According to Ottawa’s Fletcher Wildlife Garden: “One of the best ways to attract wildlife to your backyard garden is by providing a regular supply of water.” I’ve had birdbaths for years — one raised up on a stand, and the other on the ground. These do attract birds who want to drink or bathe, but they are also a nuisance to keep clean and filled.

The sound of running water will attract even more birds because they can hear it from a distance and from up in the tree canopy. For years, I dreamed of adding a pond with a gentle stream as a replacement for the birdbaths. A stream would also help mask noise from the neighbouring pool equipment and air conditioner, and from our busy street.

In 2018, we installed a pond and stream. So many birds visit this water feature that it’s now the main attraction in our backyard.

RIP Chrissy, 2000 – 2017

Our cat, Chrissy, was small and meek, but she was still a skilled hunter. Over the years, she brought home lots of mice, a few chipmunks, and even the occasional bird. I definitely didn’t want to attract wildlife to our yard only to have it killed.

Chrissy lived to the ripe old age of seventeen. When she passed away, we decided not to get another cat. Although we really miss our beloved pet, her absence has allowed us to start attracting birds, and other creatures, to our yard without endangering them.

Choosing a location

I didn’t give a lot of thought to the location of our pond and stream. That was foolish, but we got lucky because it turned out to be perfect. We removed our unproductive, raised vegetable beds beneath a large pine tree to make room for the pond. It is sunny there, but too dry to grow vegetables without a lot of extra work and irrigation. It is also near the house and our main seating area, so we can easily watch wildlife visitors, and enjoy the sound of running water from indoors. Our backyard slopes away from the house, so the stream naturally runs down to the pond.

Birds in Your Backyard (at Ottawa Public Library) recommends a site that is open, semi-secluded, and has shrubs nearby for cover. “Birds can see approaching predators, and they’ll have a place to perch until they are sure the area is safe.” (page 41) We have an old lilac hedge right beside our pond and stream. Nearly all the birds fly to the lilacs first, hop down the branches toward the ground, and then advance to the water. After bathing, they sit in the lilacs to preen and soak up the sun’s warmth.

Before

Pond construction usually involves heavy machinery, huge rocks, and a lot of money. Since there is no easy way to get an excavator into our backyard, and we didn’t want to spend much money on this project, we decided to build the pond and stream ourselves.

We visited the Pond Clinic in Kanata for a recirculating pond/stream kit and some expert advice. This project was definitely out of our comfort zone. We decided on a small 8 feet x 11 feet kit, and an AquaSurge 3000 pump. We also bought an extra piece of liner (that measured 15 1/5 feet x 5 feet) for the stream. It cost a total of $2,010 (in 2018). The kit instructions were easy to follow and the project went smoothly. I’m not a fan of the fake rock that is included to cover the pond pump, but I’m hoping that plants will grow enough to obscure it.

We bought naturally-coloured river rocks from Greeley Sand and Gravel to hold the liner in place. We chose the 2-7 inch size; they had to be small enough for me to lift and haul in the wheelbarrow. We already had leftover, smaller river rocks that we had used for paths years ago. We ordered more rocks than we needed, but at least I had plenty of pretty ones to choose from. The inconvenience of the rock mountain in our driveway motivated me to work as quickly as possible.

We used the Fletcher Wildlife Garden’s pond diagram to guide the shape of our pond; it has shelves for plant pots at several different depths, and one sloped side to allow wildlife a safe and easy way in and out of the pond. The pond is only 2 feet at its deepest point. If we made it any deeper, the city of Ottawa’s Pool Enclosures regulations would apply, and we didn’t want to deal with that.

Once we decided on the pond’s final shape, we laid out a fleece layer and the liner. I would have preferred a more irregular, naturalistic shape for the pond, but we would have needed a larger pond kit/liner for that. I then arranged the larger river rocks in the pond, and filled in around them with medium and small rocks. I did lots of Google image searches for pictures of natural streams and ponds with small rocks. This Bird Watching and Waterfalls page includes some of my favourite examples, featuring gently sloping edges and a naturalistic rock arrangement. Usually, ponds have a uniform edging of large rocks laid around the perimeter to hold the liner in place. I went with a more random look instead.

After

It spent too long artfully arranging rocks, so we moved a bunch to a pile in the backyard and gave the rest away. We really needed our driveway back. Finally in the spring of 2019, motivated by upcoming garden tours, I finished placing the rocks. I’m very pleased with the result.

And so are the birds. As soon as we started running the stream to test our handiwork (late summer 2018), the birds began checking it out. I made bowl-shaped areas of different depths for different-sized birds. I placed flat rocks on the bottom so they’d have a solid place to stand. However, birds bathe everywhere in the stream, even at the top of the waterfall.

Since I made the sides of the stream so shallow, I had problems with water wicking up the sides and leaking. I built up the sides of the stream under the edge of the liner, and it seems fine now.

Many people worry that a pond will become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes don’t like to lay eggs in moving or deep water. Since our water is constantly flowing, we haven’t had a problem. Also, since we don’t have fish, raccoons don’t bother with the pond looking for food. They did investigate once, shortly after we started running the stream, and made a bit of a mess.

Planting in and around the pond

By the time we were ready to add plants to the pond, it was getting late in the summer (2018). Again, we visited the Pond Clinic. They still had some pond plants, but not many native ones left. I bought native Monkey Flower, a spike with blueish flowers, that the bees enjoy. I also got hybrid, pink Water Lilies and Dwarf Cattails. I later added Cardinal Flowers that I already had, and grew some Buttonbush shrubs from seed. For the top of the stream, I bought Marsh Marigolds, a yellow flower that blooms in early spring, from Connaught Nursery.

To accentuate the natural look, I grew Blue Grama grass and Prairie Onion from seed to plant beside the stream. Both plants are about a foot tall. I also moved my Purple Poppy Mallow to add some colour. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have placed these plants in front of the stream. Even though they’re only a foot tall, they still interfere with our view of birds, and confuse the camera’s auto-focus. I have many blurry photos of unusual birds as a result. Behind the stream and on the right side of the pond, I planted a taller native shrubs and perennials that provide food for birds. This way, we can watch them visiting the plants while we’re keeping an eye on the stream.

A guest list of birds

Birds visit the stream continually, even ones that we’ve never seen in the yard before. It’s so much fun watching them dipping and shaking while they bathe. Bird parents visit with their wary juveniles to teach them how it’s done. In the next blog post, I’ll show you some of the exciting guests that stopped by the stream during migration time.

When Dark-eyed Juncos return to our yard in the fall, we know that winter isn’t far behind. They spend spring and summer further north where they breed in Boreal forests. When Juncos move south in winter, they use a wider variety of habitats, like our gardens. In 2019, our first winter guests arrived at the end of October.

The first few Juncos that arrived in the fall were later to be joined by others. This flock of Juncos will hang out together all winter. When we go outside, they pop into the cedar hedge, or fly to the back hedgerow for safety. They aren’t as fearful as some other birds, so they soon re-emerge, along with cheerful Chickadees, once we stay still.

Polar bear dippers

We first spotted the Juncos at our stream. Like other sparrows, they love to bathe. They don’t mind the cold water either. Birds continue to bathe in the stream and pond whenever temperatures hover around 0°C. Once it gets colder than that, they only use the pond for drinking water.

Entertaining foragers

While Juncos eat insects during breeding season, they mostly eat seeds in the winter. For years, they have been regulars at our feeders.

Now that I’m growing native plants, and leaving the seed heads standing throughout the winter, Juncos are eating seeds right off of the plants. They are entertaining to watch, whether they’re foraging on plants or on the ground. So far, their favourite natural seed sources have been Anise Hyssop, Little Bluestem, and different kinds of asters close to the house. It’s hard see exactly what they’re eating in the meadow and hedgerow.

It’s a good thing that Juncos and Goldfinches like Anise Hyssop seeds because this plant can self-seed prolifically. The year after I planted it, I had so many seedlings that I wondered if I had made a mistake. Anise Hyssop has so many good qualities though: seedlings are easy to pull, it is long-blooming, it provides design structure, and the bumblebees and butterflies really enjoy the flowers. Now that birds are eating lots of Anise Hyssop seeds, it is no longer a nuisance self-seeder.

Like Goldfinches, Juncos often climb up, or along, stems to reach seeds.

When Juncos search for seeds on the ground, they do little backward hops to uncover them beneath snow, soil, or leaf debris. It’s fun to watch. In the book Garden Birds of North America (at Ottawa Public Library), author George H. Harrison describes this Junco behaviour so eloquently that I have to share it with you:

“To uncover the food, they perform a jaunty foraging dance by shuffling backwards with both feet. The more snow on the ground, the more shuffling they must do. It is amusing to watch a flock of juncos all dancing the junco shuffle at once.”

page 51

This Dark-eye Junco Youtube video, by Dominique Lalonde Films Nature, shows this entertaining Junco foraging behaviour.

Now that the natural seed sources are depleted in the backyard, we’re seeing Juncos in the front garden. They’re eating Anise Hyssop seeds again, as well as Brown-eyed Susans.

We enjoy watching the Juncos while we can because once the weather warms up, they’ll be gone again.

It’s been wonderful seeing so many butterflies in our garden. I never know when one will show up though, so it’s still unexpected and exciting to see them. Here are a few tips I’ve learned to increase the chances of spotting butterflies.

Keep an eye on their favourite places

Adult butterflies visit flower patches looking for nectar-rich flowers for food. They’ll also hang around them scouting for a mate. I group at least 3 plants of each kind of flower, and repeat groups if space allows. These groupings make it easier for butterflies to find the flowers while they’re flying past, and provide lots of food in one spot.

Keep a close eye on favourite butterfly flowers, such as Purple Coneflowers, Anise Hyssop, Ironweed, and annuals like Mexican Tithonia and Brazilian Verbena. Late in the summer, I checked our Ironweed patch often, and found a variety of butterflies there. Ironweed is very tall — at least 7 feet — with bright purple blooms, and I have two groups of them in front of our hedgerow.

If you don’t have a garden of your own, you can visit a few butterfly gardens in Ottawa for free. Fletcher Wildlife Garden features many native flowers in a butterfly meadow, as well as a demonstration backyard garden. I always see butterflies when I’m there. Maplelawn Garden is a historic walled garden that was restored using an original Georgian garden plan. It includes classic garden flowers, a few native cultivars, and annuals all laid out in a formal style. In September, I visited Maplelawn Garden and saw dozens of migrating Monarchs and Painted Lady butterflies on annual salvias. Here’s my Youtube video of this stunning sight.

Host plants will also attract butterflies that are looking for a mate, or for a place to lay eggs. For example, if you stake out a patch of Milkweed plants in the summer, you’ll likely see Monarchs. Since many butterflies use native trees and shrubs as host plants, you may also find them in woodland clearings or forest edges.

A couple of years ago, our family was surprised to find a congregation of Black Swallowtail butterflies fluttering around on a hill near the Mooney’s Bay Playground. Apparently they were ‘hill-topping’, in which male butterflies hang out on top of a hill, and females will visit them there to mate.

Choose a sunny, calm afternoon

I don’t even bother looking for butterflies early in the morning because they aren’t active in cooler temperatures. They cannot fly when their body temperature is too low. Monarchs must be at least 13°C in order to fly, according to Journey North. Wait for the warmth of late mornings, afternoons, and early evenings.

If it’s cool, but still sunny, you might find butterflies warming up by basking on rocks or leaves in the sun. In September, I watched butterflies alternating between feeding on flowers in the increased shade and basking in the sun.

You’ll also increase your chances of seeing butterflies on calm days when it’s easier for them to fly.

Be still and give them some space

Butterflies are always on the look-out for predators. If you’re moving around nearby, if you get too close, or if you cast a shadow on or near them, they may mistake you for a predator and fly away. Use binoculars or camera for a better view. If you really can’t resist getting a closer look, move slowly toward them and stay lower to the ground.

When butterflies do get scared away, they’ll likely return to the floral food source. I’ve noticed that Monarchs will fly in a large circle, and then back to the same flowers.

Each summer, I see butterfly nets for sale in toy stores. You can enjoy and observe butterflies just fine without catching them in a net. You risk injuring their delicate wings in the process.

Be patient and watch for movement

Butterflies come and go when you least expect them, and they may not stick around for long. I park myself in the garden with my knitting so I can watch without getting bored.

Watch for movement. Once you stay put and observe, you’ll be surprised how much insect activity you’ll see. The same trick works for spotting birds. I sometimes see moving shadows on the ground, and then look up to find the butterfly or bird above.

Identifying butterflies

Once I started finding butterflies, I realized how few kinds I had seen before. I use a mix of sources, in print and online, to identify unfamiliar butterflies. Here are a few of my favourites:

• A Pocket Guide to Butterflies of Southern & Eastern Ontario (and Southern Quebec), by Rick Cavasin. This is the first place I look when I am trying to identify a butterfly because the possibilities are narrowed down to our location. The pictures are small-ish, but easy to see all at once for comparison. Although the author provides lots of photos online, I prefer his handy, laminated guide. I bought mine at the Gilligallou backyard bird store in Almonte.
• iNaturalist. I created an iNaturalist account (cornerpollinatorgarden) this summer, and I wish I had done it sooner. Once I upload a photo, iNaturalist suggests IDs. Usually within a day, I get confirmations or suggestions from other users. It’s tempting to get lazy and let iNaturalist and its more expert participants do the work for me, but I try to figure out an ID first.
• The ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario, by Peter W. Hall et al. I use this to find out more information once I have narrowed down an ID. I like that it shows each butterfly’s caterpillar and provides interesting extra information. I’m particularly keen to discover each butterfly’s host plants to see if I have them already or might want to add them to my garden.
• Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) is a good online source for more information once I have narrowed down an ID. It’s quicker, and lighter, to use BAMONA on my phone when I’m outside than a paper field guide.

This summer, I also discovered some new butterflies in the garden. I have been trying to attract them by adding more food plants: flowers with nectar for adults, and a variety of host plants for their caterpillars. My efforts are certainly paying off.

Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies

For the first time ever, I saw Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies. Over several weeks, we watched them drinking nectar from flowers.

I had read that Fritillaries use native violets as host plants. Since most people consider them an annoying weed, especially when they’re in lawns, they’re usually pulled out or mowed down. My neighbours kindly gave me some Common Blue Violets before they re-sodded their front lawn. I am letting them spread, along with Wild Strawberries, to form a natural, ‘living’ mulch beneath my hedgerow shrubs.

In the late summer, Fritillaries lay their eggs on or near violets. Newly hatched caterpillars don’t feed; instead they overwinter in leaf litter, and start eating fresh violet leaves the following spring.

Red Admiral butterflies

We only spotted Red Admirals a few times in our yard. I had heard from others that they were plentiful this year, but not for us.

Admittedly, Red Admirals are tricky to attract to the garden because their preferred host plants are nettles. Against my better judgement, I moved a Stinging Nettle seedling to my pollinator garden for Red Admirals. I now know that Stinging Nettle spreads vigorously through its root system and seeds. Controlling it is obviously a delicate, and sometimes painful, operation. I wouldn’t mind so much if I actually had Red Admiral caterpillars on the plant.

Next spring, I plan to move chunks of Stinging Nettles into big pots, surrounded by chicken wire to protect children and the dog, and dig out the rest. I’d also like to find False Nettle seeds, so I can try to attract Red Admirals in a less troublesome way.

Red Admirals may also use Hops as a host plant, like the Golden Hops vine that has spread from next door. This vine seems impossible to get rid of, despite our combined efforts on both sides of the back fence, so I don’t recommend planting it.

Another trait that makes Red Admirals more difficult to lure to the garden is that adults have an unusual diet. Instead of drinking nectar from flowers, they drink tree sap, fermented fruit, and bird droppings. While we do have a mature Sugar Maple in the back already, I’d like to add an apple or pear tree for the Red Admirals, as well as for us to eat.

A White Admiral butterfly

I only saw a White Admiral once. They lay eggs on a variety of shrubs and trees, such as the willow, birch, native cherries, and oak that are in our yard. The adult butterflies are also fans of sap, rotting fruit and animal droppings.

A Mourning Cloak butterfly

This Mourning Cloak wouldn’t pose with its wings open, so you can’t see the pretty blue dots that line the creamy edges of its wings. Like the Admirals, Mourning Cloaks also feed on sap and dung. They overwinter as adult butterflies, hiding under bark or leaves. Then, they emerge early in spring, even before flowers are in bloom, which may explain their unusual food preferences.

Mourning Cloaks will use willows as their host plant. I saw my first Mourning Cloak three years ago when we bought a Pussy Willow shrub at a fall nursery sale. I assume the butterfly hitchhiked home with us on the plant. They will also use Hackberry trees, like the one I chose for our front pollinator garden.

A few Blues

Up until a few years ago, I had no idea there were blue butterflies here in Ontario. On a Father’s Day walk at the local Pinhey Forest Trail, I spotted a tiny, ethereal, blue butterfly on the path. Since we spotted this butterfly in mid-June, I’m guessing it was a Summer Azure.

This summer, I spotted a tiny blue butterfly visiting our Heart-leaved Aster flowers. I managed to take a few pictures with my phone before it flew away. You can see how small the butterfly is compared with the equally small flowers of this aster.

Eastern Tailed Blues lay eggs on legumes. I hope it found a patch of Wild Lupines, Showy Tick Trefoil, Round-headed Bush Clover, Canada Milk Vetch, or Wild Blue Indigo in our garden. The caterpillars that overwinter may hide inside the legume seed pods — another reason not to clean up the garden in the fall.

A Duskywing butterfly

Here is another butterfly I had never heard of before — a Duskywing. It was drinking nectar from Mountain Mint flowers before resting on an adjacent yarrow. It is either a Coumbine Duskywing, which uses Wild Columbine as a host plant, or a Wild Indigo Duskywing, which uses, you guessed it, Wild Indigo. I have both host plants in the front pollinator garden where I found this butterfly, so that doesn’t help me narrow down an ID.

Skippers

Every once in a while I found Skippers in the garden, too. They’re small, but quite distinctive-looking; they hold one set of wings up, and the other set out to the side. They use various native grasses as host plants.

Sharing some tips, too

Next time, I’ll share some butterfly spotting tips with you, as well as some interesting observations I’ve made of butterfly behaviours.

I must sound like a broken record. In most of my blog posts, I begin with a variation of: “Even though our native plantings are only a few years old, I see more insects/birds each year, and a greater diversity of insect/bird species.” Here I go again — in 2019, I saw so many butterflies, including ones I had never seen before.

There were multiple butterflies in our garden almost every day. They were around so often that I even stopped running outside with the camera every time someone shouted ‘BUTTERFLY!’ At times, I felt like a Disney princess with the butterflies fluttering around me as I worked outside. In the future, I may have to start weeding in a ball gown.

The most common butterflies were American and Painted Ladies, Black and Giant Swallowtails, Monarchs, and of course non-native Cabbage Whites. They seem particularly easy to attract in the garden by including their caterpillar food plants (called host plants), and a variety of nectar plants for the adult butterflies.

American Lady butterflies

American Ladies like open spaces with low vegetation, like our mini-meadow and hedgerow. The first generation lays eggs in spring on Pussytoes varieties and Pearly Everlasting. These native plants both have grey, fuzzy leaves, and small, but interesting white flowers. The caterpillars make distinctive webbed enclosures for protection from predators. Once an enclosure is too full of frass (poop), they build a new webbed hide-out. There were many caterpillars on my clumps of Pearly Everlasting, as well as a few on the Field Pussytoes I use as ‘living mulch’ in sunny areas.

Painted Lady butterflies

Painted Lady butterflies aren’t as fussy eaters, using up to 100 different plants as host plants, such as Thistles, Hollyhocks, and legumes. We found their caterpillars on Wild Lupines (a legume) growing in little pots on a table. This was a great vantage point for observing them, as well as for taking close-up photos.

American Lady and Painted Lady butterflies look very similar. BugGuide has a simple guide for distinguishing one from the other. I also think that Painted Ladies look more faded in colour than the American Ladies.

Some people assume that Painted Ladies are small Monarchs. While they’re both orange and black, Painted Ladies are smaller and have larger white spots. Since both butterflies migrate at the same time in late summer, we do often found them together drinking nectar from the same flowers.

Eastern Black Swallowtail butterflies

Eastern Black Swallowtail butterflies also frequented the garden this summer. They use some common non-native herbs as host plants, such as Dill, Fennel, Rue, and Parsley. They also use some invasive weeds, namely Queen Anne’s Lace and Wild Parsnip, as host plants. This might explain why there are so many of them around.

Male and Female Black Swallowtails look quite different on the inside of their wings — the males have more yellow spots, whereas the females have more blue — but I can’t tell the difference from the outside of their wings. For identification tips, see this University of Wisconsin-Madison page, or this University of Florida page.

The caterpillars of Black Swallowtail butterflies are sometimes mistaken for Monarch caterpillars because they both have black, yellow, and white stripes. Monarch caterpillars are only found on Milkweed plants, while Black Swallowtail caterpillars are not found on Milkweed.

Giant Swallowtail butterflies

Giant Swallowtails are a spectacular sight, with a wingspan of up to 6 1/2-inches, and a very graceful flight. While they drink nectar from flowers, however, they are ridiculously frantic; perhaps they are so big that they have to hover while they drink. Starting in mid-summer, Giant Swallowtail butterflies began visiting our back garden for nectar. The preferred my brightest, gaudiest flowers in our mini-meadow.

Although I had planted a few Giant Swallowtail host plants, 2 Hop trees and a clump of Rue, we never found any caterpillars on them.

Monarch butterflies

I have never seen so many Monarchs in the garden before; they were drinking nectar, basking, roosting, mating, and laying eggs. You can find more about ‘our’ Monarchs in my past blog post A great summer for Monarchs.

Even more butterflies

Well, I saw so many butterflies in the garden this summer, that I can’t fit them all into a reasonable-sized blog post. This is a good problem to have! In my next post, I’ll show you some of the new butterflies I spotted, and share tips for butterfly watching.

I used to think that our back yard was just too big. At the very end, there is a 10-foot high chain-link fence that separates our yard from the high school field beyond. Each spring, I battled a tangle of tree seedlings, vines, and weeds that sprung up near the fence. I dreamed of creating another English-style border, but I never seemed to get past the initial weed-clearing process.

Neglect

These unwanted plants had free reign in my absence. I spent several years caring for our young children and my ailing parents. I had no time for gardening. When I finally returned to the back yard, it did not resemble the garden I had made years before. Although it was wild, I had to admit that it wasn’t all bad. Self-seeding plants had wandered from their designated places, but had created some lovely new combinations. I tried to be positive and saw the unkempt garden as an opportunity to do something different.

Bird poop

I noticed a lot of bird activity along the back fence that spring — something I had never seen before. The tree seedlings had grown into small trees. I recognized the dreaded European Buckthorn, but I couldn’t identify the other spindly trees. Whatever they were, the birds liked them, so I decided to read up on bird gardening.

I learned that I had multiple Chokecherries and Hawthorn trees. They’re small native trees that provide food for birds: birds may eat the pollinators the visit the flowers in spring, birds feed their chicks moth and butterfly caterpillars that use the trees as host plants, and birds eat the fruit that develops later in the summer. Birds also find shelter in these trees, and make nests in Hawthorns because they are protected from predators by the spikes that grow along the branches.

The National Audubon Society’s book The Bird Garden (at Ottawa Public Library) contains an illustration called “The Economical Hedgerow” (page 19). It shows birds sitting on a wire, dropping excrement containing seeds. The seeds germinate, and grow into shrubs and trees that will provide shelter and food for birds. I’m sure that our Chokecherries and Hawthorns were planted by birds sitting on the wires above our back fence! The birds started to plant a hedgerow — and I decided to continue planting it.

Where to begin?

Almost everything I could find on planting hedgerows is from the UK. There, hedgerows have been used for centuries as living fences around fields. Hedgerows mimic natural shrub lands or forest edges. They contain a mix of deciduous and coniferous shrubs and trees that produce fruit, seeds, and nuts. Vines and other flowering plants grow beneath and around the woody plants. Hedgerows in the UK provide vital habitat for birds, small animals, and insects. They also connect with each other, and with remaining woodlands, becoming wildlife corridors. Sadly, many hedgerows in the UK have been ripped out to create larger fields that will accommodate modern agricultural machinery.

Obviously, the hedgerow information from the UK recommends shrubs and trees that aren’t native here in Ottawa. All the bird gardening books stress the importance of native plants for birds. So, what should I plant here in my hedgerow? Thankfully, the Fletcher Wildlife Garden web site, maintained by the Ottawa Field Naturalists, has a page on Creating a hedgerow for wildlife. It includes an overview of hedgerow ecology, and lists native shrubs for hedgerows in sunny or shadier locations. Perfect!

Finding native shrubs for sale

It took a while to find native shrubs and piece together our hedgerow. I started with Pussy Willow, Serviceberry, Elderberry, Gray Dogwood, and Wild Raisin Viburnum. The Pussy Willow provides insects for birds, Serviceberry and Elderberry offer fruit in the summer, and Gray Dogwood and Viburnum bear later fruit for migrating birds.

That first winter, I learned that rabbits also enjoy eating native shrubs. Resident Cottontail Rabbits ate the Serviceberries and Viburnums to the ground. To fill in shadier spots in the hedgerow, and the gaps created by rabbits, I later added Purple-flowering Raspberry, Hop tree (for Giant Swallowtail butterflies), American Hazelnut, Wild Plum, Winterberry (male and females), and Nannyberry Viburnum.

In the Ottawa area, I’ve bought native shrubs from Make it Green Garden Centre, Green Thumb Garden Centre, Ferguson Tree Nursery (Kempville), and Beaux Arbres Native Plants (Bristol Quebec). I bought my Purple-flowering Raspberry further afield at Native Plants in Claremont (north Pickering).

Arranging the hedgerow

That may seem like a lot of shrubs. Hedgerows are often planted densely, so I placed my shrubs about 1 1/2 yards apart. I can always cut some down after the hedgerow fills in if I find it too crowded. With the unexpected rabbit pruning this may take a while. They have to eat too, so I try not to get too annoyed with them.

When I arranged, and re-arranged, the hedgerow, I tried to mix up autumn leaf colours. I also placed the Winterberries front and centre, so we can see them from the house in the winter. Whenever I find Black Raspberry seedlings around the yard, I’ve been moving them to an area of the hedgerow; I’m not sure if I will some day regret creating thorny tangle of brambles. As well, the shrubs beneath the Hawthorne have struggled, so I will move them next year and try Spikenard in their place. Hedgerows should include a few conifers, so I’ll keep this in mind if any other shrubs need to be replaced.

Planting beneath and around the shrubs

I’ve also been planting native ground covers, for part-shade and shade, in the hedgerow. So far, my favourite combination has been Violets and Wild Strawberry, both of which I transplanted from the lawn. These patches are alive with small pollinators in the spring. I’ve also been adding spring woodland plants under the shrubs: Canada Anemone, Canada Columbine, Virginia Waterleaf, Woodland Sunflower, Zigzag Goldenrod, and White Wood Aster are all allowed to spread freely in the hedgerow — as these plants are wont to do.

More, more, more!

Our hedgerow connects with other vines and trees that are already growing along the fence in neighbouring yards to create a natural highway along our block.

There is a saying that “shrubs shrink the yard” and it certainly seems true. While my back yard once seemed too big, I now wish I had room for even more native shrubs. In fact, this summer I created a new hedgerow along one side of our back yard to join up with the hedgerow along the back fence.

A couple of years ago, I planted a Crabapple tree that bears small fruit for birds to eat in winter. Last year, there were only a few berries and I didn’t spot anything eating them. This year has been a different story. In mid-November, during an unusually cold and snowy week, the birds entertained us as they feasted on the Crabapples.

Room with a (garden) view

I’m a big fan of Margaret Roach’s A Way to Garden blog, podcast, and books. Roach explains that birds taught her to garden at her rural New York state home, meaning that her garden attracts birds by meeting their needs. She shares plant suggestions and garden design tips that have guided many of my own decisions. With winter almost here, I am reminded of Roach’s valuable advice to Look out the window: garden design 101. Simply put, choose plants and strategically place garden beds, so you can enjoy them, and the wildlife they attract, from within your house.

When it comes to cold, snowy weather, I’m a real wimp — very un-Canadian! I blame my Reynaud Syndrome, which quickly turns my fingers deathly white. If I’m going to enjoy our wildlife garden in winter, it must be from indoors. I’ve designed the gardens accordingly, by looking out our windows as I dream and plan.

First of all, in the backyard, we placed the circulating steam/pond within view from our patio door. Beside the pond, I planted a ‘Prairie Fire’ Crabapple tree, which has beautiful pink flowers in spring and red fruit in winter. I clustered 5 Red Osier Dogwood shrubs nearby so we can enjoy their bright red stems peeking out of the snow, and the bird that eat their berries. I then added a variety of native bird seed plants, such as Purple Coneflowers and Anise Hyssop, to attract Goldfinches and Juncos.

A feast for birds…

Last year, all of these plants were still small, so we didn’t see much wildlife activity. This year has been much more successful. We even removed the window screen, so I can open the glass door to take unobstructed photos of our backyard visitors. Even as a beginner, amateur photographer, I was able to capture some amazing sights!

…and other creatures

We were also delighted to see other critters eating the Crabapples, too. Apparently, mid-November was still too early for Chipmunks to be hiding out in their dens for winter. We got to watch our resident Chippies doing gymnastics and eating right outside the window on another Crabapple tree. Of course, wherever there is food, you also find Black and Grey Squirrels.

Plant small-fruiting Crabapples

Crabapples are an easy fruit to provide for overwintering birds. While it can be difficult to find native shrubs (that produce berries for birds), nurseries reliably sell Crabapple trees each spring because they feature pretty, fragrant flowers that appeal to customers.

If you buy Crabapple trees that grow small fruit, they can be a valuable food source for birds throughout fall and winter. In Crabapples for birds, Johnson’s nursery in Wisconsin explains that Crabapple fruits vary in hardness; the softer the fruit, the earlier it is ready for birds to eat. They list numerous small-fruiting Crabapple varieties, grouped according to when they’re soft enough for birds. For example, in this list my ‘Prairie Fire’ Crabapple trees provide mid-winter season fruit; obviously with our colder Ottawa weather, the timing of this list is off. It is still useful though, if you use it more as a guide for which Crabapples are ready earlier, in the middle, or later. Since My ‘Rosthern’ Crabapples are ready quite early, and ‘Prairie Fire’ is ready now, I’d like to add another Crabapple that will be ready later in winter.

The popularity of Crabapple trees in urban areas encourages fruit-eating Robins to hang around in winter. According to the Michigan State University Extension page American Robin: Harbringer of spring or year-round resident?, Robin migration is determined more by food supply than temperature. In winter, they form nomadic flocks that show up wherever there is abundant fruit.

The commonly-available Crabapple cultivars aren’t native. However, in Bringing Nature Home, Douglas Tallamy explains that these non-native Crabapples are very similar to native trees (page 166). They are successfully used by the moth and butterfly caterpillars that use native Crabapples as a host plant. I have never seen native Crabapple trees for sale, so at lease non-native ones seem okay to plant too.