Building a Perennial Garden for Bird, Bees, and Butterflies

Last spring and summer I worked on a project to enhance my backyard as well as provide an eco-friendly area to support birds, butterflies, and pollinators – I designed and built a perennial garden. There were a few reasons I took on this task, admittedly some were practical or aesthetic and less out of an environmental consciousness. On the practical side, I had a lack of bees for my vegetable garden, my neighbor’s yard was dumping run-off along my fence and killing the grass, and we had bird feeders that dropped seeds everywhere - they were hard to clean, plus yielded a good number of weeds. So, I knew I wanted to plant something along the area in front of the fence, but was just not sure what I wanted – this is where the aesthetics and environmentally friendly aspects come in. Below is a recounting of my journey with some resources you can find at the Mercer County Library System or through our electronic resources.

My first step was to decide what to plant. I had toyed with the idea of putting in some bushes, but then I would have bare dirt underneath and that could lead to more issues with the runoff from the neighbor’s yard. I also wanted to incorporate the bird feeders and somehow catch the seed droppings. A garden seemed more practical, so I decided to measure off the space. Once I did, I took a look at the local big box hardware store for ideas on edging. For me, what worked the best since I was doing a straight line, was metal edging that came in four- and eight-foot lengths. I decided that I would bring the garden out four-feet or so from the fence and then make it as long as I could using eight-foot pieces. It turned out I could fit seven pieces for a 56-foot long garden along the fence. Installation was rather easy, I used mason’s string and chalk to mark the line and then a straight shovel to dig a very small ridge in the yard. A rubber mallet was needed to secure the metal edging into the dirt. This particular edging also had joint pieces and corner pieces to tie the sections together, along with spikes to anchor them. A hatchet was handy for some large roots from an old tree.

Next up was how to handle the grass. I could dig it out, but that seemed like a lot of work and time. Back to the big box store for some organic ground clear that would disappear in about three weeks’ time, lest any be left on the ground when I was ready to plant. This worked pretty well since I wanted to just suppress the grass from growing while I completed the next step, adding dirt. Luckily the local big box store was having a 5 for $10 sale, as I needed about 25 bags of top soil (which you can also get delivered by truckloads from local suppliers). The grass was dead enough that adding in the dirt squashed it completely. Note I reused a few homemade raised garden beds, this was how I handled the bird feeder issue. There are three raised beds (made from leftover decking material) in the garden and each has a shepherd’s hook to hold a bird feeder. The seeds simply fall into the box and stay there for easy clean-up.

After placing the dirt, it was time to do some garden design. This is where you move away from the big box stores and go with your local resources. You want to start with the library here to get some ideas. In my case I wanted pretty things that don’t get too big or out of hand, but that will attract butterflies, bees, and birds. I also wanted to try to stay fairly native. The book I started with is David Mizejewski’s Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife. The book includes sections that discuss not only the types of plants to look for to attract certain types of birds, but also how to add other features to the garden to make it safe and welcoming to your intended visitors. This is when I learned I need to incorporate some bushes to give them ground cover. It turns out they also break up the look in a pleasing manner. There are similar books in the library system that can direct you to plants for specific birds, as well as some on bird houses and information on selecting feeders and seeds. Those are all worth looking into as well since accessories are an important addition to any garden and appreciated by the birds. Likewise, you can find titles that deal with plants and accessories geared toward butterflies and pollinators on our shelves.

Before selecting plants, I knew there were three items that needed to go in to the garden as decoration. First was an old wheel-barrow my parents had from the 1960s. They got it with green stamps and I was surprised I was able to find spray paint in the original colors, so I restored it and now use it as a backdrop for some annuals. It also serves nicely as a resting perch for birds. The next item was an old watering can that had belonged to my great-grandmother, which needed no work and is just tipped on its side as a place for birds to hide. One note here, do inspect any water collection areas or shady spots for standing water and insect nests frequently – accessories are critical but can breed mosquitos or wasps. The last item was the end of a shovel the succumbed to the building of the garden. I almost put it in the trash, then thought it looked good propped up against one of the raised beds and indeed the birds perch on it as well.

After placing the main accessories and raised beds, I had an idea of the amount of space I was left to work with, so I dug into the books and came up with a list of plants I wanted to try in the garden. It is a good idea to have a pretty long list with back-ups, as your next chore is to stop at the local garden center. This is another valuable resource, as there are usually knowledgeable employees who can help you out with alternatives or make suggestions for other plants you may not have thought of – plus they are aware of what is and isn’t a native in our area. As I suspected, they had a good deal of the plants I was looking for, but not all of them. I came away with many I had either pre-selected from the library books or put on my back-up list. There were also a few that I had not heard of that were suggested to me by the staff and they turned out to be perfect matches for the garden. In the end I planted two azaleas, two dwarf cranberry verbena, a rose of Sharon, and a rose bush as the bushes. There were cardinal flower and sweet William for hummingbirds, milkweed in three varieties for the butterflies, and the remaining flowers – shasta daisies, cone flowers, joe pye weed, and a bunch of others for the bees. Side note here – the rabbits also like them and I had to do some replanting, so be aware of rabbit or deer grazing in your yard when selecting plants.

To top off the garden, it was back to the big box store for a 5 for $10 sale on bags of mulch, since I needed about ten of those. Then there were the squirrels to address – don’t fight them, let them have some space too. If you use squirrel-proof feeders, a few peanut boxes and even an adorable picnic bench with bowl will keep them happy. I have also found out the blue jays, Carolina wrens, and crows like peanuts too. Of course we also needed a few gnomes and statues mixed in with the plants and since my fence is wire, I was able to add on some metal lizards and butterfly wall hangings. Also, while I went with perennials so the same plants would come back each year, I did leave some space to put in a few annuals to give it some variety from year to year. Although I read up on my rabbit issue and now know they do not like geraniums so those will probably get added each year.

So far this year, almost all of the perennials have come back and I have only had to replace a few plants. The good news is I was also able to see where there were holes and have since added some sky pencil holly, which only spreads about one to two feet wide, but gets six- to ten-feet tall. It is another perching spot that so far is sparrow-approved.

For more information about gardening, stop by the 635 area in our non-fiction section to browse. Online, if you can find magazines such as Birds and Blooms in our eLibraryNJ and PressReader magazine collections. For in-depth horticulture information such as studies on native plants, there are many resources available in our science databases.

- by Laura N., Information Technology