Gardening for Wildlife
Tiger swallowtail on a purple coneflower blossom
Wildlife in a garden is inevitable- as people move further out of the cities and suburbs into what used to be woodlands and farm land, wild animals that have been displaced become less and less afraid of people and come closer and closer to our homes. Much of the vegetation that we like to surround ourselves with becomes dinner for deer, brunch for bunnies, vittles for varmints.There are tons of articles on the subject of trying to prevent your landscape from being munched, some work, some don’t- a starving animal will eat just about anything when they are hungry enough. About all we can do as gardeners is try the suggestions and see what works.
Some of us that live in older human saturated areas away from wooded areas don’t have a lot of problems with the larger wild animals, and still like to see a bit of wild life in our yards. I know I enjoy seeing a variety of birds, especially hummingbirds, butterflies, beneficial insects, spiders, toads and those smaller animals that I’ve invited to visit my garden.
Since I don’t use any insecticides in my garden at all, it has a wide variety of insect life in it and some very interesting spiders as well. This year I had a big aphid population, but it went away without resorting to chemicals- birds, ladybugs and other beneficial’s took care of them for me. This year for the first time, in addition to the several species of butterflies that always frequent my garden, I had hummingbirds! I’ve been trying to attract them for years with plants alone- the feeders are just to labor intensive for me. It was wonderful to watch them hovering about the garden, early in the morning moving from honeysuckle to impatiens, to phlox, to monarda.
Likewise with seed eating birds- I don’t put out seed anymore. My neighbor has several feeders and a large flock of pigeons (I call them rats with wings) that frequent her yard. The minute I put seed out, they flock to my yard looking for a little change of menu and a more unique dining experience. The more polite birds that come to my garden are there for the natural foods that I provide for them- flower seeds like purple coneflower, hosta, and cosmos are loved by finches. Robins and thrushes absolutely adore Juneberry fruit, and I can get quite a number of them weighing down the branches, all at once. Of course they also like the raspberries, cherries, blueberries and currants in my yard but sometimes I get to harvest some of these myself. Cardinals, finches and sparrows like the cedar seeds on the huge hedge on the west side of my garden and happily much away on those as they ripen, and all through the winter.
Butterflies visit the wide variety of flowers in the garden- phlox, salvia, swamp milkweed, catmint and catnip, sedum, monarda, feverfew, dill, and others. A lot of beneficial insects prefer some of the same flowers- hummingbirds too. The honeysuckles I planted on the arch saw a lot of action this year- the hummers really seemed to enjoy those, plus the monarda and impatiens. A small bird bath provides fresh water for the wild life in the garden, as well as two small water features who’s trickling sounds mask some of the jarring noise of the outside world.
Shelter is important too- my cedar hedge always has a few birds nesting in it in the summer, and tons that take shelter in the winter months. I leave seed heads in the garden and the berries of the Cranberry Viburnum and crab apple for them to eat during the cold too. Since I’m never very thorough with garden clean-up- there are lots of places for insects and spiders to overwinter too. I’m thinking maybe, just maybe, I’m inviting some insect or bird into the garden that just loves to eat slugs. Could be true- I don’t really seem to have a lot of those, in spite of all the decaying vegetation I leave in the garden. Or maybe after years of garden in a low impact way, I’ve gotten things to balance out a little bit.
What more could a wild thing ask for than food, water and shelter in a naturally clean and chemical free environment? It’s a great thing to see the balance of God’s creation in your own back yard.
See you in the Garden!
Ellen Leigh
Some of us that live in older human saturated areas away from wooded areas don’t have a lot of problems with the larger wild animals, and still like to see a bit of wild life in our yards. I know I enjoy seeing a variety of birds, especially hummingbirds, butterflies, beneficial insects, spiders, toads and those smaller animals that I’ve invited to visit my garden.
Since I don’t use any insecticides in my garden at all, it has a wide variety of insect life in it and some very interesting spiders as well. This year I had a big aphid population, but it went away without resorting to chemicals- birds, ladybugs and other beneficial’s took care of them for me. This year for the first time, in addition to the several species of butterflies that always frequent my garden, I had hummingbirds! I’ve been trying to attract them for years with plants alone- the feeders are just to labor intensive for me. It was wonderful to watch them hovering about the garden, early in the morning moving from honeysuckle to impatiens, to phlox, to monarda.
Likewise with seed eating birds- I don’t put out seed anymore. My neighbor has several feeders and a large flock of pigeons (I call them rats with wings) that frequent her yard. The minute I put seed out, they flock to my yard looking for a little change of menu and a more unique dining experience. The more polite birds that come to my garden are there for the natural foods that I provide for them- flower seeds like purple coneflower, hosta, and cosmos are loved by finches. Robins and thrushes absolutely adore Juneberry fruit, and I can get quite a number of them weighing down the branches, all at once. Of course they also like the raspberries, cherries, blueberries and currants in my yard but sometimes I get to harvest some of these myself. Cardinals, finches and sparrows like the cedar seeds on the huge hedge on the west side of my garden and happily much away on those as they ripen, and all through the winter.
Butterflies visit the wide variety of flowers in the garden- phlox, salvia, swamp milkweed, catmint and catnip, sedum, monarda, feverfew, dill, and others. A lot of beneficial insects prefer some of the same flowers- hummingbirds too. The honeysuckles I planted on the arch saw a lot of action this year- the hummers really seemed to enjoy those, plus the monarda and impatiens. A small bird bath provides fresh water for the wild life in the garden, as well as two small water features who’s trickling sounds mask some of the jarring noise of the outside world.
Shelter is important too- my cedar hedge always has a few birds nesting in it in the summer, and tons that take shelter in the winter months. I leave seed heads in the garden and the berries of the Cranberry Viburnum and crab apple for them to eat during the cold too. Since I’m never very thorough with garden clean-up- there are lots of places for insects and spiders to overwinter too. I’m thinking maybe, just maybe, I’m inviting some insect or bird into the garden that just loves to eat slugs. Could be true- I don’t really seem to have a lot of those, in spite of all the decaying vegetation I leave in the garden. Or maybe after years of garden in a low impact way, I’ve gotten things to balance out a little bit.
What more could a wild thing ask for than food, water and shelter in a naturally clean and chemical free environment? It’s a great thing to see the balance of God’s creation in your own back yard.
See you in the Garden!
Ellen Leigh
