Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Freedom Park Garden Update, Spring 2009



Freedom Park Bird and Butterfly Garden Spring Update

Water, water everywhere..........And all our plants do drink…………Rime of the Atlanta Gardener

Birds and Buds and Butterflies…..What a wonderful spring! The birds are singing, the butterflies are fluttering and buds are blooming at the garden.

Big Birds at Garden…A Pileated Woodpecker was seen near the garden by neighbor Jim Satcher. Yes, Jim saw the crest. The bird was in an oak tree digging for food under some dead bark. Jim also reports that in late May “a huge hawk landed in one of the oaks (in the garden) and proceeded to eat something, a bird I believe. The mockingbirds and robins attacked him over and over.” Jim had also put up a bluebird house in his front yard across from the garden last year and reports, ”the bluebirds have hatched one brood and are in the process of hatching their second right now. It is neat because the female basically sits up enough that she can just stick her head out of the birdhouse any time she wants. Like a dog out a car window. I also have had two robin nests this year.” Other birds at the garden, in addition to the usual suspects, a pair of Chipping Sparrows in the garden and a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers nearby.

Butterfly News……The latest butterfly to be seen at the garden is an American Painted Lady, Vanessa Virginians (See attachment 1). Despite its beauty the American Painted Lady is often underappreciated because it is so common. It usually flies near the ground and is best seen in the early morning or on cool days. This painted lady is fond of open, sunny and disturbed locations. (Floridata.com) These butterflies range from central and southern Canada, south through Florida and Mexico (www.Marietta.edu/~biol). They are cold tolerant and are likely to over winter in the north as adults. (National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies)

Native plants blooming this spring have included Piedmont Azalea, Crossvine, and Fringed Bleeding Heart, all of which are attractive to the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which, by the way, arrives here around March 15 and departs on November 13 (www.birdingadventuresinc.com). Other bloomers include Thrift, Stokes Aster, St John’s Wort, Celandine Poppy, Milkweed, ( See attachment 2) Wine Cups, Virginia Bluebells and even those Green and Gold plants we thought would never rise again! And then we have--------

The Color Purple......In April Phil Edwards, Master Gardener and Co-Coordinator of the garden, scattered some larkspur seeds in the butterfly area of the garden and that burst of purple flowers is the result. Larkspur, Delphinium L., is a herbaceous perennial native to the eastern United States. They prefer full sun, average soil and medium humidity. Some species of this plant can be toxic if eaten. They are self seeding. Larkspur have some food and cover value for birds. They're also attractive to butterflies, including the Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor. Some Delphinium species are used as food plants by the larvae of some species of Lepidoptera. The plants are pollinated by bees and butterflies. In herbal medicine its reported that the seeds can be used against parasites, lice and nits in the hair. Larkspur has been thought to have been an effective treatment for eye diseases. A blue ink can be made from the juice of the flowers mixed with alum. It once was used to keep witches from the stables In Transylvania, probably because of its dark color. Its scientific name is the Latin for dolphin, for the shape of the opening flower. (www.Wikipedia.com, www.Mobot.org, National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies.)

Spring planting……A few days ago Phil Edwards put in several new plants including Jewelweed, Bronze Fennel, Helen Campbell Cleome, pink Muhly Grass and “Gay Butterflies” Butterfly Weed. Earlier this spring we put in 3 Witch-hazel, 3 Florida Anise and another Winterberry, thanks to Greg Levine at Trees Atlanta.

Fall 2008 Planting….During the second week of November, 2008, students from the Challenge (gifted) Classes at Mary Lin Elementary School put forty new native plants into the garden with the help of Master Gardeners Phil Edwards, Mike Doyle, Loretta Parker and Stella Chamberlain, and teachers, Krystal Manning and Dr. Frank Smith, . Pictures of the students from that day have been added to the Audubon webpage on the garden at www.atlantaaudubon.org/aaswww/conservation/freedompark.htm. The week after we put the plants in the temperature went down to 27 degrees and we were quite worried, but. this spring we found we had lost some plants but not as many as we’d feared.

Path of Glory………We’re working toward building a pathway through the garden so that there might be better access to the markers we’ve been putting by the native plants. Thanks to Matt Wilder, Senior Associate at Eccos Environmental Design, Inc., and member of the Freedom Park Improvement Committee, who came over to the garden several times to help us develop a plan. Matt also brought Shawn Case over to see the garden. Shawn is the Director of Business Development at Ed Castro Landscaping and may be able to help us with some materials for the path.

So all-in-all.....things are going well. And may the rains continue!

PS: If you’d like to be added to the email list for our quarterly garden update please email me at cvanderschaaf@bellsouth.net If you want to be removed from this list please hit reply/send. And, btw, the garden is a joint project of the Atlanta Audubon Society and the DeKalb Master Gardener Association and is located at the corner of North Ave., and Candler Park Drive, about a mile east of the Carter Library
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Carol Vanderschaaf, Co-Coordinator