All posts by Kent Higgins

Landscaping

Trees And Flowers Attracting Birds Through All Seasons

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The trees that produce fruit or seeds which are useful in attracting birds include the apples, cherries, mulberries, mountain ash, Intwthornes, crabs, hack-berry, sour gum, buckthorne, box elder, birches and hollies. Many of the annual and biennial weeds of the garden and the borders of the flower beds produce the greatest crops of acceptable food for the seed-eaters. Evening primrose, fox-tail grass, lamb’s quarters, ragweed, mullein, goldenrod and sweet clover, retain their seeds and are strong enough to project through the snow. Juncos, tree sparrows, goldfinches, siskins, purple finches, and redpolls enjoy these seeds.

For those who can’t permit themselves to let the last crop of weeds grow along with some late lettuce, salsify, turnips and broccoli for the birds, it is possible to substitute some flowers from the same or similar plant families for the same purpose. You can plant some extra sunflowers, zinnias, coreopsis, bachelor buttons, cosmos, amaranths, love-lies- bleeding, prince’s feather, China aster, California poppies, forget-me-nots, blessed thistle, tarweed and portulaca.

It would also help reduce the cost of your winter feeding if you planted a corner of your garden with some of the grains which can be left to ripen and serve as automatic feeders. Those most suited for the purpose are common millet or barnyard grass, Hungarian and Japanese millet, canary grass, buckwheat, red clover and sunflower.

Since cover can often be supplied by the same plants which produce food, such as red cedar, arborvitae, yew, bittersweet, etc., we should use such dual purpose plants as much as possible. When extra cover is desirable, evergreen trees and shrubs, and shrubs or vines which make thick tangles, especially those like hawthorne, blackberry and honeysuckle, should be chosen.

In order to provide a year-round balance to attract birds at all seasons, flowers should also be planted for the hummingbird-trumpet creeper, bee balm, tiger lily, salvia, hollyhock, cardinal flower, scarlet runner beans, fuchsia, pea tree, phlox delphinium, columbine, gladiolus, canna, azaleas, weigela, nasturtium and jewel weed. The horse-chestnut is also a favorite tree of the hummer.

 

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One Of The Best Tropical Flowers – Hibiscus Plant

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For color and beauty in the garden, Hibiscus cannot be beat. Mine are the giant strain of rose mallow, tall-growing, well-branched plants that produce many enormous five-petaled flowers ranging from red to rose, shell-pink to white with crimson eye.

In Laurel, Mississippi, the hibiscus blooms from midsummer to frost without rest. Though large, the blossoms are delicate in form, soft in color, and so combine well with other flowers. Leaves are also beautiful-long, narrow and notched.

Hibiscus likes rich, well-drained soil and starts new growth each spring. To make way for the new shoots, the plants should be cut to the ground each fall. New plants may be propagated from seed soaked in warm water before they’re planted in late spring when days are warm. Ground must be kept moist until growth appears. Blossoms come the second year. Plants also may be started from root divisions taken from older plants or from cuttings placed under a fruit jar or in a shaded bed.

Hibiscus is a fine background plant as well as one that can hold the spotlight when in bloom. Flowers remain open longer if shaded and, on cloudy days, stay open all day long. When cool days come, hibiscus is at its best for then its colorful, crisp flowers are especially lovely.

Blue Daisy

Its easy habit of growth and unaffected air make the blue daisy, Felicia amelloides of South Africa, a welcome addition to any cottage garden. Its flowers, 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter, are borne singly on thin, wiry stems which rise about 8 to 10 inches above evergreen foliage. Its color is a true sky blue. Its center, yellow.

Felicia amelloides seems immune to pests and does well for me in either sun or partial shade. Bloom is heaviest from April through June but, if the top is sheared severely, it will continue to bloom for months here in California.

Propagation is by seed or cuttings. And, since the lower branches occasionally send down roots where they touch the ground, the plant also may be increased by layering under moist soil. In harsher climes, where it is tender, the blue daisy may be started under glass and grown in pots as Marguerites (Chrysanthemum frutescens) are grown.

I have the blue daisy planted in front of rose-pink geraniums on the west side of the house and in front of orange and yellow daylilies on the east. In both situations it thrives without any particular care except watering.

Lemon-yellow and white Marguerites, by the way, combine well with this smaller blue flower sometimes called Blue Marguerite. I arrange them loosely in a Waterford glass pitcher and add a few freesias or sweet alyssum for fragrance. I have also used felicia in a yellow pottery sugar bowl with early English primroses and, later in the season, with the old-fashioned pinks (Dianthus).