Native Plant Gardening for Birds, Bees & Butterflies: Southeast

by Jaret C. Daniels

Overview

Plan Your Landscape or Garden to Help Beloved Backyard Visitors

The presence of birds, bees, and butterflies suggests a healthy, earth-friendly place. These most welcome guests also bring joy to those who appreciate watching them. Now, you can turn your yard into a perfect habitat that attracts them and, more importantly, helps them thrive. Acclaimed author and expert entomologist Jaret C. Daniels provides all the information you need in this must-have guide for northern Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Learn how to landscape and create pollinator gardens with native plants.

The book begins with an in-depth introduction to native pollinators and to birds. It’s followed by a “field guide” section to more than 100 native plants that are widely available to utilize, are easy to care for, and provide great benefit to birds, bees, and butterflies. The species are organized by level of sunlight needed and then by plant types. Each species includes full-color photographs and information about hardiness zones, what they are most likely to attract, soil requirements, light levels, and Jaret’s notes. As an added bonus, you’ll make use of blooming charts, tips on attracting specific species, and more! Plus, the invaluable garden plans and projects show you just what to do and can be customized to suit your own specific interests.

Plan, plant, and grow your beautiful garden, with native plants that benefit your favorite creatures to watch and enjoy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647550363
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/06/2021
Series:	Nature-Friendly Gardens
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	370,006
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jaret C. Daniels, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Entomology at the Universityof Florida and Director of the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History, specializing in insect ecology and conservation. He has authored numerous scientific papers, popular articles, and books on wildlife conservation, insects, and butterflies, including butterfly field guides for Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Ohio, and Michigan. He is also the author of Vibrant Butterflies: Our Favorite Visitors to Flowers and Gardens; Backyard Bugs: An Identification Guide to Common Insects, Spiders, and More; and Our Love of Bees. Jaret lives in Gainesville, Florida, with his wife, Stephanie.

Read an Excerpt

Purple Passionflower
Passiflora incarnata

Family: Passifloraceae

Plant Characteristics: Perennial twining vine to 15 feet or more in length; large leaves are dark green and have three lobes; solitary lavender flowers are large and highly intricate.

USDA Hardiness Zone: 6b–9b

Bloom Period: Late spring through early fall

Growing Conditions: Full sun or partial shade, average moisture, and well-drained soil

Attracts: Butterflies, bees, flies, and other pollinators

Notes: Purple passionflower is a must-have for any wildlife garden in the Southeast. It is a fast-growing, twining, spreading vine that can be easily trained up a trellis, fence, or grown as a groundcover. Highly ornamental, the vine features dark-green foliage and sizable, eye-catching fringed flowers that draw in bees, butterflies, and other insect pollinators. It spreads by root suckers, forming small colonies. Also called maypop, plants produce a large, rounded fruit with edible pulp; a different species of passionflower, found in South America, is commercially grown for passion fruit.

Table of Contents

Why You Should Plant a Garden 4

First Step: Inventory Your Yard 4

Check Your Hardiness Zone 4

Space Considerations 5

Analyze Light Levels 5

Taking Slope and Elevation into Account 5

Analyzing Moisture Levels 6

A Simple Soil Texture Test 6

Soil Testing 6

Interpreting Soil Test Results 7

Planning Ahead 7

When to Plant 8

Eliminating Existing Weeds 8

The Seed Bank 9

Nuisance Weeds 10

Improving the Soil 10

Native Plants Matter 10

Plant Life Cycle 11

Garden Design 11

Plant Diversity 11

Plant Selection at the Nursery 12

Cultivars and Hybrids 12

Avoid Plants Treated with Pesticides 13

Before You Plant, Stage Your Garden 13

Giving Plants a Good Start 13

Maintenance 14

Avoid Broad-Spectrum Insecticides 14

Deadheading 14

Staking Down Plants 14

What to Do Before Winter 15

The Basics of Plant Anatomy 16

Flowers 16

Flower Terminology 16

Flower Clusters 17

Leaf Types 17

Leaf Attachments 17

Why Protect Pollinators? 18

Meet the Pollinators 18

Bees 18

Butterflies 19

Moths 19

Beetles 20

Flies 20

Wasps 21

Bee Mimics and Look-Alikes 21

Birds 21

Native Plant Conservation 22

How to Use This Book 22

Southeast Plants at a Glance 23

Southeast Native Plants

Full Sun 36

Full Sun to Partial Shade 108

Partial Shade to Full Shade 230

Garden Plants for Butterflies 262

Garden Plants for Bees 264

Container Garden for Pollinators 266

Bird Food and Nesting Plants 268

Hummingbird Plants 269

Larval Host List 270

Retail Sources of Southeast Native Seed and Plants 273

Cooperative Extension Service 274

Native Plant Societies 274

Botanical Gardens and Arboretums 274

About the Author 280