...sometimes even a single feather is enough to fly. (Robert Maclean)

8.03.2013

goldfinches and echinacea

We recently changed the spot where we sit with our computers...
Now we're right next to a big window with some of our perennial gardens right outside...

(A no-brainer... why didn't we do this long ago?)
 
It's interesting how changing your vantage point even just a little
 will show you a whole new side of life, even in an area that you thought you knew well.

Like life in this one little spot of the garden that we thought
we knew everything there was to know about it... 
Turns out, things are still surprising me every day.

In addition to the ruby-throated hummingbirds feasting on our monarda,
now we have goldfinches coming to feast on the echinacea.

What fun!









It appears that they love to eat the seeds of echinacea (aka coneflower), 
so if you want to invite birds into your garden, plant lots of echinacea. 

The butterflies and bees love it, too!
The butterflies and bees come earlier in the season for the nectar 
and the birds come later for the seed...

It's a beautiful thing, how one thing flows into another.
 
Echinacea is simple to grow.  
You just need a sunny spot.  Water well at first until they're established.
Then they're super low-maintenance.  They're even deer resistant!

Don't deadhead them...
Let them dry out and the birds will continue to enjoy them into the fall.

1 comment:

  1. I love your blog! I shared this post with a Facebook group, "Gardening with Native Plants," and included the link.

    ReplyDelete