Blooms for Birds

By Debbie Bolduc
NH Mirror Contributor

Songbird program kicks off garden series

After months of mountain-sized snow banks and narrowed roads, nothing is more welcome than the sound of songbirds outside your open windows.

No one knows how to attract those coveted feathered friends better than the mother-and-son team at Tarbin Gardens in Franklin.

(Courtesy Photo)

“Gardening has been a family affair for us,” Richard Tarbin said. “My mother (Jackie) was a florist, then we had a greenhouse business, then a landscape business and now this. I’ve been gardening since I was 5 years old”.

Tarbin Gardens offers two daily educational tours with themes changing weekly to accommodate the time of season, plants in bloom and seasonal tips.

The first in the series, which runs from May through October, is scheduled for May 10-18. It will feature ways to provide an environment that will attract songbirds to your garden. The tour takes about an hour, and is free with paid admission.

Garden Series 2008

Spring Flowering Trees
May 20–26

Flowering Shrubs
May 27–June 1

Shade Gardens
June 3- 8

Broad Leaf Evergreens
June 10–15

Vines: Clematis, Akebias, Hydrangea Petiolaris & others
June 17–22

Roses
June 24-June 29

For more topics and dates, visit www.tarbingardens.com

Tips for attracting songbirds

• Provide water.

• Combine open areas and shelter.

• Plant impenetrable hedges (those with branches that intertwine).

• Leave large mature trees. Cardinals will take up residence and stay year-round for years to come.

• Don’t remove dead trees unless they are in danger of falling or dropping large branches. They’ll attract woodpeckers who create cavities that songbirds will later make their home in.

• Don’t fill or drain wetlands. Not only is it illegal, but they attract birds.

Plants to consider for your garden

Euonymus: Attracts finches and robins. This family includes Bittersweet and Burning Bush. (Plant these in small amounts as they are known to spread.)

Barberry: Again, plant in small amounts so as not to overwhelm an area.

Service Berry: Flowers early. Birds love the berries. This tree/shrub will grow to be 15 feet at full size.

Viburnum: Berries persist into winter to feed birds

Crabapples: Attracts robins.

Mulberry Trees: Attracts robins and waxwings. In full bloom in mid-summer.

Mountain Ash: Grosbeaks are drawn to them.

Sunflowers: Provides water. Many birds are attracted to the seeds.

About Tarbin Gardens

Tarbin Gardens is a horticultural tourist haven that covers 5 acres. The grounds are broken up into separate garden “rooms,” each with its own unique personality and traits. All are filled with plant life that can thrive in the sometimes-tricky climate and terrain of New Hampshire.

A stroll through the property takes two hours, longer if you stop to take advantage of one of the many well-placed benches located along the way. Visitors are encouraged to do just that. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy with friends, spend a day sketching, painting or taking photos. At every turn, guests will see flowering trees, shrubs, perennials and water features.

Three recently added areas include the Spire Garden with its tall column-shaped trees and perennial flowers; West End Lane, which winds through a lightly wooded area leading to a view of Sundew Pond and ending behind the Koi pond; and Mayapple Dell, a woodland area containing large boulders surrounded by native plants found in the New Hampshire woods.

Tarbin Gardens is located at 321 Salisbury Road, Franklin. It is open daily, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information, call 934-3518 or visit www.tarbingardens.com.