Satori Garden Design

If there’s running water…they will come

Last August I finally acted on a long time urge to get some high quality bird feeders in my garden. I was just leaving Arrowhead with my family after a week at Bruinwoods UCLA family camp when I spied a cute little store that was all about birds. I rushed in and pick up two great feeders one for tiny birds and one for larger birds. I immediately filled and hung the feeders when I got home. I was told that in a week or two “you’ll have more birds than you know what to do with.” Well, I didn’t. We all waited and waited for those birds to come for months. I was worried the food would spoil before I had any visitors. Then I was listening to a speaker talk about supporting habitat in your garden and someone in the audience mentioned that she hand-waters her garden and has a ton of birds. Aha! I had just that week repaired a fountain that had been broken and it was now running – would this do the trick? It did! I soon had lots of birds. Now my challenge is keeping the feeders full and the cats in “observation only” distance.  We have our feeders hung so that they are viewable from our family room sofa.  I also have hummingbird feeders hung just outside my kitchen sink.  It’s nice to have visitors.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (and breakfast, lunch….)?

hummingbird visiting Salvia spathacea (Hummingbird Sage)

Let’s say you do decide to remove your lawn and replace it with a gorgeous mix of climate appropriate plants.  You will in effect be saying “hello nature, come on over.” Your garden will now be a welcome habitat to birds and beneficial insects alike.  In fact, if you plant California natives, you’ll really be helping out since 90% or more of these insects are dependent on the native plant species they have co-evolved with.  Your actions would help sustain a complex network between plants, animals, fungi and microbes that make up our native ecosystem.

Do you like scent in the garden?  Well few gardens rival the aroma of a Mediterranean garden.  Why you might ask?  Well, many of these plants give off scents in the hot mid-day sun to protect themselves from dehydration.  The oils contained in the foliage of many of the Mediterranean and natives plants allow them to perfume the air.  The Salvia species (in particular White Sage and Cleveland Sage) and Monardella species (Butterfly mint) as well as the Lavenders come to mind.  Here’s a few links to fragrant natives:  Fragrant California Natives Fragrant California Native Herbs