Attracting Birds And Butterflies

by Barbara Ellis

Overview

A quick-reference guide to attracting birds and butterflies for gardeners with little experience and time.

In the eye of a bird or butterfly, the typical suburban landscape resembles an unfriendly desert. Closely mowed lawns, tightly clipped shrubs, raked-up borders, and deadheaded flowers mean no place to nest, no food to eat, and nowhere to hide. To the humans who live there, this means no bird songs, no colorful butterflies, no dazzling hummingbirds, no night-sparkling fireflies.
 
Creating a garden that welcomes these creatures may seem like a confusing and complicated task, but the principles involved are relatively simple. Essentially, wildlife needs food, water, and shelter, just like we do, and this lavishly illustrated guide shows which plants attract which creatures, and how to plant and care for them. 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358106425
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Series:	Home Grown Gardening
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	653,206
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

BARBARA ELLIS, a former gardening editor at Rodale Press and the publications director of the American Horticultural Society, is the author of many gardening books, including The Rodale All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening and The Burpee Complete Gardener as well as several Taylor’s Weekend Gardening Guides. She resides in Alburtis, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Welcoming Winged Wildlife

Food 5

Water 13

Cover and Nest Sites 16

Arranging Cover Plants 18

Growing with Your Design 24

Creating A Bird Garden

Feeding the Birds 30

Nest Boxes and Other Features for a Bird Garden 33

Trees for a Bird Garden 37

Shrubs and Brambles for a Bird Garden 66

Flowers, Grasses, and Vines for a Bird Garden 80

Bird Profiles 88

Planting For Hummingbirds

What Attracts Hummingbirds? 118

Flowers for Hummingbirds 121

Vines for Hummingbirds 155

Trees and Shrubs for Hummingbirds 164

Hummingbird Plants for Southern Zones 166

Hummingbird Profiles 170

Attracting Butterflies

Butterfly Garden Features 192

Flowers for Butterflies 194

Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Butterflies 204

Butterfly Profiles 206

Hardiness Zone Map 248

Photo and Illustration Credits 251

Index 253

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/20/2020

There is no mystery to creating a garden that attracts birds and butterflies, Ellis (How to Prune Trees and Shrubs), publications director for the American Horticultural Society, asserts in her comprehensive volume—it’s simply a matter of facilitating the food, water, shelter, and security any animal needs to flourish. In the book’s first section, “Welcoming Winged Wildlife,” she shows how to translate these basic features into “wildlife-friendly yards and gardens... filled with flowers from spring to frost, brilliant berries, and glistening water—along with dazzling birds and butterflies.” The second section, “Creating a Bird Garden,” describes using nest boxes, shrubs, brambles, grasses, and vines to make an inviting space for roosting or nesting. The next, “Planting for Hummingbirds,” covers eclectic horticultural possibilities, urging the planting of such flowers as foxgloves, columbines, snapdragons, and hollyhocks. The final section, “Attracting Butterflies,” highlights the milkweed plants, which will attract, in addition to monarchs, species that include “painted ladies, viceroys, skippers, and question marks.” Spanning horticulture, ornithology, and lepidopterology, Ellis’s encouraging primer will help even the most modest gardener create a lively and colorful habitat for winged creatures. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly