Category: Newsletters and Member Articles

I feed birds year round but I’m sure some “experts” will disagree with this practice. Providing food and water attracts a variety of birds that delight me with their presence, particularly in the winter. Remember that you will be taking on the responsibility for feeding these birds throughout the winter and early spring. They will come to depend on you since their natural food supply is limited. There are many different types of feeders on the market. Plastic, steel, or glass feeders are best since they are easy to clean. Feeders with porous surfaces, such as wood or clay, can be difficult to clean and can grow algae and fungi that may be harmful to some birds. Diseases such as salmonella can spread at feeders, especially where seeds and droppings mix. Ground-feeding birds, such as doves and finches, are especially vulnerable. To reduce the risk of disease, clean your  feeders…

By Andy Crossland, ACMG You have pruned, fertilized, watered, sprayed, and weeded since spring. Your efforts have been rewarded with blossoms that no artist can do justice. Most gardeners “do not go easily into that dark night” of winter but try to prolong the growing season. Do your neighbors look out the window to see what that “crazy gardener next door” is doing in the yard covering the plants on the first few nights that frost is predicted? Eventually we all give in to the futility of trying to keep winter at bay. We need a rest, and so do our roses. If we do not want to treat our roses as annuals, we have some work to do before we settle down with the catalogs that bring dreams of next year’s triumphs. Just as we deadhead to prevent the rose from setting hips (seeds) we can now send a…