Green Thumbs Up - Follow Up

Thanks again for the invitation to speak to the Green Thumbs Up Garden Club.  I had a lot of fun meeting many of you and I look forward to seeing you on the field trip to our home in Missoula this summer. Thanks to Susan Duff for organizing both the talk last Thursday, and the upcoming field trip.

As I promised, below is some of the information that I covered in my talk and some links to posts on my blog for more information.

Links:

Birdhouse basics

Greenhouse

How to remove a lawn

Squirrels

European Starlings and Northern Flickers

Don't forget to watch the nest box cameras soon!  The birds are just excavating now, and soon, we'll start streaming video. There will be a link on my blog to get you to the live video feeds.

Below are are some of the lists from my presentation:

Easy to find, easy to grow, recommended native plants:

•Forbs
–White yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
–Horse mint (Monarda fistulosa)
–Hairy golden aster (Heterotheca villosa)
–Blanket flower (Gaillardia aristata)
–Blue flax (Linum lewisii)
–Wilcox’s Penstemon (Penstemon wilcoxii)
–Showy fleabane (Erigeron speciosus)

•Grasses
–Bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum)
–Prairie June grass (Koelaria cristata)
–Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis)
–Rough fescue (Festuca scabrella)

•Shrubby Shrubs
–Rubber rabbit brush (Crysothamnus nauseosa)
–Big Basin Sage (Artemesia tridentata)
–Woods Rose (Rosa woodsii)
–Golden current (Ribes aureum)
–Mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii)

•Shrubby Trees
–Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera)
–Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)
–Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)
–Mountain Ash (Sorbus scopulina)
–Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides)
–Elderberry (Sambucus cerulea)
–Black hawthorn (Creataegus douglasii)

Deer Resistant Plants:
•Bluebunch wheatgrass
•White Yarrow
•Blanket flower
•Hairy golden aster
•Monarda (bee balm)
•Penstemons
•Fleabanes
•Asters
•Goldenrod (Solidago spp)
•Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)

Instant Prairie:

•Bluebunch wheatgrass
•Idaho fescue
•Prairie junegrass
•White Yarrow
•Blanket flower
•Hairy golden aster
•Monarda (bee balm)
•Sage/ rabbit brush
•Wilcox’s penstemon
•Showy fleabane

Books:

•Bringing Nature Home
•The New American Landscape•Shrink Your Lawn
•The Landscape Revolution: Garden with Mother Nature not Against Her
•Noah’s Garden
•Paradise by Design
•The Forgotten Pollinators
•Landscaping with Jays
•Gardening with a Wild Heart
•The Magic of Montana Native Plants