Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
RESPONSIBILITY IN THE BACKYARD June/July, 2012 issue Last year, I had the pleasure of speaking to a horticultural conference on backyard naturalization at Peterborough’s Trent University. It is a subject that I have groomed and nurtured over the years and is also one which has evolved into a popular six-week course that I teach each winter. It was an exhilarating experience to share the enthusiasm of this group in maintaining their properties the natural way, and listen to the thoughts and experiences of the over 70 in attendance. When my wife and I first moved to our lot 35 years ago, there was not a tree or a shrub anywhere on the property. It was, in fact, the corner where two agricultural fields met – one with timothy hay, the other a field of oats, both yet to be harvested. We wanted birds and other wildlife, just like we had when we lived at the original farmstead – stately trees, conifers, shrubs and bushes, and all the associated wildlife we had come to enjoy. We needed to get started right away with an intense planting program as we were not getting any younger. The fellow at the nursery told me the tree I was now staring at was a native red maple. It seemed like a good place to start. It shouldn’t take much to guess what that thing evolved into! Our little red maple became a Norway maple, a non-native tree species frowned upon these days due to its invasive nature. A few years later, I went to another nursery and determined to have only native trees and shrubs on our property, inquired about locusts as I knew they grew fast, and fast growing trees were what we were seeking. We were advised to get honey locusts. We purchased not one, but three, honey locusts. Honey locusts, while native to southwestern Ontario, are not native to here. Their more familiar cousins, black locusts, are even further removed, native only to mid-eastern United States. To add insult to injury, in the 20 years we have had these “native” locusts, they have attracted virtually nothing except occasional perching birds, and the autumn crop of 12-inch long seed pods allegedly consumed by rabbits and deer, although I have yet to see either under its branches. Mostly, it attracts me, every autumn, as I rake up wheelbarrow loads of seed pods. However, we decided that while honey locusts were as useless as……well, you know the rest of the phrase…., they did add to the overall effect of what we were attempting to create. We learned right away quick that “native” was often just a generic term used by growers – a current buzz word that could be put to use as a marketing tool, much the same as “green” or “natural” or “organic”. We learned to believe nothing until we researched. From those two oversights, we did more research on native plants, comfortable in the knowledge that the only real mistake in life is the one from which we learn nothing. Today, most of our two acres is a forest of native trees and shrubs, including silver maple, white ash, white spruce, serviceberries, honeysuckles, currents, gooseberries, and grey dogwood. We still throw in a few non-native shrubs now and again to justify why we have a clump of lilacs (I heard that catbirds love to nest in them). From the days when our lot was so open that killdeers even appeared nervous to remain on our property, we now have a list of over 100 species that have visited our yard, 23 of which decided that our efforts were worthy enough of nesting. Among the nesters have been brown thrashers, catbirds, chickadees, eastern bluebirds, yellow warblers, and our first warbling vireos nested in the now stately silver maples just last year. We learned from our experience that non-native trees and ornamentals are okay when planted sparingly. Not only to they contribute to the overall effect, but they provide a haven for insects which, of course, provide a food source for birds. I remember spending many an hour on our farmstead, with my binoculars aimed into the foliage of our three weeping willows as migrating warblers feasted on the emerging insect larvae. And the lowly red cedar that grew like so many weeds on our farm, was actually capable of attracting birds too, cedar waxwings and robins feeding on the berries, while chipping sparrows and mourning doves nested in its boughs. And the Norway maple on our lot? We now sit in our lawn chairs under it, gazing in wonderment on our success in attracting wildlife to our premises. Above us, robins nest in the branches, and on winter days, the tree provides the necessary limbs to hang our feeders, while above both downy and hairy woodpeckers probe for overwintering insect larvae. What a treat now to spend any free time we have, watching these trees and shrubs, and decades of hard work, finally pay off. However, the Naturalization course I teach each November is perhaps a misnomer, because we look at so many other things we can do to become more responsible, and making use of what our property produces. For example, our garbage (one bag every six weeks) contains no compostable items, and certainly no recyclable items. It was always a no-brainer to compost peelings, coffee grounds, even paper napkins and facial tissues, as discarding them seemed like such a waste of resources that could be composted and used in our garden. Three composters are usually going full tilt all the time, accepting any kind of refuse that will break down, including shredded paper, all of which can be turned into black gold for the garden. And while we are at it, let’s dispel that persistent myth that composters smell. Composters do not smell, if composting is done correctly. We have even extended this philosophy of retaining as much of our waste as possible, to include our backyard trees. All broken and pruned branches are stock piled, and one of the very last jobs we do in the fall, is fire up the wood chipper and covert this woody material to a fine mulch. The new mulch works well around shrubs, and if left to decay for a year, will add nutrients to the vegetable garden and flower beds. Leaves are also mulched with our recycler lawn mower and forced back into the ground to serve as fertilizer. We find that the leaves mulch better if left until they are dry and crisp causing the leaves to break down into almost a fine dust. It just makes sense to make use of this free material. Why bag it and put it at the curb? However, we do leave a few branches to add each year to our brush pile in the back corner of our lot. A brush pile is ideal habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, and really – that is the Number One reason most people take this course. They wish to attract wildlife to their premises…….and, also learn how to manage the wildlife they do encourage, if over population should happen by using the four basic requirements of wildlife – food, water, shelter and space – and working within their system – not ours – to either encourage or dissuade species of wildlife. We also look at nest boxes, bird feeders, butterfly shelters, bat boxes, mason bee boxes, nesting shelters, even holders that dispense nesting material. At the end of the day, there is a feeling of peace, tranquillity and wellbeing to sit back and watch the biodiversity on a property come to life. For more information on birding and nature and guided hikes, check out the NatureStuff website at www.naturestuff.net Terry Sprague lives in Prince Edward County and is self-employed as a professional interpretive naturalist.