I live in the Rocky Mountains and every Spring my home is visited by lots of song birds including hummingbirds.  Every year I put up a hummingbird feeder and every year a bear takes it down.  Yes, I have bears and I decided I needed to do something different to feed the little hummingbirds yet keep the bears away so I created a hummingbird garden.  The bears will not bother a hummingbird garden, however, hummingbirds and butterflys will flock to it.  Hummingbird gardens are brightly colored in reds, oranges, pinks, blues, and purples.  My new hummingbird garden is approximately 200 sq. feet.

I began by looking at catalogs from my favorite nursery, High Country Gardens in Santa Fe.  They grow their plants at an elevation similar to mine, so I prefer to buy their stock.  They have a lot of choices for hummingbirds and butterflies including agastache and salvia plants.  All the plants that I’ve chosen for my new hummingbird garden will not attract deer, rabbit, or bear.

After I measured the footage in my new garden, I then drew a plan to have a nice xeriscape garden that will be mainly carefree once the plants have been established.  There will be almost 35 plants in this garden.

Newly planted garden 6/09
Newly planted garden 6/09

 

This picture is just one of many that I’ll be adding as time goes by and my garden grows.  It’s not pretty right now, but it will be.  I took this picture before I added the drip system and the mulch.  An updated picture will follow showing the garden after I mulch it along with a list of the hummingbird and butterfly plants that I’ve chosen.  Stay tuned!

Instant beauty with container pots!
Instant beauty with container pots!

 

 There are so many reasons to have container gardens as part of your outdoor home gardening.

You can have flowering pots, herb pots, cacti & succulent pots, “green” pots (nothing that flowers), vegetable pots, etc. Container gardens are fun, versatile, and easy to manage. Container gardens are portable so you can move them around the yard, patio, balcony, etc. wherever you’d like them. They can be decorative or they can cover a bald area in your garden. You can change the look of your garden, by moving the container pots around from time to time. Any small area can “bloom” with flowers or harvest vegetables using container pots.

 A real plus is that you can start a container garden just about anytime of year. If it’s during the winter, you can start them indoors and move them outside when springtime temperatures arrive. If it’s during the hot summer season, you can still start them indoors and gradually work them outside by placing them in shady areas first until they’ve acclimated.

Container pots are less work because they offer a small soil area that you don’t have to weed. You can also place them near a water source so it’s handy to water them daily. They can be placed on a plant stand so that you don’t have to bend. Just about any plant, flowering or non-flowering, and any vegetable can be grown in a container pot.

There’s a wide variety of pots to choose from and you need to decide what’s best for your style, the plant, and the climate you live in. For instance, clay pots are very traditional and they’re porous. This means that moisture will evaporate through the pot structure. In a hot, dry, climate this may not be a good choice for the plant. Instead, consider using a plastic pot or glazed ceramic pot which will hold the moisture in.

The first thing you need to do is determine what type of plants you want in your container pot. Will it need full sun or partial shade; do you want flowering pots or an herb garden. Visit your local nursery for ideas and don’t be afraid to ask questions. That’s what they’re there for and most gardening staff will be more than happy to answer your questions.

Keep in mind that container pots need to be watered daily. In hot, dry climates they may need to be watered twice a day. Wind has a very drying effect on plants, so if you have a very windy day, you’ll probably have to water your container pot more often.

Drainage is very important with container pots. Make sure the pot(s) you’ve chosen have holes in them. Place a layer of stones or styrofoam “popcorn” in the bottom of the pot. Just enough to cover the bottom and keep the soil from draining out every time you water. Then fill the container with potting soil. It’s best to use potting soil as opposed to your backyard dirt, as potting soil has much needed nutrients and is free of weeds. If you’re potting soil does not contain a fertilizer, then feed your container pots once a week. This will give the plants the nutrients it needs and will make for a lush container pot.