How to attract birds to your backyard - Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

Pike Nurseries' Melodie McDanal, had some ideas on what plants you need to attract birds and butterflies to your yard!

If you have a question about taking care of your lawn, garden, or shrubbery, send it to goodday@myfoxatlanta.com and it just might be answered on Good Day Atlanta next Friday!

CLICK ON THE VIDEO TO WATCH THE ENTIRE SEGMENT

Website: www.pikenursery.com  

Approximately 350 species of birds live in Georgia at some point in their life. Most Atlanta-area homes can attract about 20 different types of birds to their backyard.

How Plants Attract Birds & Butterflies
Shelter - For seed eating birds like bluebirds, cardinals, etc.
Food - For hummingbirds and butterflies

Food
Hummingbirds and butterflies prefer perennials and flowering shrubs for nectar/food

Some favorite plants:
Early Season Favorites
Dianthus
Verbena

Both great options in the garden or container garden
Spring & Early Summer Favorites
Coneflowers
Yarrow
Annual Cosmos - also a great cut flower

Summer Favorites
Butterfly Bush
Marigolds
Lantana
Sage
Rosemary
Lavender

Shelter
Plants for Food & Shelter  
Evergreens
Trees
Berry bushes
Grasses
Vines
Perennials
Annuals
Hanging baskets

Bird Houses
Can be used as an additional shelter in addition to plants
Bird houses come in a variety of sizes and shapes for a variety of birds
Bird houses should be functional & decorative

New Section of Plants that Attract Birds & Butterflies
Pike Nurseries now has an area dedicated to plants that attract Birds & Butterflies
Pike Associates can help get you started on a garden or even a container garden that will attract birds and butterflies to your backyard

Questions answered:

Question 1
My tomato plants have broad leaves on the first few branches, but all of the leaves on the upper branches are curled up like fiddle head ferns. The plants are growing and green, but the leaves are not opening up.  What can I do to help it?

Answer 1
Sounds like the new growth at the top of the plant may be getting too much sun.  Although tomatoes require a full eight hours of sunlight per day, more than this can be too much sun for the tender new leaves. The result is a version of sunburn that dries out the plant's leaves causing them to curl up. Allow the new leaves to become acclimated to their full sun situation and make sure that the plant is receiving adequate water.  Mulching the planting area with shredded newspaper or pine straw will help to retain moisture in the soil. If after a few days, your tomato plant still has curling leaves, cover it with a canopy or bring it inside after eight hours in the sun. Sunburn is a reversible condition and, if caught early, it should not affect your harvest.

Also, inspect the undersides of the leaves for sucking insects such as leafhoppers, aphids and/or thrips. If you notice speckles on the leaves, spray the plants with an insecticidal soap  or neem oil to dislodge the pests. Remove any severely infested plants to prevent the insects from spreading to other plants.

Question 2
I have circular brown spots in my Bermuda grass.  I have hired a landscape firm to spray the grass.  They did not tell me what to do with the damaged areas. Only that the antifungal they sprayed will not correct any damage already done. What should I do to the areas where the grass is dead? Dig it up, fill the hole with sand or hope that the Bermuda grass will eventually fill in the brown spot fungus areas?

Answer 2
The areas you described in your Bermuda lawn sound like a fungal disease called Brown Patch.

Brown Patch is a fungal disease showing up in lawns all over the southeast. As the name indicates, Brown Patch forms brown patches of varying size in turf grasses. Brown Patch usually occurs on dense, heavily fertilized and watered turf when the weather is hot and humid. Soil that doesn't drain properly, a build up of thatch and watering at night can aggravate the situation. The round, brown patches can cover large portions of your lawn and may appear slightly sunken. Sometimes a grayish "smoke ring" or dark brown edges appear around the patches.

This fungus can survive from year to year if not treated. To bring Brown Patch under control, try the following:

Apply a lawn fungicide at first evidence of the disease.  Read and follow all package directions.  It may take more than one application to bring the fungus under control.    
Try not to over-fertilize your lawn when conditions are right for the development of this fungus. Fertilizer causes vigorous new growth. Because it is so tender, new growth is more susceptible to disease organisms.  Also, a very lush lawn can hinder the proper amounts of sunlight and air circulation from reaching the grass.

Brown Patch can spread to other areas of your lawn by the mower, other lawn equipment or foot traffic, especially when the grass is wet. This may cause the disease to appear in a wheel track pattern rather than in a circular pattern. Always remove and dispose of clippings from infected areas.

Water infrequently, but deeply, as early in the day as possible.  Always avoid late evening and night watering.

After spraying is complete, rake or dig up any remaining thatch in the damaged areas.  Since Bermuda spreads so quickly, you can wait for it to cover the areas or re-sod the areas.  It is not necessary to use sand. If you need to bring the damaged areas back to the same level as the rest of your lawn, use a good planting soil and rake it smooth before laying your sod.  

Question 3
What are the correct procedures for planting a peach tree in the peach state here in Atlanta Georgia with all the difficult clay?

Answer 3
When planting your peach tree, dig the hole at least twice the width and the same depth as the root ball. Amend the soil that you dig from the hole with plenty of rich, organic matter, such as mushroom compost and soil conditioner. Mix 1/3 of the native soil that you dig from the hole with 1/3 compost and 1/3 soil conditioner.  Fill in the bottom of hole with enough of the soil mixture so that the top of the root ball is two to three inches above ground level. Do not plant the tree too deeply or it may not survive. Once the tree is placed in the hole, fill the hole with the amended soil mixture, gently but thoroughly water the area to settle the soil and eliminate any air pockets, then add a two to three inch layer of mulch to the planting site. The mulch will help to retain moisture in the soil and prevent weed growth in the area.  

Question 4
My dad has a Sana Rosea plum tree and he wants to know why some of his plums won't ripen all the way. Some turn red, but some stay green and small. What can he use to help them?

Answer 4
Santa Rosa plums remain an old-time favorite with sweet, juicy red flesh perfect for eating off the tree or for canning and baking.

There are two possibilities for your problems with the plums: 

(1)  Did you thin the plums when they initially appeared?  Many times the tree cannot support all of the fruit it produces.  Less is more.  If you don't thin, you will get many more fruits than the tree can handle, resulting in broken branches and small fruits.  So don't be afraid to thin.  In the future, pick off some of the immature fruits, spacing them about 8" apart on the branches.  This will encourage proper ripening. 

(2)  The second possibility is lack of proper pollination.  Although Santa Rosa trees are self-pollinating, they usually produce bigger numbers of plums and heartier fruit when they are cross-pollinated by another plum tree.  Pollination can be affected by several factors, including the presence or absence of insect pollinators, temperatures, and windy or rainy conditions. The green plums are most likely duds that weren't cross-pollinated and are now failing to grow.