Use Your Green to Create an Oasis for Birds and Butterflies

Gardening can create an oasis for you and wildlife. You can get a lot of pleasure from growing wonderful plants and you can also feed the wildlife while doing so. It can be really special to see birds and butterflies taking advantage of your special garden nook and you can know you are providing rest for weary travelers as they flit from one hemisphere to the next.

Attracting beautiful birds, butterflies and bees to your garden can be gratifying and is as simple as growing the right plants and providing a water source and a refuge from the predators by way of nests and trees. You can nail a tuna fish can to a tree and keep it filled with water to attract birds to drink fresh water and by putting up bird houses that will attract birds such as blue birds and gold finches, your home will become a hotspot for beautiful birds and you will become a hub of activity.

Song birds such as finches and blue birds enjoy some plants such as Black-Eyed Susan's, Cosmos, coreopsis, Coneflowers and Daisies. They like to eat the seeds these flowers produce and they look pretty too. My grandmother planted daisies and Black-eyed Susan's and I saw my first gold finch there. Many flowers look pretty, but these flowers feed the birds as well.

Bees are attracted to zinnias, and butterflies like zinnias as well as dahlias, hibiscus, geraniums, daylilies and especially butterfly bush. Last year I had many swallowtails lazing about on my butterfly bush. Some people get a real kick watching these beautiful animals and even photograph them. Humming birds can be attracted with bee balm, fuschia, and even hollyhocks. You can also provide a humming bird feeder for steadier hummingbird visits. I think they also like honeysuckle because I saw a humming bird in the woods near a honey suckle growing wild.

It is a wonder to see all these beautiful animals and it is true that they are losing habitat. So do them a favor and create an oasis for them in your back yard, you will be rewarded by seeing nesting goldfinches and other songbirds as well as Monarch butterflies and Swallowtails. Who knows, maybe you can get your backyard wildlife to stay still long enough to get a good picture and post it on a blog. Or even in a magazine. If we are to subdue the earth as the bible says, shouldn't we provide nature a little nook in our hearts, I don't think God planned for us to black top New Jersey, there is a lot of good for the soul in nature and I think we're missing out if we don't stop to appreciate a pretty flower or bird here and there.

I have been blessed to see many wonderful sights in my life. From wild swans flying into Horseshoe Lake park, to a goldfinch feeding its baby. And I am grateful for all God's creatures. It doesn't matter if you are conservative or liberal. Nature soothes the soul like nothing else when taken care of. I love my garden, I have a bleeding heart, daylilies, iris, a butterfly bush, a surprise lily and stargazer lilies and even an azalea, I get a kick seeing the plants coming up year after year.