Echinacea purpurea Eastern purple coneflower (Su,M,A,N) 2 – 3 ft H x 1 – 2ft W. Pinkish purple daisy-like blooms in mid summer on single flowering stocks. Flower center is burnt orange spikes that become dark seed heads in fall. Dark green leaves and stems have course hair. Stems remain upright throughout winter and seed… Continue reading Echinacea purpurea Purple coneflower
Category: Pollinator Garden
The pollinator garden five years on
It’s hard to remember the patch of dirt, trash containers and Rock wasteland that welcomed, or should I say scared visitors in my backyard. Today it’s an ever evolving combination of late spring and summer blooming plants that grow where they seeds of the previous year land. Few are the black-eyed susans… While echinacea and… Continue reading The pollinator garden five years on
Tips to provide protected nesting sites for Native Bees
Protecting and Providing Nesting for Native Bees and Wasps There are products on the market to provide cheap, renewable bee hotels for our native bees and wasps. Here are a few things to help your bees be at home. Leave open ground (no mulch) with sandy soil for ground Keep a wood pile where borers… Continue reading Tips to provide protected nesting sites for Native Bees
The garden is alive with natives
endemic (∃) adj. Prevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality adj. Ecology Native to or confined to a certain region. n. Ecology An endemic plant of animal. Our little red headed bird with a pretty yellow chest was here a bit ago. And the hummingbirds are back. I hope the neighbor has really taken… Continue reading The garden is alive with natives
Go Native! Top plants for Colorado birds
Help Audubon plant over 1 million bird-friendly plants, If you have 2 square feet outdoors, you have space for a bird friendly plant. Here are 9 great Colorado natives for anyone’s outdoor space.
Adding Butterfly host plants
Nothing is better than being a nursery for our wildlife.With the pollinators garden well established, I’ve been lucky to watch the workings of a bee colony and see native bees that I had never seen before. Sweat bees are gorgeous!So who else can I bring to the yard? Butterflies it is! This species needs more… Continue reading Adding Butterfly host plants
The Pollinator garden today
Today, I officially joined the Million Pollinator Gardens ranks. Through initiatives like theirs we can learn how important our small plots of land might sustain the very important neighbors we have that keep our world fruiting. I can’t wait to be a better member of the community of life. Currently both the Echinacea just started… Continue reading The Pollinator garden today
What native plants bring
Everyone knows I love animals. I have always kept bird feeders, provided shelter and water to birds. In 2014, I added more to the arsenal in my quest to be a neighbor of habitat. Having fresh water for birds is just as important. A hanging bath has drawn more than all my lovely traditional baths.… Continue reading What native plants bring
Late Spring in the Bee’s Digs
A combination of blue linum and purple sage takes front stage in Late Spring. The bees love the sage which will taper off just as the many echinacea begin to bloom. The spring weather so far in 2016 has been light rain alternating with sunny days in the 60s to 70s. No additional irrigation… Continue reading Late Spring in the Bee’s Digs
Pollinator’s Garden – Year 2
The experimental pollinator garden continued this year but with an El Nino spring. The usefulness of the growth data gathered remains unknown. The spring started with three times the normal precipitation that continued through June. We were then hit with high temperatures and near drought conditions for the remainder of the summer. While there was… Continue reading Pollinator’s Garden – Year 2