Pittsburgh Certified Wildlife Habitat

Monday, May 14, 2018

Cleaning up

Since I got back from my vacation in Gatlinburg and Nashville I have been trying to catch up on weeding and cleaning the yard up. It has rained everyday since my return but in between the showers I get as much done as possible. Today I managed to wade into the pond and pull out all of the cat tails pickerel weed and Iris. I found a lot of my waterlilies have overgrown their pots and were rooted into the mess I pulled out. I learned a valuable lesson in all of this chaos. Leave plants in pots or tubs when in a pond otherwise they take over the entire pond. I have everything separated into nice sized healthy clumps and cleaned up all the dead parts. I rinsed off any snails or critters and have everything sitting in buckets for people from the Next Door Neighborhood web site to come pick up.
The pond looks so different with everything pulled out I also added fresh clean lava rock to my bog area to help in the filtering of my pond. Waste and particles flow through the rock and get trapped in it and then it gets absorbed and broken down further by the plant roots in the lava rock . It will probably take a few days to clear the water up because everything has been disturbed but it will be easier to maintain now that I have potted plants and added the lava rock.

The pond has been cleared out and is starting to get a new cleaner look.

These are just a few of the plants I removed and have to give away to other pond owners in the neighborhood.

This area had a ton of weeds and grass about three feet tall now it has been cleaned up so the plants I want can start to grow more.

I cleaned this area up before leaving for vacation and when I returned it needed cleaned up again. This is at the front of my wildlife habitat and it needs to have plants that people recognize as gardening plants. I read all the time about people having wildlife habitats and their neighbors or authorities complain that they need to remove or cut down the plants they have because they think of them as weeds. To avoid this I put some non native run of the mill garden variety of plants in my front yard and along the front of the wildlife habitat so they enjoy the plants they know while in the back ground I get to have the native plants I want.

A cutting I started of my Beauty of Moscow Lilac. I started this before I went on vacation and it is looking good.

The first of my roses to open. These are all along the top of the front stone wall to keep the kids from climbing on it.

My white flowering dog wood tree. I got back just in time to see it still in bloom.

Beauty of Moscow Lilac. This is planted at the corner of my front porch and I have another one next to the entrance to my vegetable garden on the opposite side of my house from the wildlife habitat next to my shed.

Lilacs at the front of my front porch. I trim these back every year as soon as the flowers fade so they have time to produce new flower buds for the next year.

Iris at the entry to the church parking lot next door. These used to be along my front porch where the lilacs are now.

Iris and Dwarf Alberta Spruce at the sunny side of my front porch I planted some climbing rose in the back of this border but so far it has not done much.

Re blooming lilac

Another re blooming lilac.

White re blooming iris.

Iris

Salvia

Painted daisy getting ready to bloom.

Columbine

I decided to try a new type of Hosta.

Sweet Shrub. I love this it smells like strawberry when it is in bloom.

Sweet shrub again. the flowers are not real showy but they make up for it with their smell.

Violet Freckles.

Violet Freckles

Bleeding hart. this was blooming when I left on my vacation and is still in bloom.

Lily of the Valley . This is another flower that fills the air with scent that is intoxicating.

Ferns always add to the look of a wooded and natural look of any area.

Coral Bells.

This is a grass that was given to me from a friend for my pond. I had it in a pot and it still spread out through the pond. I have forgotten its name but I learned through internet searches that it is invasive and causes a lot of problems in the great lakes.

Chives in a planter. These come back every year and if I am not carefull they self seed in the yard.

These are native Blue flag iris that I started from seed they have not flowered yet but I hope they will this year.

Centaurea this is also called mountain bluet and bachelor button along with being called Knap weed and many other common names that are also used for other plants.

Lupine started from Seed 2 years ago.

Lupine. This was supposed to be mixed colors but I think I am going to end up with all purple.

Fritillaria going to seed.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Bambi is out of control.

This year the deer have really been tearing my yard up. The plants they do not eat the trample all over. I tried putting barricades up and surrounding plants with tomato cages but it does not stop them. I am also told that the neighbors have been complaining that there are coyote living in the neighborhood and a lot of people think because I have a wildlife habitat that I am to blame. I live between a wooded area and River View Park. There are a lot of areas they can be living and hiding but its not in my little tiny wildlife habitat. I have not seen any coyote tracks in my yard but the place is torn up every morning from the deer. They must think my wildlife habitat sign say all you can eat salad bar. I sat out one day with the neighbor and we watched the deer across the street waiting for me to leave the front yard so they could come over. When they figured I was not moving they ended up going down the block and crossing behind the church. I counted 14 before a friend came by and I had to stop counting.
My first peony opened today and there are a ton ready to open. My Flowering Cherry is getting ready to flower along with the crab apple trees. I planted some lady slipper orchids that are starting to poke up through the soil and a few other native orchids that were already established bare root plants. My jack in the pulpit that I planted last year never did anything but this year I have two that are about 3 inches tall right now at first I thought they were trillium but they have different leaves. I also have some new Lenten rose coming up. I do not think its going to bloom for a few years. they are very small and were started just last year. I just placed some Mountain Laurel Seed in moist peat and put it in the refrigerator to try and stratify them. Mountain Laurel is the state flower and I would love to cover the back part of the hillside with it. the flowers are amazing and they would really help establish a native feel to my wildlife habitat. Will try to start posting some photos soon.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Still hope to grow native orchids in my habitat and around my pond.

I really want to grow Lady Slipper Orchids in my wildlife habitat. The more I looked into doing this the more I realized its not going to be easy. Most orchid experts recommend that growing them from seed is almost impossible without lab conditions. I know they grow in the wild on their own so I am hoping it will work for me if I meet the requirements they have in the wild. I went to a friends and raked some leaves in the woods behind them. I need leaf mold to meet the conditions they would have in the wild. I will plant one packet of seed directly outside. I will try to grow the other pack of seeds in a flask like they grow them in a laboratory. If all else fails I also bought some bare root lady slipper orchids. They are very small but I will probably have a better chance of getting them to grow. There are around 50 orchids that are native to Pennsylvania and I am hoping to get a few different types to grow in my wild life habitat area.

I tried to save my tulips this year by putting tomato cages around them but the deer still got them. They come back every year but as soon as they send up a flower spike the deer get them. I hope that the native plants I have been adding will still make the yard look good for spring. My wildlife habitat is not all native plants and most people think you have to use all native plants. This is not true as long as they are not invasive species and as long as they help provide the element essential for wildlife to thrive. These elements are food, water, cover or hiding places, shelter and places for wildlife to raise their young. A wild life habitat can be as small as a balcony garden or as large as you want. It could be as simple as a butterfly habitat that has milkweed and other plants that attract butterflies. For water you could put sand in a shallow dish and just keep it wet the butterflies will be able to get moisture from the wet sand as well as minerals and salts in the sand. Cover would be under plant leaves for Monarch butterflies you will need milk weed because that is where the monarch lays its eggs and it is the only plant the caterpillars eat. The flowers will provide nectar for the adults. Butterflies like flat open flowers because it is easier for them to get nectar from. Finally for shelter you can use a butterfly box or make one there are all kinds of instructions and videos on line showing how to make them.

I am excited about my garden this year and after putting in a shed and more hardscaping last year along with a new water spigot I think its going to be easier to get plants to grow on the sunny side of the house. I am also going to build some raised beds by the shed to grow vegetables. I already have started to collect seeds and have some asparagus. I want the typical plants like tomatoes onions peppers but I also want to try some other stuff like fennel dill and other herbs. I have strawberries rhubarb and blue berries along with some red currant that I started from seed that are still very small but if I move them to the raised beds they will probably grow faster. I think I also need to fence everything in because people are cutting through my yard and killing a lot of the plants on my hillside.

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Anxiety Sets In.

Like most other Gardeners I am feeling the anxiety of another season of gardening, I have so many ideas and plans that I want to do this year and I can not wait to get started. I am also feeling the thrill of seeing some of the things I started in past years as they begin to establish themselves and hope they will bloom. I planted some cherry tree cuttings a few tears ago and they have blossomed for the first time this year. I I am hoping that my Nelumbo Lutea, and my Blue Flag Iris will bloom in my pond this year also. I planted them from seed two years ago and am trying to be patient about waiting for the flowers. I see a lot of back yard ponds and they all usually look the same. They have the same plants and the same look. I want my pond to feel natural and hope to incorporate as many native species of plants as possible. Right now the pond is still looking like the typical back yard pond and I am trying to break away from that. I have a small yard so the pond itself is not very big it has a small bog area in the back corner of the yard. This has a slight fall into the main pond area that contains most of the plants and fish.The main pond then has a waterfall that spills into an old preformed pond liner that used to be the entire pond. This lowest pond houses some fish a few water lilies plants on the preformed ledges and stones stacked to create the waterfall. I have tried some ideas that have worked out well and I have had some that turned out not to be such good ideas. I have found out this past year that I made a mistake of removing some of my plants from their containers and planted them directly in the pond. Once the weather breaks I will have to go into the pond to pull them out separate them and put them back into pots. The cattails are crowding out the other plants and taking up most of the back of the pond. They have grown into the iris and are choking out the pickerel weed. I have also decided that this year I will not be using any water hyacinth or water lettuce. They are to typical of back yard ponds and are tropical plants that do not belong in my pond. I am also thinking of getting rid of a lot of the water lilies to make room for the Lotus that I started 2 years ago. I have already started to find other pond owners to give plants to rather than just throw them out. I am also planning to grow more pitcher plants and even some orchids in my bog area. I bought some pitcher plants last year and it looks like they my have wintered over ok so I will try some more. I have ordered some Yellow Lady Slipper Orchids that I want to plant at the edge of the pond and hope to find some Showy Lady Slippers (Cypripedium reginae ) to plant in the bog. The Showy Lady Slippers are more rare and harder to find but I have found a reputable dealer that I hope will be able to supply me with some this year. Another plant I am looking forward to around the back edge of the pond will be Jack in the Pulpit.