Demonstration Gardens

Gardens for Bees, Butterflies & Other Pollinators

Flowering plants that nourish pollinators are planted throughout the Nature Center yard. These natives selected from prairie, savanna, and woods provide food for:

• Bumble bees
• Butterflies
• Caterpillars
• Hummingbirds
• Other beneficial insect pollinators

The lovely orange flowers of butterfly weed offer nectar to many butterfly species in midsummer while monarch caterpillars feed on the leaves. Cardinal flowers attract hummingbirds, and bumble bees visit purple asters in late summer.

Best Pollinator Viewing Periods

• Bumblebees: July through August
• Hummingbirds: Mid-summer to late summer
• Monarchs: Sunny days from August through early September

WaterWorks Water Management

WaterWorks is a comprehensive system for managing water from roof to garden. Water storage and channeling features include:

• Custom rain barrels store rainwater from the roof for use in the gardens.
• Pervious pavers have gravel between and beneath them, which allows water to seep from the surface to the underlying gravel bed.
• Rain canal carries overflow from the rain barrels to the rain gardens.
• Rain gardens are planted depressions that capture and hold rainwater runoff for up to 48 hours while water slowly infiltrates into the ground.
• Rain planter is a large, tiered vessel which functions as a reservoir for the rain coming off the roof, down a rain chain, and tumbling onto the splash rock. Plants in the rain planter take-up some rainwater, and the excess water filter through the soil and is channeled via the canal to the rain garden.

You, too, can take these WaterWorks concepts and adapt the water saving and channeling features for your yard. Learn more about WaterWorks (PDF).