Pollinator friendly spaces | backyard garden 🌺🦋🐛🐦 | Texas Gulf Coast Zone 9b

Pollinators are so important to garden spaces. Adding plants and flowers to your yard to support them is a great step. Join me as I talk about inviting butterflies, hummingbirds, birds, and pollinators to my backyard and the benefits.

[@LifeHomeandGardenwithAnaRica]

Very inviting and relaxing garden, all the pollinators are so welcome!

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you for your comment, and thanks for visiting! 😊

[@adven79]

شكراً على مشاركة هذا الفيديو الجميل، اعجبتني حديقتك انها جميلة حقاً، أتمنى لك السعادة

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you very much! I wish you happiness too. 😊

[@MarcyOdom.]

Such a peaceful video thanks for sharing.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you for your comment! 😊

[@elizabethcanales7170]

Your yard is just beautiful! I love all the information you provide!

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you for your comment and I'm glad you liked the video! 😊

[@jillbruce3624]

Beautiful - loved the hummer at the end.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you! Hummers are difficult to capture because they are so active. And I don't have my phone on me when they come close and are friendly. lol. But early in the morning if I stay out for a long time, I sometimes get lucky and capture some footage. 😊👍

[@shirley751730]

Thanks for sharing

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

My pleasure and thank you for watching and for your comment!

[@LindasFlowersandVegetablesGard]

Gorgeous garden for pollinator!

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you so much! 😊

[@carleanr4051]

Love!!!🪴💚💐

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you! 😊

[@DaveCollierCamping]

Awesome video

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you! 😊

[@barneymccord4759]

Love your garden. I believe we live pretty close to the same area. I'm going to try some of the plants you have in my garden. Thanks for sharing..

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you for your comment! I hope you like your new plants ... I love mine. If we are in the same area, the plants should grow well for you.

[@SandraHudson-sw2jp]

Excellent video, thanks. I am in zone 9a, Alabama gulf coast.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you! You are in similar growing conditions! 😊

[@allgood4729]

Such a gorgeous garden you have, and what a good hearted lady you are, teaching us so many things about the garden. Taking care of the birds and all kinds of natures creatures. Love it all. The humming bird was a treat at the end of the video. Blessings. 😍

[@elizabethjones4424]

Thanks for the butterfly pamphlet rec. I just ordered the same one off Amazon. I live just north of Houston.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

That's wonderful ... I hope you gets lots of use out of it like I do mine! I still use it to identify butterflies that I don't see often in our yard. 😊🐛🦋

[@derekduran9086]

Your salvia bed is awesome! Very impressive. I was wondering if you have already tried red hot poker (Kniphofia) and Cosmos as I am going to try them this year for hummers. Also, related to your firecracker plant, I tried Russelia sarmentosa (Red Rocket) from Buchanan’s and that was a hit with them last year. It has tiny flowers and arching limbs which help hummers get nectar. I also tried Spanish Flag vine from seed which was EXTREMELY impressive flower-wise in November, but all my hummers left before they could enjoy it. lol Perhaps if I start getting overwintering ones or stragglers like yours I will try it again.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

I planted one Kniphofia at the same time I planted the Amistad salvia. The kniphofia was once on the edge of the garden bed and flowered beautifully, but now gets engulfed by the salvia. It comes back each year, but I need to move it so it can get full sun and flower again. I tried cosmos a couple of years ago, but I planted them in a location where they had to compete (not my original intention) and they didn't flourish where I had them. Let me know what pollinators frequent your cosmos.

[@tammiedunbar6166]

I also garden for the pollinators and birds. If you plant the host plants& nectar plants they will come for the bounty. Yes indeed the Mexican Sun Flower is a long tall blooming nectar plant in my zone it provides nectar till the frist hard frost destroys it. The hummingbirds love it also. And the other feathered creatures feast on the other life forms . In (2017 I was fortunate to witness a red carnial rear a nest of youngsters and teach the fledgelings to fly. Once your garden becomes established the hummingbirds will return annually. In my zone I see the hummingbirds usually around early April 1st. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with other gardeners.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

That is fabulous you garden for pollinators and birds too! The more the better for our environments! Question for you - do you deadhead your Mexican Sunflower? I did last year and I don't know how effective I was. What a special thing to witness a cardinal teaching their juveniles to fly. I have watched for a few years now the parents bringing their fledglings to the feeders and at first feed them and then teach them to eat on their own. It never gets old. The fledglings are loud, and boisterous flapping their wings to be fed. We are fortunate to be in the path of the hummingbird migration, but we don't have a lot of hummingbirds stay throughout the summer, as they continue on their journey north. Last year I had two females all throughout the summer, fall, and winter. They are such a joy in the yard.

[@tammiedunbar6166]

I see the hummingbirds feeding at the Mexican Sunflower &the salivas in my garden constantly and the trumpet vine&red yucca& zinnias &chaste tree shrubs & honey suckle vines. I've observed that the hummingbirds prefer to feed at the plants before the sugary water mixture in the feeder.

[@tammiedunbar6166]

Sometimes I dead head the Mexican Sunflower. I've only planted it once in(2022) it reseed and pop up in different spaces. The swallow tailed butterflies feed on them pretty much all day according to the weather and temperature. I didn't realize that the plants height can grow over 8 feet tall and become huge stalks. Last year I thinned them out as they emerged because they will shade out your other plants.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

I have observed that also. When there are blooms and bugs/gnats, they go to that over sugar water. Do you have any issues with your trumpet vine? The hummingbirds absolutely love it, but we are having problems with our neighbor's vine damaging the wooden fence between our yards. Here in Texas it is pretty invasive and grows aggressively.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

I grew it for the first time last year and I also was so surprised how large and tall it became. (Ours were also 8 feet tall!) and the butterflies were on it constantly. This year I have it planted to the north side of our new garden bed in full sun, so it shouldn't shade out any other plants. but we will see if I have planted too many! (I don't think I deadheaded it well though last year).

[@meganramsey2228]

North central TX...I get Eurasian Collared doves, only 3 to 4 at a time, but they are SO big they take up my entire feeders! 😂 My mockingbirds have snatched several butterflies and caterpillars lately. Sad, but nature!

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

The doves eat you out of house and home, and they are large so they move the other songbirds out of the way just because of their size. They aren't bullies, but still a nuisance none-the-less. I was horrified the first time I saw an anole (green lizard) eat a newly hatched painted lady butterfly. You are right though, it is nature. And with caterpillars it is a numbers game ... lots of caterpillars so some can survive. (Mockingbirds, cardinals, blue jays, etc. all love to eat caterpillars). So, the more of a host plant you have, the better for caterpillar hiding and survival.

[@meganramsey2228]

@ButterfliesNBirds you're right! I doubled the amount of fennel, dill and parsley this year.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

@@meganramsey2228 Awesome! Let me know if you think that makes a difference in your garden.

[@jennhoff03]

This is amazing! Such an inspiration. Could you explain the mister a little more in a future video? I've been wanting to help birds (hummingbirds the most, but all birds) have something to drink in my yard. But I really don't have energy to keep up with a bird bath. So the mister really caught my attention! Do you have a saucer underneath to catch the water?

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Bird baths take up time for maintenance and cleaning - you are right about that! The mister was an impulse purchase for me because I didn't need it, but I wanted it. I can do a video on it. I have it on drip irrigation, but you don't need to do that ... you can have one on a regular garden hose. (You can purchase misters for garden hoses). I also purchased a WiFi timer so I could turn it on and off from an app on my phone, or I can put it on a schedule. It is just a mister (so no water capture), but even the bugs like the tip of it when it is done misting. lol. I have it right by my kitchen window and when I see a hummingbird come in close, I turn it on with my phone.

[@jennhoff03]

@@ButterfliesNBirds That is so cool! I didn't know such a thing existed! I'm the one who commented once about disabled gardening. So I have everything on drip irrigation, too. May I ask how long/often you run it? Or do you solely do it when one comes by the window?

[@tammiedunbar6166]

I purchased my mister at the (Home Depot) And connected it to the garden hose the hummingbirds will also bathe in a shallow flowing water fountain.

[@tammiedunbar6166]

Does your salivas return each Spring?

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

I remember your post and your wonderful raised garden that you can move. I have done both ... I have had the mister run at specific times each day (for 10-15 min.) and I also run it when I'm seeing the hummingbirds really active. This spring I am only running it when I am out with them and watching or I'm at the window and they are feeding near it. During the summer dragon flies like to sit on the tip of the mister (when it isn't misting) and pollinators like native bees will come and get water from the tip after it has finished misting.

[@stanleystone49]

Wow your garden is so beautiful I love butterflies too I have a butterfly garden too I love sitting outside and enjoying them I live in ft Lauderdale FL

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Thank you! That is fantastic you have a butterfly garden! Do you have a "must have" plant for your butterflies? Florida and the Texas Gulf Coast have some similar growing conditions. I wish I had a zebra longwing visit my garden because of all the passionvine I have, but no luck yet. I bet you see them a lot. 😊

[@stanleystone49]

Yes the zebra long wings are the dominant butterflies in my garden I also get gulf's and monarch butterflies and Julia's butterflies u get sulphurs too

[@stanleystone49]

I have lots of passion vines I also propagate some too

[@stanleystone49]

I have pipe vine too but I've yet to see any pipe vine swallow tails on it yet I hope soon.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

How wonderful! If I remember I think the zebra longwings are your state butterfly. I'm still hoping I get one in my garden. 😊

[@blw528]

Got really inspired by yiur garden and slowly tranaforming ours. For the the birds, what kind of food/seeds do you use?

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

That is wonderful you are inviting pollinators to your garden! This spring I predominately use "No Mess Blend" mix which consists of shelled sunflower seeds, chopped peanuts with calcium carbonate. I also offer safflower, sunflower chips, shelled peanuts, and suet. For the suet I predominately use Bark Butter. All the seed and suet I purchase from a store called Wild Birds Unlimited. It is important to feed the birds you want in your yard and not have a lot of "filler" seed that gets wasted because birds don't eat it. What birds do you have in your area?

[@cherylsloan1305]

I have squirrel problems this year, they don't bother your bark butter? Love the garden.

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

I get the Hot Pepper Bark Butter - the squirrels don't touch it. And the pepper is safe for birds.

[@liliaduran359]

I stopped feeding birds because of the squirrels and racoons, they destroyed my roof to move into the attic and I had a hard time getting rid of them

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

I totally understand! We don't have racoons, but squirrels have always been a problem in our neighborhood. The baffles keep the squirrels off our pole feeding systems, but the squirrels still frequent our yard. They love to dig in the flower beds and containers. They also eat any seed the birds drop on the ground.

[@Gtumrths]

…and the squirrels eat young birds!!!!

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

A commenter on another video called squirrels "tree rats" and I think that sums up squirrels. (Although they are cuter than rats). They are certainly pests in my yard.