Tag: garden

Posted on

Attracting Birds to Your Yard Naturally (re-post from VT FWD)

VERMONT FISH and WILDLIFE sent out this press release. It’s great advice and ideal for Vermonters, so we asked and got their permission to post it here. Thank you, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (especially Tom Rogers and John Buck).

For Immediate Release: October 2, 2018
Media Contacts:  John Buck, 802-476-0796

MONTPELIER, Vt – Vermonters love to see birds around their home, and putting out bird feeders is a popular way to attract our feathered friends to back yards. Vermont is among the top states in the country for people who report feeding and watching birds near their home.

However, birds aren’t the only wildlife attracted by birdseed. Continue reading “Attracting Birds to Your Yard Naturally (re-post from VT FWD)”

Posted on

Pollinator Habitat Demonstration Gardens: Groundwork!

Guest Post by Anne Dannenburg

The Birds of Vermont Museum and the Huntington Historical and Community Trust are collaborating on developing Pollinator Habitat Demonstration Gardens. This project is an effective partnership between Huntington’s two non-profit organizations whose missions include enhancement of rural landscapes for wildlife as well as community outreach and education.

Over the period of 2 – 3 years, the gardens will be created on the Birds of Vermont Museum property. The Huntington Historical and Community Trust received a $1500 grant from the Norcross Wildlife Foundation, providing start-up funds for garden establishment and the initial educational materials.

The project will rely on volunteers for much of the work including turf removal, soil preparation and planting… so, we need your help! If you can lend a hand, please contact either of the Pollinator Gardens co-directors: Erin Talmage (Birds of Vermont Museum) at 802 434-2167 and Anne Dannenberg (Huntington Historical and Community Trust) 802 434-3901.

Stop in and see the project progress. [Anne has been working incredibly hard! –KJT, ed.] The Museum is open daily through the month of October, and by appointment through the winter. Our trails are open from sunrise to sunset year-round.

Posted on

The Four Phases of Bridges to Birds

B2B-Banner

Bridges to Birds incorporates disaster recovery, resilience, and prior long-term plans to make outdoor experiences at the Museum accessible to all visitors, including people with limited abilities and families with small children. This four-phase project also expands conservation and educational opportunities and increases the number of locations available for quiet appreciation and contemplation of the natural world.

Connecting to People:
Bridge and Walkway

$104,000
(still need $56,500)

This phase means

* New wildlife observation areas
* Fully ADA-compliant access from parking to Museum
* Protected riparian areas and stream bank stabilization
* Publicly visible donor acknowledgments
* Improved bird habitat
* Resistance to future flooding and precipitation events

We are working with the State of Vermont, the Town of Huntington, and civil, structural, and hydrological engineers to design and build a bridge and walkway after installation of a larger culvert under the road. Interpretive signs, plantings, and welcome information will follow.

Connecting to Nature:
Interpretative Trails

$17,000
(still need $9,000)

This phase provides

* Outdoor exploration
* Citizen scientist access
* Routes for monitoring and birding walks
* Integration with and protection of woodland, meadow, and near-pond habitats
* Peaceful retreats
* Well-maintained trails

Volunteers, staff, and interns repair trails, footbridges, and handrails. We continue to work routing water away from trails, and providing sturdy footing where needed. New maps, signage, and guide materials will be created.

Connecting to New Perspectives:
The Treehouse

$30,000
(still need $2,500)

This phase showcases

* An accessible (ADA-compliant) treehouse, reached by a gravel ramp
* Opportunites to observe birds in the forest canopy
* An outdoor classroom /exhibit space
* New nature-focused programs and activities

The treehouse is already open! We completed the construction thanks to a generous partnership with Center for Technology Essex, Evergreen Roofing, and dozens of volunteers. A grant from the Vermont Community Foundation helped with treehouse-specific programming. The last donations will fund educational signage and seating.

Connecting to Conservation:
Bird-friendly Gardens

$6,000
(still need $2,000)

This phase includes
* Demonstration gardens
* Native plants
* Quiet contemplation spaces
* Habitat and foraging diversity for native birds
* Inspiring and encouraging Vermont gardeners and would-be gardeners

The Gardens phase integrates previous work by staff, interns, and gardeners on local, bird-friendly plantings, garden layout, and native species. Garden beds, paths, booklets, informative signs, and short education tours all extend the experience.

 

Bridges to Birds: where we’ve been

How it All Began in July 2013: Flash flooding at the Museum
Plus photos.
Last Year’s Update: Bridges to Birds: Connecting to People
More about the Treehouse: A New Point of View (from our Treehouse)
A booklet about it: Bridges to Birds (1Mb PDF)
And the collected posts (tagged “Bridges to Birds”)

Donate to help! We happily accept donations online through JustGive, NetworkForGood, and PayPal. You can also call (802) 434-2167 with your credit card info, or send a check in any amount at any time to

Birds of Vermont Museum
900 Sherman Hollow Road
Huntington, Vermont 05462
Posted on

Expert birder pwned by 4-year old

Guest story by our friend and expert birder, AW.

While the four-year old (L) picked and munched on fresh beans from the garden, I noticed some birds in a dead tree. Red-eyed Vireo, a young Eastern Phoebe, and wait! Oh! A warbler? A Wilson’s? That would be cool, a first in my yard.

Me: Hey L, there’s a really cool bird in the tree; I think it’s a Wilson’s Warbler. I’m going to go set up my scope to get a good look if you want to come look at it.

L: Okay, I’ll come.

Me: This could be a Wilson’s Warbler! It would be great to see one because they just pass through Vermont when migrating. We don’t get a chance to see them often. Continue reading “Expert birder pwned by 4-year old”

Posted on

Through the Window: October 2011 Feeder and Garden Birds

What people have recorded on our white board by the viewing window.

  • Hairy Woodpecker
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • American Goldfinch
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Song sparrow
  • Mourning Dove
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Blue Jay
  • American Crow
  • Eastern Phoebe
  • White-breasted Nuthatch
  • Canada Goose
  • White-throated sparrow
  • American Robin
  • Tufted Titmouse
  • Raven (2 on 10/18/11, in the morning, above the museum)
  • Northern Cardinal
  • Ruffed Grouse (eating crabapples at 4:15 p.m. in late October)

For even more birds—perceived from more or less the other side of the window and garden—check out our Big Sit! results too!

Posted on

Hope

Signs of spring around the Museum

  • Daffodils coming up
  • Red-winged Blackbirds
  • Common Grackles
  • The increase of songs from Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, and Brown Creepers
  • The donation of picnic tables to be used to eat lunch outside by the Pre-tech 1 at the Center for Technology Essex (Thank you!)

Signs that spring is still far away

  • The four foot snow bank outside the viewing window
Posted on

Garden Blog #4 Guest Post by Nic Cormier 8/3/10

Planting continues in the new garden, and around the Museum. The Irises have been planted in the small bed beneath the welcome bulletin board along the path that leads to the Museum. We also obtained some Coreopsis (Tickseed) plants, planted at the entrance to the keyhole pathway, and Garden Phlox which I planted near the Cosmos and Penstemon. The new Red Bee Balm had been getting munched by the local woodchuck so Allison and I dug a small trench around the flowers and drove wooden stakes in along the trench. We then buried the bottom of the chicken wire in the trench and used carpenter staples to secure it to the stakes. This seems to be holding up fine for now but the next step would be to acquire some large rocks to place around the fence to prevent the woodchuck from being able to dig at all. Brian Valentine will be donating more Red Bee Balm to replace that which the woodchuck ate.

Erin found me an old bird house in Bob’s workshop a couple of weeks ago to use in the garden. So far all I’ve had time to do is to sand it down and clean it up a bit. The idea is to make it not only look nice but to make it sound enough to have soil and plants on its roof. To do this I will cut some pieces of wood to make a border around the roof about two or three inches high that will hold soil. In this border I will cut holes near the base so all excess water will drain out. Once that is all set we will erect it in the garden with squirrel shields and put the soil on it and plant some small plants like Thyme in the soil.

Right now there isn’t a whole lot else going on. The Cosmos are still flowering along with the Thistle, Marigolds, Garden Phlox, Pink Penstemon, Blue Lobelia, Dwarf Solomon’s Seal, Pink Turtlehead, Purple Coneflower and Dianthus (in the more shaded and weedy spots).

Posted on

7/17/10 Garden Journal #3

Guest Post by Nic Cormier, Education Intern

Last week we got a responses to our post that we had put on the Front Porch Forum asking if anyone had any flowers or plant donations for our gardens. Ms. Janet Labelle, who lives just down the road from the museum, invited us to her home to see if there were any plants she had that we wanted. By the end of the visit, she had kindly donated Pink Penstemon, Wild Columbine, Hazelnut/Filbert crosses, and Bee Balm. That same day Mr. Bill Mayville donated some red and purple Bee Balm and planted them himself. This week Bill also brought us old slabs of rock, which had been a foundation to a house, for our rock paths and keyhole garden. Erin’s neighbors, the Zimmerman’s, recently cut down and chipped a few old trees in their yard. They said we can go anytime and take as much as we need for mulch, which we have been using steadily for the past few days. Thanks to all for the donations.

We still have a bucket of Irises brought to us by Rick that have yet to be planted. A few Trumpet Vines need a trellis before they can be planted near the viewing window, and a couple of Stonecrops that will be going in near the rock wall in the feeding yard. We are currently working on creating a keyhole garden with a stone walk-way for a fun element to the garden as well as a walk-way to a compost pile and another to the sewage pipe, both of which will be rock pathways. In the center of the keyhole we plan to erect either a bird bath that we make or a bird house with a roof that holds soil and can be planted with a short flowering plant.

Some plants that are still on the wish-list are Spicebush, Coreopsis, Turtlehead, Cardinal Flower, Winterberry Holly and Butterfly Bush, but we would also take almost anything that is donated.

On rainy days I have been working on the signage and guide that will be used. It is exciting seeing the whole project come together from thoughts to paper to reality.

Posted on

7/3/10 Garden Journal #2

Guest post by Nic Cormier, Education Intern

Until last week the garden bordering the lawn had not been worked in almost five years. A few previously planted perennials managed to keep a foothold among the abundant “weeds”.  Additional native flowers, sometimes considered weeds, were also uncovered. We plan to open it back up and bring some order to the garden once more. The goal is to make a garden that attracts birds and butterflies, using primarily native plants. We want this to be an educational tool for visitors as well, who will see what we have done/are doing and hopefully feel inspired and empowered to do something similar in their backyard.

Last week we took some time and cleaned out plants that we didn’t want in a ten foot by five foot section. We left the plants we liked and knew were beneficial to wildlife. Interspersed within these we planted Marigolds, Astilbe, Bleeding Heart, Foxglove, Snapdragons, Cosmos, Dwarf Spirea, Salvia spp. and Black-eyed Susan. We also released a Coneflower, Black-eyed Susan, Sweet William, Mystery Plant (see picture) and Hemp Nettle. The plants that we put in (minus the Black-eyed Susan) were all donated from Pleasant Mount Farm. (Thank you Heidi!)

We also drew up plans for future gardens, and now we are looking for some plants that may be donated or sold at discount.  (The Museum is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, for contact info see www.birdsofvermont.org)

Here is a list of what were looking for:

Chokeberry- Aronia ssp.

Spicebush- Lindera benzoin

Columbine- Aquilegia ssp.

Butterfly Bush- Buddleia ssp.

Swamp Milkweed- Asclepias incarnata

Turtlehead- Chelone glabra

Fireweed- Epilobium angustifolium

Cardinal Flower- Lobelia cardinalis

Bee Balm – Monarda ssp.

We would greatly appreciate any and all donations and/or inquiries into places where we could get them. As stated before we are trying to make the garden as native as we can but we will not say no to non-native species, unless they are invasive.

Below is our mystery plant. Do you know what it is?

Posted on

6/15/10 Garden Journal

Guest Post by Nic Cormier, Education Intern

Last weekend, Erin and I took a walk around the gardens talking about what should be done with what and where. While we were in the more open section we noticed some interesting flowers that neither of us had seen before. They are round and some of them are multicolored, red, red/pink or pink/white. The unopened blossoms look very much like green Sea Anemone’s (spiky and round). There are also 2 other flowers we don’t quite know what they are, both are growing in mostly shaded areas and are about 2 to 3 feet in height. The first has leaves that resemble the Rosaceae family, like Sumac or Mountain-ash and at the top of the stem is a cluster of small pink/white flowers. The second is about the same size but has small pinkish flowers all up the stalk, the flower petals are pulled back like a Lilly and the anthers are long and black.

So far things we know we have are Bladder Campion, Snapdragons, Petunias, Thistles, White-Cedar, Christmas Fern, Sensitive Fern, either Ladies Fern or something like it, Wild Geraniums, Spotted Jewelweed, Blu Flag Iris, Yellow Iris, Bleeding Hearts, Forget-me-nots, Wild Bergamot and cultivated Bee-balm, Lasy’s Mantle, Lilacs, an ornamental Willow, Raspberries, Sedums, Dame’s Rocket, Lupines, Goldenrod, Milkweed, Oxeye Daisy, Chives, Wild Strawberris, Skunk Currant, Tall Buttercup, Creeping Buttercup, Self-heal, Ground Ivy, and of course Dandelions.

There are plenty more that we have not I.D.’d yet but were working on it. Our main goal is to have a Bird and Butterfly Garden of Native New England/Vermont plants and through this blog we can instruct people of the species benefited by the plants and hopefully get some feedback on what others have learned so please, we encourage all voices and opinions on this subject!

Privacy Policy