When we first moved into a woodland home, I was expecting a lot of furry wildlife–deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, etc. I need to add porcupines to the list, though I never even thought they would be part of our life. During the night, when we were still getting used to the place, we were awoken by nawing and the house of vibrating. A porcupine was eating our cedar siding. We called a local trapper who relocated the one of many porcupines who happen upon our house.
The first spring we were here, I was sitting on our patio and I noticed a bumblebee scoping the barren flower beds. Why would a bumblebee be here, in the woods, where there are few, if any, flowers this early in the year. So I’ve started to plant early blooming perennials for the native bees–wild columbine, violets, and virginia bluebells. I want to plant redbuds and serviceberry but I also need to protect with a cage and deer repellent until large in size. Maybe in spring I will take that on. The forest surrounding the house could use some color.
In summer, the trumpet vine, native sunflowers, monarda, black-eyed susan, and agastache. I plan on adding goldenrod and asters in the spring. The course where I play golf edged many of its fairways with milkweed. I’ve seen more monarchs this year than I have in a long time. Maybe they like large clumps of milkweed. I have a few small milkweed plants growing in a garden where I scattered seeds from a milkweed pod. I hope to have a large clump growing next summer.
Wherever we live, I put up a hummingbird feeder. I am in awe of those small birds. They arrive here in Northern Michigan in May and leave the middle of September. This year, I think we had two broods since I saw the male dance twice. We have a feeder out a front window and one in a back garden. It is so quiet here, I can here their chirps. When I go out to clean and refill the feeders, they stay close. They are very social. I enjoy their company. We have the trumpet vines and Crocosmia that the hummingbirds enjoy. I know these are not northern Michigan native plants so a winter research project is to find natives for the hummingbirds. One day I hope to see the nest where they live.
Last summer we had ground nesting yellow jackets scaring the hummingbirds away from the feeders. We found the nest and they are no longer a problem. This year we have bald-faced hornets guarding the feeders. I have not found the nest. We put up traps at the edges of the gardens and we’ve caught quite a few with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and sugar. I will put out traps early in spring to hopefully trap the queens and hopefully keep the hornets away from the hummingbirds.
We have a small hummingbird and bee ecosystem thriving here in the forest. Who would have thunk. But if we build it, they will come and bring joy to our lives.
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