If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know I am an avid birder! I love to watch the birds, and I’ve always included my kids with that. We have a couple bird books where we date the first sightings of any birds we’ve seen.
Be sure to check out my blog on Feeding the Birds!
As the weather starts to warm up and the flowers start to bloom we are not the only ones getting excited! Another exciting part about spring is the arrival of hummingbirds is just around the corner. These tiny and colorful birds are a delight to watch as they flit around our yards, sipping nectar from flowers and feeders.
If you want to attract hummingbirds to your yard, now is the time to start preparing. Setting up a hummingbird feeder is a great way to provide a source of food for these beautiful creatures and enjoy their presence throughout the season. But when is the best time to start setting up your feeder? In today’s episode, I’ll describe the best practices for getting ready for hummingbird season & share some tips on how to attract these amazing little wonders to your yard.
So, get ready to welcome the hummingbirds and create a beautiful and vibrant habitat in your backyard.
To learn all the tips & tricks on Getting Ready for Hummingbird Season: When to Start Setting Up Your Feeders, watch my YouTube Video below!
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“From plants that wake when others sleep, from timid jasmine buds that keep their odor to themselves all day, but when the sunlight dies away let the delicious secret out to every breeze that roams about. ” Thomas Moore
Over the years I’ve shown you oodles of photo’s of my gardens, and have always stressed my love of the cottage garden. That love has not waned once over the years. I have always been fascinated with the charm of a cottage garden. And what better way to create a stunning cottage garden than by incorporating pollinator-friendly plants in it?
In today’s blog post, I’ll start by walking you through the steps to create a beautiful cottage style pollinator garden with both annuals and perennials.
But before we get rolling, be sure to SUBSCIBE below so you don’t miss an episode!
One of the main reasons I’ve always been drawn to the cottage garden is its informal and relaxed appearance, along with a mix of colorful flowers and foliage plants. These gardens are often associated with old-world charm, and the inclusion of pollinator-friendly plants can make them even more appealing.
Pollinator gardens are designed to attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other beneficial insects, which help in pollinating plants, ensuring a bountiful harvest, and keeping the ecosystem in balance.
Let’s Look at the Importance of Pollinator Gardens
Pollinator gardens are essential for supporting the health and survival of our planet’s ecosystem. According to the Pollinator Partnership, pollinators are responsible for over 75% of the world’s food crops, and without them, our food supply would be severely impacted.
Pollinators are also crucial for maintaining the biodiversity of our planet, as they help in the reproduction of plants, which in turn provide food, shelter, and habitat for other wildlife.
What are the Benefits of Using Both Annuals and Perennials in Your Garden?
Annuals and perennials are two types of plants that can be used in pollinator gardens. Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season, where perennials come back year after year. It’s beneficial to incorporate both as annuals usually fill in with blooms in between the bloom cycles of your perennials.
Using a mix of both annuals and perennials in your garden can provide several benefits. Annuals bloom all season long, providing a continuous source of nectar and pollen for pollinators. Perennials, on the other hand, provide a more stable source of food and habitat for pollinators.
Let’s Design Your Cottage Style Pollinator Garden!
Designing a cottage style pollinator garden is all about creating an informal, relaxed atmosphere. You can achieve this by incorporating a mix of plants with different heights, textures, and colors.
To create a natural-looking garden, you can plant in irregular groups or drifts, rather than in straight rows. You can also include features such as a birdbath or a small pond to attract birds and other wildlife. I love to use garden art in my gardens. I even have an antique lightning rod!
Consider these factors as well:
Is your garden up against a wall or does it have a backdrop? If so, you want to be sure to have your taller plants placed in the rear, cascading downward in height as you move towards the front of your garden.
Is your garden located in an area where it can be walked around on all sides? If so, you will want the tallest plants placed in the center, then cascading downward to the edges.
Selecting the Right Plants for Your Garden
When selecting plants for your garden, it’s essential to choose varieties native to your region. Native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions, making them more resilient and less reliant on fertilizers and pesticides.
Some excellent choices for a cottage style pollinator garden include lupines, foxglove, hollyhocks, peonies, coneflowers, black-eyed susans, bee balm, and milkweed. These plants are attractive to a wide variety of pollinators and are relatively easy to grow.
Before planting your garden, it is essential to create a planting plan. This plan should take into account the size and shape of your garden, the location of existing plants and features, and the sun and soil conditions.
If it’s a brand new garden spot, then you’ll still need to design this in order to utilize your space and be sure not to over plant. I recommend if this is a new garden you fill in the empty spaces with annuals so it looks full and beautiful. The perennials will fill in the following year.
Start by drawing a rough sketch of your garden, including any existing plants or features. Then, decide on the placement of your pollinator-friendly plants, considering factors such as height, texture, and color.
Once you have a rough plan in place, you can refine it by selecting specific varieties of plants and determining the number of plants needed for each area
Another factor is if you are partial to particular colors. I personally prefer pinks, purples, blues, and whites. I tend to be drawn to plants in those colors. Use what makes you happy and fits into the scheme of things for your gardens.
Some Final Tips for a Successful Pollinator Garden!
Remember to choose plants that are native to your region, create a planting plan, and care for your garden regularly. And most importantly, have fun and enjoy the beauty and diversity of your garden!
Here are some of my favorite flowers to incorporate for pollinator gardening. Take into consideration I am a cottage gardener, so these flowers are well suited to that style. This is by far not an exhaustive list, more so a list of mine & Tim’s personal faves! Pollinator’s aren’t just for bees, I grow some of these specifically for my little feathered friends. Also, my garden themes generally incorporate purples, pinks, blues, and white. I don’t use very many red, and I don’t really include orange or yellow with the exception of Black Eyed Susan’s.
Annuals include:
Cosmos
Mexican Sunflower
Milkweed
Verbena
Zinnias
Sunflowers~ I like to incorporate a row of these in the back of my garden so the blue jays can harvest the seeds once they’ve developed.
Perennials include:
Purple Coneflower or Echinechea~ I don’t cut back the seed heads as goldfinches feast on these in the fall and throughout the winter months.
Alliums
Bee Balm
Black Eyed Susans
Liatris
Lavender
Lupine
Lavender~ my lavender plants are generally covered with honey bees while in bloom. I just love to hear the buzz of the little guys.
Any variety of mint~ this serves two purposes… one for me to make yummy mint tea, and one for the bees!
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. ” Alfred Austin
Who doesn’t love the happy face of the sunny sunflower? What so many people don’t realize is there are a plethora of different varieties of this beautiful flower. Did you know there are over 60 varieties to choose from? Unfortunately if you are looking to purchase your seeds from local stores, and don’t get me wrong here~ you all KNOW I am all about shopping local for what you can find~ but if you can’t find it local, then the next best thing is to shop from family owned companies online. Supporting locally owned businesses can be done is so many ways.
Spring is a time of love and rejuvenation! The awakening all around us stimulates a desire to give and share~ everything just seems happy! The birds start returning, buds start popping, the first Snow Drops and Crocus’s start peeking out giving us a foretaste of the Daffodils & Tulips not far behind. This Spring has brought some things earlier than usual and with it that energy has sprung forth for me as well. I love to be in the greenhouses and gardens working in the dirt… watching seeds sprout and develop into the plants we will take to market and plant in our gardens, beds and fields. As mentioned in the previous blog post birding is one of our favorite things to do~ here is a really simple & cool bird bath along with some gifty ideas and of course a yummy recipe from Taylor, enjoy! *Here is a super Simple Birdbath that even the most ‘un-handy’ minded person can make using just a few simple tools! First you will need: ~a really cool old banister or porch post, which if you don’t have go to any antique or salvage yard and they will abound. If you want newer than simply go and buy what you would like. It should be at least 4 feet tall. ~an old granite dishpan for the bath. ~a bag of concrete, a Tap-con screw (for metal) and some clear acrylic caulk. Dig a hole about a foot deep, place the post in and pour enough concrete to fill hole to just about ground level. Cover with dirt and let set about an hour. Take the dish pan and center on top of banister/post; screw to banister/post. Put a dab of caulk over screw to prevent leaking and rusting. Plant flowers like Shasta Daisies, Black Eyed Susan’s or Purple Cone Flowers around and enjoy the birdie frolic!
*I love to give gifts especially those that say I love you with flowers or plants… or really any type of garden type stuff. Here is a gift that will keep on giving the recipient! Many plants have meanings, even the color of roses have specific meanings to them. Here are some herb’s that you can give to express your admiration or love to them. Here are some ways to arrange the Herbs for gift giving: ~Plant them in a lovely window box or two. ~Pot each herb up in separate pots- choose Terra cotta, painted pottery or some old galvanized pails~ you will know what they will like best! ~Plant in one or two large patio pots if they have a patio or porch. Here are the Herbs and their meanings: Dill~ cheer and survival in the face of difficulties\ Sage~ wisdom Marjoram~ joy Bay~ achievement and success Rosemary~ remembrance and friendship Scented ‘Attar of Rose’ Geranium~ happiness Choose one, some or all… you know what you want to say!
Recycled Clothe Shopper Bags have been a really big thing the last couple years and being a market vendor I notice more and more of our customers going to them. This in turn saves us from having to buy as many plastic bags! So of course I thought we could make and in turn sell them at market. Taylor & I decided to go pattern shopping and find a practical pattern to make. We decided to use old denim pants, scraps from our dress fabrics, old sheets, shirts and any other ‘scraps’ of fabric we could acquire. This was a lot of fun and if you enjoy sewing this is a really simple project to make a few ‘one of a kind’ shopper bags for yourself and even for gifts! We added buttons, pockets, ribbons and other little charms that we had. Be as creative as you like and before you know it , you might have a little business in bag making!
Taylor’s Ready To Go French Toast French toast can be way more exciting that just some bread dipped in egg & fried. We have eight hungry people to feed, six of them in the male category, so we need to keep things interesting around our house. This is a great make ahead breakfast great for Sunday breakfast or Brunch, or for any day of the week.
1/2 Stick of Butter 2 Apples cored, peeled and sliced 1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. apple pie spice 8 slices bread- your choice- thicker the better in my opinion 4 eggs from Garden Gate Farm, beaten 1 cup milk 1 tsp. Maple Syrup Extract*
1. Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Reduce heat to med-low; add apples and cook until tender. 2. Stir in sugar and spice and cook until dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Pour apple mixture into a greased 9×13 inch baking dish. 3. Lay the slices of bread on top of apple mixture. 4. In a medium bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients; pour over bread slices. 5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 6. Remove plastic and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until eggs are cooked & set, until firm and browned slightly. *Don’t use regular maple syrup because the flavor with cook off! Serve nice and warm and if you for brunch add some yummy vanilla ice cream with it!
For Dragonflies And Me 