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Help Wildlife: Don’t Tidy Up the Garden!

©Marlene Condon

September 5, 2020

Condon Nest — A Carolina Wren’s nest is constructed from moss and the dried leaves, pine needles and plant stems it finds from the previous year’s growing season. Marlene A. Condon

Come fall, most gardeners clean up the garden and put it “to bed.” But if you care about our natural world, you should consider leaving it alone. Numerous kinds of wildlife are getting ready for winter, and a hands-off attitude in autumn will benefit them. They will repay you next year when you begin a new gardening season.

The falling leaves that pile up along your garden fence create a haven where Gray Treefrogs and Spring Peepers can hibernate. Next spring, as temperatures rise and these amphibians awaken, they will climb up into your trees and shrubs to feed upon insects and spiders, and thus limit their numbers to a level that your plants can support without incurring serious harm.

Some species of spiders and insects take refuge within your dying and drying garden plants to try to survive the winter in an inactive adult state. Other species will soon perish, leaving behind eggs, larvae, or pupae on or within plants to carry on the line — if they survive the searching eyes of numerous predators still active in cold weather.

Watch your garden throughout the winter and you will see birds, such as Downy Woodpeckers and Carolina Chickadees, clinging to and poking your brown plants. They are looking for the insects and spiders, in whatever form, that provide our avian creatures with the fat and protein they require to survive this harshest time of the year.

If there are plants and food aplenty during the winter, birds that are permanent residents of the area may build nests next spring in your yard. As winter comes to an end, you simply need to cut up the old plant stalks a bit and let them lie where they fall. Many kinds of birds (for example, Carolina Wrens) use these old stems, along with those dried leaves that sheltered the treefrogs, to construct their nests and cannot reproduce without them.

The dried plant material that the birds don’t take will be recycled into the soil for the benefit of your growing plants. As snails and slugs become active, they will be delighted to find their favorite food (decaying plant and animal matter) waiting for them to feed upon. When these unusual organisms are provided with such a fine smorgasbord, they don’t bother your growing plants. Instead, they help to fertilize them—which is exactly what their function in your garden is supposed to be.

A nature-friendly garden saves you money, time, and effort because you don’t interfere with Mother Nature’s system of checks and balances that exists to keep the environment functioning properly. You won’t need pesticides that harm nontarget species, or sicken or kill animals that feed upon pesticided critters and get poisoned themselves. Amphibians, such as salamanders and toads, are especially prone to herbicide poisoning because of their absorbent skin.

To enjoy the lovely songs and beauty of birds, the sights and sounds of numerous kinds of wildlife, and a calmer and thus more satisfying manner of gardening, relax this fall!

My Very Own Loch Ness ‘Monster’

©Marlene Condon

August 1, 2020

ARTICLE PIC-08012020 -YOUNG WATER SNAKE adj-IMG_7202 — A young Northern Water Snake in the author’s driveway makes gravel look huge by comparison.
Marlene A. Condon

I’ve had my very own “Loch Ness monster,” or at least that was how I felt about a little snake that appeared one summer in my small pond. The fabled monster of the famous lake in Scotland is typically described as being serpent-like, appearing above the surface of the water only briefly. My first glimpse of the snake in my pond was certainly brief, allowing me just enough time to notice the splotches on its body as it dove underwater.

Every day thereafter I snuck up to the pond, hoping to get a better view of the snake so I could positively identify it. One day I was standing by the pond making notes about what was happening all around and in it. A dragonfly and damselfly were catching insects nearby, and a white waterlily blossom dwarfed the blooms of Anacharis, an underwater plant that makes me think of ocean seaweed. I noticed two tiny dark fish in the water and was thrilled to know that my goldfish had reproduced.

Suddenly, a head appeared above the Anacharis. It was the head of the little serpent and it looked so mysterious that I could not help but think of the Loch Ness story I’d first heard in my childhood. I got a photograph and discovered a juvenile Northern Water Snake was making itself at home in my pond!

My new snake (it was a first-ever sighting in my yard of this species) was about eight inches long. Books report that Northern Water Snakes are about this long when they are born (alive in litters of about eight to 50), usually in late summer. However, this individual had shown up in June.

Although water snakes are said to have “bad tempers,” my little snake exhibited cautiousness instead of nastiness. It eventually even recognized that I did not seem to have any desire to harm it because over the course of time, it got bolder and stayed put in my company. More likely these snakes are of bad temperament when humans are trying to catch them, and who could blame them for doing anything necessary to get away?

Contrary to rumor, Northern Water Snakes aren’t venomous, nor do they deplete fish populations. I can certainly attest to this last statement. Fall came and I still had plenty of goldfish, Eastern Newts, dragonfly and damselfly larvae, water striders, frogs, and many other life forms in the pond. Of course, the young snake did eat some of the critters in my pond, but it was helping to limit overpopulations of them, including my colorful non-native fish.

The young snake disappeared after spending a second summer and fall with me. Perhaps it outgrew my little pond and had to move on. I imagine most people would be just as glad if a resident snake did not reappear at winter’s end, but I was saddened. That little snake had rewarded me with much new knowledge, and I was sorry my learning opportunity had come to a close.

Now Showing: Firefly Fireworks!

©Marlene Condon

July 3, 2020

If you look carefully at the leaves of plants during the day, you can often find a firefly resting there as it waits for dusk to become active. Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

Now is a special time of year to sit outside as evening falls. If you’ve provided good firefly habitat, you may get to see several species of fireflies, one of which creates a wondrous display reminiscent of fireworks!

Numerous male fireflies — all making their tiny flashes of light — rise from plants at the same time, just like fireworks ascending into the night sky. It’s an enchanting experience for adults and children alike to watch these critters make light, especially because most animals are unable to replicate this feat. Even firefly eggs emit the curious glow.

Some folks know these insects as “lightning bugs,” while others call them “fireflies.” But these animals are not classified as either “true bugs” or “flies,” but rather as “beetles.” They are distantly related to ladybeetles/ladybugs.

All those little flashes of light are a sort of Morse code that males use to find females. Signals range from a simple single flash of light repeated at regular intervals to more complicated groups of flashes that vary in brightness and speed.

Male fireflies start looking for mates shortly after sunset. The females wait on leaves or grass stems and watch the show. When a female sees a familiar flashing that identifies a potential mate, she waits a few seconds before shining her own light.

The length of this pause seems to be the distinguishing factor between species. A male can determine whether he has found an appropriate mate by whether her “answer” comes too soon, too late, or at just the right moment!

When a male firefly does find a female of the same species, he flies towards her while repeating his light signals over and over. The female repeats her light signals until the male reaches her side, and they mate quickly. The male then flies off to find another partner.

The fertilized female lays her eggs five or six days later when they have fully developed. After darkness falls, she finds vegetation, such as moss, that tends to stay moist, not wet. The eggs will be concealed, and the right amount of dampness will keep them from either drying out or rotting.

TIP: If you enjoy seeing fireflies, don’t get rid of the moss in your yard. It serves as your firefly incubation area.

After about a month, the immature fireflies bite their way out of their tough eggshells. They spend their time among leaf litter and soil, hunting for soft-bodied animals, such as worms, slugs, and snails, to eat.

A firefly larva can seize a snail’s soft body with its sharp jaws and hold on even as the snail withdraws into its shell. It injects the snail with digestive juices that dissolve its body so the larva can suck out the softened tissue.

Firefly larvae hibernate for winter, changing into the adult form underground.

They emerge the following spring to reward us with many nights of light shows, especially if we’ve kept moss in the yard. Be sure to make time to enjoy the show!

June Brings June Beetles

©Marlene Condon

June 13, 2020

A June beetle (also commonly known as a June bug) tries to be inconspicuous by remaining on the underside of a leaf of white vervain (Verbena urticifoliain) in the author’s yard. Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

I truly enjoy seeing insects that are gayly colored. One such insect is the June beetle species, Cotinis nitida, that typically comes out in — you guessed it — June.

However, its exact emergence date depends upon how cold or warm the spring has been. Warmer temps bring about an earlier emergence while colder ones delay it.

The upper side of the adult is usually emerald green with a ring of orange encircling it, making this beetle easy to identify. Many folks know it as a June bug, but the scientific grouping of “bugs” has different physical characteristics.

If you’re observant, you may notice the June beetle looks similar in form to the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica), and indeed, they are related. Both species belong to the same Family: the scarabs. You may think of Japanese beetles as “pests,” and online, it seems every entomologist includes the June beetle in that same unbecoming category. But there are no “pests;” there are just people living out of sync with the natural world.

In a nature-friendly garden, your natural system of checks and balances is in place to limit the numbers of insects and other kinds of organisms. Without that natural system, populations become unsustainable, forcing gardeners to poison their world with pesticides that kill numerous other critters along with the ones they’re wanting to kill.

If you wish to be able to enjoy the beauty of these insects (the Japanese beetle is truly a thing of beauty) instead of fretting over their presence, then consider making changes in your landscape. The main step is to limit the amount of lawn you grow. The larvae of these insects, known as grubs, feed upon grass roots.

Obviously then, the more lawn you grow, the more grubs you produce. People often turn to milky spore disease, a microbial agent that might limit populations after a few years. But because it is nonselective and thus kills native grubs that are unlikely to be overly numerous (you shouldn’t object to supporting a limited number of native organisms that are necessary for the environment to function properly), it’s not your best choice.

A better choice is to allow natural predators to control populations. Moles in your lawn advise you of the grubs’ presence and tell you not to worry because they’re making sure there won’t be too many grubs. I know, you don’t like tunnels in the lawn, but the moles will move on as soon as they’ve eaten so many grubs that it becomes inefficient for them to find the food they need. You can simply squish the tunnels back down with your feet, with no harm done to your lawn.

Additionally, moles don’t charge you for aeration services. Yes, their tunnels naturally aerate the soil so plant roots of all kinds, including those of your grass, can get the oxygen they need, as well as water from rain.

Don’t dislike moles. For just a bit of tolerance on your part, they will take good care of you!

The Wildly Popular Tulip Poplar

©Marlene Condon

May 2, 2020

Tulip Poplar flowers are huge and showy, but perhaps more importantly, they feed a large variety of wildlife. Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

In the southeastern United States, we’re fortunate to have the Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) growing extensively in our midst. (Although also known as Yellow or Tulip Poplar, it’s a member of the Magnolia, rather than Poplar, Family.) The shape of its leaves and flowers makes us think of tulips, hence the origin of its most common name.

Horticulturists mostly recommend Tulip Poplar for folks with a large yard where it can provide shade during hot summer months. The horticultural industry includes it under their “flowering tree” category, but its showy flowers can only be seen well on lower branches. Perhaps more importantly, Tulip Poplar is a superb wildlife tree!

You might notice that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds arrive in April only to disappear in May. Many birdwatchers think the hummers they see at their feeders in early spring must leave to continue their migration northward, but that is not necessarily correct.The tiny birds are hanging out in blooming Tulip Poplar trees! The huge blooms provide an abundance of sweet nectar that the hummers apparently relish. Indeed, they most likely will not return to your feeder until the Tulip Trees have finished blooming.

If you use binoculars to look up high into these big trees, you’ll be able to see not only hummingbirds zipping around the blooms, but also numerous insects attracted to the nectar. Humans enjoy honey produced from this same nectar, which is much darker in color (due to its mineral content) than the honey sold year-around in local supermarkets. Its deep-amber color tells you the flavor is more robust, which is why it’s used mostly in baking.

Hummingbirds and insects are responsible for pollinating the Tulip Poplar’s flowers, which results in cone-shaped structures composed of samaras. A samara is a dry, one-seeded (in this case) or two-seeded winged fruit surrounded by a fibrous, papery material. When a samara is ripe, it’s dispersed by the wind, twirling around as it falls and garnering it the name of “helicopter”, “whirlybird”, “whirligig”, and “spinning jenny”.

FUN NOTE: Samaras were studied to aid in the design of helicopters. Throw one into the air and you can readily see why!

Gray Squirrels and other small mammals, as well as many species of birds, such as Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, and Northern Cardinal, readily eat these seeds that become easily accessible on the ground in late fall to early winter. Deer Mice have cached poplar seeds in my birdhouses.

I know when the seeds are ready to be eaten because they start to show up in modest numbers on my deck, in the yard, and on the driveway. Following a windy day or night, I’ll find seeds by the hundreds or perhaps even thousands.

You’re very likely to find row upon row of old Yellow-bellied Sapsucker sap wells on the trunks of big Tulip Poplars. Sapsuckers, birds that winter in our area, survive in large part thanks to these magnificent trees. Their age makes abundantly clear that sapsucker wells do no harm to woody plants.

April Showers Bring May Flowers (Not ‘Weeds’)

©Marlene Condon

April 4, 2020

Dried Broomsedge, a grass much used by many kinds of wildlife, glows in the early-morning light. Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

As the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers. Sadly, many of the plants that show up in spring are viewed as “weeds,” a word suggesting “pestiferous” and/or “useless.” But these native and naturalized plants are either necessary food plants for some kinds of organisms, such as butterflies, or helpful to wildlife in other ways, such as by providing nesting material.

One of the best ways you can help wildlife, as well as learn the names of some of our wildflowers, is to clear a small area (a few square feet) of ground and just leave it be. Plants will soon appear, and identifying them is a fun and interesting project. Children could learn a lot from this activity, too.

If you are lucky, some of the seedlings will become lovely wildflowers you will be delighted to get for free! But don’t despair about plants that aren’t beauties. All native plants are used by wildlife of some sort, and if everyone grows only the prettiest, many animals will be shortchanged.

Consider Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus), a type of grass that you can see growing in the nutrient-deficient and/or compacted soil of cow fields, roadsides, and other disturbed spots. To most folks, this course plant probably seems ugly.

However, it’s a valuable host plant to 11 species of native caterpillars, such as Zebulon Skippers. And although cows don’t like to eat Broomsedge, Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows that visit Virginia from farther north readily take the seeds of this grass in late fall and winter.I allow Broomsedge to grow in areas of poor soil in my yard. In addition to getting to see various butterflies because of its presence, I can also enjoy its golden winter color which brightens the mostly brown landscape of dried plants.

Another common plant that may appear in your natural wildflower garden is the Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis). Its bright-yellow blooms open in early evening on summer days, just as its name suggests. They are a magnet for sphinx moths of various kinds, which show up before it’s completely dark to feed on nectar. Evening Primrose seeds feed American Goldfinches throughout the winter, but you must be sure to leave these plants standing. Cleaning up the garden is highly detrimental to wildlife.

Tree seedlings may come up in your bare plot of ground. If you want to make use of them in your landscape, you can transplant them easily when they are small to more favorable locations. I’ve moved Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)—its flowers feed pollinators—to several locations around my yard.

“Weeds” may come up in your lawn area, too, but you should resist removing them. White Clover (Trifolium repens) and the Common Violet (Viola papilionacea) are superb wildlife plants. Clover blooms feed many insect species, while its leaves feed the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit. Violets put on a nice display and are the food plant of several species of fritillary butterflies.

So, remember: When helping wildlife, don’t base your decisions upon beauty alone!

A Green Plant For St. Patrick’s Day: Virginia Cedar

©Marlene Condon

March 7, 2020

The caterpillar food plant of the Juniper Hairstreak Butterfly (seen here on Shasta Daisy) is Virginia Cedar, more accurately called Virginia Juniper. Marlene A. Condon

With St. Patrick’s Day coming up and the color of green appearing all around the area in honor of this holiday, I’d like to share information about a wonderful wildlife plant that is green all the year around — the very common Virginia Cedar. Also known as Red Cedar, Eastern Red Cedar, Juniper, Red Juniper, and Virginian Juniper, this plant is best looked up in books by its scientific name: Juniperus virginiana.

Its thick growth provides shelter in wet and cold weather for roosting birds, such as Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows that travel south to spend the winter in our area. Virginia Cedar also furnishes nest sites for such common suburban birds as Northern Mockingbirds, American Robins, and Song Sparrows. Virginia Opossums, Black Bears, and many species of song and game birds love its fruit.

The ripe fruit of Virginia Cedar is berry-like and blue-black with a grayish waxy bloom (a delicate coating on some fruits, such as blueberries), but this fruit is technically a cone—tipping you off to the fact that the Virginia Cedar is a conifer (which means cone-bearing). Cones have many overlapping scales that are normally woody, but in junipers, the scales are fleshy and have coalesced or fused together, causing the cone to resemble a berry.

These trees are dependent upon the wind for pollination. Pollen produced by male cones is blown to female cones in which seeds develop. Thus, if you want to grow fruit-bearing cedar trees, you need to have at least one male and one female. Please note, however, cedars are an alternate host for Cedar-Apple Rust (a fungus). If you grow apple trees, you might not want to have cedars near them.

Each fertilized cone contains two seeds that are consumed when animals eat it. The seeds pass through the digestive tract unharmed and produce seedlings in new locations.

One animal that was named for its conspicuous consumption of these cones is the Cedar Waxwing. Appropriately enough, the very first time I ever saw Cedar Waxwings, they were eating berries in a Virginia Cedar tree outside my kitchen window!

Another animal that depends upon cedars is the Juniper Hairstreak. Its caterpillar feeds upon our Virginia Cedar, making this evergreen tree vital to the perpetuation of this species of butterfly.

Because our Virginia Cedar is so common, many folks consider it a “trash tree”. Farmers dislike this plant because it perpetually tries to “invade” their cow fields, but this occurs because cedar is a colonizer.

After half-ton cows have been walking over an area for many years, you can imagine how much they’ve condensed the earth beneath their hooves! Cedars and other colonizers, such as Broomsedge, can grow in such compacted soil and/or nutrient-poor areas to revitalize it for later use by plants with more-demanding growing requirements.

Perhaps if you have thought that this tree was nothing more than a “weed”, you will now think more highly of it. Virginia Cedar is a great tree for both our wildlife and our environment.

This Valentine’s Day, Show Your Love To Mother Nature

February 1, 2020

A male Green frog (Rana clamitans) rests on a lily pad in the author’s small, front-yard pond.
Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

Most people think of Valentine’s Day as a time only for expressing romantic love, but I’ve always thought it was a nice time of year to also show my love for family and friends, especially those far away. Sending a card or email lets folks know you are thinking of them, and who doesn’t appreciate such a caring gesture?

This Valentine’s Day, why not show your love to the natural world, too, by planning a nature-friendly garden? A good place to start is by minimizing the area of your lawn as it doesn’t provide much food, shelter or nesting sites for wildlife.

In its place, consider growing a variety of plants of differing heights and types, such as herbaceous flowers and grasses, vines, shrubs, and trees. Add a bird bath, small artificially created pond, or pan of water and you’ll have created a wildlife sanctuary!

To find out which species of plants to grow, visit your local library. When I wrote my book on this subject in 2006, I was considered a maverick. But since then, people have come to understand the value of nature-friendly gardening and numerous books have been published on gardening with wildlife in mind. There’s plenty of information out there to guide you.

Keep in mind that flowers should provide nectar, a necessary food source for numerous kinds of creatures, from bees and butterflies to hummingbirds. It’s best to avoid cultivars as they don’t always provide this liquid nutrition.

When garden centers put out their blooming plants in spring, walk up and down the rows to look for animal activity among them. Insects provide an important clue to how valuable a plant is because they won’t waste time visiting flowers that don’t provide something for them to eat. And once you’ve gotten your plants home and have put them into the ground, the insects themselves will be a valuable food source for spiders, lizards and birds.

You should also provide woody plants of different kinds that make fruits for bird and mammal consumption. It’s best if you can provide fruits throughout the year. Shadbush (Amelanchier spp.) is a wonderful native tree for late-spring fruits; some viburnums make fruits that mature in summer; flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) provide fall fruits; and American holly (Ilex opaca) fruits are available in winter when other kinds of fruits are long gone.

Evergreen shrubs and trees, such as Virginia cedar (Juniperus virginiana), are perfect for birds to nest in from spring to fall, and for them to find shelter from weather and predators in winter. Brush piles made from your woody trimmings can also give birds a place to hide from predators, and a place to sleep on cold winter nights.

When deciding which plants to grow, you will need to know how much direct sunlight a plant requires to remain healthy as well as whether its roots prefer dry, damp, or wet soil. The plants you choose to grow must be those for which you can provide the proper environment.

Peanut Butter — It’s Not Just For People

January 3, 2020

A white-breasted nuthatch gets peanut butter while a female downy woodpecker pecks at suet on this “homemade” snag in the author’s front yard.
Marlene A. Condon / Special to the DN-R

Happy New Year! You can give birds a happy start to 2020 if you provide peanut butter (PB) as part of your daily offerings.

Many people put out peanuts, but I find that PB takes up less space in the cupboard, and it does not spoil as quickly. This fatty food is attractive to many kinds of birds: Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Northern Cardinals, Dark-eyed Juncos, Brown Creepers, White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, chickadees, and sparrows. And there is nothing better for bringing in woodpeckers.

For birds that can cling to a vertical surface, you can simply smear the peanut butter on tree trunks or pine cones. But for birds that can’t cling very easily (for example, cardinals, sparrows, and juncos), you should place the PB on a flat surface, such as a tray or the top of a stump.

Pure peanut butter can be served, but a fattier version will provide more calories which birds especially need in winter. I melt one part shortening (but you can use lard instead) and then stir in an equal volume of PB (chunky or smooth) until it is well mixed.

To stiffen up the mixture to make it easier to handle, I add about three parts (also by volume) cornmeal. Flour could be used, but the resulting mixture can be difficult to spread. You can adjust the amount, however, to alter the consistency. Cornmeal might be more flavorful, although I can’t say that I’ve noticed any preference indicated by the birds.

Other animals, such as squirrels and raccoons, enjoy peanut butter too. To keep mammals from eating all of the PB, I place it in a modified suet basket which can be hung on a baffled pole out of their reach. A shelf is attached to the basket so that non-clinging birds still have access to the PB.

A suet basket is simply a wire cage into which you can place raw fat pieces (suet) obtained from the meat department of a grocery store, or commercially prepared rendered fat (melted fat hardened into block form). You can usually purchase suet baskets in local hardware and department stores and pet or bird-supply outlets.

I have also drilled holes into snags (standing dead trees) and filled them with peanut butter. These PB trees are magnets for Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, and even Pileated Woodpeckers—and Gray Squirrels that rapidly deplete this PB supply! To remedy this situation, I placed one-quarter-inch hardware cloth over the holes (hardware cloth is sold at most hardware stores). The birds can still eat the PB through the screen, but the squirrels can’t (see photo).

If you do not have any natural snags into which to drill holes, you might do as I did. A neighbor gave me some locust logs — two that were 6 feet long and one that was 12 feet long — which I “planted” in a vertical position in my front yard where I could easily observe them. They became very popular dining spots for a variety of birds.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can reach her at marlenecondon@aol.com

Virginia is for Lovers of American Mistletoe

December 6, 2019

Winter is a good time to spot parasitic American Mistletoe plants growing high in trees that have lost their leaves.
Marlene A. Condon / Special to the DN-R

While on a birding trip many years ago, I pointed out mistletoe growing high in a tree. One woman in the group was skeptical that this plant grew in Virginia, but it does and it’s easily seen after the trees have shed their leaves.

I first discovered American Mistletoe one December day while I was jogging. I noticed a “ball”, about one foot in diameter, of fleshy-looking green leaves hanging from a large branch of a Red Oak. Perhaps because I had always followed the tradition of hanging a sprig of fake mistletoe in my house at Christmastime in order to be kissed underneath it, I immediately recognized the plant. As an incurable romantic, I was delighted to find the real thing practically in my own backyard!

There are many species of mistletoe that are native to the United States, but only American Mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum), the common mistletoe that is hung during the Christmas holidays, grows in Virginia.

Many people know that white mistletoe berries are poisonous to humans and pets and thus should not be hung in houses with small children and/or a dog or cat. However, many species of birds, such as Cedar Waxwings and Eastern Bluebirds, relish these small berries and help to spread mistletoe seeds.

Mistletoe berries each contain one seed covered by a very sticky substance. Birds eating these berries end up with this sticky “goo” on their beaks. They wipe their beaks on branches where a seed may be deposited and a new plant can grow. Birds may also spread the seeds through their droppings.

American Mistletoe usually grows near the tops of deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves in autumn) because it needs sunshine. The tiny yellow blooms appear in September and October, but these are difficult to observe. However, by December the ¼-inch fruits have developed and can be seen with the aid of binoculars or a spotting scope.

Mistletoe employs specialized roots to absorb nutrients from the sap of woody plants and is thus considered parasitic. However, its green color tells you that it contains chlorophyll to make some of its own food (chlorophyll is a green pigment capable of forming carbohydrates with the aid of light).

Look for information about American Mistletoe in books about shrubs. Although the stems are green like the leaves, they contain the complex tissue–known as the “woody element” of a plant stem–which conducts water and dissolved minerals. It is the only shrub in the colder parts of North America that is parasitic on broad-leaved trees (trees that have wide leaves instead of the needles of cone-bearing trees).

Although you may not want to have genuine American Mistletoe with its poisonous fruits inside your house this Christmas, you can take advantage of its location if you find some. You can carry the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe one step further by using the real thing, high up in a tree, as an excuse to get a kiss in the great outdoors!