Posts Tagged ‘birds’

Possible stocking stuffers for you or your loved ones? Some might not fit, though. Hopefully, you can get a hold of these at the library or go ahead and order for yourself for Christmas or just for the heck of it — hey, it’s winter in Wisconsin.

Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs – Michael A. Dirr — If you haven’t heard of Michael Dirr, you need to attend more gardening functions, he’s the king.

Perennials – Garden Handbooks — A photographic guide to more than 1,000 plants by type size, season of interest, and color

Flowering Crabapples (The Genus Malus) – Fr. John L. Fiala — “Father Fiala bring 50 years of passionate interest in the hybridization and cultivation of the ornamental crabapple to his readers.”

Growing Shrubs and Small Trees in Cold Climates – Nancy Rose, Don Selinger, and John Whitman

Trees of Wisconsin Field Guide – Stan Tekiela — Every tree lover and hiker should have this in their stocking this year. If you don’t know what the trees are in your yard – you need this field guide. (New version came out last year).

Birdscaping In The Midwest – Mariette Nowak — If you like the birdies and the beauty of native plants, you will not be able to put this down.  Absolutely knockout photos of native plants and birds.  I’ve featured this one in our “Growing With Ganshert’s” newsletter.

And if it still isn’t spring yet and you finished reading all of the above, don’t forget The Pruner’s Handbook by John Malins — It’s the Ganshert staff go-to for specific pruning questions on a particular genus or species of plant or tree.

HAPPY READING!                 THINK SPRING.  

Yes, Good Landscape Design! Oh, and Conifers aren’t Just Green Anymore

Conifers provide winter interest and gives something for the pretty snow to fall on and drape over. There are many, many more evergreen varieties that provide all shapes, sizes, and colors. So much for just forest green, add some color to your yard, even in the dead of winter!

Now there are Junipers, Arborvitae, and Cedar that provide burgundy foliage in the winter: Creeping juniper ‘Youngstown’; Arborvitae ‘Degroot’s Spire’; or White Cedar Red Star ‘Rubicon’. All of these varieties turn either bronze or plum-colored in the winter.

If you want chartreuse to add a little winter interest, choose from Sea of Gold Juniper and Sawara falsecypress ‘Lemon Thread’.

Or still like that blue-green foilage? You can go with Dwarf Alberta spruce ‘Blue Wonder’ or Dwarf Himalayan pine ‘Nana’, both with blue-green needles.

If you can’t have flowers, you might as well have color. Good design stands out in every season. Get a good designer (that’s us) and a good design that offers structure to show off winter and all its wonder and beauty. Oh, don’t forget to invite the birds. Plant conifers, shrubs with winter berries, and ornamental trees — add a birdfeeder and they will come.

Chances are if you are a gardener, you may be interested in birds, or in attracting birds to your yard.

Right now, every day, there are different birds arriving in the north from their far away winter homes in Central America, South America, Mexico. Be on the look out and get your bird feeders and water baths out.

Just this weekend, a lady who lives on the outskirts of Madison told me she has heard Baltimore Orioles on her property — that’s early for Orioles to be back, but this early warm spring weather has got the birds moving early, as well as the flowers and trees budding out a bit earlier too. I put my oriole feeder out, so expecting some beautiful orange visitors soon. The hummingbirds will be in as soon as there are mosquitoes, by the end of April for sure.

Spring flowers and leaves bring out the insects, and that brings the birds to your yard. Then of course, if you would like berries for the birds in spring, winter, or fall, there are many shrubs and trees to place in your landscape that will bring in birds all year around to feed and provide you some wintertime entertainment.

Take a look around your landscape and see where you can put in some spring flowering forsythia, crabs, magnolia, dogwoods, witch hazels.

If your yard looks boring right now, there is no reason for that. With a good designer and a good landscape plan, you will have spring, summer, fall, and winter interest. Give us a call.