Beetles and Bees

Willamette Valley native gardening for frontyard/backyard wildlife habitat.

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Native Plants

Building Habitat

Supporting Wildlife

 A new bird house graces our arbor and looks so good!  I'm hoping to set up a web cam this year to track one of our backyard bird nests this spring.  Nestled behind branches of tall Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) and about 8' off the ground beneath a deodar cedar canopy, this location seems to be an attractive place for a nesting pair.  

 

Kingsyard Nesting Box

Gardening for wildlife means providing habitat for nesting birds.  In urban and suburban areas, there are too few locations for birds to safely raise their broods, so nesting boxes like these can be a great way to support wild birds in addition to building up the five canopy layers of native plant species to your area.  

 

Bewick's wrens have been active at the feeders in recent weeks.

I'm a big advocate of the facilitation of safe and respectful human/wildlife connections, so am hoping to facilitate that with a web cam depending on where the finches, chickadees, western screech owls, downy woodpeckers, song sparrows, hummingbirds, etc. choose to nest this season.  Now is the time to put out your nesting boxes.  I like the Kingsyard line as their products are research-based, high-quality, affordable, and easy to mount and clean.  You can order this nesting box here and scroll through other habitat supplies that I use and love at my Amazon Storefront.  Karli20off for 20% off Kingsyard products.  Happy habitat building!   

Help support our work by buying a coffee, which will be used to create additional habitat and invest in things like web cams. 

I have compiled my favorite habitat products on the Beetles and Bees Amazon Storefront, so check it out!  If you have questions about a product, feel free to send me a message using the contact form on the right-hand side.  Here is a picture of our new Classic Bird House from Kingsyard.  Use Karli20off for 20% off Kingsyard products, several of which are linked through my Amazon Storefront.  Happy habitat building!


I just spotted my first Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis) bloom this afternoon, and realized that Spring is only four weeks away! We are in for a few bitter cold nights ahead, but we're only a hop, skip, and a jump away from spring blooms and bird nests!


Though the mornings and nights are still bitter cold, the blooms are beginning to emerge and warmer days are coming.  I put up a few of our bird nests last week as some will be starting to look for nesting sites in the coming weeks.  Speaking of bird nests, check out my Amazon Storefront for my favorite backyard bird habitat products.  I have everything from favorite bird food, feeders, waterers, bird baths, and bird nesting boxes.  Happy final weeks of winter!   


Buy Me A Coffee

Our backyard friends take advantage of native habitat during the winter season. Here is an Anna’s hummingbird perched on Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus). I was able to get pretty close as he seemed to be coming out of torpor. As soon as I walked out the door with fresh nectar this morning, one flew by my head. Living day in and day out with these connections to wildlife sure makes for a beautiful life! 

I have linked all my favorite Anna's hummingbird products on my Amazon Storefront!  The Aspect brand is my favorite.  Always make sure to clean your feeder every few days.  You can always get in the habit of taking them down at night and putting them up in the morning to avoid the nectar from freezing.  We don't use heaters, but you can buy those as well!  There are so many ways to support wildlife and foster connections with wildlife in your own yard! 

Buy Me A Coffee

One of the earliest blooming native shrubs of the Pacific Northwest is Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis), making it is an important native shrub to include in habitat gardens as a nectar source for early emerging pollinators.  Osoberry is dioecious, which means it has male and female organs on separate plants.  In order for Osoberry to produce fruit (drupes) and seeds for birds, which they are highly attracted to, you must have one of each.

Once Osoberry is in bloom, which typically occurs in mid to late February, it's time to sex them.  In my case, I already had two males and was on the lookout for two females.  About six weeks ago, knowing Osoberry was in bloom, I visited a couple of native plant nurseries to look for females, which I was able to find, and now have Osoberry drupes already visible--they usually ripen by summer. 

Sexing male Osoberry: look for fifteen stamens and a five-petal calyx:

Sexing female Osoberry: look for five pistils and a five-petal calyx: 

I just love Osoberry!  From its purplish-brown bark to white, five-petal blossoms to bright, light-green, lance-shaped leaves to ovoid, bluish-black drupes, you'll feel right at home in the Pacific Northwest with this in your yard!  

 

Osoberry appreciates moist to dry soil and part-sun, often found growing along streambank terraces in the understory of open coniferous forests at low elevations.  Can get up to 15' tall and 5-10' wide.  Plant with companion plants such as Douglas fir, western red cedar, vine maple, Pacific ninebark, western bleeding heart, Cascade Oregon grape, sword/deer ferns, Oregon oxalis, and others.  The genus Oemleria contains a single species: Osoberry.  I've always thought that was pretty cool.

I paid a long overdue visit yesterday to Sauvie Island Natives and picked up two lovely native buckbrush shrubs, a new Ceanothus species to our yard.  Isn't it pretty? 

Ceanothus spp. are known as keystone plants within ecosystems; that is, they are necessary in order for many wildlife species to complete their life cycle and without them, ecosystems break down.  In fact, there are 120 known caterpillar species that use Ceanothus as a host plant, according to data posted on The National Wildlife Federation site.  "The research of entomologist, Dr. Doug Tallamy, and his team at the University of Delaware have identified 14% of native plants (the keystones) support 90% of butterfly and moth lepidoptera species" ("Keystone Plants by Ecoregion", n.d.).  In our yard, we now have four Ceanothus species: C. sanguinous (2), C. velutinus (2), C. prostatus var. prostatus (many), and now C. cuneatus (2).  I am hoping these Ceanothus spp. within our yard will bring in higher levels of biodiversity.  After all, more caterpillars means more food for our local birds. 


Above you will see our second C. cuneatus planted now in our front yard, which will not entirely block our view of the road, and will look beautiful with its springtime white blossoms along the walkway near several of its native associate species.  I am looking forward to observing wildlife from inside our front living room window or from our front doorstep.  This species is monoecious, meaning both male and female parts occur on the same plant.  This means both of our C. cuneatus shrubs will produce fruit/seeds.  Each fruit capsule contains three seeds, explosively ejected.  Since it is often found growing on slopes, many of these ejected seeds slide downwards, while ants and other wildlife carry other seeds further away.  As with most Ceanothus spp., C. cuneatus is nitrogen-fixing, which will add to our soil restoration efforts.

Native Habitat and Range:  Dry, rocky soil in chaparral habitat, cedar-hemlock-Douglas fir forests, forest slopes, grassland/prairies, and other ecosystems.  Ranges from Oregon to the Baja of Mexico at elevations less than 6000 feet.

Size and hardiness:  4-12 feet tall and just as wide.  Drought-tolerant and well-adapted to chaparral fires, which propagates new plants, keeping populations even.  Tolerates colder temperatures and poor soil conditions.  May be shorter-lived in urban yards, usually d/t over-watering.   

Propagation:  Semi-hardwood cuttings in summer or root cuttings in late fall.  Seed propagation requires scarification by fire with cold-stratification for a minimum of several weeks.

Plant associates: Oregon white oak (Garrya Hairy manzanita (Arctostaphylos columbiana), Fremont's silk tassel (Garrya fremontii), Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii), and Ceanothus prostatus var. prostatus), and Cascade Oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa), Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), western yarrow (Achillea millefolium var. occidentalis), and many others depending on the ecoregion.

Ethnobotany:  C. cuneatus was utilized frequently by several native peoples in basket and tool construction.  Young shoots were especially valuable in basket weaving by the Mewuk people.  The Kawaiisu used buckbrush twigs for arrow-making and as fuel.  You can read about how native tribes utilized this plant at Native American Ethnobotany DB.

Support to wildlife:  Attractive and supportive to pollinators as a late winter/early spring bloomer.  Fruit and seeds consumed by many wildlife species and attract a wide variety of native birds and small animals.  Foliage used by browse species and as cover for small animals and birds.  Provides nesting sites.  Host for up to 120 caterpillar species, in effect feeding native birds further.

Reference

“Keystone Plants by Ecoregion.” (n.d.) National Wildlife Federation, https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/keystone-plants-by-ecoregion.


 

It is the time of year, in early February, that I begin to welcome the sight of emerging buds of the state flower of Oregon: Mahonia aquifolium.  In a few week's time, all across the Pacific Northwest, tall Oregon grape will put forth bright, yellow masses of fragrant flowers that last for weeks starting at winter's end and lasting well into spring, making it an excellent source of pollen and nectar for early foraging native pollinators.

Mahonia aquifolium

Arthur R. Kruckeberg (1989) writes, "The showy bloom in early spring is confined to the tips of the canes.  The large clusters of smallish golden yellow flowers set on the lustrous green foliage are a glorious sight" (p. 101).  Pollinator activity will lead to an abundance of dusky bluish berries (not grapes, as its name implies), which support our native birds throughout the summer months.  Most years, our Oregon grape is stripped bare of its berries by summer's end, as these nutritious berries are much-loved by wildlife.  The berries are edible for humans, though quite tart, and are usually used to make jams or mixed with sweeter berries for a more palatable flavor.

I think tall Oregon grape looks best when grown along a hedge, though we have one as a centerpiece within our backyard habitat.  We let ours get tall and leggy, as wildlife usually benefits from native plants left in their natural form, and I think the branches look so pretty as they reach for the sun.  Always consider the mature size of the plant when planting.  Rhizomes spread close to the surface of the soil, so if desired, are easily removed, and can be propagated into new plants or shared with others.  This species is very easily propagated by seed as well.  If you're looking to enhance your backyard habitat, this species is native to most counties of the Pacific Northwest, and is highly supportive to wildlife year round.  See below for more details:

Native Habitat and Range:  "Moist to rather dry or rocky wooded slopes and thickets at low to mid elevations, from southern British Columbia south to California, and from the coast east through the Columbia River Gorge to eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and Montana" (Robson, et al., 2008, p. 436).  As you can see, tall Oregon grape is found in a variety of areas from sunny slopes to the partly-shaded understory and moist to dry sites.  It usually thrives in sun.   

Size and hardiness:  5-8 ft. and just as wide with some branches reaching up to 10-12 ft. on mature stands.  Will eventually spread to form a hedge.

Propagation:  Rhizome cuttings,  hardwood cuttings in spring, or by seed.  Cold stratification over winter for spring germination.

Plant associates: Mixed conifer forests, Osoberry, vine maple, Pacific rhododendron, oceanspray, Oregon oxalis, salal, western sword fern, black twinberry, Pacific ninebark, evergreen huckleberry, and many others.

Ethnobotany:  Indigenous tribes and people groups used Mahonia aquifolium in a wide variety of ways from numerous medicinal uses to raw/preserved food and dyes.  You can read about how different tribes utilized this plant in different ways at Native American Ethnobotany DB.

Support to wildlife:  Attractive and supportive to pollinators as a late winter/early spring bloomer.  Berries attractive to a wide variety of native birds and small animals.  Foliage used by browse species and as cover for small animals, made especially protective by its spiny leaves.  

References

Kruckeberg, A. R. (1989). Gardening with native plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press.

Robson, K. A., Richter, A., & Filbert, M. (2008). Encyclopedia of northwest native plants for gardens and landscapes. Timber Press.



 

 

 
 
Hello!  My name is Karli--welcome to my blog!  I live in Clackamas County in Oregon where I spend most of my free time building habitat for wildlife, right in my own yard!  I'm hoping this will be a place where we can learn together about native plants and gardening practices that support wildlife.  As a young girl, I grew up on upland prairie and white oak habitat, and spent my childhood exploring and making connections with nature.  I took for granted in those days that nature was so easily accessible.  As I grew up and moved into urban environments, I started to miss those connections, which led me to Douglas W. Tallamy's book "Bringing Nature Home:  How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants".  The rest is history!  Now, with well over a hundred native plant species indigenous to my area in both our front and backyards, I want to begin to share with you how you, too, can "bring nature home"!  Here you will find resources and tools to get started, plant profiles of the native plants in my yard, and a community where you can find support as you begin your journey.  
 
Welcome to Beetles and Bees--I’m glad you're here!  xo, Karli
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ABOUT KARLI


My name is Karli Del Biondo and I am a native gardener and advocate for wildlife habitat conservation. I live with my family in Clackamas County, where we have restored our yard with habitat for wildlife using plants native to our area. Our garden attracts and supports a wide variety of wildlife species, which I enjoy photographing throughout the seasons. Follow along as I share our journey!

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