{"id":35672,"date":"2022-05-14T15:45:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-14T22:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=35672"},"modified":"2026-06-06T07:23:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:23:48","slug":"pollinator-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/pollinator-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pollinator Garden: Putting In Flowers and Hoping for the Birds, the Bees and the Beetles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"flower-garden-plants\"<\/a>
Plants for the side and back yards arrived yesterday and overnighted on the newly built landing alongside our house. Photos by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I want flowers. I just do. I want the crazy daisies. I want the seaside fleabane. I want the tiny manzanita bells. I want the funky kangaroo paws and the faithful, ever-returning salvia. I want some of those outrageously pop-eyed cone flowers. I want them all, native and not. And, yes, I want the birds, the bees and the beetles they attract. I want my yard to be a year-round spectacle of flowering plants and the critters who depend on them. I want a pollinator garden.<\/p>\n

And that’s what arrived at my house yesterday. Plants with names you could eat for lunch: Convolvuous maritanicus. Campanula muralis. Aqueligia. Ficus repens. And that cut-flower favorite, Alstromeria.<\/p>\n

A Pet — Or a Pollinator Garden?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Some of my newly widowed acquaintances suggest I get a dog. Others say cat. Dog, cat — get yourself something that needs nurturing, they tell me. It’ll do you good.<\/p>\n

\"kangaroo-paw-anigozanthos-bush-pearl\"<\/a>
Among the new arrivals — Kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos ‘Bush Pearl’). Note to self: take a minute from time to time to sit down with this plant and just look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But for me, it’s the green and growing things that bring out the urge to nurture — that distract me from that big empty spot<\/a> in my days.<\/p>\n

Plants amaze me. There they are, out in the dirt and the rain, day and night, turning muck and mud into petioles and venules. Into things living, breathing and spectacular. Into places where a ladybug<\/a> or a soldier beetle<\/a> might land and feel itself at home.<\/p>\n

More insects at “A Checkerspot Butterfly in Marin \u2014 And Other Insects I Have Known and (Tried to) Love.”<\/a>\u00a0 More\u00a0 flora at “Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder — But What If There’s No Beholder?”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"heuchera\"<\/a>
Three kinds of Heuchera — coral bells — will add color to the new garden even when the delicate blossoms are done for the season. (Left to right, H. ‘Fire Alarm,’ H. ‘Forever Purple,’ H. Villosa Citronella.’)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"seaside-fleabane-Erigeron-glaucus\"
A California native, seaside fleabane (Erigeron glaucus), attracts butterflies, including the Northern Checkerspot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Arctostapholos-Point-Reyes'\"<\/a>
For the pollinator garden: This drought tolerant manzanita (Arctostapholos ‘Point Reyes’) is a buzz pollinator dependent on native California bees. It was a birthday gift from a neighbor and it will go into the backyard, where the neighbors can see it from their deck. The plant ID stakes — also a birthday gift. Photos by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"flower-garden-plants\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I want flowers. I want a pollinator garden. I want the crazy daisies, the seaside fleabane, the irises — and the birds and the bugs.\u00a0 Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[2589,1306,403,2595,2517,2494],"class_list":["post-35672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","category-widowed","tag-backyard","tag-flower-garden","tag-flowers","tag-insects","tag-pollinator-garden","tag-side-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35672"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49271,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35672\/revisions\/49271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}