MLK Quote

MLK Quote

Nature's Inspiration Movie

http://www.flickspire.com/m/HealthierL433/NaturesInspiration -- Nature's Inspiration Movie: The photographs in this short video are from award-winning photographer, Ken Jenkins, and they are breathtaking. However, this video is much more than beautiful photographs! Peggy Anderson has compiled beautiful quotations from the likes of Emerson, Thoreau, and many others that truly capture the beauty of nature and solitude. Absolute must watch for nature lovers.

Monday, December 18, 2017

The Year of the Bird

National Audobon Society along with National Geographic, Cornell's Lab of Ornithology and others have declared 2018 "The Year of the Bird" to mark the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. You can find more about the treaty here. You can sign up for the centennial celebration here.



Every year more than 50 billion birds migrate from one place to another all over the world. During this worldwide phenomena, they face many problems -- they are shot dead for food, plumes, feather and trophy hunting; their food and water sources are dwindling due to habitat loss; electrocuted by properly constructed electric lines; collide into skyscrapers or other such taller structures; get affected by EM radiation by TV, Radio and Cellphone towers (as birds depend on the magnetic fields for migration) -- and many other such hazards. However, the biggest threat is loss of food and water. For example, 80% of the US yards (whether home or office) have non-native plants, and such plants cannot provide any food for the migratory birds. You can find the native plants for your yard (based on your zip-code) here.


I tried and found out that there are seventy-three native trees, evergreens, grasses and plants that I can have in my garden. Out of those 73, I already have twenty-eight of them. My garden is small, and thus I will not be able to plant any of the trees :-(. Some of my native plants in my garden, and some of my friends who visit my garden are as shown below:

Joe-Pye Weed (native) along with Hollyhock and Tansy


Rudbeckia (native)


Milkweed (native) with Monarch


Coneflower (native) with  Swallowtail


Native Sunflower


Coneflower (native)


Native Sunflower with Grayfeather (native)


Chipmunk
Finch or Sparrow
Hummingbird!!


Male Cardinal doing peek-a-boo
Female Cardinal
Chickadee
Here is a list of native plants that one can plant in a North-East American garden. This is just a small selection as most of the native trees are excluded. Only plants which one can easily find, and which can be easily grown in a home-garden are included: Allegheny Service-Berry (Amelanchier laevis), Alternate-Leaf Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), American Hazelnut (Corylus americana), American Mountain-Ash (Sorbus americana), American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), American Witch-Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), Anise-Scented Goldenrod (Solidago odora), Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta), Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), Black-Eyed-Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Canadian Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), Canadian Lily (Lilium canadense), Canadian Service-Berry (Amelanchier canadensis), Cardinal-Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Choke Cherry (Prunus virginiana), Coastal-Plain Trumpetweed (Eutrochium dubium), Cock-Spur Hawthorn (Crataegus crus-galli), Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Common Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Common Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Dense Gayfeather (Liatris spicata), Downy Service-Berry (Amelanchier arborea), Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), Eastern Red-Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Eastern Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus), Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), Farewell-Summer (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum), Frost Grape (Vitis vulpina), Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa), Gray Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis), Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), Hard-Leaf Flat-Top-Goldenrod (Solidago rigida), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), King's-Cureall (Oenothera biennis), Late Purple American-Aster (Symphyotrichum patens), Little False Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Nanny-Berry (Viburnum lentago), Narrow-Leaf Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium), New England American-Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida), Oswego-Tea (Monarda fistulosa), Pink Azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides), Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida), Possumhaw (Viburnum nudum), Pussy Willow (Salix discolor), Red Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), Red Elder (Sambucus racemosa), Red Spruce (Picea rubens), Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens), Short-Leaf Pine (Pinus echinata), Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa), Smooth Arrow-Wood (Viburnum recognitum), Smooth Blue American-Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve), Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra), Southern Arrow-Wood (Viburnum dentatum), Spotted Crane's-Bill (Geranium maculatum), Spotted Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens capensis), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), Trumpet-Creeper (Campsis radicans), Trumpetweed (Eutrochium fistulosum), Virginia Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), Virginia-Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra), Winged Sumac (Rhus copallinum), Woodland, Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus), Wreath Goldenrod (Solidago caesia), Wrinkle-Leaf Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa)

I'm joining in the memes hosted by Eileen,  Rambling WoodsSt Germain's meme.

6 comments:

  1. What a beautiful and informative post! The cone flower and the Monarch are my favorite! And I saw the cone flower in one of the street's yards - so it does bloom at this altitude!
    Thank you for listing All Seasons - hope you also come by before Wednesday 7 pm, to link a thumbnail photo - in advance thanking you:):)
    It's titled All Seasons -half way December (17). Have a great week KL.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The watercolor of the rock formation in Big Bear Lake is in the post "Shape and Trees sunday (Dec. 17)." It is much lighter than the photo of the place and it does not show up in the list below the comments - probably because I put that one in last (in wordpress I could squeeze it in between, to get everything in the sequence I wanted to).
    If you type in http (://) artwroksfromjeshstg (dot) wordpress (dot) com
    then you can see the headers of the posts. It is the 2nd-to-ast post.

    In other words, it is the post underneath the last All Seasons post (which is the one you just added your link to) and thank you much for adding your photo link!

    My appearance next to the tree with knitted pieces was taken about 7 y. ago, so now I look older:):) Photoshop keeps me in shape, lol.
    Did you see I answered your kind email?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for sharing this information - it is SO important that we focus on native plants and provide environments that support animals of all types. Another major threat to birds is outdoor cats .... we have two cats but they stay inside!

    ReplyDelete
  4. beautiful garden and birds.
    Thanks for visit my blog. Yes, the titmouse looks a bit like our crested tit. I´m in Sweden :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely to see the birds in your garden, they have an important role in keeping the ecosystem in gardens in shape and help with keeping pest at bay.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'am glad to read the whole content of this blog and am very excited,Thank you for sharing good topic.

    หนังออนไลน์

    ReplyDelete