It isn’t difficult to make your yard, garden or even patio space a haven for beneficial bees. You’ll be helping these important insects, as well as bringing more nature to your back door.

The greater the plant diversity, the more bees and other wildlife your garden will attract and support (including both honey bees, which aren’t native to North America and native bees like orchard mason bees). Always try to choose as many native plants as possible, and consult with local nursery staff or other experts to find vegetation that will thrive in your specific conditions.

And remember, the more bees you attract, the more your gardens will grow, since so many vegetables and flowers require pollination.

For more wildlife gardening tips, see National Wildlife Federation’s gardening campaign or check out The Daily Green’s tips for creating a bird garden.

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/bee-friendly-plants#ixzz1taBxMm3D

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 13 – 15, 2012.
Members Sale, 1 to 7 p.m., Friday
Public Sale, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday

At the Wildflower Center’s Spring Plant Sale and Gardening Festival you can choose from nearly 300 species of hardy Texas natives bred to deal with our Central Texas climate. Feel free to leave your plant purchases at the Holding Area while you finish enjoying your visit, or up until the Plant Sale closes Sunday at 5 p.m.

Admission: $9 adults, $7 seniors and students, $4 UT faculty, staff or students with identification, $3 children 5 through 12, members and children under 5 free.

• If possible, bring your own wagon to haul your purchases
• Plants may be purchased and held for pick-up
• Free cold filtered water, just bring your reusable water bottle, or buy one in the store.
• Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m., Mr. Smarty Plants answers your questions.
• Story time is at 11 a.m. in the Little House Saturday and Sunday. Sunday Kathi Appelt and Joy Fisher Hein read from their book Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers.
• Ecopots all day Saturday and Sunday.
• Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., free guided garden walks.
• Saturday, artist Shou Ping will be here from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Mc Dermott Learning Center to visit with the public about her work.

Members Only Sale: Friday, April 13, 1 to 7 p.m. Friday’s sale is exclusively for members of the Wildflower Center. Become a member online or at the preview sale.

We will not be recycling plastic pots at this plant sale, please consider recycling them at your local recycling center.

Lady Bird: one inspirational lady!

With the rapid suburbanization of the American landscape that has taken place since World War II (including the recent spurt during the housing bubble) thousands of square miles of open land, farms and forests was built on, displacing wildlife. No matter if you live in the country, suburbs or even the city, you can provide food, shelter and a nontoxic environment for wildlife, restoring some of the lost landscape. It’s not only good for the environment, by supporting a healthy and diverse local ecosystem, but by following a few of these tips, you could watch all the wildlife you want right in your backyard!

Plant native plants.
Native plants will attract and provide food for native animals. Make sure your plants provide a mixture of flowers, nuts, berries, seeds, pollen and nectar for all the different kinds of animals that will be stopping by.

Provide water.
Try putting it in a birdbath, or even go so far as building a pond. Animals need clean water to drink and bathe, so make sure you change the water frequently.

Let it grow.
A little overgrowth will provide cover for animals, giving them the ability to hide and feel more comfortable. The availability of brush, grass clippings and sticks provides the raw materials for birds to build nests.

Avoid chemicals.
Avoid using chemical fertilizers to beef up your garden. Instead, try to make the area as natural as possible by composting, letting wild grasses grow and removing invasive species.

If you’re really interested in making a habitat out of your backyard, check out the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat Program, or the Audubon At Home tips. The Daily Green also has, in partnership with the National Audubon Society, published these 15 tips for creating a backyard bird garden.

I just got a birdbath a few weekends ago and wasn’t creative enough to consider making my own, but check out some of these ideas for making bird baths out of existing things you have around the house, like old pots and dishes.  ( It’s not necessarily very environmentally friendly to paint all of these things though before assembling them, so consider making these birdbaths with items you have as they currently are. Made with unpainted terracotta pots these would still be stunning.)

this one is from the culinary cougar…

this one is from Our Creative Life…

and this one of from Home Stories A to Z

And while it’s great to provide animals with water, consider also that we’re in a drought.  Placing your  birdbath in a shady spot will mean you lose less water to evaporation and you won’t have to refill the birdbath as often.  And if you want to be really green, try to think of unconventional ways you can “harvest” water for your birdbath. You could use water saved after you’ve boiled some eggs, for example, after the water has cooled  - that water is still clean and would otherwise get poured down the drain.  Or if you buy organic veggies, if you rinse your veggies in a large bowl of water before eating them, you could use that leftover water to fill your birdbath- it’s not really water you want to be drinking, but a little bit of dirt in your birdbath water isn’t going to hurt the animals.

Check out this great resource from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to look up what kind of native plants grow well in the shade that can go next to your birdbath, and make sure you’re buying drought resistant plants (plants that only need to be watered about once a week rather than every day).  And if you live in an area that has a lot of deer, check with the employees at your garden store to make sure what you’re buying is deer resistant.

February 18: Rosina Newton, Horticulturist and Education Coordinator at the Natural Gardener, presents “Organic Vegetable Gardening 101.” Beginning gardeners – or experienced gardeners from other regions of the country – often ask for this class. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to create successful vegetable, herb, and flower gardens in Central Texas. Learn site selection, soil preparation and fertilization, planting methods, pest control, and more! Rosina is a 1984 graduate of Texas A&M University in Horticulture and has been assisting customers and serving as horticulturist at the Natural Gardener for over 15 years.

February 25 at NOON: John Dromgoole presents “What it Means to be an Organic Gardener.” John is the founder and owner of The Natural Gardener and Lady Bug Brand, and host of the longest continuously-running organic gardening radio talk show in the nation, Gardening Naturally on KLBJ-AM. He hosts two weekly television segments, Backyard Basics on KLRU’s Central Texas Gardener and The Weekend Gardener on KXAN.  John was the host of the first national organic gardening television series, The New Garden, on PBS. For over 29 years John has been answering gardening questions on air; this Saturday John will be live and in person, talking about organic gardening and answering your gardening questions!

LAST FREE CLASS OF THE SEASON! Please come join us. Class attendees will receive a coupon good for 20% OFF one item purchased that day! (Excluding bulk soil yard products and sale items. Discount cannot be combined with any other offer.)

Classes are free, and no registration is required. All classes are held Saturday mornings at 9:00 a.m. unless otherwise specified. Most classes are about one hour long. All are subject to change- please call to confirm. Classes are held outdoors under an open air canopy, so be sure to dress for the weather. Arrive early for best seating. Seating is limited- you are welcome to bring your own folding chair.

September 17 – Lauren Woodward-Stanley, of Stanley Studio, presents “Green Roofs: Austin, Texas.” What are green roofs and why do they matter? What is their potential in Central Texas? These vegetative architectural wonders take many forms, colors, and sizes. Especially in the context of drought and urban growth in the region, it is important to examine the role of green roofs as one piece of Austin’s green infrastructure. Green roofs are an exciting opportunity to make our community more resilient and more beautiful! Lauren Woodward Stanley, of Stanley Studio, shares her experiences and comments about green roofs in our area. Lauren is an AIA member and Masters Graduate of UT’s School of Architecture, who cut her teeth on green roofs while in Seattle.  She and husband Lars Stanley, a blacksmith and architect, have been growing their design practice and young family on a 2-acre “rurban” compound in central east Austin, complete with a studio green roof.  Lauren is a member of the Green Roof Advisory Group initiated by Councilmember Chris Riley to help establish a best practice approach and appropriate incentives for green roofs in Austin.  She is also a co-founder of GRoWERS (Green Roofs: Working Expertise, Regional Solutions), which aims to facilitate the design and installation of small green roofs of all varieties across the city.

click here for more info!

I’ve not had a lot of time to get into the Austin news I missed while I was gone, but did find this Statesman page with some fun gardening events coming up.  Here are a few that are most pertinent to being green by growing your own food:

• Do-it-yourself day: Vegetable gardens and rain gardens. Master Gardener Tommie Clayton and landscape architect John Gleason speak, followed by a tour of the Zilker Green Garden. 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 27. $10. Registration required. Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road. 974-2550, www.ci.austin.tx.us/green
garden/ggc_training.htm.
• “Experience the Fun of Planting Seeds in the Fall.”Georgetown Garden Club meeting. 1:30 p.m. Sept. 1. Georgetown Parks and Recreation Community Room, 1101 N. College. Free. 512-746-2076, www.
georgetowngardenclub.org.
• Austin Herb Society meeting.Annual members luncheon and general meeting. 9:30 a.m. to noon Sept. 6. Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road. www.austinherbsociety.org.
• Keep Austin Wild classes. Become a Certified Habitat Steward and learn to garden for desirable wildlife and help create, maintain and restore wildlife habitat as part of the City’s Keep Austin Wild initiative. Thirty hours of classes from Sept. 8 through Oct. 6. $40. 974-4009, www.cityofaustin.org/parks/wildlifehabitat.htm.
• From the garden to the table. Williamson County and Cities Health District offers free cooking, nutrition and gardening course. 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sept. 13, 20 and 27. WIC Clinic, Round Rock WCCHD Office, 211 Commerce Cove, Round Rock. E-mail cabels@wcchd.org to register.
• Home fruit production seminar. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 17. A seminar presented by the Travis County Master Gardeners on growing fruit at home. Limited seating. Register and pay online at agriliferegister.tamu.edu, keyword search: Fruit. Room 1130, Austin Community College, 1820 Stassney Lane. $25. 854-9600, www.tcmaster
gardeners.org.