Native plants attract birds and butterflies to the area

I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you last week where exactly we would meet this morning; but I'm glad to see you all waiting here for me at the large gazebo. This is always a good place to meet, behind the "A."

Now we can head out, take a right on the main sidewalk, then a right on the flagstone path, then a right on the main sidewalk again. The Native Plants Garden - our target for today - is on the left. It is kind of hard to tell where the Xeriscape Garden ends and the native plants begin.

We finally received some rain here at the Moody Garden last night and doesn't it just smell divine here this morning? I especially like the creosote plant in this garden after a rain. Oh, just take a deep breath.

Elizabeth Moody (widow of Bob Moody) has been and still is very involved with garden clubs in Yuma. She belongs to the Yuma Garden Club as well as the MGM Garden Club here at the Moody Garden. I might add that, as we speak, she is sitting by a lake in Montana probably wearing one of her beautifully decorated sweatshirts. One of these summers I am going to sneak in her suitcase and go along.

I've already told you about the lizard in the emblem garden, which has been named Elizabeth.

In 1999 when Dr. Bequette sent out letters to various clubs in the area, one such club was the Yuma Chapter of the Arizona Native Plant Society. The president at the time was Pat Callahan and she put it on the agenda for the next meeting. She, Elizabeth Moody and May Forester attended the meeting and they were interested in being involved with the Native Plant Garden where we are standing now.

Pat Callahan has had a hand in helping us with this garden. May Forester has moved out of the area and is up in the northwest somewhere. I just got an e-mail from Elizabeth a couple weeks ago. She had had the opportunity to go visit May and she said they had a nice visit.

Now to go back a ways, Elizabeth met Bob Moody in a botany class at the University of Arizona college of agriculture in Tucson. Both graduated in 1940 and were married the same year. They moved to Yuma in 1944 and raised five children. Besides teaching school, Elizabeth stayed interested in the Yuma Garden Club and, of course, in her love for native plants.

Native plants: The flowers, grasses, succulents, shrubs and trees that are all indigenous to a geographical region. These are the plants that grew here originally.

For obvious reasons native plants are preferred in landscapes in this area. It is a way of letting nature do some of the yard work. Just think of the benefits - they do not require much water, they require less attention, and once established, do not require use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

As natives, they have evolved natural defenses against local pests. Native plants will attract native birds, butterflies and other wildlife to the area.

The Native Plant Garden here was one of the first areas to be planted in November of 2002, the same time the Xeriscape Garden was planted. This was the first public planting that was done in the garden. I wonder if those people all come by now and then to check out the plants that they helped to plant that day.

Remember our slogan: Come when you can - select a project that pleases you - leave when you need to but most of all enjoy the garden.

When you come to the garden and find a plant you like, you can write down the name and look it up when you get home. One book that I find especially helpful is Sunset Western Garden Book. It is money well spent!

I'll let you go a little early today, as our walk was short. I'll be around for a while if you want to talk and I hope you stay and walk back through other parts of the garden we have toured. Review for the test! (Joke!)

Next week we will tour the Tropical Garden. You can see just around the corner on the main sidewalk where the two cement tables are, that is part of the Tropical Garden. We'll meet at those tables. Same time! Have a great week.

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Ellen Gardner, a Master Gardener who writes this column for the Federated Garden Clubs of Yuma, can be reached at 343-4020 or at gardner3028@netzero.com. For information about the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, visit cals.arizona.edu/yuma/horticulture/

moody_garden/index.html, or for more information about the Federated Garden Clubs of Yuma, see the gardencentral.org/azgardenclub/mgm