Wow!! Nice greene!! Right now sadly my yard is very barren...had 2 trees that came into my yard from the next door neighbor but she cut them down to put up a fence I had lots of plans but went from a mostly shade yard to full sun with just a few saw strokes...so I'm having to totally regroup and plan again...

klc said:I had lots of plans but went from a mostly shade yard to full sun with just a few saw strokes...

Sorry to hear this...
As horrible as it is when peeps do it to their own yards so they can grow useless turf... how much worse to have it done to you!!!

I'd get busy planting poppies and sunflowers for the finches, and mulberry trees for everybody... and uh... how much room do you have for trees? plant some poplars for the tiger swallowtails, and a pawpaw patch for the zebra swallowtails, and a big patch of passion vines for the frits and longwings...

Better tear down the fence, and plant some stuff in the neighbor's yard....

After the NWF attempted to go into a partnership with Scotts chemicals:
http://www.stonethegardener.co...
I kinda lost interest in them...

But...
the certified wildlife habitat WAS one of their better ideas...
Made it a little more difficult for the neighborhood HOA to force compliance with their ridiculous "weed" laws... in their ever increasing effort to force the country to rip out valuable landscapes and grow noxious turf...
http://www.stonethegardener.co...

Thanks Stone for the ideas. Unfortunately my yard is very small for trees but planning is still a work in progress!!

Had some setbacks so looks like just planning this summer.... hopefully some action next summer

Late to the party (as usual) - I support NWF, but couldn't see paying to be "certified." (some would say I'm "certifiable", but that's a whole different story... )

Kim, why not think shrubs for your yard? Sun, rather than shade, is definitely not a bad thing... hazelnuts, viburnum, sand cherry, staghorn sumac, red osier dogwood... and then so many things to encourage butterflies -- milkweed, dill and borage come to my mind, but pretty much anything that flowers is a nectar plant. And a water source of some sort is certainly beneficial for birds, butterflies, and all wildlife... I live in the middle of a cedar swamp, near a river and L. Michigan, so that's not a huge concern here, but in many areas it definitely is. Provide nesting materials for birds... cotton balls, dryer lint, dog fur... all the birds in my yard have nests that include collie fur, I'm pretty sure!

Grow it, and they will come! Happy gardening

LOL!! I've been told a "white jacket" would look good on me a time or two also, Sandy!!!

Thanks for the tips about the bushes...hadn't really thought of that except for a weigela bush and butterfly bush... now have more things to think about!!

Some day it will come together and they will come!!!

How did I forget weigela?? I have a "Wine and Roses" one that I love, dark leaves and bright pink flowers. And of course azaleas and rhododendrons... which have been part of the April theme here!