Every summer my back yard comes alive with twittering, swooping, zooming and sometimes battling hummingbirds. But it wasn’t always this way. For years, we lived with a perfectly fine suburban yard that we inherited when we moved into our house. You know, the kind with a grassy backyard, redwood decking, and assorted trees, shrubs and the like.
I loved the lush green grass until my lawn-mowing kids both left for college and I got tired of nagging my husband to mow every weekend. I should also add that we live in drought-plagued California, so every time I paid our water bill, I looked at that grass and wondered if it was worth it.
When we finally decided it was time to rehab our yard, we thought hard about getting rid of the lawn. We ended up pulling it ALL out. It was the best gardening decision we’ve made yet!
My son and his college friends pulled out our old redwood deck that was starting to show its age. Piles and piles of boards were hauled away and donated. We pulled out all the lawn, a leaky old sprinkler system and bunches of plants that were tired, old and needed to be retired.
We hired a local company to install an interlocking paver patio, and build some walled seating, complete with automatic lighting, that doubles as raised beds.
When the hardscape was done, I was excited to be able to choose bright, colorful perennials that I knew would attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. Thankfully, most perennials that attract hummingbirds are also drought tolerant, which means they are easy to establish without needing a constant supply of water and don’t need much water in the summer either.
We planted several varieties of salvia: “Hot Lips” (brilliant red), “Black & Bloom” (dark violet) and Mexican Sage (light purple).
We rounded out our yard with several varieties of Butterfly Bushes (white and purple), Milkweed (red and orange), Penstemon (red and violet), Yarrow (yellow), Lavender (purple), Purple Coneflower and Lavender Trumpet Vines.
These quick growing perennials started blooming right away attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees almost immediately.
While I did anticipate not having to mow a thirsty lawn, I didn’t expect that my new yard would be so easy to maintain. Nearly everything we planted only requires a light pruning every fall. Another bonus to our new backyard! And our water bill is now a fraction of what we used to pay every summer.
To pull it all together, we put in a free standing fire pit, strung outdoor lights around the area, and added several seating areas. I hung several baskets of fuschias, which hummingbirds also love, and every spring I plant a few flats of annuals like petunias and impatiens.
Now we truly have an outdoor room to be proud of. Most summer weekends we have friends over for a barbeque and a friendly game of corn hole.
And every evening as the sun goes down, you can find me outside with a glass of wine, enjoying my flowers and hanging out with my hummingbirds.
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