And Suddenly I Want More Standing Cypress

Yesterday morning I joined a group of fellow Native Plant Society members to tour another member’s wildlife garden. Jackie has lived at her house since 1997, gardening from the start to make her yard a nature’s delight for humans and wildlife alike.

Goodbye Arizona Ash and a Chinese exotic tree, the name of which escapes me. Goodbye excessive lawn. Hello native plants. Hello blooms, birds, butterflies, and bees.

The sideyard grass path lead us to quite a surprise — a backyard rich in color, variety, and wildlife visitors. Pipevine swallowtails were constantly fluttering around, hummingbirds obsessed over the Standing Cypress blooms, and native bees ignored all the human visitors and went about gathering pollen like nobody’s bzzzzzness.

To achieve such a gathering of wildlife, Jackie plants native plants that serve as host plants for caterpillars and nectar-, pollen-, and seed-providing plants for other animals.

Of course, she also makes sure to include the very necessary habitat element of water. The above birdbath provides a drip to create water movement that birds appreciate.

But just beyond, Jackie also makes use of a simpler system, a jug of water with a pinhole at the bottom, allowing a very slow drip to add movement to the birdbath water below.

An avid birder, Jackie not only provides native plants that birds enjoy, but she also supplements with multiple birdfeeders strung along long cables.

Jackie commented that others might find the string of birdfeeders odd, but I found it quite clever. During our visit, it was clear that the birds utilized the line as a perch as much as they used the feeders themselves. Jackie hung the feeder line in such a way that sunflower seeds would fall onto the path rather than into her garden, so that she could easily control any seedlings that might crop up, so to speak.

The diversity of natives is the key to a successful wildlife garden. Jackie doesn’t aim for perfect patches of neatly-arranged plant species, but lets the plants gather in natural masses in the dense cover-providing style that is found in nature and that native animals prefer. This controlled but somewhat untamed appearance is sometimes a look that other gardeners have firm opinions about, but the success of such of garden in attracting wildlife speaks for itself.

Jackie’s garden exhibits a little of all lighting types — sun, shade, and in between — so she’s able to increase the native plant and subsequent wildlife diversity just by knowing the habits of the plants she selected. Though I didn’t get images of the more wooded areas in the back of the yard, the combination of trees and understory provided a peaceful habitat for those creatures more content in the shade.

I was jealous of all the Purple Coneflowers — clearly I need to increase the quantity in my own garden by a lot. But I went truly gaga for the Standing Cypress. Rather than being kept together in a single mass, these tall, Dr. Seuss plants were scattered among the rest of the garden.

Frankly, I loved the effect, and visiting hummingbirds and bees said the same thing. Two-dimensional images just can’t do it justice.

Back in the side yard, Jackie’s Trumpet Vine (also called Trumpet Creeper) was covered in seedpods, blooms, and nectar-loving ants.

Though Jackie’s Trumpet Vine appeared quite under her control, this aggressive spreader can sometimes become a gardener’s nightmare (it’s called a creeper for a reason), but its plentiful nectar makes it a wildlife favorite.  Ants come with the package — I found it fascinating how they laid claim to the entire vine.

Across the path from the Trumpet Vine was a Devil’s Shoestring in bloom.

I fell in love with the creamy blooms. Why don’t I have this in my garden yet?

While Jackie has greatly reduced her lawn size, she does maintain some grass for pathway purposes. In the wildlife garden, however, she uses cedar mulch. The colorful garden, alive with happy creatures, certainly was a treat. Jackie, thank you for letting us visit.

After the garden tour, Nolan and I joined others for a walk through Brodie Wild, a habitat restoration and water quality protection project in South Austin, and then it was off to the Pond Tour. At this point, my ailing camera took a turn for the worst. We’ll see if I get to post photos or not.