Bird & Butterfly Garden
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When outdoor plant shopping for a bird and butterfly garden, the primary consideration is how your outdoor garden plants will provide access to food, nesting, and water. Pollinators require lots of pollen and nectar rich plants that are close together and planted in large masses. This means your garden will be filled with colorful annuals and perennials plants, with at least a few different flowers in bloom throughout every season.
For their nesting areas, pollinators will use an old log, a prefabricated nesting box, or even just bare dirt. An insect nesting area is also an important foraging opportunity for birds that may be resting in nearby trees and shrubs. Both birds and pollinators will enjoy a water feature in the garden.
Running water will create a pleasant sound that also attracts birds to the area, but even a still pool of water will provide an opportunity for birds and butterflies alike to stop for a quick bath. Creating a habitat garden in your own yard can help support birds and pollinators throughout your community, and are relatively inexpensive and low-maintenance. Fragrant edibles such as lavender, rosemary, basil, and thyme can also be an excellent addition to a bird and butterfly garden.
Steps on How-To Create a Bird & Butterfly Garden
1. Identify how much space you have to plant your bird and butterfly garden.
2. Ask one of our horticultural experts which plants are the best at attracting these visitors.
3. Plant close together and in clusters to make it easier for your insect friends to gather pollen, and make sure there are shrubs or trees nearby for the birds.
4. If possible, include a trickling fountain or bird bath.
5. Consider planting your veggie and herb garden close by so your edibles will benefit from all the additional pollinator activity in your yard.
6. Enjoy the beautiful display of color and movement that your garden has to offer.
Suggested Bird & Butterfly Plants
• Aloe ‘Blue Elf’
• Aloe ‘Johnson’s Hybrid’
• Aloe rudikoppe
• Erigeron karvinskianus (Santa Barbara Daisy)
• Chitalpa ‘Pink Dawn’
• Russelia equisetiformis
• Salvia ‘Amistad’
• Cassia ‘Popcorn’
• Asclepias fascicularis (Narrow-leaved Milkweed – native)
• Leucodendron ‘Blush’
• Agonis flexuousa ‘After Dark’ (After Dark Peppermint Tree)
• Grevillea ‘Long John’ (Long John Grevillea)