Plant a colorful variety of nectar-rich perennials to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. You can also use wildlife tempting trees, shrubs, vines, and groundcovers. Use a diversity of uncommon plants that grow quickly and produce lots of pretty flowers without needing a lot of water or maintenance.
Shrubs will do the heavy lifting in a wildlife garden. They provide a habitat for birds, and even the Monarch caterpillars hightail from the milkweed flowers to shrubs when they are ready to pupate.
These make great places to teach home gardeners to attract wildlife. Time spent watching birds and butterflies can tell you a lot about what they like.
A matrix of sheltering branches can form the garden peimeter. Similar to an English hedgerow, they woody thicket is home to birds large and small. Tiny hummingbirds nest about 6 feet above ground in shrubs and vines, while resident hawks perch on top of towering eucalyptus. Orioles attach their nests to the undersides of large fan palm leaves. You can also attract families of Quails. Even dead twigs adn braches provide safe perches for mating or nesting birds.
Hummingbirds & butterflies migrate to perennials & shrubs with long, tubular flowers. Plants that bear small, flat clusters of flowers feed the Monarchs and Swallowtails. Make sure there are birdbaths or object to provide several containers of water throughout the garden. Go with double duty plants that feed both butterflies and hummingbirds - especially if your garden area is small. Try butterfly bush, which bears showy clusters of white, pink, lavender, purple, or yellow blooms.
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