Backyard Habitat In Focus

   There are many things to have in your garden that are lovely. One thing that is not so lovely is a snag. Snags are old dead trees, but this week we want to talk about the beauty of leaving a snag!
   Snags are dead, rotting, trees. Some can take up to 40 years to completely tumble down in rot. Why would you want that in your yard? Lots of reasons.
        Did you know snags provide important nesting and shelter and homes and habitat for over 40 different birds? In Florida, birds like woodpeckers, kestrels, owls, nuthatches, bluebirds, bats, and chickadees all prefer snags to build their homes in. The woodpeckers often start the holes, that other birds can then take over and create their own homes from.
   We built a bluebird box with the boys many years ago and hung it on a tree in our yard. The box is occupied and that is encouraging because it provides a home for an important bird in our ecosystem. Man-made birdhouses, however, don't provide all the food and resources that a snag can!
   Snags are like bird feeders as well as shelters. Snags offer easy access to bugs, fungi, lizards, perches and more. Owls, hawks, and other hunters need snags to be good lookout spots for them.
   The next time you look at that old tree in your yard and think, 'I should cut it down', consider whether or not it could stay, instead. (As long as it isn't hanging directly over your house or car.) Forty different birds are counting on that habitat and the food sources it provides. What seems ugly to some, might seem like home sweet home to others. For more on the importance of snags go to the University of Florida IFAS website for details.
   Something else to look for in your yard this week are free crepe myrtle plants. Crepe myrtles are grown from the seeds that fall off the parent bush. We started off with one bright pink bush a few years ago. Today we have ten. If you look under the parent plant this time of year, you can find new seedlings popping up. Before you mow them off, simply dig them up and pot them. They add nice color to the yard all summer with pretty flowers and nectar for the bees and pollinators. Our bushes are humming. The baby plants don't flower the first year, but they will happily flower every year after and when left to grow tall without pruning, they even make nice landscape trees that are small in size, peaking out at 20 to 30 feet tall or even more.
   Last but not least, if you are looking for pretty flowers for your yard that the deer don't like, we want to remind you that ornamental lantana is a good choice. It isn't a good choice for folks with horses, but folks with deer will enjoy having flowers that don't taste good to nibblers. Lantana comes in hybridized colors or pink, purple, yellow, and red. The butterflies and bees love it too. Bz's Happy Plants has all colors in stock at present.
       We would love to see what you are growing in your garden this month. You can email photos and names to hollynewby1@aol.com.
     We enjoy learning with you each week. Saving some space for native plants and wild habitats helps protect our precious biodiversity. Growing something is better than growing nothing, even if it is just tending to what God already planted here. Keep gardening and learning. You can also share garden news to: www.thenorthlake outpost.com/contactus.