GARDENS WITH WINGS

As summer takes its final breaths, so do many of Spokane's remarkable gardens. But even as fall drifts in with crisp, cool temperatures, we have a few days left to appreciate our region's "flying flowers" -- butterflies and hummingbirds -- affectionately courted by many Inland Northwest gardeners.

Do people actually plant shrubs and flowers to draw these winged wonders?

"Absolutely," said Kari Eilers, who lives and gardens in northeast Spokane. "Watching birds and butterflies really adds something special to my garden and the time I spend there."

Mike Turner and Steve Smith, gardeners with Spokane Parks and Recreation Dept., nurture a habitat for butterflies and hummingbirds in Manito Park's Joel E. Ferris perennial gardens (just northeast of the greenhouse).

What attracts fluttering visitors?

"There are certain bushes that excrete a lot of sugar," said Eilers. "Focus on things like holly hocks, asterias, and `butterfly bushes' - lilacs."

"My favorite flower for attracting butterflies is buddleia, also known as the `butterfly bush,'" said Naomi Matthews, a contributing editor at Butterfly & Hummingbird Gardening, an online publication: http://www.suite101.com/articles.cfm/ butterfly-gardening.

"I have two varieties of these in my flower garden - royal red and pink delight," Matthews said. "Butterflies seem to prefer the royal red, although they do frequent both.

She has attracted tiger swallowtails, cabbage whites, sulfurs and other species of butterflies that imbibe nectar from her flowers.

"And being hardy perennials," Matthews said, "they die down in the winter but spring to life again in early spring, ready for next year's butterflies!"

Hummingbirds, which need tubular-shaped flowers, are drawn to the color, not the smell of nectar-rich flowers.

"My favorite early blooming flowers that attract my first hummers each year are my azaleas," Matthews said. "Following those, my dark lavender Chinese wisteria bloom profusely and bring hummingbirds, butterflies - and bees - to visit!"

But remember, hummingbirds and butterflies - in all their fluttering splendor - spend 80 percent of their time at rest. So provide plenty of safe, high roosts along with fountains of nectar.

Another cautionary note: When planning a butterfly and hummingbird garden, avoid all pesticides and poisons.

"Insecticides will not only drive away butterflies and hummingbirds, (but) it will make them very ill and can cause death," Matthews said. "It's best to use organic pest controls or antibacterial soaps if you need to control noxious pests," she said. Or, introduce beneficial insects like ladybugs or lacewings to your garden.

With a bit of planning to your plants, you can count on months of delicate companionship.

"Butterflies will usually frequent summer gardens as long as they can find nectar," Matthews said. But as temperatures begin to dip below 65 degrees, some species migrate south. Those that stay, overwinter in chrysalides or cocoons.

The rufous, Washington's most common hummingbird, can linger until mid-September. "If you have been supplement-feeding hummingbirds with nectar during the summer, you may want to consider leaving your feeders up until the end of September" for late-leaving stragglers, Matthews said.

"You needn't worry that hummingbirds will become dependent upon the nectar from your feeders," she said, "as they will still continue on their annual migration journey."

Copyright 1999 Cowles Publishing Company
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