Last year, in my new place, I transformed a 10 x 10 "front yard" of gravel into a perennial bed of (mostly) native plants. I was hoping to encourage the bees and butterflies and birds, some of whom I heard nearby that spring.
Everything flourished and though I didn't see a wide variety of butterflies, I did have a good assortment of pollinators on lavender, Joe pye weed, st John's wort, pentas, hibiscus (that non-native) and some annuals I was gifted. Then one day in the late summer, a female hummingbird stopped by! I was so excited! It worked! And finally, the feeder that had been up for a good long while was being used, too.
Over the winter, I enjoyed the usual feeder and ground birds, plus bluebirds, yellow rumped warblers, and an oriole at the suet feeder. All that in the "no man's land" between the pinelands and central Jersey.
Two days ago I finally finished cleaning the bird feeder area and I put up the hummingbird feeder.
Today, there she was! The only plants blooming right now are iris and violets and the last of the hyacinth. But she remembered or saw the feeder. Yay!
