Heroes
in the Garden
By
Pat Hamilton
National
Award of Merit winner
This year seems to be a continuation
of one rain storm after another. According to the weather bureau we
have had 153 per cent of normal rainfall. In our own garden December
thru the first week of February we had only six days that were free
of some type of precipitation. This was followed by ten wonderfully
warm spring days, hallelujah!!! We waited a couple of days until the
ground didn’t suck at our shoes when we walked on it and then
we finally planted our bare root roses that were setting in pots of
potting soil because we had despaired of ever getting enough dry weather
to put them in the ground. Needless to say, by then we were way behind
on our pruning so we got at it as fast as we could go. Fortune smiled
on us and we finished 350 roses before the rain made a three day return
engagement. Next we were hit by a couple of weeks of hard freezes every
night, this took care of a lot of new tender growth and some total classes
of my perennials. Now we are on the next to the last day of February
and we are being deluged with
rain again.
There are benefits to having
lots of rain, we don’t have to water at all yet..... I did get
all the roses sprayed with Banner Maxx and Aliette so that should protect
them against the worse fungi, mainly Downey mildew. We will just enjoy
the sound of the rain hitting the windows and the porch roof, and think
of the “HEROES” that will benefit from all this water. I
am talking about the beneficial amphibians and insects which help us
control the aphids, leaf hoppers and other chewing insects.
A good example of an amphibian
is the Pacific Tree Frog. These little guys only grow to about two inches
long and can vary in color from grey green, bronze to shades of brown.
The one marking that they all have is a dark band running through their
eyes and toward their front legs and a light underbelly. You can often
hear their mating call or “rain call” on rainy days, or
during mating season. Most people think of the ribbit used by Hollywood
as the standard frog call, it is however really the call of the Pacific
Tree Frog. He is little but he is loud! These “HEROES”search
out small insect pests in your garden and eat them. Adult frogs feed
on flying and crawling insects and other invertebrates, they will stuff
creatures almost as long as themselves in their mouths.
These frogs like to lay their
eggs in early March to May, in temporary ponds where predators such
as Brown Salamanders and Bull Frogs do not live or lay their eggs. By
choosing temporary ponds they reduce the number of predators that eat
their tadpoles. Newly hatched tadpoles are about 1 cm long and grow
quickly on a diet of algae and other water plants. Tree Frog tadpoles
are grey green and their intestines can be seen through the skin on
their stomach. Their tail fins are well-developed and set high on their
body. Tadpoles eat a huge amount of food and leave a large amount of
fertilizer.
When the tadpoles are about
4.5cm long they begin to grow back legs then front legs, and lose their
tail. This is when they transform from a plant-eater to an insect-eater.
At this stage they are only about the size of an adult’s “baby
fingernail” but they are eating gnats, flies and mosquitoes.
Tree Frogs are mature adults
at about one year old. They have sticky toe pads and can climb bark
leaves and even glass. Here they like to climb in our roses and are
found quite often residing within an over mature flower. We are always
very careful not to accidently toss one in the deadheading buckets.
They also frequent the perennial and mixed gardens. The reason we have
so many frogs around is that we have available wild areas (our old garden
beds) as we never are caught up enough to tame that section and it seems
to do all right without us. There is water available in low areas and
our barrels that we sometimes use as fountains. The only drawback to
the barrels is that when we see a bunch of frog eggs and tadpoles we
know it will be pretty late in the summer before we can start our pump
and fountain.
The Pacific Tree Frog really
likes our rainy weather. Judging from the
amount of “rain calls” we have been hearing, we will really
have to be
careful when we deadhead. These frogs are just one of the many reasons
we don’t have to spray with Orthene 97W, however I keep it in
my arsenal just in case!
Another “HERO”
that is an insect which needs water is the Dragonfly. They deposit their
eggs directly onto the surface of the water or into mud at the water's
edge. Their larvae are aquatic and breathe through gills. Their chief
predators are fish and frogs while their main source of food is fish-spawn,
tadpoles and the larvae of smaller insects. The larval stage can vary
in duration from about three months to four or more years.
Dragonflies are fast-flying,
four-winged insects with long bodies and enormous eyes. The adult dragonfly
has the biggest eyes in the insect world and they are capable of detecting
movement up to 15m away! These fascinating and colorful creatures are
among the fastest and oldest insects in the world. Their fossilized
remains show that they were already here on earth 300 million years
ago! Dragonflies are not difficult to separate from other orders of
insects: adults have a pair of prominent compound eyes that take up
most of the head, a contracted thorax bearing, as well as the usual
three pairs of legs, two pairs of large, delicate, membranous wings,
and a long, slender abdomen. Dragon flies exhibit voracious appetites,
feeding exclusively on small animal matter. Contrary to general belief,
they CANNOT sting - nor can they harm humans in any other way! Adult
dragonflies that survive the vulnerable period between commencement
of emergence and successful maiden flight have an average life expectancy
of 4-6 weeks.
We count ourselves very lucky
to be blessed with numerous amounts of these. We have Dragon flies who
are among the most beautiful insects we have ever seen. They have all
the colors of the rainbow, we usually see bright red, blue, yellow and
green ones on our bushes, or hovering above waiting to dart upon some
unsuspecting flying insect. Dragon flies are formidable hunters as they
are very well aerodynamically designed. I love to watch the way they
hover and dart.
We must attribute our many
Dragonflies to our deep water tank which has been converted to a fish
pond, and the many spring-fed ponds in our wooded acre along Strawberry
Creek on the back of our property.
I would be remiss if I did
not include one more insect which is very common around here and is
very helpful in controlling soft bodied insects and caterpillars! For
many years I killed these insects every time I saw them as I thought
they were ugly and therefore bad. I am talking about ground beetles.
There are about 2,500 known
species of ground beetles in North America.
These active insects are usually found on the ground under rocks, logs,
leaves, bark, decomposing wood and other debris on the ground (mulch).
When disturbed, beetles run rapidly but seldom fly. Most hide during
the day and feed at night. Both adults and larvae are considered beneficial
since they feed on larvae of many harmful insects. The life cycle of
most species is usually completed within a year, although adults may
live 2 to 3 years or longer. Some adults are attracted to lights and
will feed on the crushed remains of their own kind that have been stepped
on or run over. Many ground beetles exude or expel foul-smelling secretions
that are used to repel their enemies. Some feed on snails and slugs.
They will also climb plants to find prey, but because of their nocturnal
habits most gardeners do not notice this activity.
I don’t know whether
it is the wet weather or the new mulch (shredded redwood bark) that
we added to most of the flower beds last year, but we have a plethora
of ground beetles. I don’t expect to kill a one!
A partial list of other “Good
Guys” in the garden that help you to grow
roses with out insect sprays, follows:
Lady beetles, one of the
top daytime predators. Most gardeners are familiar with at least the
adult stage. However the larvae are also predaceous and feed on pesky
pests such as aphids, scales, mites and insect eggs. These are well
worth protecting.
Next we have a couple of
spiders, one a night predator and the other a day time hunter.
The wolf spider is commonly
found on the ground, where it feeds on numerous types of small insects
its population will increase if you provide it with plenty of cover
such as mulch. Wolf spiders do bite so don’t handle them.
The crab spider gets its
name from the way it holds its legs...out to the side like crab legs.
These spiders climb flowers and plants to find a good place to sit and
wait for prey. Often these spiders are highly camouflaged looking like
the flower they inhabit. These spiders eat various small insects and
are quite capable of capturing flying insects that visit the flowers.
You will see these in many light colors, we have them in white to shades
of yellow and orange.
I would be remiss if I did
not list the little wren in my list of predators. I know she is a bird
but I have seen one with a beak full of aphids headed for her nest.
I have watched one hopping down a climbing rose cane picking up every
aphid as she hopped. The only thing I would like better than to see
a wren nest in my yard would be to see two or three nest there.
With all the rain we have
had already one would think we were due for some more sunshine but the
weather man says we are due for a week of rain and showers.
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