Transatlantic Plantsman

Ireland: Flowers, food and an egret

Visiting the little coastal village of Ring, on the coast of Ireland’s County Cork, a few miles from where we gathered seaweed, revealed three very interesting features - and one of them was even horticultural!

First of all, there’s this dramatic display of summer flowers. You swing round the bend on the way to nearby Clonakilty then struggle to keep your eye on the road as you come across this quirky splash of red, white and blue geraniums, petunias and alyssum. Backed by a stone ruin, set out in a neatly painted red and blue boat – it looks just great. And with the mild climate those flowers will just coming unfrosted.

Then as the shore comes into view, there’s a scattering of white birds along the waterline. Not swans, but egrets. The Little Egret first started breeding in Ireland as recently as 1997, and in Britain at around the same time, and has now spread to almost every coastal Irish county. After seeing its American counterpart, the Snowy Egret, in Florida it was a bit of a shock and a delight to see what at first appeared to be the same bird in Cork. But it turns out to be the Snowy Egret’s Old World cousin.

Then, suddenly around the bend, you’re passed it on the way to the little quay before you know it, is Deasy's Harbour Bar & Seafood Restaurant. Highly recommended by our hosts Joy Larkcom and Don Pollard, they were not wrong. The mussels starter was succulent and tasty, and judy’s fish spring roll was “fabulous” and the rest of the meal was as good. The menu is short and changes often according to the fish available.

So driving around the coast of Cork, enjoying the landscape and the coastline, in one little village too small even for an entry on the Tourism Ireland website, three fascinating features - not to mention the picturesque and still working quay and the breadth of Clonakilty Harbour – bring a most enjoyable visit.

Soap deterring deer?

I was lecturing here in England last night, to the Norfolk Group of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens and the chair of the meeting Jaime Blake, who looks after The Dell Garden created by Alan Bloom at Bressingham, asked me about deer. They’re becoming a serious problem in Britain as they are across the water.

The gardens are Bressingham suffer from having nature preserves on either side, ideal refuges for the deer which emerge from their sanctuaries to sample the rich variety of perennials in The Dell Garden. Jaime was wondering about using bars of scented soap near plants which are damaged to deter the deer.

 I’ve noticed that soap works when there are plenty of things for the deer to eat, they can just as easily choose plants away from where the soap is hanging. But in winter, when the deer are becoming emaciated (left) and having a tough time finding food, the urge to eat overcomes revulsion at the soap’s scent.

Personally, I think there are only two ways to keep the deer off your plants. Erect a tall stout fence to keep them out, or only plant varieties that the deer in your area don’t eat. Jaime – I hope you’re keeping a list of plants the Bressingham deer never ever touch.

Our black squirrel

Well, it was only a couple of weeks ago we had a black bear strolling along our deckrail, today it was our black squirrel.

He/she’s been around more this year than usual and I’ve also seen one (just once) that was in between normal gray squirrel in color and this black one. In cold areas black squirrels have an advantage because their dark coat absorbs more heat than a gray coat so they need to eat less to keep warm. Our old friend Wikipedia tells us that black individuals turn up in most populations of gray squirrels and are more common than the gray form in some areas.

Wikipedia also reveals: “The black subgroup seems to have been dominant throughout North America prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, since their dark color helped them hide in virgin forests which tended to be very dense and shaded.”

So originally, most gray squirrels were actually black!

Smelly sprays – or deer resistant plants?

We stopped in at (fairly) local nursery, Richards Tree Farm, the other day. To be honest, we happened to be passing the door and the end of season discounts tempted us – don’t you just love a bargain? There were certainly some good bargains to be had but something else struck me. Near the checkout there was a big display of deer deterrents, Deer Out, that sort of thing.

Now. I’m sure they work for a while – if you apply them properly, and it doesn’t rain, and you don’t go on vacation, and the deer aren’t too hungry… And shop-bought is definitely the way to go. I’ll call the cops if I hear you’ve been mixing up home-made sprays of mustard and rotting eggs and lion dung and latex paint (or whatever the lastest recommendation happens to be) – yuk. It’s a public nuisance.

After all, isn’t it better to plant something the deer are less likely to eat in the first place? And not plant dahlias and hibiscus or roses – or whatever the local favorites are – and then plaster them in pongy potions?

So – in your garden, what are the plants the deer never ever eat? Let me know by leaving a comment (below) so everyone else can benefit. Here in north east Pennsylvania, it’s Andromeda bush, Pieris. Some of our pieris have been here thirty years and they still have leaves down to the ground.

But deer tastes across the country vary – so leave a note of your British county or your state as well. (Even if it’s a state of despair because they eat absolutely everything!)

This morning's bear

Just went to make some tea about 9.30 this morning, looked out of the kitchen window - and there's the bear walking along the deck rail heading for the bird feeder. judy rushed in with the camera. Great shot, judy. (Click the picture to enarge it.)

Looks like a youngster, with ear tags. After a few moments of quiet admiration we banged on the window, shouted and, after breaking off a piece of coleus, he/she clambered down the 10ft to the ground and ambled off into the woods.

What a treat!

Everyone loves the bird feeder

Raccoons generally seem to be nocturnal, so we don’t see them very often. We’ve been woken up by a whole family playing soccer with a feeder on the deck at midnight or by them pulling tomato plants in deck pots to pieces to get at the fruit – before it’s even ripe. And it was delightful to see a whole family lined up on a tree branch one summer. But generally it’s the results of their being around that we see.

So it was a treat to catch this one pausing in investigation of the thistle feeder. Just at the point on the deckrail where the bear in yesterday’s post was climbing down.

Next time... back to plants.

The biggest bird feeder problem

This quick snapshot, taken through our kitchen windowa year or two back, sees the black bear climbing down from our raised deck with the suet feeder. We later found the feeder in the woods – mangled beyond hope.

Nothing like this is ever seen in Britain, of course. The last bear was killed in Britain many hundreds of years ago. Last year in Pennsylvania, which is about the size of England, 3,458 bears were "harvested" - the second highest number ever.

Sights like this tell us that it's time to take the feeders in. Encouraging bears by leaving out bird feeders is illegal in our state, so as soon as the feeders are hit in the spring we take them in. The birds, of course, are not happy but they probably have a few more weeks of free food before the bears come out of hibernation.

Genuinely squirrel-proof bird feeder (it really is!)

Yes, that’s right. At last – a genuinely squirrel-proof bird feeder.

We must have spent hundreds of dollars on bird feeders over the years… Our main aim has been to keep the squirrels from hogging the bird feeder so they get all the bird food and the birds get none. And this bird feeder, the SquirrelBuster Plus from Brome Bird Care, actually works.

The main feature of the SquirrelBuster Plus is that the perches are supported on a spring so that when a squirrel lands the spring stretches, the perches are lowered and in the process access to the feeding ports is blocked off. Songbirds are too light to trigger the mechanism. Simple really.

The squirrels soon learn that they simply can’t get at the food. And the structure is so robust that although they start to chew at it they get nowhere and just give up. They can’t get the top off either as it’s cleverly locked in place.

So the squirrels just sit sadly on the rail nearby watching the chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers and other birds get their fill – knowing there’s no point trying.

 Some people don’t want larger birds getting at the food either and the spring can be adjusted so that larger birds like jays and grackles are also locked out. But we have it set so that only the squirrels are barred. Which is clearly not the case with another so-called squirrel-proof feeder we tried (see picture).

In fact, our feeder has been attracting so many birds this winter that they squabble to get at the seed. We should think about getting another.

We also have problems with bears so we’re careful about leaving the feeders out in summer. But sometimes the bears get to it – I think it was the fourth attack before the feeder the manufacturer sent us to try was too broken to re-assemble. We just went and bought another. Though now I hear you can get spare parts! What a service!

Oh, and you can even take the whole thing to pieces and put it in the dishwasher!

The manufacturer doesn’t sell direct, but North American bird lovers can order a SquirrelBuster Plus bird feeder from amazon.com.

British bird lovers can order from UKPetFood.com

Squirrel proof? You must be joking!

I was so frustrated with all the useless squirrel proof bird feeders that I’d wasted money on here in the US that I brought this one all the way from England. It looked promising. As you can see, it’s just as useless.

When this squirrel tried to get out he got stuck half way – he was full of seeds, of course, and so a great deal fatter than when he went in! I had to hold the feeder next to a branch so he could grab the branch with his front paws – then the squirrel hung on while I pulled gently backwards until, eventually, he popped out and scampered away.

Now, after a year on trial, I’ve found the answer… The genuine squirrel-proof bird feeder - from Canada. Check tomorrow’s post for more details.

No flowers - but we do have birds

It’s tough for gardeners here in north east Pennsylvania with not a flower to be seen. The ground is still frozen solid to a depth of probably a foot or more so everything is tucked up tight. Instead, we have the birds.

And one of the stars of the winter season is the pileated woodpecker. And he and she are both whoppers – 19in/48cm from stem to stern – with a brilliant scarlet crest. (Britain's largest woodpecker is the green woodpecker at 14.5in/36cm.) They come to the bird feeders occasionally, but we hear them most days; their hammering can be heard over half a mile from the tree at which they’re at work. And with no leaves to obscure the view, their size catches the attention as they move from trunk to trunk.

To the joy of all American householders the favourite food of the pileated woodpecker is the carpenter ant. (For British readers: this is a perilous creature which can eat its way through the wood of which most American houses are constructed.) The woodpeckers tear at logs on the ground to get at the ants inside and also excavate characteristically rectangular holes in trees. One nearby tree has received particular special attention.

So the pileated woodpecker is one of our winter stars that we can see from the house. We won’t see the occasional bald eagle and osprey till the lake thaws but with pine siskins by the dozen, goldfinches, two or three other smaller woodpeckers, the occasional red-tailed hawk, chickadees and the rest… Well, they’re great winter entertainment.

Coming soon: (probably) the only genuine squirrel-proof bird feeder – in the world!