A Native Garden Attracts Many Migratory Birds

There are four requirements to attract wildlife to a garden: food, water, shelter, and a place to raise their young. Over the past few years we have added quite a few native plants to our garden. Some of them surround our small pond, making it not only a focal point in our backyard, but also a prime stopover location for migratory birds. Even though we have a bird bath, many birds seem to prefer running water to quench their thirst.
During the past few weeks we have spotted the following visitors in our garden: a male scarlet tanager, a Tennessee warbler, an immature male Cape May warbler, two yellow-rumped warblers, and probably a first-year white-crowned sparrow.

By adding water - be it a fountain or mister - you too might view some exciting migratory birds in your yard.

Measuring up the Gardening Year

This summer has been wetter than usual, at least until August arrived. Luckily, a native garden can cope with all kinds of weather conditions. And for dry spells we have a rain barrel that provides free water.
Every year we observe new kinds of insects in our certified wildlife habitat and we never cease to admire them. Needless to say, I find many photo objects in my own backyard. Bees - especially bumble bees - are drawn to purple coneflowers, common milkweed, Joe-pye weed, and blazing star.

Unfortunately, the milkweed did not attract any monarch butterflies this year. We had noticed fewer monarchs last year, but seeing not one of them this year is very distressing.
I plant few annuals, but have always had beautiful zinnias in our flower bed. This year, however, it has been a war of rabbits vs. me, and I'm afraid the rabbits won. I even put down a fence wrapped with landscape cloth, but it was no use. The salvias I planted in their stead are beautiful. I plan on planting them again next year.

Successes and Failures of the Gardening Year

It has been a challenging garden year. The warm spell in March fooled the trees and other plants, which flowered weeks before their usual time. May and June brought heat and dry weather, forcing us to water not only annuals, but also on occasion our native plants. With the gardening year winding down, it's time to take stock.

Success stories: The only annual flowers I planted were zinnias and a gailardia. Both are still blooming and have attracted many insects during the summer. Goldfinches also love to eat zinnia seeds. That's why I don't deadhead them.

False indigo, blazing star, purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, cardinal flower, Joe-pye weed, goldenrod, and asters performed very well and attracted many insects. Our pannicled aster is blooming right now and buzzing with life. The butterfly weed did not have a great year. Perhaps it was too dry. It has also not been a great year for Monarch butterfly sightings.

Failures: The Mexican sunflowers we planted in early summer grew extremely tall, but haven't produced any flowers yet. The probably put all their efforts into growing huge leaves. Our biggest disappointment were our tomatoes. Even though we planted them in a new location, they all suffered from some form of blight (or stinkbug attacks). The few that we could actually eat were rather tasteless. In fact, the only tasty tomatoes we ate were heirloom tomatoes that came up on their own from last year. Go figure!

Overall, we're seeing more species of insects every year. If that isn't a testament for planting native plants, I don't know what is.

An Autumn Garden

Our backyard is a riot of colors right now. Red, yellow, and brown trees compete for our attention. Bumblebees and honey bees are still visiting our native garden with its New England aster, goldenrod, and panicled aster; creating a pleasing color scheme in purple, yellow, and white. The milkweed seed pods are opening, releasing their seeds to the winds.

The hummingbirds have departed and other birds show up in their place. We hung our feeder last week and have attracted a variety of birds. Besides the usual chickadees, titmice, cardinals, house sparrows, and mourning doves I have also spotted a white-crowned sparrow and an Eastern towhee. Last night we heard a great horned owl through an open window and went outside to investigate. Without the help of a moon we could not make out its shape, but we heard its hoots through the night air. There is always something new to discover in our backyard.

New Addition to Our Backyard

For years we have been talking about how nice it would be to have a pond in our backyard. Finally, we decided to turn our dream into a reality. Of course, when our contractor could fit us in it was a bit late to find a good selection of pond plants locally. We ended up ordering submerged plants and a water lily by mail because we wanted to buy native plants. That way we won't have to worry whether our plants will survive the winter.

Great Expectations

Our native garden is still attracting many insects, and no wonder. While the common milkweed and butterfly weed are going to seed now, the purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, blazing star, and wild bergamond are enjoying many insect visits. The blue lobelias are beginning to open and the Joe-pye weed will not be far behind. It is vital to have continuous bloom in a garden to provide food for butterflies throughout their life span.
Yesterday morning we observed an exciting event: an adult monarch butterfly flitted around our milkweeds. We weren't quite sure what it was doing. And then it occurred to us: It was looking for places to lay its eggs. Finally, it placed its eggs underneath the leafs of the plants. A couple of times it flew away - apparently looking for other egg hosts - only to return and lay some more in our patch. That means that there are no other milkweed plants in the area. While we have no intention of cutting down our milkweeds, it is important for their survival to spread their eggs around to more than one habitat. It is sad that so many people grow nothing but lawn, which goes brown this time of year anyway. Wouldn't you rather have butterflies than brown grass?

Build It and They Will Come

On the rare occasions when we venture outside in this hot, humid weather we have had numerous butterfly and insect sightings. A monarch visited a common milkweed the other day; fritillaries, eastern tiger swallowtails, and an eight-spotted forester checked out the purple coneflowers; an eastern black swallowtail landed on the black-eyed Susans; and a spicebush swallowtail gave our spicebush a once-over (could it be that it was laying its eggs in there?).
The milkweed is also very popular with bees and other insects of all sorts. Next to bloom is the Joe-pye weed, which is already beginning to open. Word is out that our cafe is open for business. One reason, though, why our backyard is so popular is because none of the other neighbors have anything but lawn and alien plants. Build it - or rather, plant it - and they will come!

A Blazing Star

Last year we went on a Blazing Star hike at Jennings Environmental Center. I liked the flowers so much that we purchased two this year. The first one has begun to bloom and is already attracting butterflies. They look better in masses and we're hoping to collect some seeds this fall to expand on our garden.
Butterflies and bees are busy in our garden. The purple coneflowers, bergamond, sunflowers and cosmos are blooming while the black-eyed Susans are beginning to open. Next will be the Joe-pye-weed. A week ago I thought I saw a monarch butterfly on a butterfly weed.

Gardening Update

The berries on our serviceberry are now a distant memory, but there are other feasts to look forward to. Our two virburnums (arrowwood) are finally growing some berries. The common milkweed and butterfly weed are blooming now and are very popular with fritillaries, bumblebees, honey bees, and other insects. Our Joe-pye weed is growing taller than last year and I am already looking forward to photograph the butterflies it will surely attract. The blazing stars we bought this year are looking good, especially since we caged them to protect them from the rabbits that are causing havoc in our garden. The rabbits have made a meal out of the zinnias I planted but they are slowly making a comeback now.
Notable bird sightings include: a hawk that perched on our neighbor's tall willow tree, only to be chased away by crows or grackles (in the commotion it was hard for me to tell). We see Baltimore orioles around but they never visited the feeder I put out for them, so I took it down.
For weeks we have been wondering why our front yard bird bath was often muddy. While we were out weeding today we saw a robin taking a full bath and the water got muddy quickly. Apparently, it had not wiped off its feet before getting into the bird bath. Another mystery solved!