Birds and Blooms Blog

Do you enjoy a garden filled with colorful plants?  Most of us do – but unfortunately, there are often times of the year when plants are out of flower, which can leave our backyard garden somewhat colorless.  But, plants are just one way to add color to your garden.

Often, when we feel the need for more color inside our homes, we paint our walls.  So, why not apply that concept to our outdoor spaces?

Let’s step outside and take a new look at the wooden structures in the garden and imagine what they would look like with a colorful coat of eco-friendly, milk paint.

Last year, I visited the University of Tennessee kitchen gardens and was impressed by their colorful raised beds, compost bin and vertical wall.  Not only were the flowers and vegetables attractive, so were the surrounding garden structures with their purple color.  That got me to thinking about how this garden would look beautiful even when empty of plants.

The wooden structures in this kitchen garden were painted using ‘milk paint’.  While you may not have heard of ‘milk paint’ before, it has been around for thousands of years and was used for creating cave paintings and objects painted with it were found in King Tut’s tomb.

Well, the saying that “everything old becomes new again”, is certainly true in this case.  Milk paint is becoming a popular choice for both indoor and outdoor use.  The fact that it is non-toxic and made from natural ingredients (milk protein, lime and natural pigments), makes it the perfect choice for outdoor structures – especially those that surround edible crops.

Milk paint adds color while retaining a matte, rustic look.  The grain from the wood clearly shows through giving it a semi-opaque quality, which goes along with a garden theme.  The color from milk paint does not fade and resists peeling and chipping, which are common complaints when other paints are used.  When used outdoors, milk paint is often finished with a layer of hemp oil to help protect it from the elements.

Let’s take a look at the wooden structures where you can use milk paint in your own garden.

If you have raised beds, trellises or a wooden border surrounding a perennial bed – how about giving them a nice coat of milk paint?  Or maybe the door to your shed could be an opportunity to add a bright spot of color to your garden?  And don’t forget about your compost bin- if it’s made out of wood, why not transform it into something that actually adds beauty to your outdoor space?

Do you have a vertical garden wall or a wooden fence?  Why not give them a coat of milk paint?

By adding color to outdoor, wooden structures, you’ll add colorful interest to your garden that will last throughout the year – even in the dead of winter.  I am excited to start this backyard project and paint my raised vegetable beds and fences with milk paint – I just have to decide which color – there are so many to choose from!

Want to learn more about milk paint?  Click here for information on where to buy it and how to apply.  Want to make your own?  Click here for a DIY tutorial.

Although it may seem crazy to think about, especially for many of us in areas of the United States that are still very cold and snowy, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are already heading north and are being seen in parts of the Southeastern US.

A very popular site for tracking this hummingbird’s northward migration is Hummingbirds.net, which I bet many of our readers are familiar with. They added the first hummingbird of this year’s migration to their map on February 22. You can follow all of the reports from Hummingbirds.net here. This website will give you a good idea of how migration is progressing, but to see more reports and more detailed locations of where Ruby-throated Hummingbirds may be near you, check out eBird.

Using the simple “Species Maps” function on eBird, I made a map of all reports for Ruby-throated Hummingbird during 2015. (Learn more about these maps and how to use eBird in this previous post.)

You can see that there have been many reports of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds already, including many that spent the winter in the Southeast. Keep an eye on this map as the spring progresses and you will see how the reports rapidly spread north!

Have any of you in the Southeast seen their first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year yet?

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing bird photos here from my recent trip to Costa Rica, including the Resplendent Quetzal and hummingbirds of Costa Rica. During our time there, we saw more than 140 species of birds, and had the chance to take photos of many of them. Here, I’m sharing a few more birds of Costa Rica that we enjoyed spotting and photographing during our trip in early February. These aren’t backyard birds for us here in the U.S. – but they are for the lucky folks who live down there!

NOTE 1: The Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan has recently been determined to be a sub-species of the Black-Mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus). Since many guidebooks and online references (including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) still have these species listed separately, I’ve decided to leave both names here for reference going forward as both amateur birders and scientists get used to the change.

NOTE 2: The Gartered Trogon (Trogon caligatus) was recently split off as a separate species from the Violaceous Trogon (T. violaceous). Some still refer to it as the Northern Violaceous Trogon, so I have left both common names here for reference.

It’s no secret that monarchs are in trouble. These iconic butterflies can be found across the United States, but their numbers have declined by approximately 90 percent in recent years. This is mainly due to loss of habitat. Monarchs spend winters in Mexico or Central and Southern California, and then migrate north in spring. Along the way, they need places to rest their wings, sip on nectar and lay eggs on milkweed. Baby caterpillars then feed on the milkweed plants. Without milkweed and places for milkweed to grow, monarchs can’t survive.

So, what can you do? First and foremost, PLANT MILKWEED. Second, team up with the National Wildlife Federation and their new Butterfly Hero Campaign, launching March 4. Follow these steps to become a Butterfly Hero and attract butterflies.

1. Take a photo of yourself making the international sign language sign for “butterfly.”

2. Submit your photo to the Butterfly Heroes website and take the pledge to be a monarch butterfly hero.

3. People who take the pledge will be sent a free Butterfly Heroes Garden Kit from the NWF (while supplies last). Pledge by May 15 and you’ll be eligible for a chance to win a trip for four to Walt Disney World.

To learn more about monarch butterfly migration, check out this story, Diary of Monarch Migration.