July 8, 2007
Wrens, hostas, fritillary and strawberry cutworms

Well, good morning gardeners and what a glorious morning it is. It was certainly warm enough yesterday, when I think I got a bit too much sun during the Deer Lodge Hospital Foundation Garden tour. Thank you to all who purchased tickets and came out to support the Foundation.

And thank you to the couple who drove all the way in from Brandon. I hope you two had a wonderful day.

And it was a wonderful day. I played opera in the garden and the birds were singing along, right in tune. Speaking of birds, our wrens have coaxed the babies out of the nest – and I say coaxed, because that’s what mama does. She sits on the top of the bird house and chatters in a commanding tone until they emerge, one by one. One of them is harder to encourage than the others and yesterday Glenn and my friend Barb watched while she worked long and hard to get the reluctant one to come out. Just as his head emerged from the nest, I opened the door and scared him back inside – Mama Wren must have been furious with me.

They still go back in at night fall and they are still being fed by their parents, but I would think that they will be ready to leave for good any day now. I am sure the Mama and papa wren will be relieved. They work so hard, not only feeding these hungry mouths, but housecleaning by removing the babies’ waste which they deposit on tree branches around the yard.

And now I see why we have never seen them before – it’s because the babies look so much like mom and dad – the only difference I can see is that their wings aren’t quite as well developed yet and they fly a little erratically.

I think they were quite fed up yesterday with all the human traffic, but between visits, the baby robins managed to get in a couple of good baths at the bird bath and so did the finches, who love the shallow one and the loyal sparrows who seem to favour the fountain.

Well have you ever seen a more lush year? The hostas are absolutely gigantic! Hostas love water – in their natural habitat they receive up to 60 inches a year and need at least an inch a week to be happy, so this past month has been ideal for them. Sadly, it’s also good for slugs, so yo may want to ring your prize hostas with some diatomaceous earth or try planting artemisia in the hosta bed. And contrary to what is commonly believed, hostas do best with some sunlight, particularly morning sun.

Now just to follow up on a couple of things from last week, when I had a caller about a yellow worm on strawberries. It appears that this may be the strawberry cut worm, which is yellowish white with a pair of brownish purple stripes running along their length. Pick them off and look for any additional populations just below the soil line.

We also had a discussion about the worms that are eating our pansies and it was suggested that this may be the caterpillar of the painted lady butterfly. However, it seems more likely to be the variegated fritillary caterpillar which is known to feed on pansies. The butterflies are somewhat similar in appearance.

Well, this morning we have an expert in wildflowers with us. Shirley Froelich grows wildflowers for sale in Manitoba. Good morning, Shirley.