No matter how big or small you garden may be, supporting the pollinators will help you while you help them. Attracting bees, birds, and butterflies to share your garden has many advantages (and a few potential pitfalls). Plus, it’s enjoyable just to watch and listen to them. Well, most of the time anyway – haha! I’m less thrilled when they’re raiding my berry patch or fruit trees. Let’s buzz our way into planning and gardening for bees, birds, butterflies, and other garden friends.
Bees and Other Garden Friends
Since today is Don’t Step on a Bee Day it seemed fitting to share a post about planning a garden for bees, along with their pals the butterflies and birds. Bee-friendly gardening is a big part of what our garden goals and there are plenty of associated scribbles in my current garden planning notes. There will be lots more wildlife-friendly gardening posts coming here on the blog as our garden matures. Yay for growing! For now, let’s look at how to make a garden safer and more inviting for welcome guests like bees, birds, and butterflies.
Planning and Planting Food Sources
Providing Food Sources
One of the simplest things that you can do to create a friendlier habitat is to include food sources for bees, birds, and butterflies. I’ve listed some popular options in my planting idea sheet at the end of the post, but there are many lovelies to choose from depending on your region, climate, and growing space. Native plants to your area are also great options for wildlife.
Nectar bearing flowers are great plants for bees, and these types of flowers are also great for feeding butterflies. Allowing plants to mature and produce seeds, berries, and fruits will help to bring local bird species into your garden. Beware though, they might love your edible gardens and fruit trees, too. Some of our garden’s greedy visitors are not so keen to share with other birds or with the gardener! I admittedly have a love/hate relationship with some local birds.
Avoid Invasive and Pest Plants
Before selecting, double check for any plants that may be prohibited by your local council or other authority’s weed-buster programs for invasive species. Many invasive plants owe their prolific spread to being very attractive to pollinators and seed carriers. One region’s wildlife-friendly garden gem may be another region’s pest plant.
It’s a common issue for gardeners here in NZ, where our temperate weather and great growing conditions allow introduced garden varieties (that might be great options elsewhere) to spread, naturalise, and flourish, sometimes to the detriment of our native flora.
Food Sources for All Seasons
When planning your plantings, don’t forget about food sources through the changing seasons, which can be feast-and-famine for wildlife. Our winters are temperate, so we can grow all year round with careful plant selection.
For over wintering birds in colder climates, you can leave some fruit and seeds in situ during your autumn clean up, or leaf litter on the ground for insect foraging. If you have bird feeders, position them safely, use food that’s appropriate for your local species, and always keep them clean. Bird feeders can be a spreading point for disease, so feeder hygiene is essential.
Access to Water in All Weather
Multiple sources of clean water are also beneficial in a wildlife-friendly garden. If, like us, you have pets then it’s extra important that your visiting wildlife can get a drink somewhere other than the pet’s water bowls. And it probably goes without saying, but keep it clean and avoid using chemicals nearby. If things are look a bit murky or if there’s any chance that the water has been accidentally contaminated, change it out.
Garden Water Sources for Birds
Birds are attracted to the sound and noise of moving water, so if you aren’t lucky enough to have a pond or stream in your garden, fountains and water features might be appealing. If you have a bird bath, you could consider adding an agitator.
We just have a static bird bath, and it still gets plenty of preening visitors. Our temperatures don’t drop low enough to freeze the water (at least not for long), so our basic bird bath is good-to-go year round. There are heated bird bath options for colder climates. Melting snow takes a lot of energy, so fresh water is very attractive for over wintering birds.
Garden Water Sources for Bees
We don’t often think about insects drinking, but bees need safe access drinking water. For our tiny buzzing visitors, including a perching place like a shallow sloping non-slip edge, stable floating pads, or stones can help them stay safe near the water. If you can, have any perching place extend over/past the lip of the water container so that things stay safely accessible even if you’ve had a heavy rainfall that fills your container to the brim.
Garden Water Sources for Butterflies
Butterflies get their drinking water via their nectar, but they also enjoy puddling, so areas that collect little pools of shallow water are their preference.
Safety and Shelter
Boosting Habitats for Birds
Birds benefit from layering in your garden, especially where it helps to create extra height and safer places for them to perch, feed, or perhaps even nest out of the reach of predators…including your pets! If you are keen to go the extra mile, you can include customised safe nesting options, bird houses, or bird boxes in your garden plan.
Boosting Habitats for Bees
Elsewhere, for the bees, perhaps you’d like to open your own insect hotel? See our bee-friendly habitat post for ideas. For a more natural approach, when you are doing garden chores like pruning, end-of-season plant removals, and general clean-up, be mindful of possible tunnels, nests, larvae, etc. especially for bumblebees and other solitary bees.
Boosting Habitats for Butterflies
Butterflies tend to be free-range, passing through for food and perhaps leaving a few eggs. The latter might not be quite so welcome, hatching into caterpillars and munching their way to maturity. But I do make a very special exception for monarch butterflies and their caterpillars. Fortunately, they’re also rather single minded about their munching, which is extra welcome.
If you are keen to create a monarch friendly garden, you’ll need to include swan plants (milkweed) if you’re hoping for eggs and caterpillars, and you may also want to provide protection from predators.
Pesticides and Chemicals
Reducing or Eliminating Use
Another wildlife-friendly choice is limiting or eliminating your use of pesticides, especially neonics. This controversial family of pesticides is linked to the decline of bee populations and colony collapse disorders.
Disposing of Unwanted Leftovers
We currently have a few dubious items lurking around our place, including mystery materials left by the previous owners. If you’re disposing of unused chemicals, please follow you local council guidelines. Many offer free drop-off services for safe disposal, which is awesome.
Beware of Accidental Introductions
To avoid unwanted pesticides and chemicals, it’s also important to select your other garden supplies with care. You wouldn’t want to accidentally bring in unwanted treatments or residues.
Well-meaning gardeners might accidentally be killing friendly insects with our kindness when planting out our gardens. Some seeds and bulbs are pre-treated with pesticides and fungicides. Some garden stores and nurseries still use systemic pesticides on seedlings. These can make our new plants not so friendly after all. Worth keeping in mind for informed shopping choices.
The same may be true of some ready-to-use soils, composts, mulches, and other garden supplies. These might have been treated during processing, or include materials that were treated prior to processing. These might not harm your wild guests, but they might harm your plants or derail your efforts to grow a fully chemical-free or organic garden.
Personal Safety and Crop Protection
Bees can sting. Butterflies can lay eggs that become caterpillars and munch on your plants. Birds can sing, swoop, poop, and might take a liking to your edibles. All potential pitfalls of creating a wildlife-friendly garden! Although I have been stung in the garden, the bees and I mostly mange to coexist happily. And most of the butterfly caterpillars don’t us much trouble, other than the very unwelcome white butterfly (cabbage butterfly), which is a terrible pest.
Bird-Friendly Gardens vs. Harvest-Raiding Birds
The local birds, however, are not all as easy to share the garden with as the bees and butterflies. Don’t get me wrong. I like having birds in the garden. But I don’t like having birds throwing mulch all over the place whilst digging for insects. And I really don’t like them raiding my edibles. Especially since the worst offenders are messy and wasteful about harvesting. If they raided cleanly or less completely, I might be more accommodating, but they seem to prefer pecking a little, then leaving it discarded and moving on to their next snack. And so much pooping. Sigh.
I’ve tried bird decoys, reflective tape, and all the usual tricks. Even a full scarecrow would be futile, since they don’t seem to give a hoot (literally) about my own flailing scare efforts. Not even when I’m wielding the garden hose! Nor about being watched by our big dogs. Or by the neighbours cats. In the end, I’ve resigned myself to either sharing (if I’m fast enough) or netting.
Bee, Bird, and Butterfly Planting Idea Sheet
The follow-on infographic idea sheet was created years ago, long before Green in Real Life transitioned from Blogger’s blogspot to our home here at greeninreallife.com. The branding and design are outdated, but good ideas are always in fashion. We’ve keep it with our updated bee, bird, and butterfly post so readers can revisit an old fav or stumble across it for the first time.
