Sow and Grow Garden Club

04/19/2026

04/15/2026

Please check your hedges before you trim !!

BEFORE YOU TRIM THAT HEDGE — LOOK INSIDE

It’s spring. Time to tidy the yard.
The hedge trimmer is ready. The bushes need shaping.

But wait.

Right now—spring through mid to late summer—many birds are nesting.
In hedges. In shrubs. Even in porch lights and tucked corners.

Cutting without checking can do real harm.

WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU TRIM WITHOUT LOOKING:
1️⃣ Eggs can be crushed or exposed to predators
2️⃣ Nestlings may fall to the ground
3️⃣ Adult birds may abandon the nest if disturbance is severe
4️⃣ The nest can fail very quickly
5️⃣ In the U.S., active nests are protected under federal law

HOW TO CHECK BEFORE YOU CUT:
1️⃣ Watch the shrub for a few minutes—do birds fly in and out?
2️⃣ Gently part branches and look inside before trimming
3️⃣ If you find a nest, pause—most songbirds leave in about 2–3 weeks
4️⃣ Mark the spot and trim around it instead

WHY THIS MATTERS FOR YOUR GARDEN:
1️⃣ A single robin family can eat thousands of insects in a season
2️⃣ Wrens hunt caterpillars, beetles, and grasshoppers
3️⃣ Chickadees gather thousands of caterpillars to raise one brood
4️⃣ These birds are your garden’s natural pest control

Remove the nest—and you lose that help for the rest of the season.

THE SIMPLE RULE:
If you find eggs or chicks, wait about 2–3 weeks.
That’s often all it takes for young birds to leave the nest.

A little patience now = fewer pests later.
A quick trim without checking = a lost nest and more caterpillars on your plants.

Check first. Every time.

04/15/2026

Great way to help our winged friends who help our gardens flourish ..

04/14/2026

Cherry blossom season in S.Korea & Japan.
Beautiful time of year to travel to see spring blooms 🌸

03/30/2026

You don't need to redesign your entire yard.

You need ONE native plant.

Doug Tallamy's research at University of Delaware proved it:

→ Native oak trees support 557 species of caterpillars
→ Non-native ginkgo trees support 5
→ Native plants support 10-50x more insect life than non-native ornamentals
→ 96% of North American land birds feed insects to their babies
→ No native insects = no baby birds

ONE native plant changes the equation.

THE STARTER LIST (Northeast/Mid-Atlantic — check your region):

→ Purple coneflower (Echinacea): bees + butterflies + goldfinch food
→ Black-eyed Susan: pollinators all summer
→ Joe-Pye w**d: monarch and swallowtail magnet
→ Switchgrass: bird shelter + winter interest
→ Wild columbine: hummingbird favorite
→ Bee balm: hummingbird + butterfly paradise
→ Native aster: critical fall nectar for migrating monarchs

WHERE TO BUY:
→ Search "native plant nursery near me"
→ Local Audubon chapters often hold native plant sales in spring
→ Wild Ones organization (wildones.org) has local chapters
→ National Wildlife Federation's Native Plant Finder: enter your zip code → get a list

Start with ONE plant this weekend.

Next year, add two more.

In five years, your garden bed is an ecosystem.

The revolution doesn't start with a masterplan.

It starts with a $4 coneflower in a pot. 🌻
HASHTAGS:

03/30/2026

That dull olive bird at your feeder all winter?

That's your goldfinch.

It's about to transform.

American goldfinches are one of the LATEST birds to molt into breeding plumage:
→ Winter: dull olive-yellow with darker wings
→ April: patchy — half olive, half yellow (awkward teenager phase)
→ May: BRILLIANT canary yellow with jet black cap and wings
→ Same bird. Complete transformation. Over about 6 weeks.

Why so late?
→ Goldfinches are the LATEST nesters of any North American songbird
→ They don't nest until June-July
→ They wait for thistles and other plants to produce seeds and fluffy down
→ They line their nests with thistle down — so tightly woven they can hold water

What this means for YOUR feeder:
→ Right now in April, your goldfinches look weird and patchy
→ They're NOT sick — they're molting
→ Don't worry about the bald patches and mismatched feathers
→ By May, they'll be traffic-stopping yellow

To attract goldfinches:
→ Nyjer (thistle) seed in tube feeders
→ Sunflower hearts
→ Native plants that go to seed: coneflowers, black-eyed susans, cosmos
→ DON'T deadhead flowers in fall — leave seed heads standing

The ugliest bird at your feeder in April will be the prettiest by May.

Patience. The glow-up is coming. 💛

03/30/2026

Welcome lovely birds 💐

Baltimore orioles are arriving this week.

And they DON'T eat birdseed.

To attract one of the most stunning birds in North America, you need:

→ ORANGE HALVES: cut in half, impale on a nail or spike on a railing or branch
→ GRAPE JELLY: small dish, 1-2 tablespoons (they go CRAZY for it)
→ NECTAR: same recipe as hummingbirds (1:4 sugar water, NO red dye)
→ DARK-COLORED FRUIT: ripe bananas, cut berries

WHEN:
→ Gulf states: late March-early April
→ Mid-Atlantic: mid-April
→ Northeast/Midwest: late April-early May
→ Put fruit out 1 week BEFORE expected arrival

Oriole facts:
→ Males: unmistakable bright orange and black
→ They weave incredible hanging basket nests (4-8 inches deep, woven from plant fibers)
→ The nest hangs from the tip of a high branch — predator-proof by design
→ Both parents feed caterpillars to chicks
→ Named after Lord Baltimore (the orange matched his coat of arms)

Why orioles matter:
→ They eat enormous quantities of caterpillars (including forest pests)
→ They're major consumers of tent caterpillars and gypsy moth larvae
→ They pollinate tubular flowers while feeding on nectar

Once an oriole finds your orange:
→ It will return DAILY
→ It will bring its mate
→ It may nest in your yard
→ It will come back next year to the same spot

One orange. Cut in half. On a nail.

That's a $0.50 investment in the most beautiful bird you'll see all year. 🍊

03/30/2026

Check out " Stone Soup Gardens" in Laurel, MT .
Patrick Certain, co-owner of "Stone Soup Gardens" was our guest speaker at our April meeting (4th Wednesday monthly @ Marketplace 3301, 12:30p.m.)
Patrick was a very informative speaker on Micro Scale Farming. Check out their website to sign up as starting in July, they will be offering prepared boxes of veggies at Carter's Brewing each Thursday from 4:00 pm -6:00 pm . They will also have a pop up style farmers market to buy individual vegetables.
Photo courtesy of Katz : Patrick holding a painted rock designed by club member, AnnaMarie.
Join us as we "learn and dig" into different community gardens to glean & grow fruit in knowledge and relationships.

03/11/2026

Keep the peanuts coming!!
I am a high energy bird who will 24/7 surveillance in your back yard .. please keep your cats at bay !

02/19/2026

We appreciate Dress for Success, Billings, Montana supporting women in need by planting seeds of confidence and growing their employment skills so they can thrive in work and in life 🌺🥳