Sunday, August 22, 2010

Freedom Park Garden Summer Update, August, 2010





The garden is continuing to grow and mature, but a little more rain could surely help. Mostly, we’ve been trying to keep the bird bath full and doing a little weeding- that thanks to Diane Shellack and Lake Claire’s Dorothy Dabbs and Bob Sattermeyer as well as Candler Park’s Meta Larsson.

Lots of things have been blooming this spring and summer: the St. John’s Wort, the Wild Senna, the Gaura and the Cardinal Flowers as well as the Black Eyed Susans. We’ve got lots of food for lots of birds: the American Beautyberries are full of berries and the Purple Coneflowers have copious seeds.

Berries of the American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana L) are about to turn juicy purple(bottom pictured above). Robins, towhees, mockingbirds, mourning doves, catbirds, and bluebirds will soon be feasting on them. And watch out because sometimes the birds get quite drunk on the overly ripe berries. For people recipes, young pokeweed leaves can be boiled three times to reduce the toxin, discarding the water after each boiling. The result is known as poke salit, or poke salad. Other uses for the Pokeweed berries have been as an ink, a dye, and as a coloring agent in wine. Grated pokeroot was used by Native Americans as a poultice to treat inflammations. Pokeweed is indigenous to North America, and grows to be 10 feet tall. It can be propagated by replanting pieces of root or by reseeding, but it usually does pretty well on its own-all too well some may say.

The bluebird box has been used at least once by the Eastern Bluebird family and the usual suspects continue to visit the garden: Blue jays, American Robins, House Finches and Chipping Sparrows. Red-headed Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches are often heard nearby. A pair of Green Herons, a Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, an American Goldfinch and a Cooper’s Hawk have been spotted within less than a quarter mile from the garden (we only take credit for seeing them, not attracting them-our bird bath isn’t big enough for the herons).

The American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), by the way, is a year round resident in north Georgia. The male in breeding plummage is bright yellow with black wings and a black patch on its forehead. Some people call it the Wild Canary. Goldfinches nest later than other birds, waiting until wild thistle down becomes available for nest building. The female builds the often watertight nest and does most of the sitting as well. They have 1 brood a year of 4-6 eggs. If you put up a Niger feeder and you’re lucky you’ll get some of these perky little guys and gals in your yard. To see, hear and get a more complete description of the Goldfinch please paste this link to your browser: http://allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/id

The latest butterfly to visit the garden is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), also Georgia resident. Its very recognizable with its bright yellow body and black stripes,(top picture above). Females can also come in a dark morph. This very common butterfly ranges from Alaska to Florida. Its favorite nector plants include Purple Coneflower, Butterfly Weed, Liatris and Zinnias, all of which we have in the garden. The ubiquitous Tulip Tree is one of its larval host plants.

Extra, extra! Its almost fall and time to think about two things, migration and fall planting. You can satisfy your migration lust by taking part in the Atlanta Audubon Society ’s fall migration walks. Information can be found at http://www.atlantaaudubon.org Click on Field Trips. And for your planting pangs, check out Atlanta Audubon’s 2010 Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Tour on the same website. Its being held in the Buckhead area on Saturday, September 11, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Charles Seabrook and John Yow will bee there signing their recent books. And if you’re still panting about planting check out the website for the DeKalb Botanical Garden at Georgia Perimeter College: http://www.gpc.edu/~decbt/ to find out when they’re holding their native plant sales and garden talks and walks. The first one is on September 1st.