Molly

My goal has been to attract butterflies, bumblebees, hummingbirds, and other birds. I started my nature garden several years ago by filling in a low spot in the yard outside my window. Some of this soil came from compost, broken down branches, twigs, leaves, and mulch. I found it easier to start with tougher native seeds rather than nursery plants spoiled with fertilizers and pesticides! This patch is bordered with branches that serve as a playground for the inquisitive wrens. The branches break down over time and become future soil. One native I can definitely recommend to start with is partridge pea, which is very easy to grow from seed sprinkled on the ground, can grow in poor soil, gets to about a foot tall, and gets little yellow flowers on it that grow from the stem. It is a legume that can bring nitrogen to the soil and bumblebees love the flowers. Partridge pea is also a host plant for Sulphur butterflies, and caterpillars are what we want more of in the garden for birds. Doves, quail, grassland birds, and even ducks can eat the seeds and the plants can serve as cover if grown in large stands. I have it growing amongst sunflowers, Tithonias,  tickseed (coreopsis) , coneflower, American basket flower, blue salvia, turk's cap, and milkweed.  I also have American beautyberries to feed birds in fall and winter.  Mockingbirds love eating blueberries and if I don't cover them with tulle netting, they would eat all of them! Happy growing everyone!