Tips for Environmentally Friendly Gardening – Part 2: Birds, Bees, and Butterflies

This post is all about our favorite garden friends: birds, bees, and butterflies. We’ll tell you why they’re good for the environment, and we’ll give you some tips on how to attract these wonderful creatures to your environmentally friendly garden. This is the second part of our series of tips on environmentally friendly gardening. Keep an eye out for the rest of the series!

Why We Need Pollinators

Birds, bees, and butterflies are all pollinators. Pollinators are very important to our fruit and vegetable supply. These animals move pollen from one flower to another of the same kind. This fertilizes plants, allowing the plants to make seeds or fruit. Bees are the most effective pollinators. Some butterflies and nectar consuming birds are also useful pollinators. We couldn’t have peaches or apples, or lots of other foods without these creatures. Imagine all the fruit pies that we won’t have if pollinators go extinct! That keeps us at Landscape Engineering Inc. up at night.

We are in particular danger of losing our most productive pollinator, the bee. Although there are many different species of bee, the most talked about is probably the honeybee. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, we don’t know the exact cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, but pollutants, pesticides, and common agriculture industry practices have all been cited as contributors to the fall in the population of honeybees. In Food Tank’s article, Buzzing for Solutions: 13 Organization and Intiatives Helping to Save the Bees, are many helpful statistics and great information about various organizations that are looking out for our buzzing, pollinating friends. The article also includes the startling statistic that bees are vital to the production of about 30% of all of the food worldwide.

How We Can Attract Pollinators

Hummingbirds

Attract the Insects– Even hummingbirds cannot live on nectar alone. They eat tons of insects. Adult female hummingbirds can eat as many as 2,000 creepy crawlies in a single day. They eat lots of bugs that humans tend not to like, including mosquitoes and fruit flies. While they aren’t technically insects, hummingbirds eat spiders as well. Areas of weeds and grasses make ideal spots for insects, including bees, another of our favorite pollinators.

Nectar Based on Research– The most important thing to do when trying to attract pollinating birds to your garden is to choose your plants wisely. Go for flowers that come in bright colors (the other pollinators in this post like bright colors too) and have the kind of structure that a hummingbird can put its face into. They pollinate by spreading pollen collected on their faces from feeding on nectar. Look for cup-like and tubular shapes.

Hummingbird Feeders– Hummingbird feeders are widely available. Consider making your own from one of the plethora of online tutorials.

Trees– Birds need a place to rest and nest. You probably already know that lots of birds make their nests in trees. Hummingbirds like to rest on branches. Branches also make ideal spots for hummingbirds to hunt from.

 

Bees

Colors– Bright colors signal nectar to bees, but keep in mind that bees cannot see the color red.

Plant Choices– Wildflowers and plants native to your area are always a good idea. Native plants will be plants that bees pollinated before you ever started gardening. Planting them in your garden is an attraction. Here’s a list of some plants that bees like to get you started.

Let the Bees Move In– When we think of bees, we usually think of honeybees in hives, but not all bees live this way. In fact, 95% of bees in this country don’t. Some bees burrow into the ground and need nests. You can help by giving the bees a place to live in your garden. Leave some mud, deadwood, and dry grass for the bees to use in nest building. Think of their pollinating services as the best rent payment ever.

 

Butterflies

Lots of Color– Just like bees, butterflies are attracted to bright colors. Brightly colored flowers act as a signal that there is sweet nectar. Unlike bees, butterflies can see red and are particularly attracted to it.

A Drink and a Place to Rest– If you had to fly around all day, you’d need a rest too. Do some research to see what plants that you can plant in your area will act as great resting spots for butterflies. Also, consider setting up a butterfly bath. The idea is similar to that of a bird bath, but with very shallow water and some wet sand so that male butterflies can take in nutrients essential to making more butterflies. Here’s a helpful article from HGTV.

Research Your Plants – Some plants are butterfly magnets, and some are not. Milkweed is a butterfly magnet, because monarch butterfly caterpillars eat the leaves. It’s an ingenious survival technique, because many predators hate the taste of milkweed. This article from the National Wildlife Federation contains a list of plants that caterpillars of common butterfly species feed on.

Food From the Store – While it may not be the most fun and natural solution, there are lot of commercially available butterfly feeders. There’s even DIY tutorials online that can help you make just the right feeder for your garden.

Remember to check back often. We’ll be posting part 3 of this series of environmentally friendly gardening on Wednesday, September 10th!