Attracting Backyard Wildlife With Flower Gardening

Flower gardening is a wonderful hobby that can attract more than just your neighbor's eyes. Whether you're into annual or perennial flower gardening, your bold colors and soft fragrances will likely attract equally colorful birds, bees, butterflies, ladybugs and dragonflies.

Luring these visitors isn't such a bad thing. These beneficial creatures will kill off annoying insects like flies and mosquitoes, not to mention leaf-chewing aphids and beetles that do more harm than good. At the same time, you'll enjoy the attractive colors of these fine friends of the garden.

Flower gardening for bees may seem like an unwanted problem for some gardeners. However, traditional garden advice reminds us that bees are master pollinating insects that can improve the health of our fruits, vegetables and flowers. Any professional commercial gardening expert knows that bees are their trusted allies.

Research shows us that gardens containing 10 or more species of colorful flowers attract the most bees. According to garden guides at Berkeley University, the most attractive plants for bees are bee balm lilac, manzanita, wisteria, echinacea, helianthus, pride of Madeira, wild lilac, California poppy, toadflax, tansy phacelia, calamint, tickseed, sea holly, lemon queen, Russian sage and goldenrod.

Of course everyone would like to know how their flower gardening can attract more beautiful butterflies. While their larvae can sometimes be destructive at gobbling up tree leaves, you can minimize their damage by creating an obscured section of the yard just for baby caterpillar maturation.

The larvae like to eat thistle, milkweed, hollyhock, sunflower, snapdragon, lupine, aster, beard tongue and heliotrope varieties. Adult butterflies feed largely on flower nectar, so garden guides recommend adding alyssum, asters, azalea, bee balm, blueberry, butterfly bush, butterfly weed, coneflower, delphinium, goldenrod, impatiens, Joe-pye weed, lilac, marigolds, verbena and yarrow.

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The Very Small Humminbird SmartCast RF-35 Wrist Mount Fishfinder With RSS

Sometimes smaller is better when it comes to electronics. Think back to the first cell phones. They were huge bricks that required you to carry around a case for the battery!

Today's shopper wants things that are easily portable and easy to use. They do not want huge, bulky items. That is the thought behind the Humminbird SmartCast RF-35 Wrist Mount Fishfinder with RSS. Though the name is a mouthful, the actual device is very small.

There is no one disputing the handiness or the smallness of the Humminbird SmartCast RF-35 Wrist Mount Fishfinder with RSS. You strap on the fish finder that resembles a watch and then you cast out a sonar buoy that resembles a neon duck.

The sonar buoy sends back readings of the water terrain and any fish in the area. The range is pretty good with it covering 75 feet around and a depth of 125 feet, which is quite impressive sounding. But though the technical specifications sound good, the actual reality is different.

Yes, the Humminbird SmartCast RF-35 Wrist Mount Fishfinder with RSS would probably impress your friends on the "cool gadget" level.

But the ensuing comments after it failed to work would quickly turn those impressions sour as it did for many of the people who purchased one. Though it is very inexpensive, you are better off finding a better fish finder than this one.

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Getting A Little Extra With The Eagle Cuda 300 Fishfinder

There are some things that you should automatically expect from all fish finders on the market these days. The first is that the fish finder alerts you to the depth of the water and the second is the terrain of the ground beneath your fishing area.

The third is the temperature of the water. These things can all help you land the fish you are after but really you should expect more. The Eagle Cuda 300 Fishfinder does give you the basics and it gives you a bit more.

The Eagle Cuda 300 Fishfinder is not a top of the line model. It will not give you a 300 foot radius to look at terrain and fish. It does not come already loaded with terrain maps of area fishing spots.

But it does give you all of the basics you would expect to find in a fish finder plus a little extra. It is that little extra that has helped boost sales of this fish finder.

You can easily find the Eagle Cuda 300 Fishfinder for around $100, which is remarkably cheap considering all that you do get.

No, it probably is not for the competitive fishermen or fisher women, but it is a great model for beginners and for those who like to fish recreationally on occasion. That is perhaps why it is one of the best selling fish finders of its kind.

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Better Features Of The Lowrance HDS-10 Fishfinder/GPS Chartplotter

The price differences in various fish finders on the market these days are amazing. You can find a basic fish finder for around $100 or you can find the ultimate fish finder for $2,549.99, yet not everyone needs that fish finder.

It is a lot of money to pay for a device that simply helps you to locate fish. The average recreational sportsman or woman who just likes to fish on occasion is not going to need that type of fish finder.

But for those who fish professionally or like their gadgets high tech, the Lowrance HDS-10 Fishfinder/GPS Chartplotter is for them.

You absolutely cannot compare the Lowrance HDS-10 Fishfinder/GPS Chartplotter to lower end fish finders you find on the market these days. And it is a far cry from the fish finders of the past.

Those early models offered very basic functions. They would give the temperature of the water, the depth of the water and if you were lucky a rudimentary graph of the terrain beneath the boat.

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