Attracting Birds And Butterflies: A Quick-Reference Guide to Wildlife Gardening for Beginners―Which Plants Attract Hummingbirds, Fireflies, and More

by Barbara W. Ellis

A quick-reference guide to attracting birds and butterflies for gardeners with little experience and time.

In the eye of a bird or butterfly, the typical suburban landscape resembles an unfriendly desert. Closely mowed lawns, tightly clipped shrubs, raked-up borders, and deadheaded flowers mean no place to nest, no food to eat, and nowhere to hide. To the humans who live there, this means no bird songs, no colorful butterflies, no dazzling hummingbirds, no night-sparkling fireflies.
 
Creating a garden that welcomes these creatures may seem like a confusing and complicated task, but the principles involved are relatively simple. Essentially, wildlife needs food, water, and shelter, just like we do, and this lavishly illustrated guide shows which plants attract which creatures, and how to plant and care for them. 

 

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Nature

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 1997

Reviews

[Christie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is beautiful and has some great information, but the reason for the 1 star is that the author includes several plants (including burning bush, butterfly bush, privets, and mimosa) that are invasive. I did see at least one warning that a plant could be invasive, but most of them did not have this warning. I am reading the 2019 edition, which should absolutely not include these plants.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations and very helpful tips and information

[Carol]

Plenty of interesting and useful information.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book cover says "How to Plant a Backyard Habitat to Attract Winged Wildlife." So I reserved it from my library expecting more of a how-to. This was definitely more of a reference.
A few gripes:
- I wish that it was more consistent in its encouragement to use native plants. Sometimes it mentions if an introduced plant is invasive, but not always.
- Some of the range maps are confusing - the keys don't tell what the yellow or orange parts refer to in most of the maps.
- The hummingbird reference section included terms (like the color description "rufous" and the anatomy description "gorget) that I'm sure professional birder are familiar with, but I'd never heard of.
- While I really liked the pics of the butterflies (makes me almost want to buy it so my kids & I can use it as a reference), I wish it also had pics -- not just descriptions -- of the caterpillars.

Overall, a decent reference book to use as an overview but I think I'll stick with more localized guide books.

[DG · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s honestly a beautiful book and reads nicely, but includes a lot of invasive plants. I also think it misses the boat in mentioning how you need to generate caterpillars to feed baby birds and the plants that generate the most caterpillars (Doug Tallamy’s work). I also wish it expressed more clearly the food sources/ plants for each bird. It has field marks, sounds, habitat, and backyard. Including a plants heading and the specific plants mentioned would be useful and prudent. Circle back to the concept of the book (how to plant a backyard habitat). The butterfly section includes host and nectar plants.


I picked this book up at menards where I’m sure it has sold well, which makes me sad that the concept of invasive species wasn’t introduced in the book and that invasive plants were actually suggested. A lot of people are unaware that invasive species (plant, insect, diseases) and deer overpopulation are some of the worst environmental scourges facing our ecosystems.

[Ligaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone fairly new to attracting birds and butterflies but experienced in gardening, there are definitely some confusing parts to this book. I was shocked at the invasive species that are recommended. I think photos of butterfly larvae were included so I wouldn't be destroying something that I really wanted to encourage. Information on attracting birds to the garden with seeds, birdhouses, and platforms seemed abbreviated, but maybe that's another book. I don't know much about birds but I wish there was information on the birds you really don't want in your yard and how to keep predators away from birds. It was interesting but I think I'll have to find more references to fill out my knowledge.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives a nice overview of how to set up a wildlife friendly yard including lists of trees, bushes, perennials and annuals to attract birds and pollinators, along with plant profiles and information on a variety of birds and butterflies. Great photos.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of info, but not really organized in a way helpful for me. Lots of great photos.

[Youssouf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book

[Mindy Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this easy to follow guide.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great idea but MANY MANY “suggestions” are in fact invasive and will be detrimental to the local ecosystem harming birds, pollinators, and native plants further

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on attracting wildlife to your backyard: birds, hummingbirds and pollinators. Easy to understand information and great pictures.

[Wistful Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great information, but particularly helpful are the plant lists for songbirds, hummingbirds and butterflies!