What's New on the DSBG Bluebird Trail

May has been a busy month for the bluebirds at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.  The first brood of chicks from the nest boxes have fledged their nests and we are now seeing the second brood of the year.  We noted that 8 of the nest boxes have a second brood and we counted a total of 28 eggs in those boxes.  We also have one box with an active house wren nest.

If you are monitoring a bluebird box in your own back yard, do not be alarmed to see that the number of eggs in the second brood is smaller than the first.  This is what we are seeing as well. We do have some smaller broods of just one, two or three eggs.

This year on the bluebird trail we had a slightly rare occurence in one of the nest boxes that we did not observe last year.  During our monitoring of the boxes on April 30th we discovered that one nest box contained white eggs!  The photograph above was taken on that day.  After checking the box we drove a short distance away and waited.  Sure enough a female bluebird flew right into the box. The eggs were also consistent with the size of the blue bluebird eggs that we are noting in the other boxes and the nest was consistent with the other bluebird nests.

According to www.sialis.org, up to 4 to 5 percent of bluebirds lay white eggs.  The Sialis website also indicates that white eggs can occur in all three species of bluebirds and that the white eggs are just as fertile as the blue eggs.  From what I read on this website, a female that lays white eggs will always lay white eggs.  So, if we have blue eggs in the same nest box for the second brood, then another female has now inhabited the box.  It will be interesting in the coming weeks to see if we have white or blue eggs in that same box.

As always, one other good thing about being outside monitoring the bluebird boxes is that it affords us the opportunity to see what new visitors we have flying around the garden.  In addition to the usual suspects we saw a few new species of birds during May that we did not see in April.  We observed the Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch, Barn Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, Orchard Oriole, Red-eyed Vireo and the Chimney Swift.

When you pay your next visit to the garden I hope you'll take some time and observe the birds as well as the beautiful plants and flowers.  Please drop us a line if you see a species of bird that you do not normally see so that we can be on the lookout for them as well.  Enjoy the garden and happy birding!

The Garden Becomes a Tropical Oasis

Last week, the Garden began an impressive transition from Southern Spring to Tropical Oasis even as local nighttime temperatures dipped into the 30s.

Beginning last Monday, a strong force of staff and volunteers began rolling through the Garden to begin the work of creating the display that will be featured from May 29 to Aug. 30. Tuesday, director of Grounds Jim Summey reported that progress was smooth and that the plantings will likely be complete for Memorial Day weekend. That, however, will only provide a taste of the spectacular display guests will experience this summer.

The tropical display of bold summer colors combined with our perennial displays will make you want to visit the Garden again and again. Bright bromeliads, colorful coleus and hot-colored lantana will welcome guests for a spectacular experience all summer long.

These vibrant colors and striking shapes and textures come from around the globe. Pentas from North Africa surround familiar salvia while the South African plumbago gives a cooler effect with its periwinkle blue flowers. Also featured are the bright magenta leaves of the Hawaiian Ti and the unusual foliage of a South American bromeliad.

There is of course, much more to the display and we'll let you in on more as the summer goes on, so check back here often. Or better yet, visit. In addition to our daytime hours, we're open Thursday nights June 11-Aug. 20 for Garden Nights.

In addition, one Saturday a month is set aside for our Wild About Summer series. The first event is "Bee-Wild" on June 13. Then July 11 is set aside for "Wild-Life" when we welcome the Carolina Raptor Center and the Schiele Museum. Finally, you can make plans to join us for "Wild Wings: Hummingbird Banding" Aug. 1.

Out, Out Dastardly Beast

In addition to having House Wren predators in the bluebird nestboxes at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, there is a serious problem with paper wasps. Last year only one box was taken over by them, and we learned not to go near that particular box. Our thoughts were to let the wasps have that one, and we designated it the "bad wasp box." This year it's a very different story. Wasps have moved into four of the boxes and that represents twelve percent of the boxes along the bluebird trail.

Early in the monitoring season and before the birds started placing nesting material in the boxes, we lined the inside of the tops with aluminum foil. We pre-cut the foil and secured it with double-sided tape. It was our understanding that the wasps prefer the top sides of the boxes, but now we know that isn't always the case. The vertical sides are also enticing. When the weather was still cool in the mornings, we made an attempt to remove the wasps and the stem/core of the beginning nests. We thought we were quite brave, both the one using the "weapon", in this case an umbrella, as well as the one taking the picture. However, the following week the beast was in the box again, building a new nest in the same spot.

Since then it has been an on-going battle and we are in a dilemma as to what to do. We don't want to spray the boxes with insecticide as that would contaminate them for future use by the birds. We have read that rubbing a bar of soap on the insides will keep the wasps from building, but that seemed too labor-intensive. After all, the two of us are volunteers here at the garden. We have other lives, too. We've considered removing the affected boxes from their poles but, again, who is brave enough for this job?

So don't let this little soliloquy discourage you from establishing your own bluebird trail. Just know that the Eastern Bluebird has a few challenges of its own. Checking boxes each week gives us great pleasure, but we do give the ones with wasps in them wide berths.

Tales from the dark side

So, you loooovvveee butterflies right? Who doesn't? They're colorful, they flutter and flit amongst the flowers (wow, I'm a poet!). Here at the garden we love them so much we've dedicated a whole month in the fall to celebrating them during our Something's A-flutter exhibit. However, as many things do (babies, sports cars, masters degrees in art history...) they have a dark side.

"A dark side?" you ask. Indeed. As we all learned in 3rd grade, butterflies undergo a process called metamorphosis, during which they change from egg, to caterpillar, to pupa, to adult-aka the pretty stage. It's the caterpillar or larva that is the subject of today's tale. While adult butterflies feed on flower nectar, tree sap, or ummmm, animal feces (yes, poo) the larva feed on plant leaves. And as fate would have it a favorite source of nourishment this month seems to be our greenhouse crops!

A greenhouse is every gardener's dream. We have all daydreamed about such a lush tropical sanctuary complete with exotic orchids and bodacious tomato vines loaded with fruit, lovingly and effortlessly tended in your ample spare time. But just as that baby screams through teething and that corvette needs another clutch, greenhouse culture is not all wine and roses.

One of the most difficult aspects of greenhouse growing is pest management. Here at DSBG we use an IPM (integrated pest management) approach. This minimizes the use of harsh and dangerous chemical applications while producing healthy and attractive plants. It's a great method that has worked well for us since we began ten years ago. IPM also allows for a "threshold of acceptable damage". This means that a small number of pests is allowed, as long as populations do not become high enough to cause significant damage. Unfortunately with our wriggling larval buddies, damage goes from "no big deal" to "oh no!" at light speed.

After a few defoliated salvia and coleus were spotted Monday, it has come time to declare WAR on the wormies in order to protect our precious summer crops from annihilation. Ironically, in the midst of the great swine flu scare, our weapon of choice is biological warfare in the form of a bacterial agent called Bacillus thuringiensis, also known as Dipel or Bt. Harmless to humans, animals, fish, and even other insects, Bt infects the gut of caterpillars and prevents them from digesting their food (our plants) and causes death within 12 hours of ingestion. Swine doesn't sound quite so bad now huh? Controlled sprays after each watering in the enclosed greenhouse environment protect our plants without causing any danger to outdoor butterfly and moth populations, ourselves, or our guests.

So please enjoy our beautiful summer gardens next time you visit. And if the coleus look at tad short, well, blame the butterflies!