Provide Winter Meals for Wild Birds

An American robin feasts on native holly berries in the Blomquist Garden. 
Photo by Cathi Bodine

by Katherine Hale

Winter is the hardest time of year for wild birds. Just when they need to eat the most to keep themselves warm, the cold drives the insects they depend on into hibernation. Even fruit and seed eaters aren’t safe, with unpredictable bouts of ice, snow and inclement weather cutting off access to their food sources.

Like support stations at a marathon, backyard feeders bearing sunflower seeds and suet offer birds a lifeline in stressful times, with quick and easy boosts of the calories and fat they need to survive. Feeding birds is a safe, easy and fun way to help local wildlife, and it also allows adults and children alike an up-close-and-personal opportunity to connect with nature.

Feeders aren’t the only way to help birds, of course. Native trees like dogwoods, hollies and wax myrtles provide welcome bursts of seasonal color—along with food and shelter for hungry fall migrants and overwintering residents alike. Withered seed heads of ornamental grasses and sunflowers can be left up after the frost for foraging juncos and sparrows. (You can cut them down in the spring to make room for new foliage or plantings.) Native plants also serve as hosts to caterpillars and grasshoppers, allowing insectivores like bluebirds and warblers to thrive. And of course brightly colored flowers are the best way to draw in nectar-drinking hummingbirds.

But the wonderful thing about bird feeders is that they are open to everyone—no land or garden required. For those who don’t have access to much outdoor space, or who are waiting for their plants to mature, bird feeders offer an effective and immediate alternative. As long as you follow a few simple rules—making sure there are bushes or other cover nearby for birds to shelter in; cleaning the feeders regularly to prevent disease; and keeping cats and other pets indoors—the only limits are your budget, imagination and time.

What birds frequent your feeders depends on the kind of offerings you set out. Woodpeckers appreciate suet. Chickadees and cardinals love black oil sunflower seeds. That said, part of the fun of setting up a bird feeder is that you never know who might drop by. Visitors to the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants frequently spy a pair of mallard ducks hanging out under the feeders, commuting from the pond nearby. Online resources like eBird, iNaturalist and Feeder Watch provide space for the scientifically inclined to share and document their findings.

Bird feeders in the Blomquist. Photo by K. Julian.

The beauty of bird feeders is that they allow you the opportunity to watch wild birds up close, with a house or windowsill serving as a blind. Beginning and seasoned naturalists don’t even have to step outside to see the resulting antics, which speed up as weather conditions worsen. The result is live-action drama worthy of a reality show, as the dominant chickadee scolds its flockmates away from the choicest morsels, or a red-shouldered hawk shows up to try and snag a feathered meal of its own.

If you’d like to try making simple bird-feeders of your own out of pine cones, lard and other natural materials (no nuts or nut products involved), join us for our annual Winter Wonderland Festival, on Sunday, December 8, from 2-4 p.m. at the Doris Duke Center. The family-friendly festival is free for Duke Gardens members, and $5 per child for non-members. (Please register in advance at http://duke.is/tZhVcV.) In addition to winter-themed crafts, there will also be storytelling, cookie decorating, festive music and our resident snowperson, Snowflake. Hope to see you there!

For more plant and nature stories about Duke Gardens, check out the Garden Talk column on our website. 

Class Preview: Make Your Garden Sing

Add "music" to your garden with ornamental grasses.
Photo by Bob Ayers.

By Rose James T'20

Plants whisper, seed pods clack and the wind rustles through leaves outside your door. A bird trills and a frog croaks, perhaps bringing you back to childhood games of hide and seek in your favorite neighborhood garden. A nearby brook bubbling might bring you back to a pleasant afternoon catching toads with your cousins or fishing with your grandfather.

Plants that attract birds will make your garden sing.
Photo by Charles Twine.

Our sense of sound is one of the strongest triggers for memories. A sound can bring to mind a person or place that you loved, or a favorite pastime. Sometimes this can be a happy accident. But like a composer, you can also shape your own environmental symphony to spark joyful memories or create new ones.

Whether your garden spans many acres or a small bed, consider adding sound to your design principles of form, function and color. Hilary Nichols can help you weave those sounds in a new two-session class at Duke Gardens, “I Need a Plan: The Musical Garden.”

Nichols is garden manager at the Durham nonprofit SEEDS, an urban sanctuary focused on promoting the principles and practice of sustainable agriculture, organic gardening, food security and environmental stewardship. She strives to live her life intentionally, and she loves sharing her design and horticultural expertise to help gardeners at all ability levels create gardens that sing to ears and eyes alike.

Streams and rain gardens are perfect to add a croaking frog
or two to your chorus. Photo by Sue Lannon.

The plants you choose, and the way you arrange your plants, will influence the musicality of your garden, Nichols says. Enjoy the wind strumming the blades of ornamental grasses or rattling autumn leaves. Place a large-leafed plant near your favorite window to enjoy the rain pattering on the leaves. Select plants that attract insects or birds to add a percussive buzz and lilting song. Study the life-cycle of your plants to create a garden in bloom throughout the year, drawing animals to your garden in different seasons.

Sign up for “The Musical Garden” and Nichols will have your garden singing in no time.

“I Need a Plan: The Musical Garden” meets on two Tuesdays, Oct. 11 and 18, from 6:30-9 p.m. To register, or for more information, please call 919-668-1707 or email gardenseducation@duke.edu.

Blogger Rose James is a Duke freshman and work-study marketing assistant at Duke Gardens. 

Create a Bird-Friendly Garden

By Sarah Leach Smith, Visitor Services Coordinator

Photos by Charles Twine

Joyful gardens are often more than just plants – insects, birds and other wildlife add color, energy, life and song. If you’re interested in learning more about how to attract birds to your garden, consider joining us for “I Need a Plan: Bird-Friendly Gardening." 

Lauri Lawson, a horticulturist with Niche Gardens in Chapel Hill, will teach this 2-session class, which will meet Feb. 2 and 9 from 6:30-9 p.m. Niche Gardens has been a pioneer for native plants and ideal plants for Southern gardens since 1986. Niche has a devoted local and regional following, as well as a thriving nationwide mail-order business.

Lawson has extensive experience teaching gardeners how best to grow a sustainable, low-maintenance landscape, and how to garden for birds, butterflies, pollinators and other beneficial wildlife.

“We all know about bird feeders and birdbaths, but there are many wonderful plants that are both beautiful to our eyes and attractive to a wide variety of birds,” Lawson says. “These plants can create habitat for adults and be a prime spot to raise their nestlings.”

The class will cover the basic needs of common backyard bird species and a roster of easy-to-grow plants to make them happy year round, she says. “I'm especially excited about giving bird-lovers in the class good personal attention to their specific questions and give them the knowledge needed to make their gardens an oasis for our feathered friends."

This class will happen around the same time as an excellent national event called the Great Backyard Bird Count, which encourages people to count birds in their back yards and submit the data online. The collected data will help scientists find out more about bird migration and how it is impacted by environmental changes.

We hope you will join us for “I Need a Plan: Bird-Friendly Gardening” (email or call 919-668-1707 to register), and perhaps participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count as well!

Creating a Photogenic Garden

By Paul Salazar
Photos by Paul Salazar

As a photographer, I am always on the lookout for eye-catching scenes, vibrant colors and interesting subjects. Browse through any photography book or magazine and one is overwhelmed with photographs that we all long to take but never do because we don’t have the time or money to travel to the exotic places pictured in these publications.

Does your camera sit on a shelf most of the winter when scenes outside are dull and all the leaves have fallen from the trees? When spring arrives, our desire to take photographs blossoms like the world around us. Every year, I make a conscious effort to get out and photograph often, even during the dull winter months. I don’t take long trips, I just step out into my back yard.

I have set aside a couple of corners of my yard for photography gardens. These are not the symmetrical, well planned and pristine gardens featured in the garden magazines.  My gardens don’t require a lot of work and are purposely cluttered with interesting items that I collect randomly anytime I see something of interest. I have an old wagon wheel, a banged up watering can, old gardening tools, a section of split rail fence, a section of barbed wire fence and a section of picket fence. Interspersed among these items, I have dragged in some interesting boulders and several pieces of trees that have interesting shapes and knot holes.

Among all these items, I plant flowers and shrubs. Generally, I plant the taller items behind the shorter and evergreen trees and bushes at the very back of the garden so that I have a green background even in the winter months.  A few winter-blooming plants keep color in my photographs year-round. My garden’s layout is constantly changing as I move different items in and out to create new interesting scenes for photographs. My garden is a habitat for birds, butterflies and small animals like chipmunks, squirrels and lizards and for spiders and insects. I’m trying to create mini-scenes for interesting photographs, scenes that include color, shape and form.

TIPS

Here are a few tips when laying out your photography garden:
1.    Birds are attracted to the sound of running water. Include a bird bath and/or a small garden pond that has a pump to move the water.
2.    I generally do not include white flowers in my garden as they are too bright and distracting in photographs. If you want white flowers, put them in their own section and don’t intersperse them throughout your garden.
3.    Bury several sections of 18-inch-long, 8-inch in diameter plastic pipe in a semi-circle  around the perimeter of your garden  so that you can readily insert and change out interesting posts and sections of trees with interesting shapes and knot holes. I put peanut butter suet in the knot holes to attract birds to natural-looking perches for photographs. 
4.    Place bird feeders around the perimeter. I do not photograph birds at their feeders but include all sorts of interesting objects, branches, logs, etc., throughout the garden for them to perch on. I often plant colorful flowers behind these items for a splash of color.
5.    Check with your local nursery for plants and flowers that attract birds and butterflies.  Save money and buy perennials instead of annuals.
6.    Finally, grab your camera and keep shooting all year!

Columnist Paul Salazar is a photographer and photo instructor whose work has been published in “Our State” magazine, in the book “Forever These Lands” and elsewhere. You can see his photos at paulsalazar.com. 

PHOTO CLASS

To learn more about photography from Paul Salazar, consider signing up for his 3-session workshop “Photographing Plants,” which runs Wednesday, May 16 & 23, from 6:30-9 p.m., and Saturday, May 19, from 8 a.m. to noon, at Duke Gardens. To register, or for more information, please call 919-668-1707.

To learn more about classes and public events at Duke Gardens, please visit gardens.duke.eduhttp://gardens.duke.edu.

More photos from Paul Salazar

Sarah P. Duke Gardens creates and nurtures an environment in the heart of Duke University for learning, inspiration and enjoyment through excellence in horticulture. The Gardens is at 420 Anderson St.


This column first appeared in the Durham Herald-Sun.

Duke Gardens: October classes and events

We’ve got lots of great activities in store for October. To register or for information, e-mail or call 668-5309 for adult programs, or e-mail or call 668-1708 for children’s programs.

Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29, 10 a.m.-noon.

NATURE RANGER CART

Look for the colorful cart near the foot of the Terrace Gardens; it's full of simple and fun activities for children. Play flower bingo or make pressed flower bookmarks, paper butterflies, pond life pictures and bark, insect or leaf rubbings. Or get some nutritious food for the Gardens' ducks. Free. No registration required.

Oct. 2, 8-11 a.m.

BIRD WALK

Enjoy an early morning stroll in the Gardens with fellow bird enthusiasts and Cynthia Fox, of Chapel Hill's Wild Bird Center. Cynthia will help you to spot, identify and learn more about the birds that call this region home, even temporarily. Don't miss this opportunity to experience that one remarkable bird sighting. Children are welcome if they are age 8 or older. Please bring binoculars. Free, but registration required.

Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

SUNDAY SCIENCE

Join us in the Gardens for simple drop-in science or craft projects for children and families, which include something to make and take home. Location noted each week at our information desk. Free. No registration required.

Oct. 5 & 12, 6-9 p.m. and Oct. 9, 8 a.m.-noon

INTRODUCTION TO NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

In nature photography you may capture and communicate your delight in a season, an object, or a moment in time. Photographer Jennifer Weinberg will teach equipment basics, field strategies and techniques, exposure, lighting and compositional skills. The class includes hands-on practice sessions and classroom reviews. $150; $120 for members; 668-5309.

Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27, 6:30-9 p.m.
THE ECOLOGY OF CHANGE: Human Impact on the Environment

We have always influenced our environment, from Native Americans directing the prairie fires to Europeans slowly selecting grain for larger seeds and, as a result, creating modern wheat. Today the change we are creating is moving very rapidly, perhaps outpacing our understanding. Join Dan Richter, professor at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, to review the environmental influence of humans across time and debate the future. $150; $120 for members.

Oct. 7, 9-11 a.m.

HISTORIC GARDENS COLOR WALK

There is an astounding range of plants displayed across our gardens, including perennial plants, annual flowers and foliage, and tropical plants. Join our expert staff to review the wonderful plant combinations and learn what is currently in bloom and which plants you may like to introduce in your own garden. $5; free for members. 668-5309.

Oct. 7, 11 a.m.-noon

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

Explore wild North Carolina in these walks through our Blomquist Garden of Native Plants. Join curator Stefan Bloodworth on the first Thursday of every month to discover native flowers and design strategies, and discuss ecology and your role in protecting the health of our planet. $5; free for members.

Oct. 8, 15, 22 & 29, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
NATURE FOR SPROUTS

Join us for a month of Friday morning programs for explorers aged 3 to 5. Programs will incorporate stories, movement, music, outdoor explorations and creative projects to introduce young learners to garden ecology and plant science. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Please make other arrangements for younger siblings. $6 per child, per class. 668-1708.

Oct. 9, 10:45-noon
TRADITIONAL JAPANESE TEA

As a guest to Tea, you will experience the patterns and poetry of Chado, or the Japanese “way of tea,” while enjoying an enticing bowl of whisked tea and a seasonal treat. The practice of Tea is characterized by the phrase ichigo ichie, or “one moment – one meeting.” The small class group will meet at the Doris Duke Center to be escorted by instructor Nancy Hamilton to the Durham-Toyama Sister Cities Pavilion in Duke Gardens for this intimate gathering. $25; $20 for members; $25 for one adult and one child age 6 or older. All fall teas are fully booked. Please keep an eye out for our spring schedule.

Oct. 9, 10-11 a.m.
NATURE STORY TIME

Gather for nature stories and a take-home creative project with your 3- to 8-year-old child. Adults must accompany their children. Please make other arrangements for younger siblings. $3 per child. Registration required.

Oct. 9, 7-11 a.m.
BIRDING BONANZA

CANCELED - Birds are flying through our neighborhoods on their way south during this season of migration. Join Cynthia Fox, of Chapel Hill’s Wild Bird Center, for an exciting morning of spotting birds as they pass us on their migratory path. $45; $35 for members.

Oct. 11, 7-9 p.m.
TRIANGLE ORCHID SOCIETY

The Triangle Orchid Society conducts its monthly meetings at the Doris Duke Center. The public is invited. Free admission. For information: triangleorchidsociety.org.

Oct. 14 & 18, 7-9 p.m., and Oct. 16 & 30, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (4-class series)
FIELD STUDIES: Local Flora Autumn

North Carolina has one of the richest palettes of native plants anywhere in the world. Ken Moore, former assistant director of the N.C. Botanical Garden, will teach you to recognize plants in their autumn display and forecast their winter phase. Field trips include observations of a variety of habitats, use of a key to identify plants and identification of undesirable invasive plant species. Required text available in Terrace Shop: “Tree Finder: A Manual for Identification of Trees by their Leaves,” by May Theilgaard Watts. $85; $70 for members.

Oct. 19, 6:30-8 p.m.
DURHAM GARDEN FORUM

The Durham Garden Forum is an informal group that meets once a month to enrich the members’ gardening knowledge and skill. Local experts speak about topics of interest to the group. October topic: ornamental grasses. $10; free for forum members. Durhamgardenforum@gmail.com.

Oct. 22, 10 a.m.-noon
AUTUMN IN THE ARBORETUM

The Culberson Asiatic Arboretum holds many fascinating plants, displayed in beautiful and ever-changing combinations. Curator Paul Jones and horticulturist Michelle Stay Rawlins will guide you to little-known garden spaces and unique plants. Meet at the Doris Duke Center. $5; free for members.

Oct. 23 & 24, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
CURATOR BASICS

Discover the elements of a well-presented portfolio and work on building your portfolio for showing. Photographer Bruce Dickson will assist you with captioning, labeling, organizing, and filing your photography. We will also identify potential markets and discuss how to submit work for publication. $120; $95 for members.

Oct. 30, 11 a.m.
OPERA CAROLINA: THE BILLY GOATS GRUFF

Arts in the Garden presents Opera Express, Opera Carolina's educational touring company, with an operatic version of the classic tale, incorporating scenes from operas by Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini. The show uses the goats’ plight with the mean troll to explore how to contend with bullies. Opera Express engages children and families throughout the Carolinas with professional performances of opera for young people. These delightful productions help students understand and appreciate opera as an art form that integrates all of the fine arts and humanities. Performances are tailored to children in kindergarten through fifth grade. The show will be inside the Doris Duke Center. $10; $6 for children under age 16. Discount available for 4-show 2010-2011 series. 684-4444, http://tickets.duke.edu . See video previews.