If you want to invite wildlife into your yard and neighborhood, plant a simple garden that provides habitat.
Imagine birds, butterflies, and hummingbird coming to visit your garden space, all attracted by what you’ve planted.
Providing a sustainable habitat for wildlife begins with the plants in your garden. This is why it’s called a wildlife habitat garden.
When you plant the native plant species that wildlife depend on, you are also creating habitat.
Add water sources, nesting boxes, and other habitat features. If you choose natural gardening practices, you’re making a safe place for wildlife in your garden.
Various plant species that flower at different times of the year will tempt butterflies to come to your yard.
Flowers:
In order to attract American goldfinches, cardinals, chickadees, evening grosbeaks, finches, and titmice, plant sunflowers in your garden.
Also plant black-eyed Susans, asters, cosmos, zinnias, coreopsis, marigolds, and poppies.
All these plants will provide seeds for the birds. Add native prairie plants like millet, sorghum, blanket flowers, goldenrod, liatris, and globe thistle.
You can attract hummingbirds if you plant pink, red, and purple tubular blooms for their nectar.
Plant bee balm, columbine, hibiscus, nicotiana, salvia, cardinal flowers, honeysuckle, and nasturtium.
In the fall, avoid cutting down the dead stalks in your garden. Birds will seek out the remaining seeds in them throughout the winter months.
Fruiting Plants:
You can create a smorgasbord for birds if you include fruit-bearing plants in your yard, at the edge of woodlands, and in garden beds.
Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, juneberries, mulberries, inkberry, and Russian olive will attract mockingbirds. Along with bobwhites, gray catbirds, indigo buntings, woodpeckers, bluebirds, northern orioles, and scarlet tanagers.
These birds will nest in the fruit trees and feast on the berries.
Vines:
The climbing and twisting stems of vine plants provide the perfect cover for birds. The vines flowers attract nectar-seeking birds like hummingbirds.
Fruiting vines like grapes and multi-flora roses offer another food source.
You can watch birds hop among the vines as they determine the best way to approach a hanging feeder filled with seeds.
Even in the winter, vines that are left in place offer a perch for birds as they scope out your yard for leftover seeds on drying perennials.
Trees:
Birds need trees to build their nests, raise their young, and escape from predators.
Provide a mix of different types of trees to attract a larger number of bird species. Start by finding out which trees are indigenous to your area.Â
Oaks, aspens, maples, beeches, and birches are all found in the natural landscape. Each offers nesting sites among their branches, in hollows, and under their boughs.
Evergreens offer protection from the hot sun in the summer, protection from rain, and snow and ice in the winter.
They also attract insects that hide under the bark and among their leaves. The insects offer food that bird parents can bring back to the nest to feed their young.
Expand your canvas with containers if you need to garden for wildlife in a small space. If you don’t have the space to start a whole new garden, then containers are a great solution.Â
Hanging baskets will add flair to your space while offering a good source for nectar.
Walk around garden nurseries and note what kinds of plants you see bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds feeding from.
You can also walk around your neighborhood to see what native plants are growing well and attracting wildlife and birds.
I wonder if all the blackberry brambles on my property are what drew in the Scarlet Tanager last year – that was such a gorgeous bird!!
Good information here. I try to do many of these things to help the wildlife, but I do need to have more flowers friendly to butterflies as I've noticed they have been more scarce in recent years.
So very interesting. I am going to try to make my tiny spot of ground more inviting for the wonderful wildlife in my area. Thank you for the information.
I love all your birds.
As I read this, my ear is trying to catch the sound of our birds. We just had some trees trimmed yesterday and now Steve tells me the tree guy told him there was a bird hotel in our yuccas. I do hope they find another spot in the yard to serenade us.
I loved this post! I live alone (very happily) and enjoy my garden and nature. I employ most of your tips and enjoyed learning about some I had not thought of . I love looking at other gardens on the web and hearing how people go about it as well. Gardeners are Kindred Spirits of the kindest sort I believe. You have a beautiful eye for color and design in your own garden Brenda. Thank you for sharing your gifts.
This is an interesting series. I didn't know you could do so much to attract the wildlife you want.