Author Archives: Rosemary

About Rosemary

Who: Naturalist and salamander enthusiast from Canada. Likes: Learning new ferns. Favorite part of the job: Hanging out with other people who like nature!

Attack of the Garlic Mustard

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Rosemary

The name of this plant may conjure thoughts of a tasty meal. But for gardeners and native plant lovers, garlic mustard has a bitter flavor: it’s an invasive species brought over by the settlers in the 1800s, and it’s taking over yards and forest floors.

How did garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) move from spicing up a few colonial gardens to dominating the northeast? Here are just a few of this plant’s clever adaptations:

  • Its roots leach chemicals that destroy the important fungal partners of nearby plants.
  • It makes a type of chemical antifreeze that helps it stay green in cold weather, allowing it to shoot up as soon as the snow is gone.
  • Each plant can release a thousand or more seeds.
  • Even after you remove the plant from your yard, its seeds can hang out in the soil for five years (or more).
  • It is toxic to some insects. Some types of butterfly eggs laid on its leaves will fail to hatch.

How to ID Garlic Mustard

Garlic mustard’s most iconic features are its green heart-shaped leaves with deep veins and tiny four-petaled white flowers. Note that the flowers don’t appear during the plant’s first year. You can also employ the smell test: true to its name, when crushed it gives off a garlicky smell.

Removing Garlic Mustard

May into early June is the best time to remove this plant from your yard. Many of the plants are flowering, making them easy to identify, but they haven’t yet had time to make seeds.

To remove a garlic mustard plant, grab it at the very base, and twist while pulling upwards. If the soil is loose, you may be able to pull up the roots, eliminating any chance that the plant could regrow. But even if you’re only able to pull up the above-ground portion, you will have at least stopped the seed-making process for this year.

Once you’ve picked the plants, put them in a plastic bag for disposal. Don’t dump them in your compost heap, or they may re-root or release seeds. Whatever you do, be sure to keep at it—because of those long-lasting seeds, you may be battling garlic mustard for years to come.

Say Hello to Hummingbirds

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Rosemary

Copyright Richard ReynoldsThere are many highlights of spring bird migration, but it’s often one of the smallest birds that makes the biggest impression!

Every year in late April, early May ruby-throated hummingbirds return to Massachusetts after spending their winter in Central America.

Identifying Hummingbirds

The male ruby-throated hummingbird is unmistakable, with glossy green feathers and a stunning red “gorget” (the area below the beak) that glitters like its namesake. The females may lack the ruby throat, but they are just as easy to ID: this species is the type of hummingbird that nests in the eastern United States.

Attracting Hummingbirds

To bring these jewel-like birds to your yard, make sure there’s lots of food on hand—and we mean a lot. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, they consume their own weight in sugar water or nectar every day, and that’s on top of thousands of insects.

A hummingbird feeder is a good way to start. A few tips:

  • If you haven’t put the feeder out already, do so now. Our experts note that you can put out hummingbird feeders as early as the last week in April, but early May works just as well.
  • Make your own nectar by combining 4 parts boiling water with 1 part sugar. Make sure it’s cool before you put it in the feeder; save leftovers in the fridge.
  • The color of the nectar is not important. It’s the red color of the feeding port that attracts the hummingbirds.
  • Clean your feeder at least once a week.
  • Don’t fret about ants in your feeder. The hummingbirds will eat them for lunch!

You can also grow flowers that provide nectar for hummingbirds. Two options are native bee balm (Monarda) and purple coneflowers (Echinacea). If you have the space, try to plant different flower varieties so that there are blooms throughout the warm months. Your hummingbirds will be happy, and you will be, too.

Do you attract hummingbirds to your yard? Tell us how in the comments! And be sure to report any hummingbird sightings in our Hummingbird Reporting Tool.

Need a feeder? Pick one up either at the Audubon Shop in Lincoln or order one online.

Photo © Richard Reynolds