Creating a Butterfly, Hummingbird, and Bee garden...

This summer it was time for my daughter to choose her senior project. She decided, that in keeping with her intention of training in the field of enviormental science, she would build a hummingbird, butterfly, bee garden. We had a small island garden in the lawn, where we had lost a maple tree to a late spring freeze. So it just made sense to tear out the dead maple, (which I eventually turned into a bottle tree) and enlarge the garden to include wildlife essentials...(look for my post on bottles trees, coming soon...)

After some research online, she made a list of plants that would both provide for our intended tenants and grow in our northern climate.

 The plants chosen were, Butterfly Bush, Columbine, Rudbeckia, 2 different colors of Bee Balm, and a multiple variety plum. In the wheel barrow she planted annuals, Nicotiana, Petunia and Bacopa. There are already many plants in the surrounding gardens that are attractive to critters.

We had to pull the maple tree, and rather than hand dig it, we used our tractor...

It was almost more than the tractor could handle, but in the end it got the job done. This has been a very handy piece of equipment, could have used it years ago...

Here is the plum tree, all snuggled into his new home, yes, I said "his". His name is Stanely!

There are four varieties of northern plum, grafted onto the same trunk. Next we dug out the surrounding turf, sized so the riding lawn mower can mow around it in one swipe...

Here is the plan she worked out on paper, nothing fancy, just need the basics... 

Now it's time to dig out the grass, this part was tough, there is a lot of gravel in our soil, we will need to amend it later with compost and steer manure...

Dig it out, shake out the soil, and remove the sod, back breaking work, but she is young... 

Almost done with the clean up, look, Bandit is helping...Now is the time to add the amendments, mix them in really well. Next we lay down landscape fabric, to reduce the need for weeding, and cover everything over with woodchips for mulch... Then we placed each plant where it was supposed to grow, checked the layout, and made any changes. When we were happy with the look, we pushed aside the woodchips , cut a hole in the fabric and planted each plant...

and here it is, the completed garden! Not a lot to see right now, but give it some time to fill in...

Here it is midsummer, we are very happy with the gardens progress, it is in full bloom and already has some winged visitors...

Here is my daughter, posing with her little garden after a season of growing, it seems to be thriving, and has already attracted hummers and bees, hoping for butterflies next spring...Hope you enjoyed this post...