Butterfly / Hummingbird Garden

Paul and I were talking about attracting butterflies to a landscape this past Saturday during “The Garden Clinic” on WTMA. In case you were listening while driving and couldn't take notes or missed the radio show completely, but are interested in attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, here are a few tips.

There are many plants that will attract butterflies.  The ones I’m going to recommend will give you the bonus of attracting hummingbirds as well.  I’ve had all of these plants in my yard and they do very well in the Lowcountry with a minimal amount of care. 

One of the first plants that come to mind is the Butterfly Weed.  The monarch butterfly lays its eggs on this plant and when the caterpillars come out, they will devour the foliage.  Do not spray insecticides!  The foliage will come back quickly and you don’t want to kill the larva of the monarch butterfly.  This plant is not a perennial, however it reseeds itself.   When it pops up elsewhere in your yard, you can either replant it where you originally had it or leave it where it popped up.  Some people think it is neat watching the large caterpillars chow down on the plant and others are afraid of the big caterpillars.  This plant provides an important host plant of the Monarch Butterfly’s life cycle and will guarantee you will get plenty of butterflies.

Pentas, Bee Balm, Black Eyed Suzanne, Hibiscus, Plumbago, Lantana, Mexican Sage, Verbena, Vitex, and Glossy Abelia are all good choices for Butterfly Gardens.  If you have a railing around a porch, a Passion Vine does very well.  Of course every Butterfly Garden must have a Butterfly Bush.  A Bottle Brush should definitely be planted as well.  When at the garden center, choose red varieties, when you have a choice (i.e. red Hibiscus versus yellow). 

When you buy these plants they can all go in one little area for a compact “Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden”.  You may also want to plant several plants in one location, then have others groups throughout the yard for the “Butterfly/Hummingbird Yard”!  If you have a new landscape, it is very easy to design your yard to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.  Also consider a source of water for the visitors to your yard.  Leave the insecticides on the shelf away from your guests.

There are many other plants that will attract butterflies and hummingbirds; these are just a few of my favorites that I have had great success with.  Some plants that you would not normally think of attracting butterflies are pine trees, oak trees, birch trees, hack berries, and blueberry bushes.

The butterflies and hummingbirds will add movement to the landscape and a whole new dimension. The colorful plants are a plus as well. 

Now is a great time to enjoy two other butterfly attracting plants, the Dogwood and the Azalea.  It is a great time to get out and enjoy the many gardens in the area as well as Hampton Park.  Get out there soon or the Azaleas will be gone for another year.

Have You Done It List

Today’s article is not as much of a “to do list” as a have you done it list.

Aerating the lawn and landscape is always a good cultural practice, especially after all the rain and saturated soils we have had. Aerating does several good things for your lawn, shrubs, and trees. Try to use an aerator that pulls up a plug with a hollow tine instead of a spike type aerator that is just a solid tine going into the ground. By removing cores of soil from your lawn and laying them on top of the ground, all kinds of good things happen (microorganisms). This cultural practice is one of the best for your landscape as a whole. If you can aerate in beds and under trees, that will benefit plants as well.   

Aerating reduces compaction, reduces thatch, increases oxygen movement to the roots, brings beneficial microorganisms to the surface (some microorganisms decompose thatch which helps with many other situations), cuts runners in turf, and allows better penetration of water, fertilizers, or control products into the soil.

You can aerate anytime the grass is actively growing. On our programs, I usually recommend in April before your second application of preemergent, just in case any weed seeds are surfaced and try to germinate.

When you aerate, be sure to mark all your irrigation heads, propane lines, cable lines, night lighting lines and any other wire or pipe you might have running through your lawn, so you do not accidentally add to you work load.

If you have been waiting for the weather to warm up, here is a brief checklist of things that should have been completed around the yard:

• Test soil. All the rain leached out very valuable nutrients out of the soil. There are many properties I have taken soil test on every year for over 20 years. In every case, there are certain nutrients that all the rain has leached out of the soil. From the soil test taken December of 2014 to the soil test taken December of 2015 there are many obvious decreases in nutrients.  I was looking at soil tests a few years ago and I had 2 tests for palm trees that 2 different people had put out way, way, way too much Magnesium. Just because people say that palms like Epsom Salt which is Magnesium sulfate, take a soil test first. You might be wasting your money. This could be true throughout your landscape. Soil test provide valuable information!
• Have you applied SeaHume G to lawn and beds for a healthy start?
• Have you applied a preemergent to lawn and beds (this late use Dimension if it is your first application)? Remember it is never too late to start a preemerge program. With our mild climate weeds germinate almost every day of the year.
• Have you drench Dominion around plants with a history of insect problems?
• Have you applied a preventive fungicide to turf if you have a history of fungus (Cleary’s, Fame)?
• Mole Crickets overwinter as adults and do their mating flights right now. Have you killed them now before they can make babies? Be sure your lawn and beds are free of fire ants, and if you have pets, fleas and ticks should be controlled. If you live near the woods, chiggers may be an issue. (Granular Sevin will work on these pests. If you prefer organic, check with a Possum’s near you to find a product or products that will work in your situation.)
• Have you gone through your irrigation system to be sure everything is operating correctly? In my travels through the Lowcountry, I have noticed many broken heads and heads that are spraying into the street.
• The little fury terrorist of the yard is mating now. Have you killed a mole recently or at least repelled one out of your yard?

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.

Large Patch / Brown Patch Spring 2016

The cool nights and moist spring has been great for extending the bloom period on azaleas and dogwoods; however, turf fungus seems to be thriving in these conditions. The rains last fall (2015) really spread the fungus to new levels. These new areas of infection are likely to show up again this spring. Be ready. Fungicides work like the flu shot – they are best to be used preventatively before you have the disease. Unlike the flu shot , if you don’t get it out in time, there are curative rates you can use.

Large Patch or Brown Patch fungus loves these weather conditions. Temperatures at night in the high 50’s to low 60’s and moisture make conditions real favorable for Large Patch or Brown Patch fungus. We have had plenty of these conditions making the fungus environment perfect for the spread of this disease.

Since it is very difficult to control night time temperatures, you can put your efforts into doing other cultural things to help minimize the disease. Large Patch or Brown Patch fungus likes wet, heavy thatch, improper nutrition, and/or compacted soils.   Culturally you need to manage your irrigation system, raise any low areas, and correct drainage problems.  Reducing thatch, maintaining proper fertility levels via soil testing, and aerating to alleviate compaction, will also help control Large Patch or Brown Patch fungus.

Certain organic products have shown to increase microorganisms in the soil that compete with plant pathogenic fungus in the soil. At Possum’s we get good feedback from Nature’s Blend, SeaHume, Crab Shell, Corn Gluten, Cotton Burr Compost, and some of the Roots products. These products are not fungicides; however, people that use them report back to us that they notice less fungus in the yards that they apply these products. Coincidence or real science? I’m thinking real science because I have noticed it in my yard too. Try some of these products in areas that you know you get the disease, and see how it works for you.

Since the grass is coming out of dormancy so slow, a systemic control product like Cleary’s 3336 or Fame might be a good idea to get you through the next month or so as long as conditions are favorable for the disease. Be careful because some of the fungicides in the SI or DMI class (Bayleton) of chemistry slow down the growth of the grass making the grass more susceptible to fungus. Actively growing grass will recover faster from disease.

Being a soil borne disease, you know that it will reoccur in the same areas year after year.  If the base of a leaf blade with Large Patch is moved from one part of the yard to another (lawn mower – not real likely if you have sharp blades), this can begin a new infection area; however, these are not spores flying through the air.  As a soil borne fungus, if you map the areas that you have the disease, you can concentrate your control efforts (dollars) into a smaller area, putting less control products into the environment.  If your yard is 5,000 sq ft usually you might have a few infected areas which might total approx. 500 ft.  Instead of buying control products to treat 5,000 sq ft, you can concentrate your efforts into the 500 ft (i.e. 10% of your total yard).  If Large Patch was an air borne fungus with spores, you would have had to treat the entire yard because air borne fungus spreads a lot quicker than soil borne fungus.

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.