Q: When do we start putting out dryer lint for our birds? I have been collecting it for months. Back in Texas I put it on the shrubbery and in one half hour it was gone.

A: Dryer lint is good for birds that live in cavities or birdhouses but shrub-nesting birds appreciate different materials. Get a square, cage-type suet feeder and fill it with long hair, dry grass blades, sphagnum moss, and ornamental grass seedheads. Also include 3 inch lengths of yarn, plus dryer sheets cut into strips a half-inch wide. Hang the nest material dispenser from a tree limb. Birds will quickly find it and will use the contents to build comfortable nests throughout your landscape.