The 2020 Home & Garden Guide is sponsored by Weather Tight. You can read the entire guide here.
Hummingbirds and butterflies are living works of art that never cease to amaze, offering natural beauty to your garden. Attracting these flying jewels is easier than you might think. You just need the right food, bright colors and a splash of water.
A Haven for Hummingbirds
The key to attracting hummingbirds is to provide the right food. Garden centers offer a variety of plastic feeders and powdered food mixes. Many birders prefer to make their own hummingbird food using any variety of online recipes (usually a combination of water and sugar). Just mix up the syrupy mixture and fill and hang the feeder.
If you’d rather go a natural route, plant colorful, nectar-producing flowers. Impatiens, petunias, salvias, bleeding hearts, honey suckle and columbine produce the nectar that hummers crave. (See the list “Plants That Attract Both Hummingbirds and Butterflies” for more options.) Try to plant flowers with various blooming periods. Continuous blooms ensure that your garden always offers flowers for feeding.
In addition, hummingbirds round out their diets with insects, so avoid you using pesticides in the garden if you want to keep hummingbirds happy. Similarly, leave any cobwebs intact for hummingbird buffets.
Like most flyers, hummingbirds enjoy a bath, but traditional birdbaths can be intimidating for these delicate little birds. Instead, run your sprinkler regularly, install a small water fountain or partially fill a birdbath with stones so the water isn’t quite as deep.
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Because hummingbirds are naturally attracted to red, lead them to your yard with red accents such as flowerboxes, planters, throw pillows, picnic-table umbrellas or anything they might see while flying overhead.
Bring on the Butterflies
Create a butterfly Xanadu in your yard’s sunniest spot by planting the nectar- and pollen-rich flowers butterflies love. Like hummingbirds, butterflies flutter to colorful flowering plants and shrubs. Lilacs, butterfly bush, butterfly weed, zinnias, daisies, black-eyed susans and coneflowers are just a few of the flowers that draw the dainty flyers. (See the list “Plants That Attract Both Hummingbirds and Butterflies” below.)
Different butterflies are attracted to different blooms, so you’ll lure more of them to your yard when you offer a variety of blooms. Try to plant the flowers in groups or masses. Butterflies are nearsighted so clustering blooms means butterflies are more likely to notice them.
If you’re serious about butterflies visiting (and returning to) your yard, you’ll need to research host plants. Butterflies lay caterpillar eggs on host plants. The plants then become food for the growing caterpillars. The trick is to understand which host plants attract which butterflies. Monarchs, for instance, like milkweed plants. Painted Lady Butterflies look for sunflowers. Don’t treat host plants with insecticides as you want caterpillars to eat to their hearts’ content. And speaking of caterpillars, keep deep birdbaths and birdhouses away from your butterfly garden. While it seems counterproductive, birds eat caterpillars, thus reducing the butterflies in your yard.
You can attract butterflies with a bit of water as well. Birdbaths are typically too much for the tiny treasures, so keep a shallow puddle of water in a pie tin and set it in the sun. Butterflies also love sweet fruits, particularly if it’s slightly spoiled. Set out orange slices or ripe melon for them to feast.
Follow these steps, and you’ll bring a bevy of frequent flyers to your yard. What a great way to take your love of gardening to new heights!
The 2020 Home & Garden Guide is sponsored by Weather Tight. You can read the entire guide here.
