Playing Host to Wildlife: A Blog Carnival

Life on the Balcony posted a blog carnival today on the subject of encouraging wildlife in your garden. The emphasis is on container gardens, but these ideas would really work anywhere. Check it out if you're looking for ways to bring those birds and bees back to your yard!

Succulent Sunday

A field of ice plant (Delosperma cooperi?)

Alameda Backyard Chicken Coop Bicycling Tour

Chickens in Alameda? Apparently so. And tomorrow (Sunday, 5/16) you can visit seven different chicken coops in Alameda and chat with their keepers about the chicken-and-egg experience. People are encouraged to bike the tour, which in lovely, hill-free Alameda is a pretty easy way to spend an afternoon. Details are in this article in  the SF Chronicle.

If You Build It, They (Hummingbirds, That Is) Will Come

When I moved into my house eight years ago, the garden was pretty much a blank slate. The front yard contained a horrible lawn and one small, sickly rosebush. The backyard contained an even worse lawn and three large potted palms that never, ever had more than three fronds each and that were a magnet for some really disgusting bugs. That was it. Yes, it was low-maintenance. It was also not pretty to look at. And worse, there was absolutely no wildlife around. It was as if my property was a dead zone for birds, butterflies, and bees.

I particularly missed having birds around. Because I had cats, I didn't want to attract a lot of sparrows and similar small birds to my yard by setting out bird feeders. I also knew that bird feeders were a good way to attract squirrels, and I didn't want to encourage the squirrel population explosion that we are experiencing in this area. But I was hopeful that I could get hummingbirds to stop by for a visit, given the right inducements. I knew that they were fast enough that would stand a better chance of evading the cats, and they would be attracted by plants alone without having to put out feeders and seed.

It took two to three years for the hummingbirds to become regular visitors, but now I can spot them almost every day in my garden. Although it is often said that hummingbirds are attracted to red, I've found that they're happy with flowers of any color, and since they have no sense of smell, fragrance is not an issue either. What does seem to matter is the shape of the flower. They are very attracted to flowers with a tubular shape and because of their agility they can seek out those flowers on tall vines as easily as they can in low potted shrubs.

Here are a few of the plants that they've responded to best in my garden:

• Salvia
• Fuchsia
• Cuphea
• Foxglove
• Anigozanthos
• Mimulus

Just a few pots of these plants can make a big difference in attracting hummingbirds to a garden. Once they know you've set out a buffet for them, they'll keep coming back again and again. I love watching them dart around my garden and hover just a foot or two away from my head as I'm watering. I see them not just as creatures of beauty and grace, but also as a sign that my garden is a healthier place, and no longer the dead zone it was a few years ago.

No Pay Raise, But Plenty of Carrots

Is a corporate garden a fair substitute for pay increases and other employee benefits? The New York Times has an article about a new perk that is popping up in some corporations: organic gardens for employees to plant, maintain, and harvest. I can certainly understand the benefits for employees: fresh veggies, either to take home or to enjoy there at work, and a break from the office routine to get out in the sunshine and garden for a bit. But I wonder if an office garden doesn't become just one more thing that an office worker has to add to his or her to-do list, and just one more thing that keeps them spending more time at work instead of at home. I think this might be one of those ideas that managers come up with to make workers feel like they're being cared for, when they're really just trying to distract them from the fact that they're having to work more hours for less money. Do I sound overly cynical?

Wordless Wednesday

Emily Dickinson's Garden

I'm having very bad New York City cravings lately. Honestly, it's all I can do to keep myself from whipping out a credit card and jumping on a plane. There are the usual lures on my mind--the theatres, the museums, the black-and-white cookies--but right now there's an additional reason why I'd like to be there: a chance to stroll through Emily Dickinson's garden.

How often do you get the chance to visit the thoroughly researched, re-created 19th century garden of a famous American poet? But now through mid-June, the New York Botanical Garden, together with the Poetry Society of America, is offering such an opportunity. You can wander through a replica of Dickinson's family property in Amherst, Massachusetts and view personal artifacts belonging to the poet. You can also tour the Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk, where 30 poetry boards and audio messages offer interpretations of the poems that were so inspired by Dickinson's love of nature and the garden.

It sounds like a lovely mixture of gardening, literature, and history and it pains me to miss out on seeing it. So if you happen to be in New York in the coming weeks, maybe you can check it out for me.

And have a black-and-white cookie for me too.