Sensible alternative to trying to grow grass under trees

 As a Landscape Architect, one of the most common concerns I encounter is that lawns do not grow well under trees.  So I’m often asked how to make lawns grow there. 

Invariably, my response is “don’t even try!” Making north Texas lawns grow well within the root zones of trees usually means putting a whole lot of stress on trees, which often results in the tree's premature death (a tree under stress attracts more bugs, too, which can affect other plants as well). Lawns and trees are simply not compatible.

A tree’s roots are spread throughout the soil directly underneath its canopy. Contrary to what we all learned in school, most of these roots are in the top 6-inches of the soil, where the most nutrients are found. So, if a lawn is encouraged to grow in the same area where a tree’s roots are, there’ll be constant struggle between lawn and tree. This may make lawn care people happy (and wealthy) but avoid getting caught in the struggle. There are several reasons why trees and lawns don’t coexist.  

REASON #1

A typical lawn requires a lot of water. A typical tree doesn’t. So if you water the lawn whenever it needs it, the tree’s roots will suffer – and may rot. Also, since it’s shady under a tree, the water will stay there too long - it won’t evaporate as quickly as it does in the sun.

REASON #2
Typical lawns require a lot of fertilizer. Since a high level of fertilization isn’t needed by most trees, they could “overdose” on chemical fertilizer.  Some kinds will even kill them over the years. Even more damaging is the use of “weed and feed” fertilizer, or other chemical fertilizers with a high salt content, which can easily weaken or kill a tree.

REASON #3

Since almost all lawns require sun, and a tree creates shade, a homeowner’s impulse is to remove some of the tree’s leafy branches. But a tree needs every leaf it creates, to grow. If too many branches are removed, the tree’s ability to photosynthesize is lessened, and it suffers.

REASON #4

Disturbing a tree’s roots (even slightly) by tilling, adding soil or adding sod stresses the tree by interfering with its ability to obtain nutrients from the soil through its roots. This is why planting lots of cute little flowers beneath trees is a terrible idea.

         

Over the years, I’ve found that by far the most successful solution is to plant a ground cover under the drip zone of the tree. Forget about a lawn right there!  The goal is to grow a ground cover in as much of the tree's root zone as possible. Of course, if the tree is a newly-planted “stick”, plan the ground cover bed for the tree’s size in about 10 years.  

 Adding a layer of soil on top of the tree’s roots (putting very heavy stress on the tree), will very likely kill the tree over a period of several years. Instead, carefully plant the ground cover under trees - it's lawn. It's far better for the trees' health.

Some of the most reliable “under-tree” ground covers for north Texas are pigeonberry, vinca major, Virginia creeper, cedar sedge, inland sea oats, liriope, wood fern and horseherb. Among these I often randomly plant some shade-loving flowers (Turk’s cap, columbine, spiderwort etc.) for some seasonal color. Several do a wonderful job of attracting birds and butterflies too.

 

Match the tree’s preferences for water, fertilizer etc. to whatever you plant beneath it, and you’ll have a healthy, extremely low-maintenance area that’ll be a lot more attractive than half-dead grass, exposed tree roots or bare dirt.

 

Why red food coloring is bad for Hummingbirds

 

Black-chinned Hummingbird

According to Wildbird magazine, if nectar is dyed red, a typical Hummingbird (weighing just a few grams) takes in 10 times the amount of dye necessary to cause DNA damage.

High doses of Red #40 (the most popular coloring agent) will also result in “significantly reduced reproductive success, parental and offspring weight” according to researchers. Plain nectar is what they need.  Nothing more.  Another research study proved that red food coloring is, more often than not, harmful to Hummingbirds - damaging the birds' DNA.

 

     No study has ever shown that red coloring in nectar attracts them. Adding color to nectar is just an “urban legend”; it’s never been proven to be necessary or helpful.  Nowadays, almost all feeders are colorful enough all by themselves.  In truth, it’s not just red that attracts them.  It’s any bright color except green; (an adaptation that lets them spot nectar-producing flowers in a leafy jungle).

 

Here in north Texas, microscopic bits of mold (found in most food coloring) can multiply rapidly in heat, ruining an entire batch of nectar and making the birds go elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

          So please keep the nectar fresh and clear, and the Hummingbirds healthy!

 

We're fortunate, in north Texas. The Central Flyway passes overhead. This 

Black-headed Grosbeak &
Lazuli Bunting

migration route briefly brings us all sorts of birds that are bound for Canada, upper Midwest, Mississippi valley and so on. In the fall, it brings us birds from those regions, bound for Central and South America.

Each spring and fall we have a good opportunity to see birds native to somewhere else, like these two in the photo. They stop in mid-flight to rest and "gas up" for the next leg of migration. That's IF they spot a safe, vegetated place, and it has the food (seed and insects) they eat, and water to drink and freshen up.

It doesn't matter much how large or small the habitat is - some of the most popular and "bird-friendly" spaces are on lots an eighth of an acre or less.  After all, birds have the entire sky to cavort in, in addition to the ground-level habitat.
 

The importance of creating small habitats for north Texas' wild birds



House Finch

Scarlet Tanager

Tiny, private spaces can easily be transformed into “bird magnets”.  It’s necessary since birds don’t really care if you own ten acres or ten square feet. To them, ownership of land is meaningless. Birds might choose to forage in a utility easement, cavort in a park a mile away, get a sip of water from a puddle in a parking lot, nest in your neighbor's yard and eat from a feeder on your balcony. A lot of their routine is up to you.

As people are living closer together, more and more products are being made or adapted for use in small spaces like balconies, patios and “postage stamp” courtyards. This is vital since bird habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate.

Wood Thrush

If you have only a tiny patch of ground, consider a pole-mounted system. This lets you put several types of feeders on just one pole. The pole can be simply be stuck in as little as one square foot of ground.  And don't forget a birdbath! Also, at this time of year, one feeder could certainly feed nectar to the amazing little Hummingbirds. (Then, next fall, you can easily exchange it for a feeder for our “winter-only” Goldfinches.)

Many feeders can be mounted on windows, using heavy-duty suction cups. There is almost no danger of birds flying into a window with this type of feeder.   Reason: the bird is in a slow ”landing pattern” when he’s within two feet of a feeder, so he’s alert to the surroundings. The real danger zone is if a feeder is about 2 to 6 feet from a window. At this distance a bird, circling the feeder (and concentrating on its location) isn’t paying attention to a nearby window. To be extra-cautious, stick some sort of ribbon or decal on the glass.

Seed residue can be a problem. To avoid this entirely, use a variety of seed that has had the outside hull removed. Since the birds don’t have to remove the hull from the seed, there’s no hull to fall to the ground. Or to fall on your balcony. The goal, however, is to entice the birds to eat every last seed.

Of course, if a seed is fresh (even if the hull is left on), any that falls to the ground will likely be eaten by ground-feeding birds – like Cardinals. Thrashers and Doves. So, even if the price is a bit more, get the seed that’s freshest from the mill. More of it gets eaten and less of it winds up beneath the feeder. If you can clean up the hulls beneath a feeder, go ahead and buy the less-expensive seed with hulls.

Seed that’s blended especially for our Texas birds is best for small spaces too – more of it gets eaten. Some “cheap” seed blends are loaded with filler that Texas birds don’t eat; like milo and corn. You pay for it, but it just ends up on the ground.

Violet-crowned hummer

 Of course, nectar feeders (for Hummingbirds) and nut feeders (for almost all birds) make hardly any mess, and are great for small spaces.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 Feeding the birds isn’t complete without bird habitat – even if it's just a tiny bit! Several pots of flowers, even a few planted with shrubs, give birds personal places. They need some of these to wait for their turn at the feeder, crack open a seed or just sit and relax. A small space that’s nothing but a grille and lawn chairs isn’t appealing to birds. A tiny patch of vegetative habitat is!

 

What it means when Cardinals are bright red

Cardinal  (male)

 

     A recent study found that, in rural areas, the bright red of Cardinals was a good indication of their health, including the abilities to resist disease and raise healthy young Cardinals. In urban areas, however, that wasn’t true.

         In urban areas (cities and towns) color didn’t indicate Cardinals’ general health or future reproductive success. In urban areas there are many plants that are “exotic” – derived from other countries or regions. Birds that eat these may get a lot of pigment, but are not necessarily in good health overall, because most exotic plants don’t contain much protein or fat. A good example is species of honeysuckle: the exotic Japanese (or Halls) Honeysuckle doesn’t do much for the health of local birds;  but the native Evergreen Honeysuckle (Lonicera Sempervirons) is avian “health food”.

     Urban Cardinals also have access to birdseed which is very nutrient-rich, but low in carotenoids (which produce pigments).

      Of course, other species, in addition to Cardinals, benefit from good food.  My advice, if you live in an urban area, is to continue to offer fresh birdseed and plant masses of native plants that are mostly red or yellow, such as Lantana, Turks Cap, Salvia Greggii and Cardinal Flower.

 

 

 

 

 

HOW DO YOU DO, MR. CROW       Just like people, American Crows can recognize specific human faces. Even years after the encounter.  Also, they can associate the humans with positive or negative feelings – such as “feeds good stuff” or “scares me”.

        Crow’s intelligence has long been known, but their brains aren’t unusually large. It’s just that they use their brain well. (Humans only use about 10-15% of the brain)

Pyrrhuloxia & Cardinal




Do what you can to attract insect-eating birds, too

             

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

 


Scissor-tailed Flycatcher





Carolina Wrens

Mockingbird

Dickcissel

 Many north Texas birds eat insects exclusively.  These are birds that couldn't care less about  your birdfeeder. Avid birdwatchers try to attract these species too, instead of just writing them off as perennial no-shows. This group of birds isn’t just extremely rare and secretive birds that you’ve never heard of. It includes the Mockingbird which is the Texas state bird (yes, every state has one). Also, there’s the Bluebird, Purple Martin, Flycatcher, Swallow, Robin, several Warblers and two types of Wren. 

            Also, almost all birds feed insects to their young since they’re easier on young, undeveloped digestive systems. If there are no insects around, they just won't nest in your yard.

 

Limit & localize use of pesticides

Think of it this way – imagine sitting down to a plateful of steak and potatoes.  But before your first bite, someone sprayed everything on the plate with bug killer. Suddenly you’re not hungry anymore! Lots of birds experience that every day. Having no insects to eat or to feed to their young, they go elsewhere.

            The point is – either stop using artificial, chemical pesticides entirely, or limit their use to “spot” treatment of only the infested areas. (There are natural pesticides that work better anyway)  Insect-eating birds should take care of most insects!

 

Create a brushpile

Brushpiles occur naturally in forests, as limbs fall off trees. Many birds, particularly insect-eaters, love to nest in them and seek shelter or hide there. But we humans tend to remove or burn brushpiles.  Since they’re comparatively cool and damp, insect-eating birds are always foraging in them. Creating one is a no-brainer.   
            A brushpile is, basically, just a pile of woody branches. Ideally, the first foot or so should be made of woody branches 3 to 6” in diameter, criss-crossed to leave lots of empty spaces inside. Above this, pile branches randomly, leaving plenty of nooks and crannies for birds to find. It attracts the most birds when you exclude small stuff like leaves and grass clippings.

Avoid cleaning your yard fastidiously.  Insect-eating birds love to pick through the leaf-litter on the ground, in search of small spiders and other edibles. If your yard is all lawn - completely free of things like tall grass and leaf-litter, birds won't hang around.  You may not want to leave your entire yard "natural", but maybe an unused corner can be left for insect eating birds.

 

Make water available. Every living thing, especially a bird living in Texas, needs water. I’ve often seen birds in my birdbath that I’d never see at my feeders. Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes and Robins are a few insect-eating birds that like water, too. Frequently an entire family will take over a birdbath, the mother and father teaching fledglings the proper way to bathe.

Plant native plants. There are many, many native plants to select from, to attract insect-eating birds. From live oak to pecan, and from lantana to Turks cap, Blackfoot daisy and Indiangrass– all are natives. These are the plants that north Texas birds (and their past generations) are familiar with, whatever they eat. They understand how to use them for shelter, food, nesting material etc. They won’t adapt to the heavy influx of exotic imports for many more decades.

Please - do what you can to appeal to all the birds that don't care what's in your birdfeeder.

Bluebirds

Purple Martins

 

Barn Swallow

Tree Swallow

 

How to repel (or attract) Grackles

Grackles love the seed called millet. Of course, they eat almost anything, but millet is their favorite. Millet is a very small, roundish seed often used in birdfood. Because millet has a comparatively low cost to retailers such as "big box" stores, it's very common in inexpensive seed blends. The problem is, there are two different kinds: red and white.  Birds clearly know the difference. Blends that use the cheap red millet, or a mixture of red and white, for marketing appeal and to minimize costs, should be avoided. Birds will actively select the white millet and ignore the bitter-tasting (though inexpensive) red millet.

       Grackles, on the other hand, readily eat them both.   So feeding millet invites Grackles to hang around your yard; not using a seed blend with millet discourages them.

 

 

From whence came Steller’s Jays?     In north Texas we have Blue Jays (much of the Midwest and East, too). In the Pacific Northwest, however, they have Steller’s Jays. The prevalent theory is that a population of Blue Jays was isolated there during the ice ages,

Steller's Jay

  contained by mountains and the ocean. Over the ages, this population evolved differently - into Steller's Jays.

 

Increasing the number of Hummingbirds in your yard

There's something about seeing a Hummingbird that makes people all excited and giggly. If this sort of thing results from seeing just one or two of these amazing little birds, imagine the pure joy a seeing many more in your yard. Here’s how that can happen;

Put up more than one feeder – First, there should be enough spots for Hummingbirds to sip nectar without waiting in line. Put up enough feeders for the number of Hummingbirds you could have, not just the number that you have today. Sometimes, a “bully” tries to scare others away. If you have enough feeding places available, however, the bully is outmaneuvered – less-aggressive ones will like hanging out in your yard.

Keep nectar fresh – Fresh nectar attracts them, and stale or moldy nectar repels them. If they get a sip of stale nectar at your house, they won’t bring fledglings or friends by. They’ll go elsewhere themselves, too. Nectar gets stale quickly on a super-hot Texas day. We change nectar every 6 or 7 days during spring and fall. But when it’s really hot, we’ll go to every other day. Adding food coloring has never been proven to work, and will probably hasten nectar’s staleness by introducing microscopic bits of mold.

Plant hummer plants – Hummingbirds look for nectar from flowers in addition to feeders. Think of a mass of flowers as a form of feeder. All plants produce nectar, but some plants have a lot sweeter nectar than others. These give “more bang for the buck” in the form of energy for the Hummingbird. They know this, and are drawn to these plants (so are butterflies) and they encourage their youngsters to feed there.

Water source – Just like humans, Hummingbirds need something to drink with meals. Clean water is ideal. Water from a hose-run dripper or mister on a birdbath is ideal (a dripping faucet works too). They’ll use it to drink, to bathe, and just to play in. Make sure a birdbath is shallow enough (1.5 inches for small birds) since, like many humans, they avoid deep water.

          Follow these guidelines and it’s a safe bet the number of Hummingbirds in your yard will grow. The main reason is that the parents almost always bring youngsters back to eat, bathe etc. where they were raised. That could be your yard, assuming it’s a healthy and safe environment.