If you enjoy watching wildlife whether they are birds, bees or butterflies, the best way to attract them to your garden is to grow native plants. Apart from your enjoyment, growing native plants will provide several other benefits one of which is to help offset the loss of natural habitat to urban and agricultural use. And from a gardener’s perspective native plants need less water or maintenance than the standard lawn as Tina Huckabee explains in her article which I found on the Gardening Know How website.

A flash of paint-splash, riotous color popped through the garden, sometimes in brilliant view, sometimes hidden, or partially so, by the verdant leaves of a low ground cover. I observed for a few moments, then grabbed the camera and waited patiently. What I captured in pictorial form was this male Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris, arguably one of the loveliest of the many beautiful native North American birds.

This gorgeous fellow and his pretty, shy mate, visited my garden for several days during spring migration. What they were feeding on and the reason they were attracted to my garden, were the seeds of the spring blooming Lyre leaf sage, Salvia lyrata, a native plant to the south and southeast parts of the United States. Observing the Buntings as they enjoyed the bounty of my garden was a good reminder of why I garden with native plants.