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I grew up in SE Wisconsin where my parents put my sister and I to work planting, weeding, and harvesting the huge vegetable patch we had on the 2 acre property where we lived. That was the extent of my gardening knowledge. That and I knew I hated to mow the lawn! :P
While living in New York City for 10 years my appreciation for nature grew (meaning: I missed it!), and Central Park became my lifesaver. It was there that I developed quite an appetite for birding (my life list is 255 species, give or take a bird!).
I moved back to the midwest in 2004 and now have 1/4 acre property on which our house sits. I realized that I better figure out what to do with the sorely neglected landscape surrounding our home or be disowned by my parents and my Plant Physiologist sister! It began with tearing out overgrown yews along the southern side of the house... and I started researching what plants would attract more birds, including hummingbirds, to our yard. Lo and behold, many of those plants also attracted butterflies. So thus began my quest for a fabulous Butterfly and Wildlife Garden. Since we moved in we ve had 63 species of birds visit our backyard, and so far I have identified 19 species of butterflies nectaring on the goodies I planted thus far, and have had Monarchs, Black Swallowtails, American Painted Ladies, and Question Marks ovipositing on the host plants planted in our yard. More to come, I hope. :) In the meantime we have registered our yard as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat with the NWF, a Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary with the Illinois Audubon Society, as well as Monarch Watch - we are Monarch Waystation Number 236! :)
Thank goodness for this website and these forums - I have garnered SO much information from the wonderful posts here!
I live in: United States
My zone is: z5, Evanston IL
My favorite forum 1 is Butterfly Garden.
My favorite forum 2 is Hummingbird Garden.
First registered on May 30,2005.