outdoor
living
Learning to
love your yard
It’s more than just grass and bushes
BU T TERFLIES AND HUMMINGBIRD: INGRAM PUBLISHING/RF
LILAC AND ROSE: © VISUAL
LANGUAGE 1996,1998/RF
FOR MANY PEOPLE, work is the first thing
that comes to mind when thinking about
their yard, evoking images of mowing, weeding and other similarly uninspiring tasks. The
good news is that by simply rethinking your
relationship with that outdoor space around
your home, by learning to see the yard as an
extension of the home, you can gain a new
appreciation and a new level of enjoyment of
all the simple pleasures your yard offers.
Here are just a few ideas for ways to transform your backyard into a space that is
uniquely yours.
Attracting wild birds
Bird-watching and landscaping go hand
in hand, if you know what plants are best for
attracting birds. Many decorative berries,
while inedible for humans, are bird magnets.
Some blooming plants serve multiple duty,
filling the landscape with colorful foliage or
berries and offering a number of functional
landscape uses, such as framing entryways,
hiding the home’s foundation, softening the
landscape and controlling erosion.
The criteria for bird-attracting foliage
(and keeping your workload to a minimum)
should include showiness of bloom, multi-season color, interesting branching patterns,
cold-hardiness, berry output, beauty and ease
of maintenance, including disease resistance.
Among the trees and shrubs falling into that
category are the Japanese flowering dogwood,
saucer magnolia, eastern redbud, crab-apple,
pear and ‘Sunrise’ forsythia.
Butterfly plants
If the idea of lots of birds in your backyard is overwhelming, you might want to create a backyard butterfly
haven. Adult butterflies crave nectar from
flowers, so the ones
that have the most
nectar will be most
effective in attracting
butterflies. Butterflies
are nearsighted and are
more easily attracted to
large groups of color,
with more vibrant colors
attracting butterflies more
readily. Also, some plants are
easier than others for butterflies to land on.
Plants, and the butterflies they attract,
include:
Purple coneflower: Tiger swallowtail,
monarch, skipper, fritillary, viceroy
Canada goldenrod: Clouded sulfur,
monarch, American small copper, gray hairstreak
Common milkweed: Monarch, gray
hairstreak, variegated fritillary
Asters: American small copper
Joe Pye weed: Silver-spotted skipper
Violets: Spring azure blues
New York ironweed: Fiery skipper
Coreopsis: Buckeyes
Because butterflies are cold-blooded, a
butterfly garden should be an open, sunny
garden, with a temperature of at least 60 F.
Decorate with flat rocks that will warm up in
the sun. Butterflies will use these as basking
perches. Furnish butterfly gardens with damp
areas, too, so that butterflies will have a place
to take a break from the heat.—T. Foster Jones
The Costco Connection
Costco locations and Costco.com provide a
variety of items for creating or making over
outdoor areas, from lawn seed and bare-root
roses to gardening implements, lawn mowers, outdoor furniture and books.
Buyer’s
pıck
Jim Nelson
Lawn and
Garden Buyer
I WILL ADMIT, a watering tool set is not
the sexiest item, but if you are passionate
about gardening, conservation and value,
the seven-piece, all-metal watering tool
set from Orbit, available now at Costco,
will get your heart racing!
Watering tools such
as these allow you to
precisely control how
much water you use,
saving you money, conserving water and
ensuring that your
plants receive
exactly the amount
they need.
The zinc shower
wand provides a gentle water flow
for your delicate plants and flowers, and a
shut-off lever simplifies on/off control. The
zinc adjustable nozzle eas-
ily adjusts from a fine mist
to a jet spray, and the zinc
nine-pattern turret nozzle
provides multiple spray pat-
terns to meet everyday
watering needs. And with the
easy-on, easy-off brass quick-
connects, changing hose attach-
ments is a snap.
The all-metal construction is
not only beautiful to look at, but
provides long-lasting durability.
Costco’s price on this set offers at
least a 30 percent savings. C