All posts by DaveOC

Serve Your Birds a Feast of Native Plant Seeds

As summer blooms fade, it’s tempting to tidy up.

Resist!

Cutting off flower heads is like emptying the pantry before Thanksgiving. Birds depend on seeds and berries to survive the fall and winter.

Grasses provide birds with food as well as cover from blustery winds. The leaves in your garden have been converted into winter homes for many insects including butterflies in various developmental stages.

Continue reading Serve Your Birds a Feast of Native Plant Seeds

Mt. Cuba, A Haven for Native Plants in Delaware

Imagine dappled wooded paths lined with native plants. Envision serene ponds brimming with wildlife and encircled by native orchids. Picture a grass- and flower-filled meadow bordered by dogwoods. If this appeals, visit Mt. Cuba Center.

Set in the lush rolling hills of the Delaware Piedmont, the public may visit and take tours or special programs from April through October.

Thousands of native plants fill acres of gardens designed in naturalistic styles. The names provide a clue of what one will find: Dogwood Path, Meadow, Ponds, West Slope, Woods Path, Trillium Garden and Trial Garden. Continue reading Mt. Cuba, A Haven for Native Plants in Delaware

Time to Inoculate the Chestnuts!

Time to Inoculate the Chestnuts!

On Tues., July 25, The Maryland chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation(MD-TACF) needs between five and 15 volunteers to help with a small stem inoculation project in Frostburg.

Volunteers will need to need to assign numbers and take size data from about 900 three-month-old seedlings. People will also need to do small micro-inoculations of stems that have chestnut blight fungus.

Continue reading Time to Inoculate the Chestnuts!