Host a wild party in your garden
How to enjoy birds, bees and even bats
A discussion about the birds and the bees used to mean something different when I was young. Today, talk of wild behaviour includes not just birds and bees, but bugs, bats and butterflies, and why we need and want biodiversity in our urban gardens.
We need butterflies in our lives for their beauty and elegance. Delicate works of art, they flutter to a garden that includes native plants such as swamp milkweed (much prettier than its field cousin), bee balm, columbine, joe-pye or meadowsweet. New England aster attracts monarchs and I’ve seen 40 of them on a plant in the fall as they gather to fuel up before heading to Mexico.
Bees are also highly desirable because they are disappearing in massive numbers and food crops are threatened as a result. Attracting wild solitary bees — mason or leafcutter and not the honey hivers — to our yards is a positive move as they are non-aggressive pollinators that nest in natural holes in wood, or little bee homes. I found out about bees from Lynda Mackiewicz, who with her husband, Jim, owns Wild Birds Unlimited in Toronto. She is an expert and enthusiastic supporter of our winged friends. And she sells bee abodes.
We can attract bees with bee balm, a taller flowering perennial that is irresistible to them. I love watching a fat bumble bee weave from flower to flower as though he’s drunk. Bees also fall for lilacs, tomatoes and strawberries as well as dandelions, so don’t behead the plants until they are going to seed as you may be depriving a bee of her breakfast.
Other desirable bugs are natural predators that keep annoying insects at bay. Praying mantises, which will eat any bug they can fit into their mouths, and ladybugs, who gobble the aphids that harm roses and hibiscus, are welcome visitors. And to prevent white or cranefly grubs in your lawn, as well as a host of other pests, use nematodes, microscopic worms that destroy larvae but are 100 per cent safe, and much better for the environment and little feet than chemicals. And, you can order ladybugs, praying mantises and nematodes online from Costco.
Fragrant herbs such as lavender, basil, citronella, rosemary and marigolds repel bugs (and improve your cooking), but the best repellent is catnip, as it is 10 times more effective than DEET. It does not repel cats, though, and you’ll want to if you befriend birds.
Who doesn’t rejoice when a hummingbird whirrs by? You can lure them to your garden with tubular, nectar-producing flowers such as fuchsia and mandevilla, as well as feeders designed for them. Then sit back and enjoy the show.
Birds are as entertaining as they are functional.
Attract them easily with a bird bath or feeder and watch as they clean up your yard in thanks.
Not only do they eat the seeds of spent coneflowers, blackeyed Susans, sunflowers and others, they also love bugs. Cardinals eat caterpillars and beetles, and sparrows demolish cutworms, grasshoppers, true bugs, wasps, spiders and ants. To keep the mosquito population down, change the water in your bird bath frequently — every two to four days. And invite bats. Some people cringe at the thought of bats, but they are beneficial — one bat can eat hundreds of flies and mosquitoes while you nosh on your hot-off-the-grill ribs. A single bathouse with 250 occupants will serve a neighbourhood, and it is better to have them in their own space than in your attic.
Urban garden biodiversity, including birds, butterflies, bats, bugs and bees and all the plants that attract them, allow us to walk on the wild side — and get a real buzz from it.