Why should I “leave the leaves” and summer flower stalks in my yard?

Fallen leaves feed soil, protect roots, and shelter insects through winter; standing flower stalks allow seeds to disperse and provide nesting/overwintering habitat for beneficial insects, which is food that birds depend on.

Is North Carolina really a hotspot for salamanders?

Yes. The region hosts 30+ salamander species, reflecting exceptional biodiversity and inspiring the author’s stewardship of a small oak-hickory forest.

Are mushrooms in my lawn or garden a sign of disease?

Usually no. Mushrooms from soil or decaying wood are often beneficial mycorrhizal or saprotrophic fungi that signal healthy soil processes. Concern rises when conks/brackets grow from a living tree’s trunk or roots, which can indicate internal decay.

What’s making tidy rows of holes in the trunk of my tree, and should I worry?

That pattern is typical of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. Repeated feeding can stress or girdle stems. To protect high-value trees without harming birds, hang reflective objects (and move them periodically) and wrap injured limbs in burlap, removing it in spring.

Local Ecology Report from Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill

I’m a ‘nature nut’. Plants and animals have always held a key fascination for me, so I’m grateful to live in such an ecologically diverse part of North America. Did you know that North Carolina is the world’s hotspot for salamander species (more than 30)? That’s just one example. And in this teeming environment, I find myself the steward of a small oak-hickory forest, and my simple but sturdy little house sits right in the middle of it. I mostly hear birdsong, and sometimes my neighbor’s chickens. At night, it’s velvet black and hushed. It took me a while to get used to it after living in the city for decades. Most people are accustomed to the constant road noise and the ambient sounds of human activity all around. I’m grateful for this leafy and serene space.

But I’m also concerned. There should be more night sounds. I should see more eye shine when I explore at night with a flashlight. I’m grateful for the wink of the fireflies, but there should be more of them. This tells me I still have a lot of work to do transforming these few acres into a more diverse and lively ecosystem, but that’s my mission, and that’s what I love!

Most summer prairie flowers have set seed, almost finishing their purpose for the year, but hummingbirds and butterflies continue to visit the remaining summer blooms. Many birds will soon be winging their way south, while others will migrate from further north to settle in our Carolina woods for the winter.

Spicebush swallowtail on late summer blooms

The words gratitude and grace share a root: “gratus”, meaning pleasing and thankful. Gratitude is a feeling of thanks, and grace is a kindness bestowed freely. The first is what you feel, and the second is what you do. I’m grateful for the natural world around me, not just because it is crucial in its own right, but also for how it makes me feel. I’m grateful for the plodding box turtle that disappeared into long grass this morning, and the yellow-billed cuckoo I heard off in the woods. To keep a world with all these things, we must give them grace and space.

Some of the ways I’m going to return gratitude for all the plants and critters, big and small, that need a healthy planet to keep doing what they do. Notice it’s mostly not doing anything at all!

Leave the leaves, which means truly leaving most of them where they fall. The soil, the tree roots, and the insects need the leaves where they lie. I’ll move any that need to be moved early, before critters settle in for their winter sleep, and only move them as far as necessary.
Leave the summer flower stalks. This allows time for seeds to disperse and be shared with the birds. Many insects use hollow stalks to lay eggs in or to overwinter in. Remember that even if you don’t like the insects, the birds need them.
Mark volunteer seedling trees that need to be moved with flagging tape before the leaves fall off (and I forget what and where they are). Winter will be the perfect time to move them to better locations or share with others.
Leave fat caterpillars wherever I find them to either live out their lives or become bird food.

Check out Chapter 14 (page 115) in From Wasteland to Wonder to learn more about the importance of leaving the leaves and a whole lot more that can be done throughout the year to provide space and grace for a better environment.

Weather Notes

This last month of summer was about as nice as you could want, with slightly cooler temperatures and no drama from the sky. Hurricane Erin was as big as Katrina, but it didn’t make landfall. Another thing to be grateful for.

🌧 Rain Summary (from RDU):

0.18” since 8/26 (historic average 2.3”)
32.93” Year-to-date (historic average 32.16”)

Garden Sleuthing: Shrooms, Sinister or Sustaining?

Reactions to spotting mushrooms in the garden vary from “Oh no, something bad is happening to my lawn or tree.”, to “Oh yummy, I wonder if that one is edible.”, and finally, “That’s beautiful! I need to take a picture to add to the hundreds I’ve already taken”. I’m that third person, and I never stomp about in my little forest without my phone in case a cool bug or a mushroom might need its picture taken.

Mushrooms are most commonly seen in late summer and fall when temperatures are moderate and moisture levels are high. Most of a fungus is hidden in soil or decaying wood, and we walk overhead not knowing about the vast mycelial network that make up most of a fungus, growing beneath our feet and our notice. But when times are just right, these fungal networks send up their reproductive parts as mushrooms in a bid to expand their kingdom by wind and water. Sounds like flowers in a way, doesn’t it? The comparison is apt. A mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus and does the same job that a flower does. Many have the classic cap and stalk form, and others are more solid conks or brackets.

This mushroom reveals presence of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi

So, could that mushroom indicate a problem with my lawn or tree? For your lawn, probably not, but for your tree, maybe. The first step is to determine whether the fungus is attached directly to your live tree, or if it’s growing from the soil or on decaying wood. If it appears to grow from the soil, it’s very likely a fruiting body of one of those beneficial mycorrhizal fungi you might have read about. Mycorrhizal fungi are helpful root partners and a sign of healthy soil. So, if you see mushrooms in your soil, it’s a good sign! If the mushroom is growing on decayed wood or organic matter, that’s also good because these fungi are likely saprotrophs—organisms that consume decaying material—and they help convert old wood and dead plant parts into nutrient-rich compost.

Ganoderma fungus on a tree trunk

It’s concerning if a mushroom, or more likely a conk or bracket, is attached to a living tree. This indicates a decay-causing fungus inside the tree. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean your tree is doomed. Many fungi are not very aggressive pathogens. Some are, though. If you notice a fungal growth on the roots or trunk of your tree, contact one of our Treecologists.

Something Cool

Check out these boogie woogie aphids that specialize in dancing on beech twigs? Did you know we had such cool things in our forests?

Q&A: What’s Hammering My Hollies?

Q: Client Sue S asks, “My holly has these rows of holes drilled all over the main trunk. What did this and will it hurt my holly?”

A: Tidy rows of holes are the signature work of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. These medium-sized woodpeckers breed up north but spend winters in the south. They start returning in October and leave in spring. They prefer trees with thin or easy-to-drill bark that produce a lot of high-sugar sap. Birch, maple, pecan, fruit trees, hollies, and pine are their favorite targets.

Once they find a tree they like, they establish rows of small pits, or wells, that produce sap. They return often to keep the wells open and also eat insects drawn to the sap.

Pits on the trunk of a tree from a yellow-bellied sapsucker

Their activities can girdle stems, thereby weakening these limbs. Open wounds may also invite fungal infections or insect pests.

We can protect our trees but also remember that these native birds need food sources too, so we should extend them some grace by not trying to keep them from feeding from every tree they might use. You can protect your most valuable trees under stress in a couple of ways that won’t harm the birds.

Hang shiny reflective objects like old CDs or certain silvery ornaments that twist in the wind. Move them periodically so that the birds don’t get used to them.
Wrap injured tree limbs in burlap and remember to remove the burlap in spring.

Some Things To Do Around Town

Ways to have fun, learn cool stuff, make a difference and reconnect with the natural world.

Foster environmental resilience with Trees for the Triangle
The Cary Environmental Symposium continues this week and next. Doug Tallamy’s talk is sold out, but you can still get tickets to Samantha “Foxx” Winship on September 25th
NC Climate Week Summit is happening in Greensboro on October 3rd
Attend a pruning workshop or volunteer for a litter clean-up with Keep Durham Beautiful
Go birdwatching or star-gazing with Triangle Land Conservancy

One Last Thing: Go Outside

Write a gratitude letter to your garden or a natural place that’s important to you. Writers like Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of “Braiding Sweetgrass”) remind us that we have an essential relationship to the natural world whether we engage with it or not. An article in the Journal of Environmental Psychology explores this idea.

red maple leaf floating in clear water between two rocks

Until next month, remember to sniff the blooms and listen to the birdsong.