5 Reasons to Add Hummingbird Groundcover to your Yard

Who doesn’t want to find late-season bloomers for their garden? Let’s face it, most of our favorite blooms fade out by August. I discovered Creeping Hummingbird Trumpet Zauscherhneria garrettii (Fire Chalice)® or (Orange Carpet)® or Z. latifolia (Woody's Peach Surprise)® as a way to add color, then discovered it has many other benefits.

1. As a late season evergreen perennial, Creeping Hummingbird Trumpet Fire Chalice, blooms year after year. It is adaptive to low water conditions. This superb plant spreads to form a loose mat of low growing, bright green foliage. Starting late July, it lights up the garden with a profusion of bright red or orange flowers. With a drooping habit, it looks great in containers, rock walls, and hanging over raised beds. Regular watering when in bloom keeps the flowers popping for 4 to 8 weeks.

2. The plant's continuous bloom is key to bringing back birds year after year. The crimson color inch-long blooms attract hummingbirds and provide much-needed nectar forage.

3. Creeping Hummingbird Trumpet Zauschneria garrettii

Orange Carpet ®  is a native plant. It originated from the mountains of southern Idaho and thrives in our climate. 

4. You can use it in a lot of ways - not only as ground cover, but also in containers, rock garden, and mass-plantings. You can plant it anytime during the spring or summer.

5. My personal favorite: deadheading is not required! (!!)
Other late season bloomers that attract hummingbirds: Hummingbird Mint (Agastache), Scarlet Hedge Nettle, Beard Tongue Penstemon, Salvia, Columbine, Coral Bells, Red Birds in a Tree, Texas Red Yucca, Bee Balm.

Where to buy Creeping Hummingbird Trumpet: Look for a seedling at nurseries that sell native plants.
I have found it at:

• Adams Gardens & Nursery-Nampa,
• Edwards Greenhouse,
• Draggin' Wing High Desert Nursery-Boise.
• It is available online at High Country Gardens.

Gardening to attract hummingbirds requires nectar-rich flowers as well as water and shelter because not all birds will visit feeders. Adding Creeping Hummingbird Trumpet to your bird buffet can help insure the future for the birds, replacing food lost due to human activities like agriculture and urbanization.

Does your tree look like this?

Damage is often patchy.

Have you ever noticed a tree with a branch that turns brown midway through the season while the rest look fine? Or a vegetable plant with stems turning yellow and brown?

What is it?  

Verticillium Wilt (Vw) V. dahliae  and Verticillium albo-atrum  is a soil borne disease that spreads through the roots to a plant’s vascular system. It can stump a gardener with early drought-like symptoms. It is a fatal disease of many important agricultural and horticultural crops. It is particularly present wherever potatoes and mint were farmed. And it can even kill a tree.

What does Verticillium Wilt look like? 

Vw symptoms can include wilt, chlorosis, reddish to purplish discoloration of leaves or stems and brown-stained or stunted leaves and vary widely between species.See video.

Vw on Maple

If you think your plant is infected, first find out whether that species is a host. Plants Resistant Or Susceptible To Verticillium Wilt, developed by the University of California, is a good resource. 
Proper diagnosis requires laboratory testing to rule out other organisms. Homeowners can submit a sample of soil to find out the level of Vw in the soil. The cost is $50.00 for plant material sample and $105.00 for the soil testing at the University of Idaho Plant Disease Diagnostics Lab in Parma, Idaho. Be sure to contact the lab first for specific instructions at (208) 722-6701.

What Types of Plants are susceptible?

Vw affects over 300 species. Trees most commonly and severely affected are maple and ash. The list also includes red-bud, lilac, catalpa, and smoke-bush.

Vw on dahlia

Vw on blackberry

Annuals, including dahlia and sunflower can be infected, as well as garden plants like cantaloupe, tomato, and asparagus. Once affected, roots may not develop normally again.

Dr. James Woodhall, Assistant Professor and Plant Pathologist with the U of I Parma Research Center says Vw is patchy – particularly in maples, but also as it appears throughout your property. Not every inch of ground will have it.

How do I save a tree or shrub with Verticillium wilt?  

Trees and shrubs infected with this systemic disease cannot be cured. They may die quickly in one season or slowly over several years. However, you can extend the life of your plants by making sure that you water and fertilize properly. 

In woody host plants, pruning of symptomatic limbs to remove all discolored sapwood, followed by burning, has prolonged the life expectancy of some trees.

If you remove a plant or tree because of this, be sure to plant a high value tree in some other field. This fungal genus may remain alive in the soil for many years in a resting state.

Can I Prevent Verticillium damage in the future?

The best way to avoid Vw is to plant deciduous trees and shrubs that are immune or resistant. You may have seen some or all of the letters VFNT next to the names of hybrid plant varieties in catalogs and on seed packets. The name will have a V following the variety name if it is resistant to Vw. Always test the soil before planting, especially with high value trees. Purchase disease tolerant trees and plants.

Brian Hudelson, UW-Madison Plant Pathology advises not to use mulches that may have been produced from infected trees or have unknown composition. Finally, immediately collect and discard leaves that have fallen from symptomatic trees.  Both mulch and leaves are potential sources of Verticillium.

How To Predict the Date of An Insect Outbreak

Have you ever heard someone say, “After a mild winter, insects will hatch early?” Is this a gardening myth? Can scientists forecast when particular insect will emerge? See the answers below!

Idaho State Department of Agriculture Entomologist Paul Castrovilla points to Phenology. The study of relationships between weather and biological activities, it is also known as the Degree-days Model (DDM).

When Insects Make Their  Appearance: Insects are cold-blooded. Their development is linked directly to external temperatures. Each requires a defined amount of heat accumulation to reach life stages like egg hatch or adult flight.

Degree-days (DD) mean a measurement of heat units calculated from an average daily high and low temperatures.  DD tell us how many heat units useful for a specific insect’s development have accumulated. In the lab, researchers determine a base and an upper threshold temperature for each species. The insect will eat and mature during this range. According to Dr. Castrovilla, base thresholds are typically set from 40 to 50 degrees F.

Example of threshold list at http://uspest.org/wea/weafaq.html

You can easily calculate Degree-days using the following formula:

[(daily maximum temperature + daily minimum temperature)/2] – baseline temperature = # DD for that day.

Accurate calculation of degree-hours over many days requires a record of hourly temperatures and is complex for a number of reasons. 

The Integrated Plant Protection Center Phrenology Site Home Page

Make Your Own Science-Based Forecast:The public is welcome to use a free web site to forecast an insect or disease in a matter of seconds.  Hosted by the University of Oregon, The Integrated Plant Protection Center combines US weather and climate data (29,000+ locations) with 110 plant pest and disease models. 

Example of DDM results for codling moth at Nampa Zip Code

The above image is a table forecasting egg hatch dates every two weeks from May 17 to July 23. Dr. Castrovilla cautions that the DD Model is not 100% precise, but can predict a date within three to five days.

Accumulated DD help in timing crop scouting events like placing pheromone-monitoring traps. That helps predict the best timing of pest management. The DDM is a useful tool in predicting when a destructive pest is likely to occur. It is also helping to identify when beneficial insects are at dangerously low levels.

To answer our original questions, it is a fact bugs will develop earlier if spring temperatures warm up earlier than normal. Few insects develop in Idaho when the temperature is below 41 degrees F. Used in combination with scouting and pheromone traps, the DDM helps determine treatment timing for fields and back yard gardens alike. That can protect crops, save money, and minimize negative effects on the environment. To be notified, Sign up for PNW Pest Alerts  

Other related resources:

"Degree day Models." How to use various models to calculate Degree-days. Washington State University. Link: http://jenny.tfrec.wsu.edu/opm/displaySpecies.php?pn=-50 

"IPM Methods:  Determining Treatment Timing Using Degree Days and Insect Phenology Models." The focus is on orchards. University of Utah. Link: http://www.intermountainfruit.org/ipm-methods/treatment-timing

"Research and IPM Models: Insects, Mites, Diseases, Plants, and Beneficials." A long list of insect thresholds. University of California. Link:http://ipm.ucanr.edu/MODELS/index.html