Tag Archives: wildlife gardening

Tithonia

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 14, 2011
After a summer of benign neglect, our flower garden is overflowing with brilliant Tithonia, commonly known as Mexican sunflower. They bloom from midsummer through fall, and hummingbirds and butterflies love them. They can grow 4-6′ high and are sprawling plants with velvety leaves. You can use them as cut flowers, but you have to be [...]
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Weeks Bay Native Plant Sale, October 7-9

By Ang Jordan | Published: September 30, 2011
WHAT: Weeks Bay Native Plant Sale WHEN: Friday – Saturday, October 7-9, 9am – 4pm daily WHERE: Safe Harbor at Weeks Bay across U.S. Highway 98 from Weeks Bay Reserve (south of Fairhope on 98) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Included in the sale will be shrubs, perennials, butterfly plants, trees, hummingbird plants, wetland plants, and dune plants, [...]
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Fall Butterflies

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 19, 2010
Despite my neglect, my Zinnias, Tithonia, and Salvia are still flowering, luring in butterflies, bees, and the occasional hummingbird. This Monarch stayed in the garden for quite some time, visiting the Tithonia repeatedly. I saw three kinds of butterflies while I was outside briefly, including a tattered Gulf Fritillary (below).
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Weeks Bay Native Plant Sale, October 8-10

By Ang Jordan | Published: October 2, 2010
WHAT: Weeks Bay Native Plant Sale WHEN: Friday – Saturday, October 8-10, 9am – 4pm daily WHERE: Safe Harbor at Weeks Bay across U.S. Highway 98 from Weeks Bay Reserve (south of Fairhope on 98) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Included in the sale will be shrubs, perennials, butterfly plants, trees, hummingbird plants, wetland plants, and dune plants, [...]
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Sugar + Water = Fuel

By Ang Jordan | Published: September 10, 2010
Be sure to keep your hummingbird feeders filled now and into the winter. I’ve been hearing a lot of hummers in the yard lately, and these little guys need to fuel up for their migration south over the Gulf of Mexico. Rather than buying commercial mix (especially the variety with red dye, which is bad [...]
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Great Nature Experiences

By Ang Jordan | Published: April 15, 2010
Some of you may know that we live at one of the birding hotspots of the Gulf Coast. Migratory birds from all over eastern North America stop here before crossing the Gulf in the fall, and make their first landfall here when returning in the spring. There are lots of opportunities to see these birds [...]
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Wildlife Gardening Pays Off

By Ang Jordan | Published: August 11, 2008
Today is my daughter’s first day of preschool. I took the opportunity (in between rain showers) to spend 45 minutes weeding my long-neglected garden. I was thrilled to find four swallowtail butterfly caterpillars on the remnants of my bronze fennel, which I planted specifically as a host plant (I am not a fennel eater). I [...]
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