Simple ways to attract butterflies and birds to your garden

Butterflies and birds add a unique element to any outdoor space. What's more, they're natural predators of certain common pest insects. Here are some simple ways you can encourage them to visit your garden.

Many outdoor creatures that accent a beautiful landscape are also helpful participants in the community.

• Bees pollinate fruit trees and flowers, keeping gardens productive.
• Toads, frogs and lizards are fascinating to watch and eat pesky insects at a ferocious rate.
• Dragonflies, ladybugs and spiders also eat great numbers of unwelcome insects, such as aphids and mites.

Like flowers, butterflies and birds add colour and motion to your garden.

• They're also adept at helping to keep such annoying insects as mosquitoes at bay. Plus their role as pollinators can't be understated.

There are a few simple things you can do to attract these colourful winged wonders into your yard.

1. Plant flowers: Specifically, plant flowers that have the type of nectar butterflies love, such as butterfly bush, verbena, sedum, zinnias, Mexican sunflower and lantana.
2. Put down flat stones: Butterflies are sun lovers. They can't fly when temperatures dip below10°C (50°F). As such, they like to warm themselves on large flat stones that get morning sun.
3. Don't use pesticides: Chemicals that kill harmful insects will also kill the insects you want to attract.
4. Keep the site sheltered: High winds damage the gossamer wings of butterflies. Tall shrubs provide a windbreak and shelter for other wildlife as well.
5. Add a butterfly house: A butterfly house makes a lovely accent. Be sure to place them in sunny spots near flower beds and sheltering shrubs or bushes.

Most birds require little incentive to flock together in a garden. However, you can still encourage them to congregate in your yard by doing a few small things to keep them happy.

1. Offer fresh water: If you feed birds in a protected area and offer fresh water and a safe place to nest, birds will linger in your yard all year long.
2. Don't set out bread crumbs: They are low in fat and are actually harmful to birds in winter, when they should be consuming high-energy foods, such as suet, fruits, nuts and oily seeds.
3. Start feeding in the fall: Most overwintering birds establish their food supply in the fall. So keep the feeder filled, even while on vacation.
4. Keep the bird feeder well stocked: Experiment with birdseed — such as hulled sunflower seeds, thistle, safflower seed, black oil sunflower seed and white millet — to see what birds you attract. Keep a platform feeder (a wood tray on a post) well supplied.
5. Provide a birdbath: A birdbath is a sure way to attract birds. Make yours more appealing by setting a few stones in the water that protrude half an inch or so. If winters are very cold in your area, you can buy a birdbath heater to keep the water from freezing and to provide a constant water source.
6. Put up birdhouses: Buy a birdhouse specifically designed for the birds you want to attract (a store-bought birdhouse should include this information). Then place at the correct height: 1.5 to 4.5 metres (six to 15 feet) for chickadees, for example, or six metres (20 feet) or more for woodpeckers. Clean out the birdhouse in late winter each year to attract more birds.
7. Add landscape plants: Add landscape plants that attract birds. Birds like a variety of plants, but berry-producing species are especially appealing. So are seed-producing plants, such as sunflower and purple coneflower, as long as you permit the fading flowers to go to seed.

Give your outdoor space that extra touch by making it accessible for butterflies and birds. They will help create a beautiful space and you'll love watching them!