Texas Gardening: Hollyhocks near Houston???, 1 by cr0ak

cr0ak wrote:
Mercer Arboretum has a list of native plants that are either host plants for or will attract the various butterflies:

http://www.hcp4.net/mercer/pdf/ButterflyChecklist.pdf

Also, they have a field check-list of the birds that have been sighted at the arboretum (but nothing about plants to attract them):

http://www.hcp4.net/mercer/pdf/BirdingFieldChecklist.pdf


I have an island garden in my back yard that I planted specifically as a habitat for butterflies and other insects. I put in a combination of native plants and herbs. Unfortunately, some of the plants have over-run others. I lost one of my echinacea plants - it got over-run by the pigeon berry and the pennyroyal (which I have since ripped out). LOL The birds like to go into the garden and get seeds that fall off the lime basil, and they use the lemon grass to hide in when there's danger (a hawk flying overhead). Now that the pennyroyal is gone, I've sprinkled a bunch of dill seeds where it used to be. Last spring I noticed that the ladybugs were using the flower heads as a nursery. And after the dill had pretty much died down, I noticed a wasp that was putting pieces of straw into a hollow dill stalk (presumably it had laid eggs or something).

I also have four different bird feeders - one "cardinal" feeder, a caged feeder for the little birds, a wooden peanut feeder for the woodpeckers (but the Carolina Wrens and Chickadees like it too), and a suet feeder that has tail support for the woodpeckers. And I keep a bird bath filled with fresh water (during the heat of the summer I'll fill it twice a day).

I took some gardening classes at Urban Harvest this past spring and learned a lot - not only about growing veggies, but also about the soil food web and the part that insects play in the ecosystem. It was fascinating. :) I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you can attract all kinds of insects to your yard, you'll also get the various birds, too. Very few birds are strictly herbivores - most will also feast on insects, too. (Although I have yet to see any that will eat those danged stink bugs that plague my garden! LOL)