County Gardener’s 2011 notebook

Donald McClure | May 27, 2011 | Comments 9

First important butterfly of the season was a Mourning Cloak like this magnificent specimen which landed on the garden walkway last week. Likely born in August 2010 it wintered over in the garden. Donald McClure photo

Wasn’t going to do as much this year

planned to cut back and

save the wear and tear

but when I stood beside the bed

something happened to my head

there’s room for another Rudbeckia

over here —

Oh dear!

Primula Priaxia puts on a beautiful display of pendulous yellow and white blooms bringing the early vitality to the garden. Donald McClure photo

It returns each spring like an old friend, the “first rose” of spring perennials, the wonderful, exotic primrose or Primula vulgarisi . Normally arrives with more bloom then it left behind the season before. Its one of the sure signs of spring. It is also a plant that requires little attention other than to keep it thinned out from time to time. There are over 450 types of primulas — enough to satisfy any gardener’s interest or climatic requirements.

Was a longtime member of the American Primrose Society ( which includes organized Canadian Chapters in its umbrella). It’ s quarterly magazine is guaranteed to give you goosebumps of anticipation. You might get some real excitement also going in early spring flower shows with this plant. In Canada contact: British Columbia Group: Maedythe Martin, president, 951 Joan Crescent Victoria, BC, V8S 3L3 Canada <martin951@shaw.ca>

Victorious male oriole chased a young rival from the garden at Foxglove, but still has to contend with three other rivals this summer. Donald McClure photo

I had a feeling something unfortunate was about to happen when two male Baltimore Orioles started dive-bombing each other in territorial dispute. One of the oriole’s vulnerable sides is it’ s vigourous defense of its nesting grounds and this dispute seemed to involve an open fight between an immature male and an old hand.

Over the years we have had a many as four different colonies in the area that somehow sorted out their prerogatives. Last year one male practically drove himself to exhaustion trying to scare off his on reflection in the side mirrors of our car. This year it took a deadlier turn,

Trimming around one of the big maples out front the afternoon after the heated encounter I found the orange and black form of a young male crumpled in the grass against the trunk. It would appear that in his frantic haste to escape his tormentor, he had barrelled into the maple at warp speed and succumbed. An hour after the the older male was back on the nectar feeder once more with his female companion.

Another bird visitor that flew the tortuous route back from the deep South to my neighbour’s garden in Bloomfield recently before fatally colliding with a window, was an unfortunate ovenbird warbler. Cannot say that I had ever identified one in the wild — but after photographing the delicate, pristine olive brown body, striped breast, white eye ring, black stripe near the eye and a striped orange tinged crest with dark stripes the characteristics are now indelibly in my mental rolodex. In its frozen position its tail titled tilted upward like that of a wren.

Why is it called “ovenbird”. Seems that’s the shape of its domed ground-built nest crafted out of grass and sticks which reminded folks of an early oven. In any event it everyone’s loss when such a beautiful creature which traveled from as far away as Mexico is share the summer with us is lost.

Butterflies and dragonflies were fairly scarce in our area last summer. Hope this problem is reversed in 2011. First butterfly of the season was a white cabbage variety motoring along on the cool afternoon of May 5th. First larger visitor was a beautiful Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa, which landed on the garden walkway May 9th. This two-brood beauty (with second brooders in August) likely wintered over in the garden and emerged again in early spring. First Eastern Tiger Swallowtail floated across the lot May 24th.

Anyone contemplating using a bird bath in their garden should realize that with its use goes the responsibility of keeping it clean. Birds are not the most pristine of creatures — in fact some of them can be down right disgusting. It’s practical to inspect the your baths frequently and keep a utility brush handy to give them a clean up. Always use clean untreated water if possible. Keeping them happy and healthy pays dividends.

Garlic mustard is once again sneaking into our gardens. This persistent and destructive import (also described as the “purple loosestrife of woodlands and hedgerows”) is again taking over the territory of many of our native plants and wildflowers; sapping the nutrients, light, moisture and growing space needed by many of our more desirable native wildflowers . It is already getting late in the season but hunt out these distinctive white flowers and pull them out before they start shedding their buckets of seeds.

The notorious intruder garlic mustard is staking its overpowering claim to County gardens and woodlands this season and should be eradicated to preserve room and nutrients for native species of wildflowers. Donald McClure photo

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About the Author: He can tickle your funny bone or tug at your heart strings. County people may know him as a chronicler of everything that happens (or should happen) in the garden, but his interests stretch across the natural world. His unique sense of observation takes in a wide expanse of living and may even point out some truths about our own condition as managers of the world around us. With Loyalist antecedents in his family tree his roots go deep into the Ontario countryside.

County Gardener’s 2011 notebook

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