Water Conservation in the YardWritten by Silvianne Barthe
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Water those plants needing it most. Newly planted trees, shrubs, and flowers with limited roots systems will most likely suffer first from drought conditions. Give these plants priority if water is scarce. Well-established plants, especially those native to area, are likely to withstand drought conditions with limited damage. Water in early morning before heat of day. This limits evaporation and supplies plants with needed moisture to make it through hot, sunny day. Consider using drip or trickle rrigation systems. Many inexpensive, easy to install systems are available that provide small amounts of water to base of individual plants. These systems place water where it is needed most, rather than applying it across whole garden. Check with your local garden center. Collect water from downspouts when it rains. Roofs intercept significant amounts of rain. Collecting this runoff into a barrel can help limit use of city or well water during dry spells. Are you looking to imporve your backyard landscaping? Look no further we have plenty of suggestions on our website. # # #
Silvianne is an enthusiastic gardener. One of her major concers, because she lives in the high desert, is water conservation. Visit her website at: http://atlgardening.com/landscaping/landscaping/
| | Attracting and Caring for HummingbirdsWritten by Johann Erickson
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Good choices of food producing plants for hummingbirds includes such trees or bushes as Azaleas, Mimosa, Weigela, Cape Honeysuckle and Flowering Quince. Another semi-permanent attraction is a perennial bed with Bee Balm, Columbine, Lupine, Coral Bells and Canna. You can also plant a wide range of annuals like Fuschia, Impatiens, Petunias and Firespike, but consider growing some of your own plants from seed, as many flowers that are nursery grown, tend not to have as much nectar. Hummers will be overjoyed to discover this bonanza of blooms, and tiny bugs that constitute protein source of their diet.
To make sure you enjoy these little feathered friends for whole season, hang some hummingbird feeders around your patio or gardens. But make sure there is a bit of distance between them, to avoid squabbles, which can be quite a sight!
Because hummers are attracted to red flowers, you’ll find many of hummingbird feeders available, are also colored red. This isn’t an absolute necessity, but it can be a bright spot in your garden. And feeders come in all kinds of charming shapes from a hanging bunch of grapes, to a giant strawberry.
Commercial powdered “food” formula is available, but you can easily make your own by combining one part sugar to four parts water, and boiling it for two minutes, then cooling and storing in fridge. Never use honey, which can ferment, or red dye, which can be harmful to birds.
Only fill your hummingbird feeders to one-third or halfway mark, as it would take many birds to empty contents, and feeders will need cleaning every few days to prevent occurrence of mold. Wash in mild dish detergent, with no more than 10% bleach, and rinse several times. If you have mold inside feeder, and can’t reach it with a bottle brush, put some sand in with water, and swish that back and forth, until mold is rubbed off.
Hummingbird Trivia - The hummingbird is so small, that an insect, Praying Mantis is its natural enemy.
- They are only bird that can hover, and fly backwards as well as straight up or down
- Hummingbirds can’t walk
- The average life of a hummingbird is 3-4 years, although one specimen was caught in 1976 in Colorado, banded, and captured again in 1987
Johann Erickson is the owner of Online Discount Mart and TV Products 4 Less. Please include an active link to our site if you'd like to reprint this article.
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