Nursery Labels for Neonicotinoid Pesticides

Many of you know that bee-lovers have been pushing companies to label their plants for neonicotinoid pesticides.  Neonicotinoids are pesticides that are absorbed into the leaves and stem and other parts of the plant from the roots up.  Thus, they are less harmful for humans to use because you don't have to worry about residue or spray drift, but unfortunately they are also suspected to have a detrimental effect on helpful wildlife such as bees.

Recent studies have shown that, even though the low levels of neonicotinoids in plant nectar and pollen don't outright kill bees, it still adversely affects the bees' brains, causing them to struggle to learn and remember things.  Studies have found there is a relationship between neonicotinoid use and the Colony Collapse Disorder of bees, which has gotten so much press lately.

Check your labels!  Systemic products made by companies such as Bayer often contain
neonicotinoids, two of which are Imidacloprid and Clothianidin.

Since many gardeners certainly don't want the plants in the garden to be contributing to the death of bees, people have been petitioning the big box nurseries to label their plants for these pesticides.  I have to applaud BJ's Wholesale Club and Home Depot for stepping up (yay!).  They both have agreed to require their vendors to either stop using neonicotinoid pesticides or to label for them if they do continue to use them.

new Home Depot labels for Neonicotinoid Pesticides

I was at Home Depot the other day and got to see their new labels.  They say, "This plant is protected from problematic Aphids, Whiteflies, Beetles, Mealy Bugs and other unwanted pests by Neonicotinoids."  Wow, I am impressed with their marketing team - here I was expecting them to have a little tiny label shamefully admitting a plant had neonicotinoid pesticides, but instead they were spinning it into a positive thing!

back of the label

Most of their indoor plants had these labels.  I must say, after having battled all sorts of pest problems with my indoor plants, I rather understand why they would want to use neonicotinoids on them.  And since those plants are indoors, they aren't hurting bees.  (However, I do wonder what would happen if my plant-loving cat ate one of those plants...)

What about outdoor plants, though?  Do many of them have labels?

We don't have a lot of outdoor plants in stock yet, as it is definitely still winter up here in the Boston area.  Home Depot only had their berry plants and grapes in.  I was glad to see that most of them were not grown with neonicotinoid pesticides, though there were a couple varieties of grapes labeled for it.

I guess time will tell as to whether or not people will buy them.  Hopefully, the labels will lead people to be more cautious about buying these plants, or, at the very least, cause them to do a little research about what these pesticides are that are on their plants.

And hopefully, people will make different choices in their plant buying - putting pressure on growers to use alternative (and hopefully more wildlife-friendly) pest management.

So has anyone else seen these labels?  Or seen BJ's tags?  I am hoping some Southern gardeners can tell if many of their outdoor plants are labeled with neonicotinoid pesticides.   I am hoping, too, that other big-box stores will follow Home Depot and BJ's leadership in giving their consumers the ability to make more knowledgeable choices!  Kudos to them!

Common Backyard Birds of the Eastern US

When I first started feeding the birds a few years ago, I had no idea which birds were which.  With the Great Backyard Bird Count coming up (Feb. 13 - 16!), I thought I would post a list of birds commonly seen in yards and at feeders to help new bird watchers identify them.  

Here are ten birds that are frequently seen here in the Eastern US:

1. Chickadee

If you put out a new bird feeder, this is usually one of the first birds you will see!  This is the little round bird with the black and white head.

There are two slightly different species.  In the North, it's a Black-capped Chickadee. In the South, it's a Carolina Chickadee.  If you live in the small band in the middle where there is overlap, you'll have to look a little more closely.  The Sibley Guides website has a good article about the differences.

2. Tufted Titmouse

The Tufted Titmouse is the gray-backed bird with a little tuft of hair on top.  So cute!

3. American Goldfinch

The American Goldfinch is a small finch that comes to feeders in flocks.  In winter, they only have a little yellow on them, but in spring, the males turn flamboyantly golden yellow!

4. Northern Cardinal

Most people can spot a Northern Cardinal pretty easily. The female has more brown on its body, but still has the signature red bill, wings, tail, and crest.

5. House Finch

A male House Finch is fairly easy to spot, with a red face and chest.  The female is harder, being one of those nondescript brown birds with a brown-and-white streaked chest.  I usually can tell it's a House Finch from the beak, which is wide, much like a Cardinal's.  

(I call this the bird with the 'chompy' beak.)

6. Downy Woodpecker

One of my favorites, the common Downy Woodpecker is a teeny-tiny woodpecker that loves bird feeders.

7. White-breasted Nuthatch

Much like Woodpeckers, you will see Nuthatches scrabble up and down tree trunks.  They crane their head up at an astonishing angle and then zoom to the bird feeders.  The common White-breasted Nuthatch has a blue-gray back and a white face and breast.

8. Dark-eyed Junco

You'll often see flocks of little white-bellied Dark-eyed Juncos hopping around on the ground in search of food.

9. Mourning Dove

photo source - Wikipedia, photo by Almaden Lake

See a large bird strutting around on the ground making sad cooing sounds?  It's most likely a Mourning Dove.  

(Don't get confused!  A similar looking, though less common bird is the invasive Eurasian Collard-Dove, but it has a distinctive black 'collar' around the back of its neck.)

10. American Robin 

American Robins are large birds that you often see hopping around on lawns looking for earthworms. 

I hope that helps get some new bird watchers started!

For more visual aids, the Great Backyard Bird Count has a great list of the most common birds, and Project FeederWatch has an even more extensive chart.

So what is the most common bird in your backyard?  

Happy bird watching!

Some Very Creative Captions...

One advantage of the bare winter yard is that it's actually easier to spot wildlife.  I love seeing what the birds and critters are getting up to in the winter (well, except for when they are munching on things I don't want them to eat...)  I also loved seeing the captions these people had for the photos in my last post:

Alistair: Come on then, put out the grub!

Pam: You must have eyes like a hawk to get this picture.

Jane: Does my bum look big in this?

Pam: What IS Indie up to?

Alistair: Cooee is anyone there?

Jane: Doh! She's spotted us!

Rose: "And this, Bambi, is the best dinner buffet in town!" 

Alistair: Sniff, sniff, I asked for a nutty bagel.

Michelle: What no cream cheese?

Pam: Where's the lox?

Donna: Where's the Cream Cheese?

Jane: Nom nom, scoff, scoff

Thank you to all of you who came up with the great captions!  You guys are more creative than me!  It's a cooold day where I am, so I'm sitting inside while enjoying watching the birds swoop around the bird feeder.  I hope everyone is staying warm!

Contribute your Creative Captions!

And now for some weekend fun!  Anyone have any good captions for these photos? 

One is of a Sharp-shinned Hawk that landed on my bird feeder,

the next is part of a herd of deer that keeps coming into my back yard,

and the last is, yes, a photo of a squirrel eating a bagel

(ah, the things that go on in my yard...)

Contributed captions will be posted next week :)

Thanksgiving Started Early

The morning before Thanksgiving, I went to the grocery store to buy some last minute ingredients for our Thanksgiving meal.  However, when I returned home, I found that the feast had already started.

A whole flock of Robins had descended on my Winterberry Holly bushes and were busy gobbling up as many berries as they could get their little beaks on.  

Apparently, the Thanksgiving feast had started early this year.

There must have been around twenty birds on my two little bushes.

Of course, with so much family at the dinner table, there were bound to be a few squabbles.

As much as I couldn't begrudge the Robins their Thanksgiving feast, it was rather sad to see all the berries go even before Christmas.  Last year they were my natural holiday decorations. 

my Winterberries last December

After the horde of Robins left, only a few, sad clumps of berries remained.

What can I say?

my Winterberries this year

I guess the early bird gets all the berries!

For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving, I wish you safe travels, and a warm and happy holiday with your loved ones!  And may all of us be thankful for our blessings.

Dewberries

To the delight of my kids, Dewberry season is upon us!  In our backyard, Dewberries grow rampant in the open, sunny parts surrounding our detention pond.  Closely related to blackberries, these small berries are a little on the sour side, but still a delectable find to small children who like to roam the wild places and forage for food.

Swamp Dewberries

There are several different types of Dewberries, but in our yard we have Swamp Dewberries, Rubus hispidus.  Also called Bristly Dewberries or Swamp Blackberries, they are native to the Eastern half of the U.S. and Canada.  This Dewberry plant is a low-growing, trailing vine that is covered in prickly hairs and spreads to form a low groundcover.

As indicated by the name, the Swamp Dewberry likes swampy places.  They are frequently found on the edge of wetlands (such as my detention pond).  In early summer, the plants are covered in white flowers, small but pretty.

As with so many native berrying plants, Dewberries are beloved by wildlife.  Native bees use the leaves for nesting material, and the flowers attract many different kinds of bees, small butterflies, and other assorted creatures in search of pollen and nectar.

Honeybee on Dewberry flower

The berries that result from the pollinated flowers are an important source of food for a large variety of songbirds and gamebirds.  Small animals such as chipmunks, mice, and raccoons also eat Dewberries.  The leaves of the Dewberry plant are also eaten by rabbits and deer.

a tiny bee on the Dewberry flower

I honestly would not grow Dewberries in a garden setting, as it spreads quite rapidly and would become weedy and take over.  If one needed a groundcover for a large wild area, however, this would do the trick.  Dewberries are one of those pioneer plants that are first to reestablish after a fire or after an area has been cleared.  They prevent erosion of soil and establish conditions for other, larger plants to move in.

I am glad to have a lot of Dewberries in the backyard, however.  I like having plants for the enjoyment of wildlife, as well as for the enjoyment of two (sometimes wild) children!

Happy Wildflower Wednesday!  

To see native wildflowers growing in other bloggers' yards, visit Clay and Limestone's site.

The Local Characters

This is Norman, our local groundhog (aka R.O.U.S.).

Norman thinks that our front yard is his own little private kingdom.

I'm honestly okay with that, as long as he sticks with the clover field (aka lawn) in the front and stays away from the garden.  Hopefully, Norman never realizes there is a veggie garden in the back yard...

The local deer do not get names.

I'm hoping they are just passing through.

The bunnies do not get names either.

They do not deserve it.

Stop eating my poor little Aster!!

Mr. and Mrs. Wren have taken up residence at the Red House Garden.  They are an adventurous sort.  Instead of going with the oh-so-nice, hand built luxury birdhouses we put out for them, they decided to raise their young in the top of our propane tank.

They have successfully raised and fledged three baby Wrens.  I found this out when I was out watering the garden, and Mr. and Mrs. Wren started furiously chattering at me.  I looked down and realized I was watering their three little babies.  (Oops, sorry!)

one of the baby wrens in the top of our propane tank

I just hope they don't run into George.  George is our 6-foot-long Black Racer Snake. I don't have a picture of him - thankfully he does, indeed, race away from us.  The moment we met George (sunning himself on our garage door step), we realized why we have never seen a single solitary frog or lizard in our yard.

The same day we met George, we met Harry the Spider.  Harry was in our garage at the time.  If you listen to Mr. Red House's version, Harry looks something like this, just hairier:

photo source

I assure you, he was a tad smaller.

Living in our yard, we also have Chester the chipmunk.  He usually hangs out in a drainpipe under our rain barrel.

I think Chester likes that spot because it is close to the garage.  And if the garage is open for any length of time, you can pretty much bet on finding a scene like this:

a chipmunk very guiltily sitting on a bag of birdseed

So there you go, that's the round-up of local characters here at the Red House Garden, other than a motley assortment of birds that hang out near the bird feeder.

Let's not talk about the squirrel.

Common Milkweed

With the great migration of Monarch butterflies in serious danger of becoming extinct, I knew I needed to have milkweed in my new garden.  I started seeds, ordered seedlings, and ended up with a few dozen milkweed plants clustered around the garden.   Apparently I didn't need to worry so much about planting milkweed - while exploring the back wild edge of our property, I found that Mother Nature had beaten me to the punch!

cluster of milkweed flowers, starting to bloom

I found an entire stand of Asclepias syriaca, otherwise known as Common Milkweed, in my back yard.

The pollinators were in love.

I'm just going to lie here and drink some nectar...

I had never smelled Common Milkweed flowers before.  Beautifully fragrant, they smell like lilacs to me.

The nickname of Common Milkweed shows how plentiful it used to be.  This plant was considered a terribly fast-growing, hard-to-control weed by farmers (and still is, oftentimes).  

One of the few herbicides that works on it is glyphosate (known often under the brand Roundup), which one of the reasons why Roundup-ready crops were so welcome by farmers.  Finally this weed and many others could be easily gotten rid of with what (at the time) seemed like minimal impact on the environment...

In 1996, 3% of corn and 7.4% of soybeans grown in the US were herbicide-tolerant.  By 2013, 85% of corn and 93% of soybeans were herbicide-tolerant, much of it grown in the Midwest, the corridor of Monarch migration.  Of course, the increase in herbicides led to a sharp decline of milkweed...

...which led to a sharp decline in the population of Monarch butterflies.  I'm sure other wildlife populations are affected, as well (and we won't even go into the evolution of Roundup-resistant weeds that are now spreading.)

Skipper butterfly on Milkweed

It is interesting how many plants we think of as weeds, really turn out to be important in the ecosystem.

A noxious weed to farmers that invades their crops and can affect their livelihood?  A necessary plant to survival for a butterfly?  It is hard to strike balance when talking about this one small but impactful plant, but it certainly can't be healthy to lose such large numbers of wildlife.

So I will do a little gardener's dance at the fact that I have Common Milkweed weeding it up in the back yard and plant a few more milkweed seedlings in the front.  I haven't seen any Monarchs yet..

...but I want to be ready for them and any other native wildlife that might need a helping hand.