The Butterfly and Songbird Garden provides food sources and shelter for a variety of butterflies and small birds while providing you with a source of beauty and color. This all California native plant palette requires little water and is easy to maintain. This garden embraces the casual and colorful feel of a classic cottage garden, with a modern and eco-friendly plant palette that gives back to the local environment!
For maximum support to songbirds, be sure to have at least one elevated birdbath, and ideally change the water daily, especially in warm weather, to keep it clean and sanitary for the birds, and to prevent mosquitos. If you have room for more than one, baths of different sizes or depths will attract a wider range of birds. A more affordable way to provide this is to use ceramic saucers (like what would be underneath a potted plant) placed on top of large logs or anything else to elevate them approximately 2 or so above the ground.
A saucer filled with a combination of sand and gravel, and then filled with water will sometimes be used by butterflies for a drink. However, I have also had gardens where the butterflies never seem to use these when they can find a wet spot of mulch or garden soil for a small drink.
This plant palette is available as an option for the Waterwise Community Center's Landscape Design Assistance Program. Visit cbwcd.org/desgin for more details.
An online resource for you to learn about and choose the best plants for your inland Southern California landscape.
Promoting water conservation through education, stormwater capture, waterwise landscapes, and other initiatives.
We provide programs, services, and resources to serve audiences of all ages to cultivate a community-wide conservation ethic and build regional capacity for water resilience.
Choose between a list or map view of all signs found in our waterwise garden and park.
This is a digital registry created to offer further information on the physical signs in our waterwise garden and park premises.
Would you like a few tips on how to use this tool?
Using the map view, you can preview what each specific sign is about by tapping on the plus icon.
You can view these tips at any time by tapping the Help link in the top left.
