known as the “presidential section,” she had suggested adding some parking at Roosevelt Park.
Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey, speaking, leads a press conference opposing County Executive Bellone’s water plan last Wednesday. Photo from Kevin McCaffrey
Suffolk Republicans said the county executive’s water quality plan stinks.
County Executive Steve Bellone (D) unrolled a proposal last week that would allow voters to decide whether or not they would pay an extra $1 per 1,000 gallons of water to address nitrogen pollution in drinking and surface water across the region. And while some environmentalists heralded the plan, Suffolk Republicans said it would be unfair to the taxpayer and cost more than what Bellone might lead residents to believe.
Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) joined with other members of the Republican Caucus last Wednesday at the county headquarters in Hauppauge to speak against Bellone’s proposal. Standing with him was Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga), who accused Bellone of using the water rate increase as a source of revenue to help balance the county’s $1.2 billion debt.
“This is yet another attempt by Steve Bellone to get into the pockets of taxpayers,” Trotta said. “It is a ploy to use water protection as a means of covering for his mismanagement of county finances.”
His proposal would establish a water quality protection fee that would fund the conversion of homes from outdated septic systems to active treatment systems, the county executive said. He estimated the $1 surcharge would generate roughly $75 million in revenue each year to be solely dedicated to reducing nitrogen pollution — and still keep Suffolk County’s water rates nearly 40 percent lower than the national average.
The funds collected would be used in conjunction with other funding, such as from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) $383 million initiative to support clean water infrastructure.
Residents living in countless communities like Kings Park, which Trotta represents, have been on the county’s radar as locations in desperate need of a septic makeover. And while the county Republicans said they agreed that clean water must remain an important talking point in Suffolk, they argued that charging more for water might burden those residents already paying more for sewer upgrades.
“Residents in my district and districts around Suffolk County have been paying for a sewer district for over 30 years,” McCaffrey said. “The ‘Bellone Water Tax’ would make these residents pay for the same thing twice.”
Suffolk Legislator Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset) said residents would not enjoy equal benefits from the proposal and, therefore, she was against it outright.
“At this point I see this as nothing more than a tax increase on water usage for all,” Kennedy said. “Some may never see the benefit of sewers or nitrogen reduction cesspools in their lifetime.”
The Republican Caucus is committed to fighting what they said was an unfair and unjust tax on Suffolk County residents and called on community leaders, elected officials and taxpayers to stand up for residents in Suffolk County and put an end to the Bellone Water Tax proposal.
But not everyone stood opposed to the water quality initiative. In an interview, George Hoffman of the Setauket Harbor Task Force said Bellone’s plan would benefit Suffolk County for decades to come. Working so closely with some of the county’s most coveted bodies of water, Hoffman said the county needed to act, and fast.
“It’s pretty clear that our harbors and bays are struggling. Until that’s addressed, there’s going to be nothing we can do as a harbor group to be better,” he said. “We can prevent runoffs, but we can’t prevent the seepage from the homes along the shore. What we like about the initiative is it puts water quality at the top of the agenda.”
‘Golden Gleam’ nasturtium is beautiful and delicious. Photo from All-America Selections
By Ellen Barcel
If you have an ugly fence, a plain wall like the side of a garage or any other flat surface that you want to spruce up, consider vining or climbing plants since they grow up, rather than out. They are also great in hanging baskets, for those with limited space. There are several ways of looking at vines or climbers: annual vs. perennial is one. Another is decorative vs. productive. A third is invasive vs. noninvasive, that is, “the good guys.”
Another consideration is how the plant attaches itself (or doesn’t) to the wall or structure. For example, climbing roses don’t really climb up but grow very tall. You need plant ties to attach the canes to a trellis or other structure. We’ll take a look at a variety of vines, how they grow and what you can do with them.
Annual vines Annual vines grow up and can be trained up a fence or wall but can also be used in hanging baskets or trailing down a retaining wall depending on the plant.
One of the most popular of annual vines is Ipomoea, a genus filled with over 500 different species and countless varieties. The most popular include the old-fashioned, traditional morning glory which twine around a support. The morning glory flowers (usually blue but there are pink, burgundy and white ones) open up in the morning and close at night while the moonflower (white) opens at night and closes by morning. These are nice mixed together. In that way you have flowers round the clock. Morning glories can reseed themselves for the next season. As a result, they are on Suffolk County’s Management list, meaning they are mildly invasive and it is recommended that they not be planted by county agencies or by homeowners near natural habitats.
Another Ipomoea is the cardinal vine (I. sloteri) which is filled with delicate, red flowers. I. butatas is the sweet potato vine, filled with green or burgundy (depending on variety) leaves. The sweet potato vine is grown primarily for its leaves, but you can occasionally find nonedible sweet potatoes in the soil in the fall. I say nonedible because you don’t know how these plants were treated (what chemicals used, etc.) before you acquired them so the potatoes should not be eaten.
Nasturtium is in the cabbage family and has edible flowers that range in color from pale yellow to bright orange. Nasturtium look beautiful trailing out of a basket, window box or over a retaining wall.
Scarlet runner beans have beautiful red flowers and provide edible beans in fall. One of the cool things you can do with these beans is to create a living tepee for children to play in. The tepee also provides shade in the hot summer for them. Take a set of light-weight poles and tie one end together and stake them in the ground in the form of a tepee. Plant the beans around the outside, leaving a space for an entrance. The beans grow quickly, filling first with the flowers and then the bean pods form.
Hanging geraniums (Pelargonium, not hardy geraniums) are beautiful in a basket. Flower colors range from white to pink and burgundy. Geraniums generally tend to be heat and drought tolerant. This doesn’t mean you can ignore them completely, but they do better in the heat of summer than others. Technically, geraniums are not annuals but are tender perennials, meaning they will die back in our area in the cold but continue to grow in greenhouses or down south, year round. Hanging geraniums will not climb up, like Ipomoea will, since they do not wrap themselves around other plants or have tendrils that wrap around other plants or supports.
Yes, the terminology here is confusing. Hardy geraniums (the genus Geranium) overwinter in our area and spread, while annual geraniums, Pelargonium, are tender perennials, growing year around in warmer climates. It is Pelargonium that are commonly sold as annuals, geraniums or zonal geraniums in our area.
Next week: perennial vines, productive vines and vines to avoid.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. Send your gardening questions to [email protected]. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
Volunteers from National Grid worked to improve the community garden in Huntington Station on Wednesday, April 20. Photo from Wendy Ladd
Everything’s coming up roses in Huntington Station, thanks to volunteers who spent last Wednesday afternoon working on improvements to the Gateway Park Community Organic Garden.
In honor of Earth Day, more than 70 volunteers from energy company National Grid’s Power to Serve program worked to develop a drainage system, clean up debris and plant flowers.
Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) thanked the volunteers for their efforts, including a new rain garden “that will make the garden more environmentally efficient and enjoyable for the many gardeners and children who attend the educational programs there.”
Many other local legislators were present at the scene, including Councilman Mark Cuthbertson (D), State Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci (R-Huntington Station) and Suffolk County Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport). Lupinacci also gave National Grid’s President Ken Daly a proclamation for the volunteer work.
The community garden on New York Avenue, at Lowndes Avenue, covers more than an acre and has 115 garden beds for families to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables. Food grown there is also donated to local food pantries.
According to National Grid, flooding had been an issue in the garden, so the company worked with the town to develop a drainage plan to capture the runoff and prevent flooding in the raised planting beds. Volunteers hand-dug a 4,000-foot trench to install an underground drainage system and put down rocks to capture runoff and direct that water into the newly planted rain garden.
Rain gardens provide environmental benefits, as they capture and clean rainwater before it enters the groundwater system.
Volunteers also planted colorful moisture-tolerant plants, removed litter and weeded the garden.
The effort came “at a perfect time for Huntington Station, with two redevelopment projects underway and renewed community support for revitalization,” Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, a nonprofit geared toward smart growth, said in a statement. “Tangible improvements including a new rain garden were made from the National Grid volunteers and gave a lift to the garden and the Huntington Station community.”
Last year's second-place winner, ‘Tulip Rhapsody,’ by Steven Selles of Huntington
What better way to celebrate the arrival of spring than with a Tulip Festival? The natural beauty of the historic Heckscher Park will once again serve as the backdrop for the Town of Huntington’s highly anticipated signature spring tradition this Sunday, May 1, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Amanda Camps of Medford won first place in last year’s Tulip Festival photography contest with ‘Peach Princess.’
Now in its 16th year, the event was the brainchild of Councilman Mark Cuthbertson (D).
“From its inception, the Huntington Tulip Festival has been a free, family-oriented, floral celebration held in Heckscher Park. There is live entertainment for all ages on the Chapin Rainbow Stage,dozens of booths with fun activities for the kids and thousands of bright tulips planted in beds throughout the park,” said Cuthbertson in a recent email, adding “So come out, bring your camera, and enjoy the day!”
In addition to the more than 20,000 tulips to admire throughout the park, cut tulips will be offered for sale by The Flower Petaler with proceeds benefiting the Junior Welfare League of Huntington and there will be a student art exhibit on display near the Chapin Rainbow Stage.
Volunteers are needed to distribute festival programs to visitors. Any person or community group is welcome to volunteer by calling 631- 351-3099.
Photo Contest Since its inception, Huntington’s Tulip Festival has included an annual photo contest. Entries by amateur and professional photographers will be juried to select the images most evocative of the beauty and family orientation of the festival and must be postmarked or received by July 31, 2016. Prize-winning images will be used in festival publicity. For details, visit https://www.huntingtonny.gov/TulipFestival PhotoContest.
Entertainment schedule
‘Water for Tulips,’ last year’s third-place winner by Frank O’Brien of Huntington Station
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. — Explore the Heckscher Museum. During this annual collaboration with the Town of Huntington, docents will be in the galleries beginning at 2 p.m.
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Student Art Contest: Building up to the festival was an art contest for area students organized by the Huntington Arts Council.Award-winning work will be displayed near the Rainbow Chapin Stage.
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Children’s Activity Booths — A diverse selection of free activity booths with creative, hands-on projects for children of all ages will be active in Heckscher Park throughout the festival. Design pasta necklaces, get your face painted, make a windsock, make a handprint Mother’s Day craft, get a tattoo, create a rainbow fish and much, much more.
Noon to 12:45 p.m. — Jazzy Fairy Tales with Louise Rogers on the Rainbow Chapin Stage. The show combines jazz music, storytelling and improvisational theater techniques to teach young children music, literature and social skills.
‘Resting Among the Tulips,’ Honorable Mention last year, by Mary Ruppert of Huntington
Noon to 4 p.m. — Mask making art activity at the Heckscher Museum. Children of all ages are invited to create a colorful, mixed media mask to celebrate spring and wear at the festival. Free on Museum Terrace.
1 to 1:45 p.m. — Casplash, a Caribbean splash band with Steelpanist Rudi Crichlow, on the Chapin Rainbow Stage. Casplash, a.k.a. Caribbean Splash, plays music made for dancing — from calypso, soca and reggae to pop, funk, R&B and more.Casplash takes audience members on a fantastic musical escapade via the beautiful sounds of the steel pan, soulful singing and hot tropical rhythms. The band leads audiences in familiar dances such as the electric slide, hokey pokey, conga line and limbo; they also teach a traditionalWest Indian follow-the-leader style dance called brown girl in the ring.
2 to 3 p.m. — Songs & Puppetry with Janice Buckner on the Rainbow Chapin Stage. Janice has appeared on radio and television, as well as over 4,000 schools and concert halls.She entertains audi.ences of all ages with her voice, guitars, puppets and her knowledge of Sign Language for the Deaf.She is noted for her voice, her creativity and the outstanding quality of her lyrics.
4 p.m. — Festival closes (Museum exhibits on view until 5 p.m.)
The waste is hazardous, but the accomplishment is healthy.
The Town of Smithtown marked a major milestone this week as it wrapped up its regular household hazardous waste collection event on April 23, clocking in a new record of more than 76 tons of hazardous materials being sent to safe disposal sites.
The event was held with help from Radiac Research Corporation in Brooklyn, which won the contract for the specialized and regulated event through a competitive bidding process, town officials said. Smithtown Supervisor Pat Vecchio (R) said the town paid $15,694 to run the event, but will be reimbursed one-half the cost by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“The success of our household hazardous waste collection program continues to grow,” Vecchio said. “Participating in a household hazardous waste collection event allows people to clean out their garages and basements, and safely dispose of old chemicals. It also heightens awareness that not everything offered for sale is a good thing to buy and use around our homes and families.”
By the end of the April 23 event, Smithtown tallied 716 families participating, resulting in 152,905 pounds of household hazardous material being collected. The most notable items, the town said, included decades-old bottles of long banned pesticides. Additional materials included oil-based paints, gasoline, paint thinners, waste gases, degreaser, solvents, flammable solids, liquid and solid oxiders, acids, corrosives, miscellaneous toxic liquids and solids, lacquers and various toxic compounds.
The town holds events like this annually to help ensure safe and proper disposal of such hazardous materials. If disposed of improperly, they can be damaging to the environment or to human health.
Smithtown has been regularly hosting such events to residents since 2009. Over time, the town said, the amount of material collected has increased more than tenfold.
“We should all try to minimize or avoid buying toxic products in the first place,” Vecchio said.
The next Smithtown hazardous waste collection event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Municipal Services Facility located at 85 Old Northport Road in Kings Park.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone pitches the proposal. Photo from Steve Bellone
Voters in Suffolk County could soon be faced with deciding whether or not they’d like to pay more for their water to improve its quality.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) brought a big crew of environmentalists and lawmakers with him on Monday to announce his plan to address nitrogen pollution in drinking and surface water across the region by charging an additional $1 per 1,000 gallons of water. If it receives the state’s blessing, the plan could go before Suffolk County residents in a referendum vote in November.
The proposal would establish what Bellone called a water quality protection fee, which would fund the conversion of homes from outdated septic systems to active treatment systems, the county executive said. He estimated the $1 surcharge would generate roughly $75 million in revenue each year to be solely dedicated to reducing nitrogen pollution — and still keep Suffolk County’s water rates nearly 40 percent lower than the national average.
“What we have seen over the decades is a decimation of our surface waters and the latest numbers showing disturbing trends in the groundwater,” Bellone said. “Clearly, the overwhelming source of that nitrogen pollution is from us. We have 360,000 homes on old septic and cesspool systems.”
Bellone said the proposal would supplement similar efforts from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who established a $383 million investment in expanding sewers in Suffolk County. The governor launched the Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University and provided funding for the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan over the past several years to help create recurring revenue for clean water infrastructure.
Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, endorsed the county proposal as Suffolk County rising to the occasion. He referred to nitrogen as the chief culprit behind the county’s water pollution, coming mostly from wastewater.
“If we don’t take this step, we are putting our collective future at serious risk.”
“Two-thirds of it in Suffolk County is coming from 360,000 homes with 5,000-year-old technology,” he said Monday. “We know what to do about it. We’ve studied it. The public is satisfied that … investment had to be made in studying it. Now it’s time for action.”
Roughly 90 percent of the population in Nassau County operates under an active wastewater treatment system through connections to sewage plants. But in Suffolk County, there are more than 360,000 individual cesspools and septic systems — representing more unsewered homes than in the entire state of New Jersey — that are more likely to release nitrogen into the ground and surface water.
Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association, said the initiative was necessary for the future of the environment.
“It is about building a wastewater treatment system that ensures the environmental integrity of our county, the underlying foundation of our economy and the value of our homes,” he said. “The Long Island Contractors’ Association supports this proposal because if we don’t take this step, we are putting our collective future at serious risk. It is as simple, and crucial, as that.”
The state must authorize the proposal in order for it to be placed on a ballot in November.
State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) — a known environmental activist — said the measure would do wonders for the state’s water supply.
“We’re really looking at an opportunity to correct some deficiencies that could, if left uncorrected, unhinge our economy, which is based upon people bathing and recreating in our coastal waters, fishing and otherwise enjoying our waters,” he said. “For the first time, we are pulling a program together that integrates both our fresh water and saltwater in one protection initiative, and that is very significant.”
The Town of Brookhaven held a public hearing last Thursday night before adopting a low-nitrogen zone for various properties 500 feet from major water bodies, like Setauket and Port Jefferson harbors, requiring all new development or expansions to install low-nitrogen septic systems rather than standard cesspools. Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) endorsed the county plan as well for not only increasing the momentum away from nitrogen pollution, but also for providing voters with the choice.
“I applaud County Executive Bellone for his leadership in advancing this plan to restore water quality across this county and, more importantly, for proposing that the people of Suffolk decide whether the plan should be implemented,” he said. “Though some may disagree with it, no other elected official has offered a plan to reverse nitrogen pollution on this scale.”
A dark-eyed junco enjoys a snack of millet at a bird feeder in an East Setauket backyard. Photo by Jay Gammill
By Ellen Barcel
I love to see birds in my garden. Besides the beautiful calls and songs you hear, they provide a benefit in that many enjoy munching on the insects that threaten my plants. So, the question becomes, how do you encourage birds to make your garden their home?
One way, of course, is to make sure you have a birdbath, a source of water for them to drink and bathe in. Remember to change the water frequently so as not to encourage mosquitoes to breed there. Another way is to have one or more birdhouses for them to nest in. You can also have food available in a bird feeder. Or you can put in plants that will produce lots of seeds for the birds to enjoy, especially as the weather cools in the fall. So, here are some suggestions.
Corn
Many, many years ago, as a novice suburbanite, around Halloween, I saw a bunch of brightly colored Indian corn cobs in the supermarket and bought it as a decoration for my front door. I kept hearing strange noises, sort of like thumps. Each time, I’d go to the door and no one was there. This went on for a number of days, until I noticed that most of the kernels from the ears of corn were gone. It was then that I realized that the local birds were appreciating what I thought of as a decoration and what they thought of as dinner. So, yes, birds love corn. So, if you have the room, plant a small patch of corn. What you don’t eat, the birds will.
Millet
Millet (foxtail millet) grows easily and, yes, the birds love it. Millet is a grass that was domesticated in the Old World. I’ve read that grains of it were even found in the tombs with pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Experts say to harvest it when the seed heads turn a golden brown, or, leave the seeds alone and let the birds do it for you.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are absolutely beautiful in the garden. They’ll easily reach five or six feet, making a lovely and tall wall of flowers. Yes, of course, harvest some of the flowers and enjoy the seeds yourself, but what you don’t want, leave on the plant. They will dry and soon the local birds will be enjoying them. When all the seeds are gone, compost the rest of the plant. And, yes, save some of the seeds from this year’s crop for next year’s garden.
Pumpkins
Large birds and small mammals (squirrels, for example) enjoy pumpkins. Pumpkins grow easily here but have a fairly long growing season — up to 125 days to maturity. It’s best to plant the seeds directly in the garden, but, if you want an early start, plant them in peat pots, which can be moved whole into the garden once it warms up. Plant them in full sun. Interestingly, the seeds themselves can overwinter outside. I’ve seen several locations where a pumpkin left outdoors during the cold months, led to pumpkin seeds germinating the following spring. Collect the seeds in autumn and dry them before putting them out for the birds or saving them for next year’s crop. If you don’t plan on eating the pumpkins (as, for example, in pumpkin pie), choose one of the unusual pumpkins, like the miniature ones (‘Baby Boo’), blue pumpkins (‘Blue Lakota’) or white (‘White Cloud’). There are even warty ones, such as ‘Red Warty Thing.’ Any of these make unique decorations.
Perennial flowers
While all of the above need to be replanted each year, there are many perennials that birds absolutely love as well. These are part of the “plant once, enjoy for many years” school of gardening and include black-eyed Susans, blanket flowers, cone flowers, asters and mums. Note that most of these bloom in mid to late summer and into the fall. I’m always just about ready to give up on my asters when suddenly, in the cold autumn days, the purple flowers appear. Leave the flowers on the plants in autumn until the birds have enjoyed all of the seeds. Don’t cut them back until the leaves have gone brown and there are no more seed heads on the plants.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. Send your gardening questions to [email protected]. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
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