Butterflies-Hummingbirds

Planning a bird garden begins with understanding a very important bird instinct. When scoping out your backyard, a bird looks for three things: food, water, and shelter. If you have plants that provide food no matter what the season, you are really thinking like a bird. Keeping the water flowing during summer and winter is another big draw. And finally, plantings such as bushes and trees that provide cover from critters, shelter during bad weather, and nesting sites in the spring are a real selling point.

Creating a garden that welcomes songbirds, hummingbirds, and butterflies is a relatively simple task. It consists of supplying them with three basic requirements for survival: food, cover, and water. To birds and butterflies, the typical suburban landscape resembles an unfriendly desert. Close-cropped lawns, sheared foundation shrubs, and deadheaded flowers mean no place to nest, no food to eat, and nowhere to hide.

Fortunately, any landscape can become a haven for winged wildlife, and for the people who share it.