Welcome GardenLiz!!! Always great to have a new member come post on one or more of the forums!
What county and state do you live in? If I have that information, I can hook you up with a website that will tell you exactly what butterflies and host plants you could try growing to attract more butterflies. I currently host 8-9 different species of butterflies in my yard. In Spring through Fall every year, my yard looks like a butterfly habitat. There are so many butterflies in my yard during most of the year. Winter it slows down, but butterflies start showing up come Spring and the show begins once again! I also raise and release some of the butterflies from caterpillars. (We have a wasp problem here and they eat caterpillars! Ugh!) I often find the caterpillars and cage them until they pupated into an adult butterfly to be released in my backyard! I bet your daughter could do that, too! It's very educational to learn about nature and the lifecycle of butterflies.
I just had a Hummingbird Bander come to my yard today and he captured, banded, and released 3 Ruby-throated hummingbirds. It's so cool to see them up close. I got to release them from my hand. Always a thrill! I am sure hummers come your way during some part of the year. I can share with you what plants to grow for hummers, too! I bet your daughter would get a kick out of hummingbirds as well.
Great idea about nectar plants to attract bees! Definitely!!!
I am very interested to hear and see more about your tropical garden! I love that you are trying that in your zone! Very cool!!!!
Vegetable gardening .... ahhhh ... how I wished I could grow such a garden successfully. Climate and soil does not bode too well for that here. Though I do grow some plants like bell peppers and tomatoes. On the otherhand, I do have great luck with herbs grown in my vertical herb garden. See this article I wrote if you are interested in what a "vertical" herb garden looks like:
http://garden.org/ideas/view/b...
I did the vertical garden because herbs are too invasive in the ground here in Florida.
Here is a photo of one of the captured Ruby-throated hummingbirds after being banded before he was set free. You can see the tiny band on his leg.:
