Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
A couple of advantages of growing your own fruit. From the Madison Audubon perspective, many of the plants are great for pollinators, especially the early bumblebees. In our yard, the honeyberries, blueberries, raspberries, and black currants are bumblebee favorites. We split the June berries (service berries) with the neighborhood birds, They get the berries on top and we get the ones I can reach by hand. This is not pure altruism. Such an arrangement keeps me off the step ladder.
Photo by Liz West FCC
Sometimes a friendship takes time to develop. I planted sawtooth sunflowers in my front yard years ago. They proved to be an aggressive neighbor and have occupied swaths of the front and back yards. I really was upset with myself until I noticed three years ago, the goldfinches and some other birds swarmed the seeds. Last year, dozens of bumblebees spent much of August and mid-September on the blooms. This year, I've decided the sawtooth sunflowers are the best thing since ice cream and lots of pollinators agree.
Cover photo by Peter Gorman
