Gardening 101: Texas Discovery Garden at Fair Park
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Planting native is to feed native.
I talk about this all the time when talking about plant selection for your garden. Native flowering perennials and trees provide native insects their food source of preference. There are some adapted plants that can also provide food for some of our local pollinators but not always.
You'll find bees will tap in the nectar and pollen of just about anything that blooms (most of the bees you see are European varieties, not native ones). Bumblebees and butterflies however can be very plant specific, especially when it comes to where they lay their eggs.
A quick tour of Discovery Park Butterfly Garden is a walk to learn what to plant here. The garden itself has been growing plants at their location for almost 80 years. In that time, an entire, massive city has grown out in every direction from their location, becoming the ninth largest city in the country.
In response to this unprecedented urban growth around it, the garden has added to its mission to be a food source for native insects and birds. Strolling around the grounds during the warm season you'll notice a swarm of pollinators of all types feeding there.
If all of us would just dedicate a tenth of our landscape to native plants, our local ecosystem of insects and birds would benefit greatly. These populations are on the decline and could use your help. You'll like it when they show up.
Jeff Ray is the senior First Alert Meteorologist at CBS News Texas and avid gardener. When not covering weather, he is finding stories about Gardening in north Texas. If you would like Jeff to come talk to your group about how changing weather patterns are changing the way we garden in this area, please email him at jaray@viacomcbs.com .
