Polystichum acrostichoides The Christmas Fern is semi evergreen and can be relied open for green fronds for Christmas holiday decorations. Fern fronds are 1-2 feet in length and lay down prostrate to the ground. Flip a frond over to see the golden brown spores. This fern is easy to grow in the right conditions. In the wild it is often seen on the uphill slope along trails. It requires cool, moist, well-drained soil in shade. It must have good drainage, it does not tolerate clay soils or standing water. Christmas ferns ideal soil are moist, slightly acidic, humus-rich, sandy loam soils. Christmas fern does not spread by runners, it is naturally clump forming and may be slow to fill in as a ground cover. Being a fern, it propagates by spores instead of seeds. Increasing the number of this fern is easiest done by dividing a clump. In early spring watch for the fern fronds to appear in their tight swirl, this is the best time to dig and divide. Dig out the entire clump and pull apart to create multiple small clumps. If it wont pull apart easily the clump and be cleanly cut in half with a sharp shovel. Replant the clumps immediately with the soil level matching the original level of soil and water well.

There are many reasons to add edible plants to the garden and just as many ways to go about it. In my garden I don’t have a dedicated space for the vegetable garden. Everything is all thrown in together with coneflowers sticking out between zucchinis. I don’t set aside bed space for vegetables because there is already not enough space for all the native plants I want to grow. A grocery store variety plant has to be pretty special to earn a spot in my garden. There are many plants that just taste better when they are homegrown. For me, those plants are strawberries and Cherokee purple tomatoes. Strawberries are the symbol of spring and I love to go out each morning and hunt for them. Store bought tomatoes just lack a lot of flavor that can be achieved with home grown, and in my opinion Cherokee purple is the tastiest so I find a space to incorporate a few tomato plants each year. Tomatoes are usually snuck in around the edge of the compost pile where they like the rich soil. Strawberries have become a ground cover around the blue wild indigo. Every year my garden has problem areas. Sometimes an area will get so weedy that it is better to just start over. I take advantage of these retired spaces to grow crops that must be dug. Carrots and sweet potatoes are easy to grow and attractive together. Homegrown carrots are funny looking but taste better then store bought. The easiest plant to grow is garlic. Garlic is planted in fall and harvested in summer leaving space for a fall planting. Growing an edible crop as a cover crop gives me a full year to get the weeds under control and come up with a well though out plan for the new garden bed. Some garden produce in my garden are plants that I always forget to buy at the store and only need a little anyway like cilantro, parsley, basil, arugula, swisschard, and kale. Instead of buying a big bunch at the store that slowly rots in my house homegrown lasts longer when I only take what I need at the moment and leave the rest growing for another day. Many people also grow lettuces for this reason but I have never had luck with lettuce because I’m a neglectful waterer. The herbs are sown in a small empty space between perennials and then left to fend for themselves until they are needed for my kitchen table. Often my cilantro goes to seed and reseeds itself in other areas. Parsley and kale are somewhat winter hardy, I’m still harvesting from mine well into December. When harvesting parsley always check for stripy parsley swallowtail caterpillars which can be transferred to the golden Alexander. Another way to sneak tasty plants into the garden is to grow trailing vines like pumpkin and watermelon. The plants wander around the garden seeking out sunlight between flowers. They can also be directed to grow along the border of the garden which can look decorative. When growing vines this way finding the fruit can be a challenge. It is always a surprise when the garden starts to die back in the fall, and surprise, there is a big beautiful orange pumpkin! I’m a big fan of growing garden snacks, tasty treats to eat while out enjoying the garden. The cherry tomato is my favorite garden snack on a hot summer day so I place a few to ramble between the taller plants. I’m a big fan of the radish. Radish are great plants for helping with soil fertility and composting. The normally eaten part of the radish is not my favorite part, it is the seed pods. I allow the radish to bloom (edible) and then go to seed (also edible). The pea like pods are spicy crunchy treats that are great for adding spice to time spent weeding. Native shrubs can also be tasty and should never be short changed when it comes to snacking. My favorite fruit to eat are viburnum, serviceberry, and plum. The seed to fruit ratio is not ideal so it is nice to eat them right in the garden and spit the seeds on the ground. I also like to snack on hazelnut but that requires a little processing before eating. The sunchoke, Jerusalem artichoke, also makes for great snacking after processing. Sunchoke tends to form large colonies that need to be reigned in. I dig out the roots around the edge of the colony and bake them up like potato chips, delicious.

There is a Mexican plum tree at Shaw Nature Reserve that I particularly admire. It is on the edge of the trail in the area where the persimmons and ostrich fern grow. I collected three seeds from this tree and planted them in my back garden 8 years ago. Each tree seems to have it’s own personality with one growing straight up, one growing branches in all directions, and one leaning off to the east. They also bloom at slightly different times giving me a longer season of flowers in the spring. Each tree is also unique to fruit with the northern tree fruiting the heaviest and the easterly tree hardly fruiting at all. So much variety from one parent. The fruits do not seem to be favored by the backyard wildlife or maybe there is just so much that everyone gets all they can eat. There are always some fruit left for me. To collect fruit I simply wait until they are ripe and fall off the tree and then pick them up off the ground each morning. The Mexican plums are larger then the other native plums but still much smaller then the grocery store variety. The fruit is tart and has a large pit so they are best suited for cooking in my opinion. We have had three good years so far to harvest plums and I experiment with a new recipe each time. The first year we made plum chutney which was a rich dark concoction that tasted great spread on crackers with a mild cheese. We had enough to bottle up several small jars as gifts to family which were well received. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/spiced-plum-chutney-239836 We also made plum jelly. Making jelly is easy with fruits that are difficult to peel and pit since that is not necessary. I made two batches of plum jelly but the second batch came out much more liquid so I called it plum syrup. They where both delicious spread on pancakes. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/plum_jelly.html This years plum experiment was plum wine. My partner received a beer making kit for a gift and was eager to use it. I liked the young wine best since it tasted so sour and had a nice kick. After finishing the ferment the wine mellowed out to tart fruit flavored wine. https://www.preservedgoods.com/post/wild-fermented-country-wine Some years there are not enough plums to harvest. One year the plums had such an infestation of aphids that all the early fruit buds were destroyed before the aphid lions on their slender threads arrived to save the trees. No one had plums that year. Other years there has been a late frost to freeze the buds or a drought that dropped the fruit too early. All conditions must be perfect to get a good crop of plums to harvest. I’m open to suggestions for what to do with our next bumper crop. All of these recipes are worth trying again with small variations. The plums are too tart to work in any fruit recipe but ones with added sugar work well.

This intimidating word is really a simple method of building up garden soil. Hugelkultur is a permaculture gardening technique where dead wood is buried in the soil to add nutrients and regulate moisture. Dead wood such as the downed limbs found around the garden after a storm are gathered in the site where the new garden bed will be. Lay the limbs close together to prevent settling. On top of the limbs pile yard waste and other unfinished compost. The top layer is a blanket of finished compost or garden soil. Be sure to only use dead material when building because it may keep growing otherwise. A friend of mine once put fresh cut honeysuckle limbs as the base of her hugelkultur bed and they sprouted and grew forcing her to completely start over. To kill aggressive lawn plants in the area of the new bed cover the soil with cardboard before starting the first layer. The system works because the buried rotting wood slowly decomposes underground releasing nutrients into the lower layers of soil. The spongy wood also is great at holding excess moisture and keeping the bed at an even moisture level. I have tried a few hugelkultur beds in my garden and find that they can be immediately planted with short lived perennials or annuals. I would warn against putting them too close to trees since I have experienced several trees dyeing in the vicinity of the hugelkultur bed. I’m guessing that this is because of all the decomposition going on underground robbing the soil of some necessary nutrient that is bound up in the decomposition process. I recommend planting shallow rooted plants around the bed until the full decomposition process has run it’s course. Tomatoes are a great first year plant and then move to perennials in year two. The big benefit of the hugelkultur bed is in a productive method of removing yard waste in an attractive and un-smelly system. Fall is a great time to build a hugelkultur bed by gathering all the yard debris, piling it in the correct order, and there will be a fresh bed to plant in spring.

Garden soil is a precious resource that must be protected and nurtured. Gardeners work for years to improve the soil by adding compost, protecting it from compaction, preventing erosion, and removing weeds. Soil that is left uncovered is vulnerable to damage from the elements and weed establishment. Green mulch can refer to the method of covering the garden soil with green yard waste. Pulled weeds and clippings can be laid down between desirable garden plants to cover the soil, preventing more weed growth and providing future compost as the greens decay. Pulling weeds and letting them lay where they fall saves the gardener a lot of trouble hauling weeds to the compost pile and then hauling compost to the garden. This is a way of mimicking nature, allowing dead plants to decompose where they fall and return to the earth. To reduce the unsightliness of decaying plants in the garden they can be covered with some leaf mulch which will also aide decomposition. Another reference to green mulch can mean that the ground is completely covered in living plants. Weeds will not grow when there is no bare ground for seeds to germinate. Native groundcovers can be used as a green mulch to prevent weed growth, stop erosion, and naturally cover the soil without applying mulch each year. Allowing creeping plants like wild strawberry to fill in the gaps between taller plants is an effective green mulch. Finding aggressive spreading groundcovers that don’t smother the other plants in the bed can be challenging. Shrub plantings are great candidates for green mulch as the groundcover will not be able to smother the shrub. Allowing the taller plants to be well established before the green mulch groundcover is introduced may tip the scales in favor of the original plants. Either of these methods of covering the garden with green mulch reduce the need for external sources of wood mulch. Mulching the garden with the resources provided by the garden is an efficient method to cover the soil without buying mulch that just decomposes in a season. The needs of garden insects and birds must also be balanced in the care of the garden. Many insects live in the leaf litter covering the soil, helping with decomposition. These insects can be damaged by a too heavy application of mulch or the removal of leaf litter. Some insects like ground nesting bees require bare patches of ground to build their nests. Many birds forage across the ground looking for seeds and insects and like to have just the right amount of debris on the ground to scratch in. It is a delicate balance to make all garden residents happy but sticking close to natural processes is usually the best way to go.

Beetle banks is a concept from sustainable agriculture that we can modify for our home gardens. A beetle bank is a raised strip of land planted in grasses where beetles can shelter but still travel out into the surrounding land to perform their services. Lets create a home for beetles in our gardens. Many native beetles are beneficial insects. They feed on weed seeds and are predators of the more pesty insects. Beetles are also beautiful and very cool insects. I like to think of them as little tanks traveling my garden and protecting it. The exception is emerald ash borer and the other invasive beetles that have been introduced here and are disturbing natures balance. Beetles need shelter for winter hibernation, egg laying, and pupation. They need a place that is not disturbed and never sprayed with pesticides. A beetle bank is meant to provide these services when the surrounding landscape is too disturbed to provide them. Our lawns, fancy hedges, and vegetable gardens are disturbed landscapes that do not provide the habitat beetles need. The beetle bank should be placed in a central area where there are no barriers to beetle travel such as sidewalks, roads, and buildings. Mound the soil up in the bank to be about a foot higher then the surrounding area and plant it with native grasses. The plants should be at least 75% clump forming grass but also add wildflowers and the occasional rotting log. Grasses like Virginia wild rye, little bluestem, and prairie dropseed are ideal. Incorporating an area for beetles into the landscape may be tricky without creating an eyesore. The bank does not need to be straight, it can curve to follow the edge of a bed and blend with the landscape. Many existing garden spaces could become beetle banks with the addition of more grasses. Examine the landscape for opportunities to incorporate more beetle habitat. Even a small amount of habitat will provide benefit to the garden and the beetles. https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/2018-05/16-020_01_XercesSoc_Habitat-Planning-for-Beneficial-Insects_web.pdf

The native garden should be enjoyed not only as a beautiful sight but with all the senses. True enjoyment can be found in the sensory garden. Humans have many delicate ways of enjoying the word and a native garden can provide them all. We know our gardens are beautiful but how does the garden taste? My favorite taste in the garden is the fruit of the viburnum, tastes like a date, not much juice and lots of pit. Service berry would be my second favorite fruit. Glade onion and wild garlic taste how you would expect. The suncholk has a very tasty tuber when baked. The fiddle heads of ostrich fern can be sauteed and are a delicacy. Sometimes I beat the squirrels to the hazelnuts and have a treat. The sap of the milkweed is a bitter taste and too much of it can harm. There are many native pants in the mint family and they all are good for a little taste while walking down a path. Mints also smell nice too. I go out of my way to brush past a big patch of mountain mint just to fill the air with a minty smell. I love to dig up the lizards tail and smell the licorice scent of it’s roots. The fragrance of dropseed fills the air in summer. In the spring a wonderful smell is produced by the golden current. When I’m hiking I like to roll the leaves of sassafras in my hand to release the scent. The scent of phlox in bloom can drift across a garden and draw you in. Besides the sound of birds and signing insects the plants produce sounds. I listen for the rustle of the little blue stem in the wind. Trees creek and crack. The rattle of compass plant in the winter. Wild indigo also rattles as each seed pod matures. In the spring listen for the pop of jewel weed seeds exploding. A nice ripe persimmon makes a delicious splat as it hits the ground. I can not resist running my fingers through the hair of the sedges. The wings on the stem of wingstem makes this plant easy to name even blindfolded. An unpleasant touch is waxweed as it brushes against my leg and leaves its sticky seeds on my skin. The downy fluff of milkweed, seeds and the strong fibers of the stem contrast. Thimbleweed seeds are a fun surprise as you rub the rough seed head it explodes into an even larger ball of fluff. I love the seed box because this plant makes a perfect box to hold it’s precious seeds. With our eyes, lets look a little deeper. I’m always amazed by how many shades of green there are. The purple petal of a wine cup is transparent and the bruise from a pinch changes the shade of purple. In the winter the colors and textures of grey are unique for each part of each plant. The garden is so much more then a pretty sight to see. Lets enjoy to the full depth our senses can take us.

When planting a tree be sure to look up. Trees might be small when they are purchased but they need a lot of space to become healthy adults. When trees and power lines come into conflict trees end up hurting from repeated pruning that leads to weak branches and early death. It is a sad look when half of a trees crown has been sheared off by the utility company. Know the mature full canopy size of trees and shrubs before planting near power lines or any other structure. Some of my favorite small trees and shrubs and their mature height: Witchazel 8-12' Red Buckeye 10-15' Rough-leaved Dogwood 10-15' Wild Plum 10-15' Wafer Ash 10-15' Carolina Buckthorn 10-15' Smooth Sumac 10-15' Southern Black Haw 10-15' Serviceberry 10-20' Redbud 10-20' Fringetree 10-20' Many shrubs will become as wide across as tall so plant them far enough away from structures and each other so they don’t get crowded. Often power right of ways are close to the street or back fence. Branches invading the street or the neighbors property are likely to be mistreated which could weaken the tree from infections. The power lines in front of my house are only 10’ off the ground and 5’ from the street so it is not a good spot to plant shrubs. I have planted beauty berry and hydrangeas but no taller shrubs. The neighbors have a Bradford pear under the lines that had been cut into the Vulcan salute to allow the lines through. I have no sympathy for Bradford pears but I pity the car who parks under them when the poor branch structure gives and the tree splits down the middle. When managing the area along one of the larger power right of ways choose plants underneath that are short and aggressive. Most of the time all the plants occurring under power lines are exotic invasives like bush honeysuckle and tall fescue. Identify the plants to find out if it is a weed or native and don't spray the sumac. The native sumac shrubs are well suited to the harsh conditions under power lines and will respout if they get mowed on occasion. Before planting in a right of way be sure to have clear communication with the utility about the intent of the planting and new maintenance schedule before getting started. There is nothing more heartbreaking then finally seeing a planting get established only to have an uninformed employee come by and cut it down or spray it with herbicide. Also, never top a tree!

By hell strip, I’m referring to the area right next to the road. Usually a small strip of lawn sandwiched between the sidewalk and road that must endure more abuse then any other parts of the yard. The many insults to this piece of soil include heavy foot traffic, an occasional misplaced tire, road salt, snow piles, trash totes, and heavy storm water. Plants growing in the hell strip must be able to survive compacted, polluted soils. They must be low growing so as to not interfere with car doors, tough enough to withstand foot traffic, and provide year round soil cover to prevent erosion. If there are no power lines overhead this area is perfect for a shade tree. Trees like the Kentucky coffee tree, hackberry, and oaks like northern red oak and pin oak will tolerate the harsh conditions next to the road. If the power lines are high a small tree can be planted like redbud, serviceberry, witchhazel, and wafer ash. Keep trees next to the road pruned up so that branches are not hit by cars and they don’t block the sidewalk. When planting in this part of the yard I like to dig the soil level down to be an inch or two lower than the street and sidewalk. This area can collect storm water and infiltrate it into the ground. This tiny rain garden will only stop a small amount of the water running off the street but every little bit helps. Bringing down the soil level also helps to keep the mulch in the bed and not washing off into the sidewalk and street. There are not many ground cover plants that can survive in this harsh environment. One option to to have a Pennsylvania sedge planting. This is a similar look to liriope and expect every dog that walks by to find it an irresistible bathroom spot. Our native wild strawberry also makes a nice solid ground cover with the runners filling in bare spots. The sedge and strawberry stand up well to heavy foot traffic. Plants that also look great in the hell strip but need to be protected from trampling are pussy toes, senecio, and rose verbena. More sensitive plants can be tucked in next to trees or around mail boxes to protect them from being stepped on. The hell strip or any piece of ground receiving runoff off the street is not a good place for the vegetable garden because the veggies will soak up all those chemicals and heavy metals and concentrate them in their fruits. Road salt, oil spills, and car exhaust should be kept away from any edible plants. A few ways to help the public recognize this small piece of garden as an area to protect is to put up a landscape info box or sign. Add a bench where pedestrians feel welcome to sit and enjoy the garden. Strategically placing rocks can help keep tires from running over the garden and give people a place to step when crossing from the sidewalk to street. The hell strip is the last frontier for many native gardeners as more prime planting locations become filled. Is it a good idea to be attracting insects and other critters to this dangerous area? Cars zoom by catching butterflies and smashing turtles. The mosquito fogging trucks come down the road leaving poison on the flowers that pollinators will pick up the next day. The traffic noise can drown out bird calls. Light from passing headlight confuses moths and other nocturnal insects. These decisions must be weighed with each planting.

St Louis has a very high level of bee diversity with 205 bee species in the area. How many species of bees can a native backyard garden support? Scientists in St Louis are very interested in this question. My garden recently participated in a SLU graduate student project studying urban bees. The students came to my yard and identified all the bees they could find once a month during the summer. My garden supports bee species from at least 14 different genera. The scientists found; Andrena (mining bees) Anthidium (potter bees) Augochloroni (metallic sweat bees) Bombus gresiocollis (brown-belted bumblebee) Bombus impatiens (common eastern bumble bee) Ceratina (small carpenter bees) Dianthidium (pebble bees) Halictus (furrow bees) Heriades (resin bees) Hylaeus (masked bees) Lasioglossum (sweat bees) Megachile (leaf cutter bees) Melitoma taurea (mallow bee) Ptilothrix bombiformus (hibiscus bee) Xylocopa virginica (carpenter bee) My native plant garden is about a quarter acre and has been developed from a boring turf monoculture gradually over the last 10 years with the final section of lawn conversion happening about three years ago. The garden is not 100% native. I have a blue spruce, magnolia, a few tomatoes, swiss chard, some onions, an apple tree, etc. Probably my garden is over 80% native plants especially if you count the two big silver maples that tower over it. I try to grow a wide variety of native plants not only because plants are cool but they also attract interesting things to the garden, like bees. Many bees are easier to identify if you see which flower they are visiting. Like the hibiscus bee was visiting the hibiscus flowers and rubbing itself all over the pollen in the center of the flower. I have heard that sometimes a hibiscus bee will be found sleeping in the hibiscus flower but I guess I do not wake up early enough to witness it. Other bees are named for the places they construct like carpenter bees can be found excavating tunnels through wood, like my deck. The potter bees build their nests out of mud that they carefully mix and transport in their jaws. The scientist were especially interested in the bee hotel I have on my front porch which is busily being filled with eggs by a group of leaf cutter bees. The bees seek out holes in wood, either natural or man made, in a protected spot. My bee hotel is a block of wood with several holes drilled in it that sits on my south facing covered front porch. In the hole the bees lay a single egg, create a catch of food for the newly hatched baby to eat, and then take a piece of leaf the build a door to protect the egg. If the hole is deep they may lay several eggs with a leaf door between each egg. Amazingly, the eggs will hatch in the reverse order that they were laid with the outer most egg hatching first so that each baby only needs to eat through one leaf door to escape out into the world. I often see signs of leaf cutter bee on leaves around my garden. The leaves look like a crazy hole punch has been taken out of the leaves at random. I don’t mind the damage. It is far too little to hurt the plant and the cutleaf edge if very pleasing. More about our bees https://www.stlzoo.org/files/9413/3303/3161/MO_Bee_Guide_w_boarder.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxmysJbOS_Y

When I want to spread my love of native plants around, an easy way for me to do that is to give away seeds. I collect seeds in my own yard over the year as they ripen and store them in paper bags. (Collecting seeds is also a good way to control spread of some aggressive plants). On cold or rainy days I get out my seeds and package them up to give away. A reliable way to tell a seed is ripe is to watch for the birds eating them. Ripe seeds will turn a dark color, pods will split, and fluff will happen. When collecting seed my preferred method is to place a bucket under the plant and tip or rub the seeds into the bucket. Seeds that are more determined to attach to the plant can be clipped off and crushed to break them apart from the plant. Bugs like seed heads and usually I accidentally collect a few beetles and spiders. If I set the seeds out in a tray in the sun for an hour usually most of the critters take off. Seeds that end up mixed with a bunch of plant debris can be separated by sifting them in front of a fan so the lighter material blows away. Seeds with fluff like asters and goldenrod can be placed in a paper bag and shook up really well. The seeds will break from the fluff and fall to the bottom of the bag. It is difficult to separate out every last seed and I don’t worry if I don’t get every one. Some seeds will end up in the compost pile where they return to the garden. Label seeds immediately after collecting with the name and date. I always think I will remember what I collected but seeds are hard to tell apart and get mixed up easily. Keep labels with the seeds throughout the cleaning and packaging process to avoid confusion, wasted time, and embarrassment if something is mislabeled. Throw out seeds that are more than a year old, they might germinate poorly. Fresh seed will perform better and the goal is to get others hooked on native plants by making it easy. I like to make my seed packets from coin envelopes that I order in packs of 500. I print the labels on address stickers with the plant details. Ideally including the common and scientific name, preferred habitat, boom color and time, growing tips, and the year collected. I put about a teaspoon of seeds in each envelope which seems like a small amount but can be hundreds of seeds. If I have all my material laid out I can put together about 100 packets while watching a webinar. Not all seeds will germinate easily. Some seeds, like berries are accustomed to going through the gut of an animal and being deposited in a nice packet of growing material so that process must be mimicked to get the seeds to sprout. Many seeds depend on the cold winter months and spring thaw to trigger germination, this is easily done with a refrigerator. Some seeds will go into a deep dormancy if they dry out from being in a seed packet. Light can also trigger germination as a plant experiences day length increasing in the spring. Seeds can either be sown directly in the bed where they are to grow or can be grown in pots. Growing in pots is a good method for a beginning gardener to learn what the seedling plant looks like, often very different from the adult. Direct sowing outdoors is a good method for the lazy gardener who might forget to water. Keep seedlings moist after germination to allow them to develop a sturdy root system before transplanting. Here is a list of easy to collect and grow plants that can be directly sown in the ground. These plants are relatively well-behaved garden stars. Since they are plants that are easy to grow from seed they will spread in the garden and may become weeds in other areas. I keep these plants in check by collecting the seeds to give away. Any baby plants that sprout in areas I don’t want them I dig up and give to friends in the spring. Aquilegia canadensis, wild columbine Symphyotrichum oblongifolium, aromatic aster Coreopsis lanceolata, lanceleaf coreopsis Dalea purpurea, purple prairie clover Monarda fistulosa, wild bergamot Rudbeckia hirta, black-eyed Susan Silene regia, royal catchfly Solidago drummondii, cliff goldenrod

I’m a plant person, but I really get tickled when I seed birds in my garden. Watching the wildlife appreciate my plants is just as good as hearing a friend compliment my garden. I know those birds could have picked any yard in the area and they choose mine because it had what they wanted. On the other hand, my mom is a bird person who has joined full steam with the native plant garden enthusiasts once she saw how the plants could bring even more exciting birds to her yard. No matter what type of person you start off as, native plants will bring the excitement to your garden. While saving a birds original habitat is always best, recreating bird habitat in the garden is a accomplishable goal for anyone. Using native plants in the garden can provide the habitat birds need with nesting sites, shelter, and food. Even small improvements, like adding one berry bush, can attract more birds to the garden. Birds need large trees to nest in and the best time to plant a tree is now. Preserve mature trees by having them tended to by a certified arborist. Even dead trees provide nest sites and insects for woodpeckers and many other birds. When preserving a dead tree be sure to have it evaluated to make sure it will not fall on any structures. When a dead tree must be taken down, keep large logs to rot and provide insect (food) habitat. Logs make good bed edging, will hold up floppy plants, and prevent erosion when placed on contour. The birds want you to plant a protective shrubby area where they can hide and nest. Shrubs that form dense cover by growing as a colony are gray dogwood, hazelnut, sumac, plum, and spicebush. It is so fun to watch these shrubs alive with flocks of birds when the fruit is ripe. To provide evergreen thick cover that birds love plant an eastern red cedar. Plan the garden to have protective cover a short distance from any feeding stations so birds can easily dive for cover if a hawk flies over. However, keep the cover a little distance from the station to prevent a cat from hiding there and jumping out at the birds. Loosely piled brush also provides good cover for birds and insects. Birds enjoy foraging in a decaying log and rotting sticks in the brush pile. Many neighborhood ordinances do not allow brush piles. Tucking the piles into hidden areas under shrubs or surrounded by taller flowers will keep it from view. Brush piles are also another way to keep organic material from leaving the garden. Migrating birds notice fall fruits more easy from above when they are planted in large masses. Tempting birds down out of the sky is easier with bright fall and winter displays from berry producing shrubs. Berries will ripen at different times throughout the season depending on their sugar and fat contents. For the widest variety of birds plant fruits that ripen at a variety of seasons like serviceberry, elderberry, and winterberry. Birds are looking for ripe seeds. Leave seed heads standing so they can be pecked clean. Attract finches with coreopsis and cone flower. Larger birds like the many species of the sunflower family. I really enjoy the acrobatics birds perform when pulling seeds out while balancing on a bouncy flower stem. Asters and goldenrods provide important seeds for birds putting on extra fat to survive the winter. Seeds and berries are not the only bird food native plants provide. Insects make up an important part of the bird diet especially when nesting. Native plants feed insects and insects are tasty treats if you are a bird. Oaks, willows, and plums are wonderful host species for many insects providing a reliable source of protein for young birds. Don’t forget the hummingbirds that sip nectar. Plant columbine, red buckeye, and coral honeysuckle to attract hummingbirds. Providing a natural source of nectar during the times hummingbirds are in the area ensures they will always have food even when we forget to fill the feeder. Hummingbirds also use spider webs to build their nest so be sure to leave those in the garden. https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/seven-simple-actions-to-help-birds/