Fall and feathered friends: Messy as a virtue

By Thelma Dalmas
Published: October 29, 2008

This is the time of year when many people head out to their garden to begin work on the annual fall clean-up. Fortunately, this is one task that I never have to start. Those of us who use their gardens as a means to enhance suitable bird habitat know that a “messy autumn garden” provides a wonderful welcome for all of our feathered friends.

My purple coneflowers are in seed now, and the brown stalks are often covered with goldfinches. Yesterday, I watched a ruby-crowned kinglet searching for insects among the withered leaves of a spider-flower. White-throated sparrows scratch beneath the obedience plants, and yellow-rumped warblers hide in the frost-bitten lantana.

Although I don’t allow Virginia creeper a free hand in the garden (if I did, it would take over), we do encourage it in our wooded areas. This native climbing vine is a favorite of more than 30 bird species and, as the seeds pass through their digestive tracts, the plant can become established in many places. I am not as tolerant of poison ivy since my husband is one of those unfortunate individuals who seem to break out in blisters if he looks at it.

All of the shrubs are full of berries now, and the birds appreciate the ripe fruit. As the season progresses, the robins will strip both my beauty-berry and winter-berry, but the strawberry bush sometimes retains a few seeds through December.  The dogwoods usually last well into January, unless I’m visited by large flocks of cedar waxwings. If you have apple trees and leave a few apples on the branches, birds will forage among the over-ripe fruit, especially when it softens later in the year.

For those living in the suburbs who have relatively small gardens, try putting together a brush pile in the corner of the yard. Gather up any fallen branches, toss in some leaves, and give the birds a place to escape predators as well as providing cover on the cold nights. You certainly don’t want to burn woody plant material since this is where the egg cases of many beneficial insects over-winter.

Although my garden certainly lacks a well-manicured appearance right now, there is a subtle beauty in the frosty brown skeletons and ripened seeds. By late February nearly everything will be on the ground, and it is an easy task to simply rake the depleted stalks out of the way of the emerging crocus.

This is a great opportunity to mask my natural laziness in the respectable cloak of conservation.

News and Notes

On Oct. 23, Joanne Pierce and I were at Leesville Lake in Campbell County where we spotted a magnolia warbler. This is a new late date for the species in the Virginia Piedmont.

Mark Johnson reported ring-necked ducks, blue-winged teal and ruddy ducks from Mill Creek Lake in Amherst County on Oct. 26. He also spotted an adult bald eagle.