Springtime in Virginia

If a picutre is worth a thousand words... then here is my essay on springtime in Virginia:

April Wildflowers

        A few spring wildflowers are now in bloom here in central Virginia.  These ephemerels bloom briefly while sun penetrates the forest floor before leaves emerge and the tree canopy shades the woods.

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis

 

Named for the red sap in the root, the plant was used medicinally and as a dye by Native Americans.  It is still being used in cancer research.

Bloodroot closes at night and on cloudy days.

 

 

Cutleaf Toothwort, Dentaria laciniata

Native Americans made a poultice from the roots to treat headaches

 

 

Ginger, Hexastylis shuttleworthii

Most gingers have heart-shaped leaves.   The flowers are hidden on the ground underneath the leaves.

 

 



Trout Lily, Erythronium americana





 

Virginia Bluebells, Mertensia virginica

       To see these and other spring wildflowers, go for a walk in the park.  James River Parks, Robious Landing and Powhatan State Park are among the places to see wildflowers in April.  Look, but do not touch.  Never pick wildflowers -- some take years for the seeds to germinate.  Others depend on a fungus in the soil -- if you dig them up they most likely cannot grow in your garden.  Take photographs but do NOT take flowers.

Get Ready for Hummingbirds

 

What makes the world’s smallest bird such a huge pleasure for us to observe?  Is it the tiny size?  They weigh about the same as a nickel.   Or is it the way they dart about that makes them so entertaining?  After all, they can easily fly forward, backward and sideways.  They are so darn cute we all enjoy having them around. 

April marks the return of hummingbirds to the Richmond area.  After a winter in Mexico and Panama, hummingbirds make their way back to our area.  Unlike many migratory  birds, they do not migrate in flocks.   Instead, a staggered  schedule of departures continues for several weeks.  Males and females travel separately.  During the journey, hummingbirds must travel about 500 miles over water to cross the Gulf of Mexico, which they do in about 22 hours.   The migration process is completed around mid-May.  With all that time and distance to cover, no wonder they arrive so hungry!

Food Sources

Early blooming columbine is an excellent nectar source for hummingbirds arriving in early spring.  Bee Balm is another native favorite.  Hummingbirds sip nectar from tubular or bell-shaped flowers, making petunias and salvias good choices for attracting the birds.  In fact, the tiny birds visit several thousand flowers in a single day.  With no sense of smell, hummingbirds are visually attracted to red but will seek any color flower that provides nectar. People often add red food coloring to their hummingbird feeder solution but the dye is not necessary to attract the birds and some sources say it can be harmful.  A simple solution of four parts water to one part table sugar is the rule of thumb for making your own nectar.  Keeping the feeder clean is very important.  Use warm water and a soft brush rather than harsh chemicals to clean your feeder.

Nesting

         After the long migratory flight, eating is the first priority but nesting follows close behind.  As hummingbirds are solitary birds, building the nest and raising the young is the female’s job, with no involvement or support from the male.  The female chooses a safe location before gathering soft plant material, moss and lichen.  Gathering nest material takes about four hours a day, with up to 34 trips an hour.  The female then uses spider web to bind it all together. Nest building requires nearly a week. The finished nest is about the size of a quarter. 

          Hummingbirds usually lay two eggs, which hatch in about two to three weeks. The white eggs are pea-sized.  Hummingbirds feed their young nestlings a regurgitated “soup” of nectar and insects.  The chicks are ready to leave the nest in about 20 days.  What an exhausting process for one parent!

Watching Hummingbirds

Nectar feeders are a great way to enjoy watching these jeweled beauties this summer.  You must keep your feeders clean and filled to keep the birds happy.  Place several feeders in your yard to prevent a pesky male from dominating a feeder and keeping other birds away.  You can also attract them by planting hummingbird favorites such as monarda, cannas, columbine, cypress vine, petunia, salvia, hosta, and impatiens.  You should avoid using pesticides on hummingbird plants.  In the Richmond area, be on the lookout for Ruby-throated, Rufous and Allen’s Hummingbirds. 

These hungry hummers couldn't wait for me to hang a fresh feeder

 

 

 

Book Review: Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon

I wasn’t a great student earlier in my life but now have an intense desire to “connect the dots.”  As a gardener, I want to understand how and why plants are the way they are.  There are no coincidences in the plant world – absolutely everything happens for a reason.  So when I finally “dig” deeper into learning, I appreciate those connections.  And the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.  That’s why Botany for Gardeners is such a useful book.  The author doesn’t assume the reader knows a lot about the subject so he gives you pertinent information, and then he proceeds to connect the dots. 

As gardeners we know the basics about insects pollinating plants.  It is the plant and insect interaction, or partnership that is so fascinating.  Capon covers the topic from the cunning flower’s perspective.  Flowers entice insects by offering them nectar.  Some flowers lure insects with aroma.  Other flowers market their goods to insects by advertising bright colors.  Those brilliant red poinsettia bracts are a come-on to attract pollinators to those few tiny yellow flowers located in their centers.  Some plants have striped markings or lines of dots that serve as guides, like arrows,  to show a bee exactly where to score nectar.  Long, tubular flowers beat the competition by attracting special pollinators with really long tongues or proboscises.  Plants that bloom at night cleverly attract moths for pollination.  All the flowers’ diverse strategies lead to a single purpose -- reproduction.

Now the whole flower /insect/ pollen business really starts to heat up.  We all know pollen develops on a plant’s anthers but the process doesn’t stop there.  A single grain of pollen contains two cells.  Then things get a bit tricky.  One cell divides and becomes two sperm.  The other cell, from the same grain of pollen, takes on a different role.  It grows into a long tube to carry the sperm cells to the plant’s ovule, where reproduction takes place.  Bottom line: there is a lot more to those innocent looking flowers than meets the eye. 

Okay, maybe I have misled you.  The book isn’t all about reproduction.  Capon also provides readers with great information and illustrations of seed germination, cellular structure and growth, adaptation and much more.  He presents botany in way that is easier for a gardener like me to understand without reading the text book version.  And, Capon helps me connect the dots along the way. You will find this a useful book to add to your gardening library.

Winter Survival

 

                Transitioning from the abundance of summer’s bounty to the stark depths of winter’s chill, Mother Nature has equipped her creatures with various means of survival.   Migration, hibernation, adaptation – every creature, large or small, has a way to bide its time through the extremes of winter until spring returns with warmth, provisions and a new beginning.

Migration

            Shorter days and cooler nights trigger hormones that cue migratory birds to head south to winter breeding grounds where food is more abundant.  Many warblers,  grosbeaks, flycatchers, waterfowl, sparrows and shorebirds head south to destinations such as Texas, Mexico, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.   To prepare for the long flight, they must eat to bulk up, with some birds increasing fat stores by as much as 50 percent.  Many of these birds rest during the day and travel at night.  Hummingbirds winter in Central America, from Mexico to Panama.  These tiny birds fly by day but must cross the Gulf of Mexico without stopping.  This seems like an arduous trek until you consider the Arctic tern, which migrates from the Arctic to the Antarctic coast, a 40,000 to 50,000 mile trip.   

Hibernation

            In Virginia, woodchucks and black bears hibernate.  After bulking up in the fall, they sleep away the winter in a warm den, undergoing a decreased heart rate and body temperature.  Fat store keep them alive.  Bats hibernate in caves or trees.  Chipmunks are reported to hibernate but actually rely on food stored in their burrows so that can remain underground and inactive during winter. 

Adaptation

            Some animals adapt to cold weather by growing a thicker coat of fur and bulking up.  Others, such as squirrels, spend more time in the nest, coming out only to recover food supplies hoarded during warmer weather.  Opossums may sleep more and eat less, and may forage during the day instead of night to take advantage of warmer temperatures.  As omnivores, flexible eating habits enable raccoons to eat acorns, berries or any available food source during winter.  A thick winter coat and the ability to sleep for weeks in a warm den also help raccoons cope with winter weather. 

Reptiles

            Reptiles do not hibernate.  Brumation or torpor is the dormant state cold-blooded reptiles resort to in order to cope with cold weather.  Snakes may find a protected burrow or rocky area in which to sleep during winter, but they don’t rely on fat stores like animals that hibernate.  On an unseasonably warm day, a snake may wander out of hiding, warm up in the sun and catch a meal before returning to safety and  sleep. 

            Some frogs and toads find a winter home underground or beneath leaf litter or logs.  Here they sleep away the winter months in a dormant state with a very low metabolism.  Others lower their metabolism while remaining under water.  Water, rich in oxygen, provides them the oxygen they need to survive. 

Insects

            Honey bees cluster together to keep  warm in the hive.  Some adult insects, such as the praying mantis, die but their eggs survive and hatch in spring.  Bumble bee colonies die with the exception of a single fertile queen, who seeks shelter and overwinters in a dormant state until spring arrives and she can create a new colony.  Some butterflies, like many insects, find shelter in a woodpile or other crevice and enter diapauses, a suspended state of “sleep.”

Humans

            This species shows impressive adaptability at overwintering.  Some migrate to condos in Florida for the winter, traveling by day or night.  Others bulk up and become dormant with a steady diet of televised sports.  Some hibernate, consume quantities of hot chocolate and read gardening magazines and seed catalogs in preparation for spring’s arrival.   

Organic Grub Control

      Scolia dubia is also known as the "Blue-winged Wasp."  It is easily identified by the two yellow spots on its abdomen.  Shown above feeding on the nectar of an African basil plant, these wasps are common during summer months.  They hunt for beetle grubs in your soil to paralyze with a sting, lay an egg on, and re-bury in the ground, ensuring that the offspring will be well-fed.  Blue-winged wasps often prey on grubs of pests such as green June beetles and Japanese beetles.  The wasps are not aggressive although the female can sting in self defense. In addition to pollinating plants in our gardens, they also keep in check the grubs growing in our lawns.