You can plant a border to edge your lawn or conceal areas of your backyard, all while luring in these winged creatures. Purple firespike can also be a great plant to start a pollinator garden.

However, some purple dead nettles may appear reddish, making it earn its other name, “red dead nettle.” Purple dead nettles are resilient, low growing weeds that reach about 4 to 12 inches tall.

The other day I was working with my purple martin colony. I have 16 gourd nesting boxes, which house 16 families, and at this time of year the babies are fledging (leaving the nest for the first ...