Month: November 2012

Green Thumbs at Work

What it takes to plant 26,000 tulip bulbs in the Crescent Garden in just 3 hours:

  • 4 dozen doughnuts
  • 2 boxes of coffee
  • 2 gallons of orange juice

And 20 dedicated volunteers and staff fueled by the above.

Bulb planting
By 11:00 a.m., 26,000 tulip bulbs were planted in the Crescent Garden last Thursday.

It’s time to plant bulbs for next spring, and the weather’s cooperating nicely. In your yard, plant tulip bulbs 6-8 inches deep in well-drained soil. Remember, bulbs will rot where there’s too much water from gutters, irrigation, or poor drainage. Plant plenty: tulips look wonderful in clusters, in drifts, and in vases all around the house next spring!

Horticulturist Benjamin Carroll has a great video on how to plant bulbs at home. Check it out (along with other planting information) here.

Red-tailed Hawk at the Learning Campus

Thursday, November 1, Garden education staff watched a large red-tailed hawk hunting small animals on the Learning Campus.

PHOTO: A red-tailed hawk is perched at the top of the young oak tree in teh Learning Campus Circle.

PHOTO: A large red-tailed hawk is perched on a pine tree branch scanning the landscape for prey.This is a perfect place for these raptors. They can soar over the open lawn searching for small mammals, and when they catch a vole, rabbit, or other creature, they can safely retreat to a high branch of a nearby trees to devour their prey.

We watched it catch two small animals – probably mice or voles – within about ten minutes. It ate one of these unfortunate animals while perched in the pine tree pictured at the left and the second in the oak limb, pictured below.

You may see more hawks now and through winter than you do in spring and summer. According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, there is a population of red-tailed hawks that live in our area year-round, but in late fall other hawks from far north fly into the area and join them during the winter. We must have more of the animals they like to eat.

PHOTO: the red-tailed hawk is perched on a large oak tree limb after eating its second rodent.

Come to the Garden this month to see our fall gardens, but remember to look up in the sky, because it’s likely that you’ll also see a hawk!