Tips on How to Invite Birds and Butterflies to Your Garden

26 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in The Great Outdoors

Tags

bee balm, better homes and gardens, birdbath, birds, black-eyed Susan, butterflies, butterfly bush, cosmos, critters, flowers, foliage, garden, iris, leafy plants, native grasses, parsley, plants, purple coneflower, rocks, sedum, whimsy, wild, wildflowers, wildlife sanctuary, zinnia

I love nature and plants so when I bought my first home I was surely excited to create my first garden. Being someone who also loves animals, how could I not design an environment that invites all the lovely little creatures to play. When I first started looking for flowers and plants for my garden, I made sure I chose ones that attracted butterflies and included my bird bath so the birdies can play as well.

Here are some great tips from Better Homes and Gardens on how to invite little lovelies to your garden and what plants to pick that will lure them to explore. You may even have some who call your backyard home and in that case, yourself a big pat on the back. It’s such a great feeling to be surrounded by nature’s creations and with these next few tips you will be there in no time.

Butterfly Heaven: Invite butterflies to come and play with colorful beauties such as cosmos, zinnia, black-eyed Susan and butterfly bush. By creating a corner garden you can watch as they all explore your playground of goodies.

Easy Peasy: If foliage is more your style instead of flowers, then give this garden a try. Not only is it easy to care for, it will look great during the fall and winter seasons as well. Make sure to include purple coneflower, sedum, and iris to bring all the birdies to your yard.

Wild and Free: If you love plants that have a sense of free spirit and wild flair then planting native grasses and wildflowers is right up your alley. Birds and butterflies love these and how could they not? Including them in your garden adds a touch of whimsy and fun that all those tiny critters love.

Small Spaces: Even if you only have a few feet of space for your garden, you can create a haven for happy creatures. With plants like bee balm, sedum, and butterfly bush your wildlife sanctuary can be born.

In Love with Butterflies: If you adore butterflies then these next plants will bring you tons of happy. The bed of the garden attracts them while all the blooms offer nectar. To nourish the larvae include leafy plants such as parsley to give them what they love. Thrown in a few rocks for the butterflies to catch some rays and a birdbath for everyone to take a water break.

For more gardening tips check out the rest of this article on The Better Homes & Gardens website.

Spring Sweetness – A Backyard Makeover

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, The Great Outdoors

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

backyard, cherry trees, colorful flowers, dusty miller, flowers, fruit, garden, gardening, gorgeous space, grass, greenery, hydrangeas, iris, leaves, nature, nice weather, patio, peonies, plants, rose bushes, roses, spring, summer, trees, vegetable garden, weeds, wildflower seed

Now that spring is here and summer is right around the corner, Dan and I have been working on our backyard so it looks beautiful for the warmer seasons. From our garden to the patio, we have transformed the space with the determination and love. When we moved in this past February the backyard was a great example of neglect. It was sad how people could let such a gorgeous space go to ruins. Then we came along and gave it life.

So here is a little preview of what it was like before. I know fall was coming to an end but there were leaves everywhere and dead bushes and plants all over. The fence they put up around the patio seemed silly and just blocked the beautiful view. The whole yard needed work for sure.

Then slowly we did our magic and turned this backyard disaster into our heaven. Even though there is a little more to do, we are so happy with how it has turned out. Since the nice weather is here we were able to get more done and now that the wedding is over we can dedicate more time to making it perfect.

As soon as spring came around, the weeds came popping up! So the first step was to get everything pulled out and cleaned up. But it sure looked nice with actual greenery showing its face.

The end of our yard is beautiful on its own. We love the overgrown greenery and pretty rose bushes and flowers that love blooming for us to see. It reminds me of the secret garden. This is where we plan to have our vegetable gardens next year. So excited! Our cherry trees are finally showing some fruit as well.

The next step was to pick out various flowers and plants that would thrive in our garden and bring life to the space. We chose hydrangeas, hollyhocks, tulips, peonies and other tiny colorful flowers. We already had roses and iris which was a nice bonus. For some green and other color we added some small bushes, my Grandmother’s hosta, dusty miller and low foliage around the edge.

In between everything I planted some wildflower seed bombs we had left over from the wedding in hopes they would help to fill in the space. Although it needs some time to all grow in, I think its a huge improvement! I wanted it to feel whimsy, pretty and romantic while also looking wild and free. This is why I chose a number of delicate bushes and flowers along with some that are lush and elegant.

The patio was our next project and we were excited to get it ready for summer. First, we took the fence down which was an improvement all by itself. Then we cleaned it up and painted the cement gray. As soon as we purchased our patio set (from West Elm) we worked our butts off to bring beauty to the space.

With the addition of some greenery and flowers, the patio now looks like a patio. We chose to surround the space with nature and border it off with a small cedar garden fence. We also through in some solar lights and created a small path into the yard with slate stones the previous owners left behind. The dirt area has been seeded so we are crossing our fingers grass shows its face soon. Add in a charcoal grill and we are good to go!

I hope this project will inspire you all to get our there and make Mother Earth shine even brighter. Even if you have a small space to work with there are tons of things you can do to enhance the look and feel. I know as the days pass by it will look even better in our yard so I plan to post photos for all of you to see the progress. Happy Gardening!