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Create a Welcoming Garden for Bees and Butterflies

Spirits are quickly lifted with the flutter of butterflies to our garden and it’s a wonder to see bees busily at work, stopping at this flower, then that one, then another. They’re beautiful creatures, often with jewel-tone colors—butterflies flitting randomly and bees quite purposefully.

In addition to the wonderful motion these insects provide our gardens, they have important roles to play as pollinators. Without their work we’d have much smaller harvests and few seeds to plant.

These winged friends can be encouraged to visit—and even stay—if we provide plants they love and some moisture, too. To welcome bees and butterflies to your garden, don’t be too scrupulous about cleaning up leaf litter, especially if those leaves can become tiny water basins. An alternative would be to place a boulder with a shallow concave area filled with water in a sunny spot. These are welcoming areas to butterflies.

Certain plants, of course, will attract bees and butterflies and encourage them to stay awhile. Darrell Youngquest, nursery buyer for English Gardens, says “Butterfly bush is the must-have plant if you want to have a yard with the enchanted presence of beautiful butterflies.” As a second choice, he recommends planting petunias “especially if you want butterflies flitting about your deck or patio. If you don’t plant anything else, be sure to plant these two and you’ll have a summer full of butterflies.”

Frank Janosz, also a buyer at English Gardens, reminds, “Don’t forget to consider herbs to attract bees and butterflies.” He suggests anise, bee balm, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, thyme and rosemary. Butterfly larvae (caterpillars), need appropriate plants to feed on, while adult butterflies need nectar plants. If you don’t mind a few nibbled leaves, you’ll want to plant for both. It’s important to avoid chemical insecticides in your garden, and you’ll need to be careful with the application of organic pesticides, too. It’s best to spray very early in the morning or at dusk to avoid any direct spraying— especially critical for bees.

The following are English Gardens top recommendations to welcome bees and butter­ies to your garden. All are easy to grow in our area.

Butterfly Larvae Love These

  • Achillea
  • Alcea
  • Antirrhinum
  • Asclepias
  • Aster
  • Dicentra
  • Digitalis
  • Fennel
  • Sunflower
  • Lupine
  • Penstemon
  • Veronica
  • Fragaria
  • Wisteria
  • Hibiscus
  • Ribes
  • Spiraea
  • Viburnum

Butterflies Love These

  • Achillea
  • Agastache
  • Antirrhinum
  • Anise
  • Aquilegia
  • Armeria
  • Aruncus
  • Asclepias
  • Astilbe
  • Bidens
  • Brachyscome
  • Calendula
  • Centaurea
  • Larkspur
  • Coreopsis
  • Cosmos
  • Dianthus
  • Dill
  • Echinacea
  • Erigeron
  • Eryngium
  • Gaillardia
  • Gaura
  • Geum
  • Helenium
  • Heliopsis
  • Heliotrope
  • Hydrangea
  • Hyssop
  • Iberis
  • Leucanthemum
  • Liatris
  • Lillium
  • Lobelia
  • Lobularia
  • Mint
  • Monarda
  • Nicotiana
  • Origanum
  • Penstemon
  • Perovskia
  • Petunia
  • Phlox
  • Physocarpus
  • Prunella
  • Rosemary
  • Rudbeckia
  • Salvia
  • Scabiosa
  • Sedum
  • Lantana
  • Silene
  • Solidago
  • Thymus
  • Verbena
  • Veronica
  • Zinnia
  • Abutilon
  • Buddleja
  • Clematis
  • Clethra
  • Lavender
  • Lonicera
  • Philadelphus
  • Rhododendron
  • Ribes
  • Sambucus
  • Spiraea
  • Syringa
  • Vaccinium
  • Weigelia

 Bees Love These

  • Agastache
  • Aster xfrikartii
  • Berberis
  • Bidens
  • Borage
  • Caryopteris
  • Centaurea
  • Chaenomeles
  • Coreopsis
  • Cosmos
  • Echinacea
  • Eryngium
  • Geum
  • Helianthus
  • Heliotrope
  • Helleborus
  • Hyssop
  • Lavender
  • Ligustrum
  • Lobularia
  • Mentha
  • Monarda
  • Nepeta
  • Origanum
  • Penstemon
  • Perovskia
  • Rose
  • Rosemary
  • Rudbeckia
  • Salvia
  • Sedum
  • Stachys
  • Thyme

Attractor Trees?

Even trees are wonderful bee and butterfl­y attractors. Here are the best for Michigan gardens:

  • Horsechestnut (Aesculus)
  • Birch (Betula)
  • Dogwood (Cornus)
  • Franklinia
  • Seven Son Flower (Heptacodium)
  • Flowering Crabapple (Malus)
  • Pine (Pinus)
  • Prunus
  • Oak (Quercus)
  • Willow (Salix)
  • Japanese Tree Lilac (Syringa reticulata)

Article from the Early Spring 2015 Issue of Inspirations Magazine

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English Garden Nurseries & Garden Centers Serve the Greater Clinton Twp., Dearborn Heights, Royal Oak, West Bloomfield, Eastpointe, and Plymouth Ann Arbor Michigan Areas

Providing garden centers complete with full service landscaping, seasonal holiday stores including their enchanting Christmas Stores, and most locations even offer a full service in house florist

English Gardens Detroit MI area nurseries & garden centers are not only the areas largest garden nurseries, but they offer the largest selection of products and services found anywhere in the Clinton Twp., Dearborn Heights, Royal Oak, West Bloomfield, Eastpointe, and Plymouth Ann Arbor Michigan regions providing full service garden centers, full service landscaping and landscape design, seasonal holiday stores including their enchanting Christmas Stores, the largest selection of Patio Furniture in Michigan, and most locations even offer a full service in house florist for flower arrangements for every day as well as those special occasions such as wedding flowers, event flowers, sympathy and funeral flower arrangements, prom flowers, and more!

Our nurseries and garden centers have the areas largest selection of plants, flowers, shrubs, annuals, perennials, and patio furniture. Garden supplies are in abundance, with everything from garden tools and accessories, to garden and potting soil, mulches, bagged garden stone, pots and so much more. We have everything you need for your outdoor gardening needs.

Landscaping? Count on the professional landscape contractors and designers at English Gardens to Make Your Property Beautiful! We offer both DIY landscaping assistance and full service landscape design and construction with our in house landscaping company.

Our floral designers can create perfect floral arrangements for weddings, events, funerals, proms and the like. Make the moment beautiful.

Our Christmas Stores in addition to being one of the areas best holiday experiences, are filled with live and life-like artificial Christmas trees, including flocked artificial Christmas trees, and those sometimes hard to come by 9 foot flocked artificial Christmas trees, as well as a large, ready to take home inventory, of 3 foot artificial Christmas trees, 4 foot artificial Christmas trees, 5 foot artificial Christmas trees, 7.5 foot artificial Christmas trees, 9 foot artificial Christmas trees and 12 foot artificial Christmas trees, and all of the other holiday items you need like Christmas lights, decorations, Christmas wreaths & garland of all types, and unique gifts. Make the Holiday beautiful!

English Gardens store by store offerings in the Clinton Twp., Dearborn Heights, Royal Oak, West Bloomfield, Eastpointe, and Plymouth Ann Arbor Michigan areas;

Clinton Twp. Garden Centers:

Dearborn Heights Garden Center:

Royal Oak Garden Center:

West Bloomfield Garden Center:

Eastpointe Garden Center:

Plymouth Ann Arbor Garden Center:

Be sure to visit any one of our Garden Centers for the largest selection of products and services the area has to offer. If you have any questions please call one of our stores directly in Clinton Twp., Dearborn Heights, Royal Oak, West Bloomfield, Eastpointe, and Plymouth Ann Arbor Michigan for friendly, prompt help.

Clinton Township, MI

Address
44850 Garfield Rd. at Hall Rd.
Clinton Twp., Michigan 48038

Phone Numbers
Phone: (586) 286-6100
Fax: (586) 286-0033

Dearborn Heights, MI

Address
22650 Ford Rd. at Outer Dr.
Dearborn Heights, Michigan 48127

Phone Numbers
Nursery: (313) 278-4433
Florist: (313) 565-8133
Fax: (313) 278-0459

Eastpointe, MI

Address
22501 Kelly Rd. at Nine Mile Rd.
Eastpointe, Michigan

Phone Numbers
Phone: (586) 771-4200
Fax: (586) 771-4894

Plymouth/Ann Arbor, MI

Address
9900 Ann Arbor Road W.
Plymouth, Michigan

Phone Numbers
Phone: (734) 453-5500

Royal Oak, MI

Address
4901 Coolidge Hwy,
Royal Oak, Michigan

Phone Numbers
Phone: (248) 280-9500
Fax: (248) 280-2688

West Bloomfield, MI

Address
6370 Orchard Lake Rd. at Maple
West Bloomfield Township, Michigan

Phone Numbers
Phone: (248) 851-7506
Fax: (248) 539-4738

Patio Furniture from English Gardens of Michigan

Patio Lounge Chairs
Patio Furniture Showrooms
Bistro Sets
Outdoor Dining Sets
Outdoor Sectionals

Make Life Beautiful! Come to English Gardens Today!

Don’t forget to come visit our enchanted Christmas Stores! We have by far the areas largest display of pre-lit and unlit Christmas trees, both Live and Artificial Life-Like Christmas trees in all sizes and varieties, the areas largest selection of Christmas lights in a variety of lengths, sizes, bulb types including energy efficient, and long lasting ,state of the art, LED Christmas lights, Christmas Garland, Christmas wreaths, Christmas decorations, and that perfect gift for that special someone!

Make Christmas Beautiful! Come to English Gardens This Christmas, It’s Fun For The Whole Family!

When it comes to the holidays other than Christmas, you won’t be disappointed, From July 4th, to Labor Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Mothers and Fathers Day and more, you guessed it, you can count on English Gardens to Make the Holiday Beautiful!

Make the Holidays Beautiful! Come to English Gardens!

At the end of the day, we all enjoy putting a smile on our, and other’s faces, come to English Gardens at any one of our convenient locations and Make Today Beautiful!

Make Today Beautiful! Come to English Gardens!

Christmas at English Gardens

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