Birds & Blooms
April/May 2021Birds & Blooms is the #1 bird and garden magazine in North America with more than 1 million subscribers. We pride ourselves in celebrating the “beauty in your own backyard” with a mix of expert advice and personal stories from our family of readers. Our magazine covers a wide range of topics such as attracting hummingbirds, building birdhouses, gardening for butterflies, feeding birds for less, growing veggies, tales of readers’ birding experiences, plus a whole lot more.
in this issue
gardening soothes
Last summer Kim Gallo-Daniels of Mays Landing, New Jersey, sent us a note about her new hobby. She wrote, “Just as COVID-19 was becoming news, my 19-year-old son left for the U.S. Air Force, and I had a severe mother meltdown.” Kim went on to share that she started working outside and discovered so much potential on her 1-acre property. “Gardening has brought such joy and relief to my soul,” she wrote. Whether you garden for similar reasons or just to beautify your yard, I think we can all agree there’s something truly relaxing about being outside, creatively finding a home for new plants, pulling weeds or even simply mowing the lawn. Every year in our April/May issue, we boost the garden stories a bit and treat them as a kickoff to…
twist on a classic
WILDLIFE BENEFITS Watch for hummingbirds flying around this bright annual. Pollinators like bees and butterflies also are attracted to the flowers. Baby Rose Nasturtium Tropaeolum minus ‘Baby Rose’, Annual Move over, classic orange! Baby Rose offers deep pink blooms that pop from dark green foliage. Unlike some nasturtiums, it grows in a tidy mounding habit. Its shape and the peppery flavor of its flowers and leaves make it a great fit for herb gardens. Attracts: Light needs: Full sun. Size: 1 foot wide and tall. Grown for: Herb or vegetable beds, borders or containers. Foliage: Perky circular leaves. Other cultivars: Cherrelle features cherry-colored ruffled petals, growing 1 foot tall and trailing 3 feet. Orchid Cream’s mounding foliage has pale blooms with red accents.…
mealworms on the menu
For most backyard birders, there’s nothing quite like the rush of spotting a new species or flock at the feeder. To double down on the excitement and potentially attract even more, mealworms are the golden ticket. “Take a handful of mealworms, toss them out and have the birds trained,” says John Schaust, chief naturalist at Wild Birds Unlimited, a retailer that trains its staff on how to attract local birds. “I’ve seen photographs, especially with the eastern bluebird, where customers have about 25 bluebirds on their deck in the backyard.” Served alive or dried, these protein-rich snacks (which are actually beetle larvae) help birds get the sustenance they need to survive harsh conditions and thrive during the breeding season. Sure, store-bought seeds provide much-needed nutrients, but it’s hard to beat the benefits…
new plants for 2021
1 Luminary Ultraviolet tall garden phlox PHLOX PANICULATA ‘ULTRAVIOLET’, ZONES 3 TO 8 You, the hummingbirds, the butterflies and the bees will all be drawn to the magenta-violet flowers on this summer bloomer. Growing 28 to 32 inches upright, this phlox provides vertical interest in containers and gardens. Grow several to ensure plenty of flowers for the pollinators and for your summer bouquets. Why we love it: A resistance to disease means it looks livelier and lusher for longer. 2 Lancelot Canary Island sage SALVIA CANARIENSIS ‘LANCELOT’, ZONES 7 TO 11 OR ANNUAL This salvia provides multiple benefits. The 36- to 42-inch-tall plant with fragrant silvery white leaves has lower supplemental water needs and prefers full sun to partial shade. The lavender flowers with rosy lavender bracts attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. Why we love it: Its…
garden for a greener earth
Having a green thumb is a good thing. And helping the earth be greener in the process? Well, that’s an even better thing. Here are the ways I’ve learned to be kinder to the environment when I’m in the garden. MULCH WITH CARE Years ago, I mulched my front garden with dyed wood chips. The uniform color looked terrific, but when I dug beneath the mulch to plant, there was a spooky absence of earthworms. Although there’s some concern about the dyes, the University of Florida Extension says the real danger lies with the wood, because it’s sometimes recycled from treated or contaminated materials. Use natural wood chips instead. They are often available for free from local municipalities. LEAVE THE LEAVES As a kid, I earned money raking leaves for the neighbors. Back then,…
id that amphibian
FROG TOAD SCIENTIFIC SORTING If it seems tough to tell a toad from a frog, there’s a reason why! Toads are actually a subclassification of frogs —so, technically, these bumpy-skinned amphibians are frogs, too. Both fall under the Anura order, meaning “without a tail,” and both creatures are found on every continent except for Antarctica. FROM TOP: EPANTHA/GETTY IMAGES; SOMCHOK TIKAMRAM/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO…
