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Year of Pollination: Hellstrip Pollinator Garden

This month I have been reading and reviewing Evelyn Hadden’s book, Hellstrip Gardening, and I have arrived at the fourth and final section, “Curbside-Worthy Plants.” As the title suggests, this section is a list of plants that Hadden has deemed worthy of appearing in a curbside garden. It’s not exhaustive, of course, but with over 100 plants, it’s a great start. Photos and short descriptions accompany each plant name, and the plants are organized into four groups: showy flowers, showy foliage, culinary and medicinal use, and four-season structure.

This list is useful and fun to read through, but there isn’t much more to say about it beyond that. So I have decided to write this month’s Year of Pollination post about creating a hellstrip pollinator garden using some of the plants on Hadden’s list. Last year around this time I wrote about planting for pollinators where I listed some basic tips for creating a pollinator garden in your yard. It’s a fairly simple endeavor – choose a sunny location, plant a variety of flowering plants that bloom throughout the season, and provide nesting sites and a water source. If this sounds like something you would like to do with your hellstrip, consider planting some of the following plants.

Spring Flowers

Spring flowering plants are an important food source for pollinators as they emerge from hibernation and prepare to reproduce. There are several spring flowering trees and shrubs on Hadden’s list. Here are three of them:

  • Amelanchier laevis (Allegheny serviceberry) – A multi-trunked tree or large shrub that flowers early in the spring. Other small trees or shrubs in the genus Amelanchier may also be suitable.
  • Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud) – A small tree that is covered in tiny, vibrant, purple-pink flowers in early spring.
  • Ribes odoratum (clove currant) – A medium sized shrub that flowers in late spring. Try other species of Ribes as well, including one of my favorites, Ribes cereum (wax currant).

There aren’t many spring flowering herbaceous plants on Hadden’s list, but two that stood out to me are Amsonia hubrichtii (bluestar) and Polemonium reptans (creeping Jacob’s ladder).

Creeping Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptens) is native to eastern North America and attracts native bees with its mid-spring flowers. (photo credit: www.eol.org)

Creeping Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium reptens) is native to eastern North America and attracts native bees with its mid-spring flowers. (photo credit: www.eol.org)

Summer Flowers

There is no shortage of summer flowering plants, and Hadden’s list reflects that. When planting a pollinator garden, be sure to include flowers of different shapes, sizes, and colors in order to attract the greatest diversity of pollinators. Here are a few of my favorite summer flowering plants from Hadden’s list:

  • Amorpha canescens (leadplant) – A “good bee plant” and also a nitrogen fixer.
  • Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) – “Valuable pollinator plant and larval host for monarch, gray hairstreak, and queen butterflies.” I love the tight clusters of deep orange flowers on this plant.
  • Coreopsis verticillata (threadleaf coreopsis) – I really like coreopsis (also known as tickseed). Try other species in the genus as well.
  • Penstemon pinifolius (pineleaf penstemon) – North America is bursting with penstemon species, especially the western states. All are great pollinator plants. Pineleaf penstemon is widely available and great for attracting hummingbirds.
  • Salvia pachyphylla (Mojave sage) – A very drought-tolerant plant with beautiful pink to purple to blue inflorescences. Salvia is another genus with lots of species to choose from.
  • Scutellaria suffratescens  (cherry skullcap) – A good ground cover plant with red-pink flowers that occur from late spring into the fall.
The flowers of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Milkweed species (Asclepias spp.) are essential to monarch butterflies as they are the sole host plant of their larvae.

The flowers of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Milkweed species (Asclepias spp.) are essential to the survival of monarch butterflies as they are the sole host plant of their larvae.

Fall Flowers

Fall flowering plants are essential to pollinators as they prepare to migrate and/or hibernate. Many of the plants on Hadden’s list start flowering in the summer and continue into the fall. A few are late summer/fall bloomers. Here are some of my favorites:

  • Epilobium canum (California fuchsia) – “Profuse orange-red tubular flowers late summer into fall furnish late-season nectar, fueling hummingbird migration.”
  • Liatris punctata (dotted blazing star) – Drought-tolerant plant with tall spikes of purple-pink flowers. “Nectar fuels migrating monarchs.”
  • Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster) – Loaded with lavender-blue flowers in the fall. It’s a spreading plant, so prune it back to keep it in check. Hadden recommends it for sloped beds.
  • Agastache rupestris (sunset hyssop) – Spikes of “small tubular flowers in sunset hues attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees midsummer to fall.” Try other species in the Agastache genus as well.
  • Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot) – The unique flower heads are like magnets to a wide variety of pollinators. Also consider other Monarda species.
Lemon beebalm (Monarda citriodora), an annual plant that attracts an array of pollinators.

Lemon beebalm (Monarda citriodora), an annual plant that attracts an array of pollinators.

As with any other garden, your hardiness zone, soil conditions, water availability, and other environmental factors must be considered when selecting plants for your hellstrip pollinator garden. Groups like Pollinator Partnership and The Xerces Society have guides that will help you select pollinator friendly plants that are suitable for your region. Additionally, two plans for “boulevard pollinator gardens” complete with plant lists are included in the book Pollinators of Native Plants by Heather Holm – one plan is for sunny and dry spots and the other is for shady and wet spots (pgs. 268-269). Once your pollinator garden is complete, consider getting it certified as a pollinator friendly habitat. There are various organizations that do this, such as the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia. If you are interested in such a thing, the public nature of your hellstrip garden makes it an ideal place to install a sign (like the one sold in The Xerces Society store) announcing your pollinator garden and educating passersby about the importance of pollinator conservation.

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Other “Year of Pollination” Posts

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Flood Irrigation and Migrating Waterfowl

It’s American Wetlands Month. Last year around this time, I wrote a brief post describing the importance of wetlands and why they are a conservation concern. This year I thought I would write a little about an issue surrounding wetlands that has recently come to my attention: flood irrigated agricultural land and its benefit to migrating waterfowl.

The term “waterfowl” refers to birds that live on or around freshwater, such as ducks, geese, and swans. Like many other birds, they are migratory, typically flying north in the spring to breed and spend the summer raising their young, and then flying back south in the fall to overwinter. There are four major flyways (or migratory flight paths) in the United States: Pacific, Mississippi, Central, and Atlantic. Along these flyways, migrating birds need places to rest and feed in order to maintain the strength to make it to their seasonal homes. As wetlands have disappeared across the country (and the world), essential areas of respite have become few and far between, threatening the survival of this important group of birds.

Dunlins - Calidris alpina (photo credit: www.eol.org)

Dunlins – Calidris alpina (photo credit: www.eol.org)

Historically, wetlands have largely been diminished and degraded due to human settlement on the floodplains of major rivers. Floodplains are examples of temporary or seasonal wetlands, flooded in the spring when snow in the mountains is melting and during periods of heavy rains but otherwise dry throughout most of the year. These areas appealed to early settlers because they were flat, had great soil for agriculture, and were near a water source. The only downside was the flooding, so levees and dams were built, diversions were made, and eventually these great rivers were tamed, virtually eliminating their status as seasonal wetlands and the important ecological functions that go along with that.

This has spelled disaster for migrating waterfowl who rely on floodplains to be flooded in the spring, providing them with staging habitat on their journey north. Biologists have recognized this issue and have made efforts to protect and restore wetlands in order to provide this essential habitat. But restoring wetlands is a major feat. Rivers that supply both temporary and permanent wetlands aren’t what they used to be. There are myriad diversions and modifications, and with a continually growing human population, too many uses for the water. So that’s where farmers and ranchers come in.

In the spring, many farmers and ranchers flood their fields in order to irrigate crops. Migrating waterfowl take advantage of these flooded fields, stopping to rest and feed. Recognizing the role that flood irrigation has on the survival of these birds, biologists are working with farmers and ranchers along flyways to ensure that their land will remain in agriculture and that land owners will continue to flood irrigate (rather than switching to overhead irrigation). In California for example, rice farmers are being paid by the Nature Conservancy to flood their fields in conjunction with spring and fall migrations in order to ensure that birds will have staging habitat along the way. So, despite humans playing a major role in reducing habitat that migrating waterfowl require for survival, we are finding ways to make up for it. This is just one example of how we can help protect and improve biodiversity in our human-dominated landscapes.

Read more about protecting migrating waterfowl in the Pacific Flyway here.

Geese in a Flooded Rice Field in California (photo credit: NRCS)

Geese in a Flooded Rice Field in California (photo credit: NRCS)

Celebrate American Wetlands Month by learning more about them. Here are some links to get you started:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Association of State Wetland Managers

Defenders of Wildlife

 

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Overwintering Lettuce

I overwintered some lettuce, and so can you. Below freezing temperatures usually mean the end of the growing season for most things, but certainly not for everything.  The truth is that salad greens (lettuce, spinach, kale, etc.) can be overwintered, especially if you grow them under a cold frame or hoop house or in an otherwise protected location. Some can even be harvested throughout the winter if the conditions are right.

Last fall I had nine lettuce seedlings that I had started indoors. I transplanted them outside in either late October or early November (memory isn’t serving me right now). I placed some straw mulch around them, and then covered them with a makeshift cold frame made out of PVC pipe and floating row cover. There they remained all winter long.

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I live in Boise, Idaho. The winters here are relatively mild (compared to the rest of Idaho), but we still have plenty of days with below freezing temperatures. Our frost-free growing season is about 160 days long. The average low temperature from December through February is around 25° F. This past winter, our lowest temperature (according to Weather Underground) was -7° F, and we had at least 30 days in which the low temperature reached 20° F or lower. Needless to say, it was a chilly winter.

But my lettuces held on…at least most of them. When I uncovered my cold frame in early March, I found that six of my nine lettuce seedlings had survived. It didn’t surprise me that a few had perished – some of the seedlings that I had transplanted were quite small, and I had serious doubts that they would make it. I was satisfied to see that the majority of them were still alive. Two-thirds ain’t all that bad.

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The varieties that I planted were “Freckles” and “Winter Density.” I chose these because the descriptions I read gave me the impression that they were ideal for overwintering. But descriptions be damned. I suggest seeing for yourself. Take any variety of lettuce or other salad green and experiment in your own garden. See what you can get to overwinter with or without protection. Seeds are fairly inexpensive, and it is worth seeing what you can get to survive through the winter. Differing climates – both macro and micro – will produce varied results, and every year things will be a little different. This is one of the many joys of gardening. Weather and climate will always be factors, but they can also be markers to help us see what we can get away with. And if one of the things you get away with is getting lettuce to survive a harsh winter, it means you will be eating garden fresh lettuce long before your neighbor.

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Rosemary Christmas Tree

In the spirit of the holiday season, consider this fun alternative to a conventional Christmas tree. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is an herbaceous, evergreen shrub or subshrub and is commonly found in herb gardens. Its leaves are valued for their myriad culinary and medicinal uses. Futhermore, this plant takes very kindly to pruning and shaping, which makes transforming it into a miniature Christmas tree a very simple task.

It may be too late to cultivate a “tree” for this year’s holiday season, but perhaps you’d like to try for next year. To do so, find a small rosemary plant at a local garden center or plant sale in the spring. Make a few initial pruning cuts to select a leader or leaders. After about a month or two, start giving it the shape of a Christmas tree. Floral scissors work great for making these cuts, and you don’t have to worry about where on the branches you are cutting – rosemary is very forgiving – just make sure your scissors are sharp. Wait a couple more months and then do more shaping with the pruning scissors. Do some final shaping a month or so later. At this point, you should be entering the holiday season and your rosemary Christmas tree will be ready to display. It’s that simple!

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Initial pruning: selecting the leaders

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Second pruning: giving it shape

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Third pruning: keeping in shape

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Final pruning: clean it up and present it  

One major downside to growing rosemary if you live in a cold climate is that it is only hardy to about USDA zone 7. However, if you select the right cultivar, place it in a protected location (near the south facing wall of a building perhaps), give it some mulch and maybe a blanket for the winter, you might be able to get it to survive in colder zones. Rosemary can also be difficult to overwinter indoors because the air in homes is typically dry and warm and there is little direct sunlight. If you are determined to keep one alive despite your odds, awaytogarden.com provides an excellent tutorial about overwintering rosemary both indoors and out.

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Overwintering Carnivorous Plants

I once assumed that all carnivorous plants were tropical. I’m not sure exactly why. Perhaps it’s because they are so bizarre (both in their appearance and behavior), nothing like the plants that I was accustomed to seeing growing up in the Intermountain West. Or maybe it’s because the one carnivorous plant that I was most familiar with, the Venus flytrap, is commonly sold in the houseplant section of department stores. If it’s a houseplant, it must be tropical, right?

Eventually I learned the truth. Much to my surprise, there are numerous carnivorous plants that are native to temperate regions – in fact, carnivorous plants can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Even more surprising, Venus flytraps are temperate plants! It’s true. They are native to a small region in North Carolina, within about a 100-mile radius from Wilmington.

Plant species native to temperate regions require a dormant period. In the winter, the temperature drops, day length decreases, and, in some cases, drought ensues. During this time plants go dormant – they hibernate – and wait for the warmer, brighter days of spring to continue on with their metabolic and reproductive processes. It’s a period of rest.

Carnivorous plants native to temperate regions fall into this category – they require a period of dormancy in order to stay healthy and productive. In his book, The Savage Garden, Peter D’Amato asserts that, “Dormancy in carnivorous plants that require it must be respected and permitted to occur. Otherwise, the plant may die.” He goes on to say that a Venus flytrap grown year-round in a warm environment exposed to grow lights for the majority of the day “will eventually get sickly and die.” In short, these plants need a rest, and so it’s best to grow them outdoors where they will be exposed to the elements, thereby entering a period of dormancy as nature intended.

Venus flytraps (Dionaea spp.), North American pitcher plants (Sarracenia spp.), and serveral species of sundews (Drosera spp.) can all be grown outdoors year-round in temperate climates. In order to ensure their survival, it’s best to give them a little protection during the winter months – especially when temperatures are projected to reach below 20 degrees for several consecutive nights.

Recently, I helped put the carnivorous plant display at Idaho Botanical Garden to bed for the winter. The carnivorous plants are being grown in an old stock water trough. First we cut back the plants, reducing their size by at least a third and being especially careful to remove dead or rotting plant material. Next, we placed several straw bales around the sides of the trough. Then we covered the plants with three layers of material: black plastic, evergreen boughs, and dead leaves. Dave Nelson, of killergarden.com, suggests a similar winterizing treatment: “the plants can be placed on the ground, covered with a tarp, and then covered with six inches or so of dead leaves, pine needles, straw, or other mulch.”

After the threat of freezing temperatures has passed, the plants can be uncovered. As temperatures continue to warm, the plants will awake from their dormant state and prepare themselves for another spectacular season of devouring bugs and looking awesome.

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Carnivorous Plant Display at Idaho Botanical Garden

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Winterized Carnivorous Plant Display

A final word from Paul D’Amato: “You should never force a carnivorous plant into growth during a season when it should be resting.”

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Pac Choy in Bloom

Earlier this year I planted some Shanghai Green Pac Choy (Brassica rapa var. chinensis) seeds in a container outside. I harvested and ate them as they became ready, and they were delicious. However, I was a little slow at harvesting one of them and it began to bolt. I decided to go ahead and let it bloom so that I could admire its flowers and possibly collect its seeds. Unfortunately, seed collecting may be out of the question because, even though the flowers on this species are perfect (having both male and female parts), the plants may be self-sterile, meaning I would need a second plant for cross-pollination in order to get viable seed. We’ll see.

Pac Choy is in the Mustard Family (Brassicaceae), which is a relatively easy family to identify. The flowers have four petals and six stamens, and the four petals form a cross, which explains the old family name, Cruciferae. The inflorescence is a raceme, and the fruits are capsules called siliques or silicles. The walls of the capsules dry and break away to reveal the seeds of the fruit housed in a translucent sheet. There are several species in the mustard family that are common vegetable crops, including radish (Raphnus), turnip (Brassica spp.), horseradish (Armoracia), and cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and kale, which are all cultivars of the same species, Brassica oleracea. There are also several annual and biennial weeds in the mustard family, as well as a very common ornamental flower, sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima).

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Wildflower Walk: Spring 2013

This past weekend I ventured into the Boise National Forest. I was on the hunt for morels (or at least a good morel hunting spot). I chose a specific section of the Boise National Forest because a forest fire had occurred there the previous summer. Morel hunting is typically quite good in forests that have burned the previous year, and morel hunters, being well aware of this phenomenon, are found chomping at the bit, anxious to enter a recently burned site and collect their bounty.

Unfortunately, I was unable to  find any morels on this trip. I was a little too early, which I was assuming might be the case as I was heading out there, but I was just excited to go and check things out. Hopefully I will get a chance to go again within the next few weeks, and perhaps I’ll have better luck.

The trip was not a complete disappointment though. What started out as a mushroom hunt quickly turned into a wildflower walk as I was overwhelmed by the abundance and diversity of wildflowers that blanketed the mountainsides. Below is a small sampling of the plants that I saw on my trip into the woods.

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Balsamorhiza sagittata – arrowleaf balsamroot

castilleja covilleana

Castilleja covilleana – rocky mountain paintbrush

lomatium dissectum

Lomatium dissectum – fernleaf biscuitroot

paeonia brownii

Paeonia brownii – brown’s peony

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Viola purpurea – yellow mountain violet

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Mountain Kittentails

Spring has sprung, which is evidenced by warming temperatures, lengthening daylight, and plants turning green and producing flowers. For those of us living at low elevations, signs of spring have been around for a while. Our landscapes are green again and gardens are coming to life. However, up in the mountains (and at higher latitudes), spring takes a bit longer to manifest itself. Snow is still the dominant groundcover, and freezing temperatures remain the norm. Yet even in these harsh conditions there are signs of spring. The flowers of the perennial forb, mountain kittentails (Synthyris missurica), are one of those signs.

Mountain kittentails are one of the earliest plants to flower in the mountains, often flowering while there is still snow on the ground. For this reason, their flowers are not commonly seen in the wild. Their range extends from Washington and Oregon down into northern California and across into Idaho and Montana. They occur in rocky, shady areas at mid to high elevations. Mountain kittentails are low growing with rounded, toothed leaves. Their flowers appear in tight clusters on upright stalks and are blue to purple in color. They are a member of the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae), sharing that distinction with a popular group of flowering plants that is common in the west, the penstemons. Mountain kittentails were first collected during the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. The expedition discovered this plant as they passed through the mountains of northern Idaho.

Mountain kittentails are not a commonly cultivated plant, but the Idaho Botanical Garden in Boise, Idaho happens to have a few growing in one of their native plant collections, giving more people an opportunity to see them in bloom. Because the garden is located in a valley, their mountain kittentails flower a few weeks earlier than their native counterparts, which means you’ve probably already missed them – but there’s always next year!

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Spring Arrives

Spring is finally arriving in the Treasure Valley. Evidence can be found at Idaho Botanical Garden.
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Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Dianne’ – Witch Hazel

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Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata – catkins on Sitka Alder

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Crocus spp.

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Dwarf Iris (photo credit: Ann DeBolt)

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Onion Seed Viability, etc.

Seeds don’t remain viable forever. However, each species is different – the seeds of some species can remain viable for many years (decades even), while some species have seeds that will no longer be viable after a single year. This, of course, is something to keep in mind when planting seeds.

Recently I planted some onion seeds. I was curious to see if they would germinate because they were a few years old –  collected in 2007. My experience with onion seeds is that they germinate fairly quickly, within a week or so. However, three weeks have passed and my seeds have not yet germinated, despite being kept in moist potting soil in a sunny, warm corner of the house. This experience has led to me to think about seed viability.

Like I said, seeds of different species remain viable for different lengths of time. For vegetable gardeners, there are a variety of places to go to learn more about seed viability. Iowa State University Extension has a great chart which shows the number of years that the seeds of popular vegetable crops should remain viable. It is interesting to note that onion seeds only remain viable for one year. As it turns out, my seeds were far past their prime.

Seed storage can make a huge difference, though. Ideally, seeds should be stored in a cool, dry location. If they are exposed to too much heat or moisture, their metabolism will increase and their viability will decrease. This is because seeds are living organisms, despite appearing dead or dormant. Their metabolic processes are proceeding at an extremely slow rate,  but they are still proceeding. If metabolism increases (due to excessive heat or moisture, for example), the embryonic resources of seeds can become depleted, and viability (or germination potential) decreases.

Some sources recommend that you keep your seeds in the refrigerator, provided that they are sealed in plastic to keep them dry. Regardless, the ideal conditions for seed storage are cool and dry. I have always kept my seeds in a shoebox at room temperature (which isn’t always that cool because in the summer I refrain from using the air conditioner as much as possible). Thus, the viability of my seeds may in fact be reduced simply due to the conditions in which they are being stored.

There is a way to determine the viability of your seeds if you are curious. Just place some seeds on a moist paper towel, roll up the paper towel, and place it inside of a plastic bag. Wait a few days and then remove the paper towel from the plastic bag. Count the number of germinated seeds and divide that number by the total number of seeds originally placed on the paper towel. This will give you the germination percentage and will help you determine how many seeds to place in each hole or pot when you are planting them.

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This is the seed packet for the onion seeds that I planted. 2/15/2013 is the date that I planted them. After three weeks they had not germinated. I guess I’ll have to try some newer seeds.