Went hog wild for hummingbirds and butterflies!

[Black_Thumb]

Hello, friends. My wife and I decided to use one of our raised beds for flowers. We planted the following hodgepodge of seeds:

Purple Coneflower
False Sunflower
Common Milkweed
Virginia Wild Rye
Swamp Milkweed
Butterfly Milkweed
Blackeyed Susan
Indian Grass
Spiked Blazing Star
Lemon Mint
Evening Primrose
NEB 28 Switchgrass
Little Bluestem
Smooth Aster
Rigid Goldenrod
Yellow Wild Indigo
Large Coreopsis
New England Aster
Bergamot
Sweet Joe Pye Weed
Smooth Beardtongue
Cardinal Flower.

I'm really anxious to see these bloom! We already have a number of species of butterflies in our yard but I haven't seen any hummingbirds yet. We hopt to attract the hummingbirds with some nectar feeders and these flowers. They are so great to have around! We had tons of them in our yard back in California. They are such a delight to see and to watch!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Mike

 

[YumYum]

I haven't seen any just yet here but it shouldn't be much longer. If I see one and remember to, I'll let you know.

What cracks me up is when they show up and hover at the very spot the feeder hangs.....but the feeder isn't out yet. They remember how to get back to their previous spot somehow.

 

[YumYum]

Just now saw a hummingbird.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

No humming birds in British gardens, but there used to be a shed at the back of the Regents park zoo with a path through the middle and plants growing either side. If you sat quietly for a bit humming birds would come out of the bushes.

 

[Munch517]

One thing I've found with the pollinator mixes and scatter sowing these types of seeds in the last few seasons I've tried it is that I ended up with a bunch a crowded, somewhat stunted plants that nowhere reached their full potential and some of the plants I most wanted didn't grow and/or flower. I didn't realize that some of these plants like to be a foot or more from each other (I still space things a bit close regardless). The beds still looked somewhat decent, just not what I was actually going for.

I say this just to advise that if you don't like this years results so much don't be deterred from a pollinator garden, consider going a different direction. This year I'm starting a bunch of pollinator plant seeds inside where I'll be able to selectively plant and space them in the bed, taller plants along my house and on the north side of the bed, a nice patch of milkweeds, low crawling plants in front, etc... There's also some plants I'm just going to have to buy at the nursery, I looked up host plants for my local butterfly population and I'm going to try to get as many of the plants that serve multiple species as I can. (local / in-state university websites are helpful here)

Anyways, just wanted to offer my two cents after my three years of sub-par pollinator garden attempts and my work to resolve that this year.

 

[Black_Thumb]

This year I'm starting a bunch of pollinator plant seeds inside where I'll be able to selectively plant and space them in the bed

That's a fantastic idea! This is our first year trying out a pollinator garden and so I'm glad you mentioned this! To be honest, I hadn't given much thought to spacing needs when I sowed the seeds. I'll post some photos when things are in bloom and make changes from there.