Perfect pollinator playground: Isbells’ garden contains plants, flowers for Arkansas’ birds, bees and butterflies

Robert and Heather Isbell have surrounded their home west of Little Rock with gardens full of native species and other plants that pollinators crave, including this monarda. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Janet B. Carson)
Robert and Heather Isbell have surrounded their home west of Little Rock with gardens full of native species and other plants that pollinators crave, including this monarda. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Janet B. Carson)

Gardeners across the country are being encouraged to plant milkweed for the monarch butterflies, but monarchs aren't the only butterflies, or pollinators, in Arkansas gardens.

One Arkansas gardener started planting for the monarch but then broadened her scope and now has a wide range of butterflies — and other pollinators — flocking to her ever increasing garden.

Heather Isbell and her husband, Robert, own Izzy's Restaurant in west Little Rock. She decided to add some pollinator plants around the restaurant several years ago, and customers were enamored of that. Then, when the Isbells built a new house west of Little Rock, she added a few pollinator plants to the home garden, and her interest increased.

Now (years later), 75% of her landscaped gardens are full of native and/or pollinator-attracting species. From spring through fall, her garden is alive with bees and butterflies searching out nectar and host plants.

She credits part of her inspiration to a Dutch landscape designer, Piet Oudolf (see arkansasonline.com/716piet). She had read several of his books and was taken by his concept of creating perennial meadows by using large clusters of intermingled perennials. While the plants he used in many of his European designs were not native to Europe, they were native to the U.S.: monarda, Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium), Ironweed (Vernonia) and asters. So, Heather decided to give it a try in her garden.

She already had built several raised beds with vegetables, but she had a large yard to work with. One area was barren, struggling even to grow crabgrass. She started by incorporating loads of shredded leaves, working to break up the heavy clay soil. Over time, she began seeing loads of earthworms in that soil, and the plants were growing, happy and healthy with no other fertilizers.

Today, that garden is a sea of monarda and anise hyssop, and you can hear the insects humming along in the flowers.


KNOW THEIR TASTES

The goal of any gardener is to have a diverse mix of plants that put on a show at different times to extend beauty and enjoyment throughout the seasons. Having a diverse mix of flowering plants also opens up the opportunity to host a diverse mix of butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.

If you do a little bit of research, you can find out what host plants are needed for which butterflies. While most gardeners do know about planting milkweed for monarchs, did you know that black swallowtails need parsley, dill or fennel? Arkansas' state butterfly, the Diana fritillary, needs wild violets, and the painted lady feeds on sunflowers and hardy hibiscus.

While some pollinators just need nectar, butterflies need both nectar plants and host plants — plants that the adult butterfly will lay eggs on, so the larvae have a food source to eat.

While many butterflies will share nectar plants, they have fairly specific needs as to the plants each species needs to eat. Learning about the host plants, and then learning to identify the caterpillars that you want to protect are important parts of butterfly gardening.

RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE

There are many planted beds throughout Isbell's large yard. While she does have a traditional vegetable garden and some traditional shrubs, including camellias, lilacs, gardenias and oakleaf hydrangeas, the majority of her plants are favored by one pollinator or another. A large percentage of them are native species.

Like any good gardener, she matches plants with the conditions of the particular garden in her yard. While she is blessed with loads of full sun, she does have some shade gardens and some areas with poorly drained soil. While not a trained horticulturist, she has done her homework and knows what works in her yard.

Some of her favorite plants are Jacob Cline monarda and Blue Fortune and Giant Purple anise hyssop, which have the longest bloom times among her plants and attract many different pollinators.

The goal is to have something blooming in the garden from spring through fall, with more blooms from early summer through fall when butterflies are the most active.

During a recent visit, the landscape was a sea of color from several varieties of monarda and hyssop, along with coneflowers (Echinacea), blanket flower (Gaillardia), phlox (particularly Bright Eyes), several varieties of milkweed, Cut and Come Again zinnias, asters, St. John's wort, Stokes asters and wild senna.

To extend the season, liatris would soon be in bloom, along with Joe Pye weed, Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), boneset, and obedient plant.

For late season into fall, she has a wealth of grasses along with goldenrod, asters, Turk's cap (Malvaviscus), and blue mistflower (Conoclinium).

She mass-plants her perennials for a huge impact of color, but this also helps to keep weeds at bay. She uses very few pesticides, to protect the pollinators.

  photo  Red monarda like this and also pink and white versions thrive at Heather Isbell's home garden west of Little Rock. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Janet B. Carson)
 
 
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS

Perennial plants that bloom for a long time often benefit from deadheading — removing the spent blooms to prevent seed set, so the plant will make more flowers.

The plants in Isbell's gardens appear to be on steroids, they are so lush and tall. Since she has so many plants, deadheading with hand-held pruners would be a never-ending job. Her favorite tool is a battery-operated hand-held hedge shearer. She can cut through the large beds quickly.

As fall approaches, she stops dead-heading, to allow seeds to form and ripen. She saves some seeds to use in her greenhouse for propagation and leaves others to feed the birds during the winter.

After a killing frost, she does not immediately tidy up the gardens. Leaving the spent plants in place prevents winter weeds and allows some of the seeds to self-sow. In the spring, she cuts back the debris and lets nature begin again.

Most of the plants in the garden are perennials and so will come back on their own, and some do self-sow.

SHARING ABUNDANCE

When she began work on her landscape, she grew the majority of the plants from seeds. She started off ordering seeds and still does order a few, but now she saves her own seeds and starts more plants in her greenhouse.

When she can't garden outside, she spends her gardening hours inside, propagating plants from her own garden.

Twice a year, she offers her native perennial seedlings for sale at the restaurant. She has plans to expand those efforts.

During the summer and fall, she looks for chrysalides on her plants and will actually have a small butterfly farm, protecting each chrysalis, watching the butterflies emerge, then releasing them. She takes this to the restaurant to share with others. She is also registered with Monarch Watch and tags the monarchs that she finds in her garden.

Isbell is all about sharing her love of gardening, bees and butterflies. She has done her homework and put together a brochure with the list of plants she grows. She has posted them on the Izzy's website: izzyslittlerock.com/new-bees.

She is also into raising bees and will have honey for sale at some point.

Asked what advice she would give a new gardener, she said to prepare the site well and choose the right plant for the right place. But don't be afraid. You learn by doing. Not everything will be a success, but you learn as you go. Obviously, she has learned a lot!

Janet Carson's blog is at arkansasonline.com/planitjanet.



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