Good Companions

Remember summer? I admit that I love to look at pictures from summers past at this time of year. It helps me remember which plant combinations were successful so I can plan for this year. I like big contrast in foliage color to grab your attention. Here are a few pictures of things that worked out well.

Here is our chocolate Joe Pye Weed next to a Salvia elegans, or Pineapple Sage. Since Maine summers often aren't quite long or hot enough for this to bloom well, I buy this for the great lime foliage to contrast with the dark leaves of the Joe Pye Weed. 

We can't eat all the lettuces we plant, but that's the point! Lettuces can be beautiful for for color alone. Here is two of my favorites, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead and Cherokee from Johnny's Seeds. The only thing that would have made it better would be to add the lime of Thomas Jefferson's favorite butter head "Tennis Ball" into the mix.

 Here we have two Heucheras with lime and chocolate foliage along side a Hellebore and Bleeding Heart. Later in the season, the dark Heuchera looks stellar next to the white Astilbe.

Again, that chocolate and lime contrast with the Aralia cordata "Sun King" and the Dahlia Mystic Illusion. I can see that this is a pattern with me, the dark foliage next to light.

So when planning out where everything will go this year, thinking about height, flower color and time, don't forget to think about foliage color. This will reward you for the whole season!

Who Doesn't Love a Good Snag?

With all the activity around clean up this time of year, it is good to remember that dead trees have an important place in the garden as well. Snags, the name for dead trees that are left upright to decompose naturally, are so important that according to the National Wildlife Federation they provide habitat for close to one-fifth of the animals in the eco-system 

Here in our yard, snags are home and food for pileated woodpeckers. The largest woodpecker in North America, it is striking with its huge red crest, looking almost prehistoric. Their  loud call is very distinctive and so are the holes they make. Looking for carpenter ants, their favorite food, they make long rectangular holes. Their deep excavations attract other birds looking for food as well. These holes later make habitat for other birds such swifts, owls, bats and pine martens.

During mating season, these birds can be seen doing their ritual courtship dance. This dance consists of one bird bowing, scraping, and stepping sideways in a circle around another bird.

Last year we watched four pileated woodpeckers perform this dance, flitting around the forest making their distinctive calls. Pairs mate for life and prefer old trees in recently cleared forests.

Credit: Joshlaymon

Hollow snags are very valuable in winter as they are used by many species such as squirrels, raccoons and owls to name a few. They provide food storage places for mice, squirrels, blue jays, and woodpeckers. They provide perches for hawks and mourning doves and food for many. Keep this in mind before you think to clean your woods of "unwanted" deadwood. Nothing could be more full of life than these sentinels.