A Butterfly / Hummingbird Garden Finished!
Last time we ‘talked’, I was showing you a Butterfly / Hummingbird Garden that I was asked to work on.
“Creating a Butterfly / Hummingbird Garden”
As I promised, here is the photo of the finished project…
Butterfly / Hummingbird Garden
Although the new plants are somewhat small and scraggly-looking, they will soon grow and produce many flowers.
Butterfly / Hummingbird Garden
We created a pathway throughout the garden and groups of plants will visually guide visitors along the curved path.
The pathway was made of 1/4″ stabilized decomposed granite, which is essentially decomposed granite that has been mixed with a stabilizer. This creates a natural pathway that has a hard surface.
As I promised last time, here is a list of butterfly / hummingbird reflecting plants that we included:
Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii) Butterfly & Hummingbird
Baja Ruellia (Ruellia peninsularis) Hummingbird
Black Dalea (Dalea frutescens) Butterfly / Hummingbird
Damianita (Chrysactinia mexicana)
Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii)Butterfly / Hummingbird
Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)Butterflies
Lantana (all species)Butterfly / Hummingbird
Red Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)Butterfly / Hummingbird
Red Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica) Butterflies / Hummingbirds
These are but a few of the plants that will attract butterflies and/or hummingbirds. So how about including some in your garden?
Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
Already included!!! Hot hot numbers and for your desert readers out there, it really really works. Our garden in Tucson has two hummingbird nests….a feeder that isn't used because those plants plus our Desert Willow provide lots and lots of love:) The pathway will allow for visitors to enjoy all the hummers that fly by….and they get close:) For a better viewing, wear a read or orange shirt:)
This is going to be the favorite site for many a hummingbird!
I have found that my main butterfly magnet is a native Passion Vine. The native Passion Vines in my yard are covered with caterpillars. Both the butterflies and hummingbirds are quite fond of the newest hesperaloe, Brake Light. It is smaller and has a very red bloom that stays open for an extended period of time. Desert Willow trees are great also!
Good to know about your blog i have and i am very inspired from you.
Thanks for sharing with us.
That's a fantastic list. Thanks!
Those palo verdes look great and I'm sure it's all gonna be wonderful when it all grows in. A funny thing I notice about new plantings int he desert, they don't look so undersized or overly fresh the way plantings in other areas. The spacing and smallness of the plants doesn't tweek the eye the way freshly mulched plantings in different styles will. Or at least it's that way for me.