Plant Gardens 101

Butterflies can be attracted to your garden by a variety of methods including planting brightly coloured flowers and bushes, providing food in the form of rotten fruit or by providing other places where they will congregate.

Flowers and Bushes

To attract butterflies to your garden you need to provide attractive food in the form of brightly coloured flowers and feeders and puddles for drinking water. Leave a part of your garden wild by allowing the grass to grow longer and sprinkling wild flower seeds throughout the area. Choose an area that has sunshine for most of the day but is sheltered from the wind. A few flat stone scattered about will provide resting places. At the edges of the wild area plant flowers and shrubs with brightly coloured blooms.

Butterflies prefer single flowers rather than double blooms as they are easier for gathering nectar. Mix up the colours as butterflies have different preferences. Some will be attracted to flowers in shades of red, orange or yellow, some prefer whites or blues or purples. Also plant in clumps to provide an attractive mass of colour. Annuals and perennials to plant include phlox, lavender, zinnias, asters, candytuft, catnip, daisies, goldenrod, verbena and Marigold. Shrubs and bushes include the butterfly bush (buddleia), honeysuckle, mock orange, potentilla, hawthorn, lilac, and hyacinth. (more…)

Instead of automatically reaching for chemical pesticides when you see evidence of pests in your garden and on your plants think organic! Chemical pesticides will kill all the insects in your garden, even the beneficial ones and will contaminate the ground water. Find other ways to prevent pests from getting out of hand and reducing their number if they do.

Why should you use organic methods to combat pests rather than easily available pesticides? These chemical pesticides have been linked to many health problems and diseases including birth defects, cancer, infertility and many more. One of the problems is that pesticides sold for use at home are not tested as thoroughly as those used by commercial food growers as this is not a requirement of the law. As well as harming humans they also contaminate the soil in your garden and can be harmful to the beneficial visitors to your garden including honey bees, ladybugs, and butterflies which all eat pests. (more…)

Garden bird baths and garden bird feeders are excellent ways to attract wild birds to your garden. Place a bird bath in a quiet part of the garden well away from any bird feeders as birds like a quiet place to bathe and drink.

To keep your birdbath at the correct temperature for your bird visitors to drink or bathe the whole year round you could either buy a bird bath with a heater installed or attach a heater to an unheated birdbath. Birdbaths equipped with heaters either use a cord plugged into an electric outlet or have solar panels to collect the sun’s energy to power the heater. Solar power bird baths are easier to install, are cost free and need very little maintenance. They can collect enough of the sun’s energy to keep your bird bath ice free even on very cold days. In addition to heaters you can also purchase de-icers to keep the water accessible to the birds.

A heated bird bath will usually be longer lasting than an unheated one as constant freezing and melting of the water results in cracks and damage to the concrete, stone or marble materials unless you keep the bird bath empty throughout the colder weather. maintaining the water at a constant temperature will ensure that the bird bath is undamaged and will give your bird visitors warm water to bathe in and to drink all the year round. (more…)

There are many ways to attract wild birds to your garden and hopefully to set up home in your garden bird house. Providing food and a safe place to eat is one of the easiest and most effective ways. This is particularly important during the winter months when there may be lack of their natural food.
Set up feeding stations designed for the different species you would like to see in your garden.

For finches place specially designed thistle feeders that hold the small thistle feeds that they love. Other speciality bird feeders include hummingbird feeders to hold nectar, woodpecker feeders and jay feeders. Tube feeders are designed to prevent seeds spilling on the ground and keep the seeds dry. You could also set up a window feeder to see the birds from the comfort of your room.

Always check the food regularly to make sure it is dry and free from mold and clean up around the feeder to deter wasps, ants and other predators. If squirrels are a problem in your garden be sure to purchase a squirrel proof bird feeder. (more…)

It is most beneficial to feed wild birds during the winter months when their natural food may be unavailable but shortages do occur at other times of the year. So putting food out for the wild birds at any time of year can help when there are shortages. During the breeding season a temporary shortage of food will affect the young fledglings so it is especially helpful to put out food for the birds at this time.

Feeding in the Spring and Summer

During the summer and especially when they are moulting, birds need high protein foods. Good examples to put in your feeder are raisins, currents, black sunflower seeds, grated cheese, meal worms, soaked sultanas and commercially prepared summer seed mixtures. You can also purchase mixes for insect loving wild birds. (more…)

You can use bird feeders and bird baths to attract wild birds to your garden but if you also plant a bird garden you can increase the attractiveness of your garden enormously.

Trees, shrubs and flowers can provide shelter from predators and the winter cold and provide natural food for the birds for the whole year. Providing a safe environment with a natural source of food will make your wild bird visitors feel safe and they will visit often. Your garden may already provide some natural food but small changes can easily increase the availability of the food and make your garden even more attractive.

Plan your Bird Garden

Find out which birds are common in your area and base your plan around them. You can find out from the local library or bird society or by watching birds that are attracted to bird feeders in your area. Include native plants in your plan as they are most likely to thrive and will provide suitable natural food for the birds. (more…)

Humming birds are found throughout the Americas including the Caribbean. Known for their hovering ability and unique ability to fly backwards, humming birds hover by rapidly flapping their wings at speeds up to 80 times a second. The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world at only 2 inches long and around 1.8 grams. The Giant Hummingbird is the largest hummingbird at 24 grams and approximately 8 inches long.

They have the fastest metabolism of any birds and to sustain this they must eat their own weight and more in food daily. To do this they must visit hundreds of blooms a day to harvest the nectar. They have long bills and tongues to reach deep into flowers. They are able to slow down their metabolisms when at rest, unlike most other high metabolism animals and this extends their lifespan which has been reported to be up to 17 years. (more…)