Wildlife Garden Ideas

The Basics

• When growing a wildlife garden there a few things you need to attract creatures to your sanctuary: food, shelter, and water. When planning out your wildlife garden, stand back and map out places to include flower-, fruit- and nut-bearing shrubs, trees and plants. Include several sources of water both at ground level, and in the trees for birds that prefer not to take their chances on the ground. Hanging bird feeders from a shade tree near the source of water also will provide food, in addition to the fruit-bearing shrubs and trees.

Indigenous Flora

• For wildlife gardens, it is best to plant species that are native to your area. Taking a trip into undeveloped rural areas, with a camera in hand, is a good way to find out what grows naturally in your part of the state. In addition, there are many sites you can go to on the Internet where you can find out what types of plants are native to your area.

Chemical-free Gardening

• Nature has its own system of getting rid of insects that may want to harm your plants. There are two types of insects in a garden---beneficial and destructive insects. The beneficial insects feed on the destructive insects. Beneficial insects are dragonflies, lady bugs, spiders, bees, praying mantises and lacewings. Destructive insects consist of aphids, grubs, spider mites, beetles and white flies. It is important not to use chemical fertilizers that kill off beneficial insects in a wildlife garden. Chemical pesticides are "non-selective", and will kill most of the beneficial garden bugs, as well as the destructive types. Indigenous plants tend to be hardier than their hybrid cousins, so insecticides are seldom needed, anyway.

Pollinators

• Pollinators are among the most important factors in a wildlife garden. Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are all prolific flower pollinators. In order to attract pollinators, it is important to grow nectar-bearing flowers such as the butterfly bush, purple coneflower, butterfly weed. Clematis, hollyhocks and trumpet creepers are all good varieties that attract hummingbirds.