Does anyone plant specifically to attract birds, butterflies or dragonflies, etc? The previous owners of our house planted 2 butterfly bushes (buddaliea)(sp?) that the butterflies love in the summer and the birds love to sit in during winter. I only have one of them left. The largest one (the one the birds loved most) fell last year after a storm. I had removed the supports that tied it to the deck when we stained and I didn't get it tied back well enough. :( The birds kept looking for it all winter. They would huddle on my deck railing where the bush used to be.

Mel we have a butterfly bush (or we used to...hhhmmm I"m not sure if it's still alive or not) but we plant dill because monarch butterfly catepillars eat dill. When we have lots of dill we have lots of monarchs. They love our coneflowers, cosmos, bee balm.....I'll have to ask dh what else. I'll come back and post more later......I love it when the butterflies are "in bloom" in our backyard.

Awww, poor birds. I don't know why but all kinds of birds love my lilac. I don't think it specifically attracts butterflies, but the birds even like in in the winter. (could be because of how close it is to the house.) I have wanted to find out more about berry bushes (like the ones that have those white or orange berries on them) for birds.

I do. One area around my patio is all kinds of plants hummers & butterflies like.
Butterfly bush & weed,yarrow,coneflowers, cardinal flowers, blackeyed susan,salvia,cosmos,zinnea, parsley,columbine,bee balm,coral bells,speedwell,lavender,delphinium& thrift.
Another area has a honeysuckle vine,tickseed, bee balm, nicotiana and snapdragons.

I think next year I will plant more flowers the butterflies like. I want to plant along the inside edge of our privacy fence to improve the look of it. hmmmm.....

I think next year I will plant more flowers the butterflies like. I want to plant along the inside edge of our privacy fence to improve the look of it. hmmmm.....
Have fun planning Mel, to me thats the best part.:) I like the look of bird & butterfly gardens . They aren't all formal & stiff, they sway in the wind so to speak.:)

Hi all,
I love this group..You have neat stuff here.

I have been planting butterfly and bird gardens here for 7 years now. I can almost say we have a bird sanctuary. We even put in water features, brush piles and a bog garden area. We love wildlife and here in our area of New England the land is being buit up all around. Habitat is lost daily and wildlife has no where to go. We have had Deer, turkeys, rabbits, hundreds of birds and several small animals I haven't caught sight of yet, but have left their tracks in the snow last winter. Smitty (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cityhomestead/)

I absolutely love wildflower's gardens that are specific to butterflies. I had one when I lived in the city and thoroughly loved it. It was wonderful to see the different butterflies in my garden.

Here there are seldom any butterflies. Breaks my heart.

btw Smitty, my dh's nickname is Smitty!!!

Hi all,
I love this group..You have neat stuff here.

I have been planting butterfly and bird gardens here for 7 years now. I can almost say we have a bird sanctuary. We even put in water features, brush piles and a bog garden area. We love wildlife and here in our area of New England the land is being buit up all around. Habitat is lost daily and wildlife has no where to go. We have had Deer, turkeys, rabbits, hundreds of birds and several small animals I haven't caught sight of yet, but have left their tracks in the snow last winter. Smitty (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cityhomestead/)
Your little corner of the world sounds wonderful Smitty! Gotta love all that wildlife.(as long as they don't eat your gardens & landscaping ;))

DD and I love to go to Danville, VA's Science Center. They have a butterfly house in the warmer months and its wonderful. I want to plant some bee balm and yarrow and other things next year that the butterflys like. The butterfly house is packed full of plants and you can really get lots of good ideas on what to plant while there. The butterflys are so beautiful and it even has a bench where you can just sit and watch them. Heavenly!!!

Your little corner of the world sounds wonderful Smitty! Gotta love all that wildlife.(as long as they don't eat your gardens & landscaping )

Hi Darlene,

well that is kinda missing the entire point about gardening for wildlife. Yes there are munchers out there, like the deer that came into my woods during the drought and ate the tops off my tigerlilies, and worrying about the rabbit that has decided my yard is really a neat new home, and hoping he/she won't kill off my spring lettuce and stuff. But as with all things you learn to adapt the yard to it. Yes the racoons ate a lot of my corn this year, but we ate more and it was kinda nice knowing I could relax and not worry about them. I even froze a lot of it. Now don't expect me to take this attitude with slugs..UGH!! I have an on going war with them and I have brought out the artilery. SLUGGO or ESCARGO.. No toxic bad stuff, but lethal to snails and slugs. To much rain here in CT to get control on them though. Not complaining, because THE BOSS doesn't like that. Just haven't got all them slugs is all.. <whining> who me Lord? Never (c: Smitty

Smitty, have you hugged a slug today?!?:D

Last year the deer ate all the yews around my house. Even saw one peek in on me as I was washing dishes one day. It climbed the snowcovered pile of snow to get a nibble of green stuff at the tippy top. I was surprised! They ate them so badly we had to pull them all out, about 15 of various sizes. Next planting for landscaping against the house will not be yews.;)
I live on a nice parcel of land & have a creek that is more like a river that is parked right out my front yard. We are on about 5 acres and get all kinds of birds and animals here. Love it!

Wow darlene you are blessed indeed.

My tiny city plot is like when you drive by if you blink it's gone! LOL
I have a total 175 feet of road area and the house is set 15 feet from the road.

Then the yard is goes back and to the right side of the house. Weird setup.

The farmer who built the house from local chestnut and oak sold all the land off the the government in 1940's . They built slab housing for the GI's coming back from WWII.

The nieghbors house right next to mine was the site of the old chicken house where the farmer made bootleg whisky from chicken mash during prohabition.
I have a secret under ground cellar area where he and his wife stashed the booze. LOL It is sealed off now , but a greta story. We know a old lady that was born in this house and raised by the farmers wife who was here grandmother. I degress

The deer and other animals that come here are seeking to live and I don't fault them. The city I live in used to be Agro based but changed over to Factory and now residential. Most woodlands have been totally wiped out and high end housing has gone in. Rivers redirected and stuff like that. Smity

Wow darlene you are blessed indeed.

My tiny city plot is like when you drive by if you blink it's gone! LOL
I have a total 175 feet of road area and the house is set 15 feet from the road.

Then the yard is goes back and to the right side of the house. Weird setup.

The farmer who built the house from local chestnut and oak sold all the land off the the government in 1940's . They built slab housing for the GI's coming back from WWII.

The nieghbors house right next to mine was the site of the old chicken house where the farmer made bootleg whisky from chicken mash during prohabition.
I have a secret under ground cellar area where he and his wife stashed the booze. LOL It is sealed off now , but a greta story. We know a old lady that was born in this house and raised by the farmers wife who was here grandmother. I degress

The deer and other animals that come here are seeking to live and I don't fault them. The city I live in used to be Agro based but changed over to Factory and now residential. Most woodlands have been totally wiped out and high end housing has gone in. Rivers redirected and stuff like that. Smity
Neat history Smitty! Wonder if something really cool is buried in the sealed up cellar. I love stories about houses & wonder what life was like way back when.:)

It is sad to see the wildlife driven into town as the towns swallow the countryside. :(

So you didn't answer me~ Have you hugged a slug today? :D