Garden for Wildlife

As you’ve landscaped your yard and garden, have you kept birds and other critters in mind? That has been first and foremost on my mind over the years so I thought I would discuss how to garden for wildlife today. In this post, I’ll explain what we’ve done in our own landscape and how you can get your garden listed as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

I recently listened to a podcast on this topic, produced by my friend and colleague Joe Lamp’l, and it really resonated with me. In it, he interviews David Mizijewski of the National Wildlife Federation, who must be such a godsend to their Garden for Wildlife program.

David spoke about the keys to attracting wildlife to our gardens, which are all concepts Bill and I have known about and felt were important. Those concepts include providing food, water, shelter and places for them to raise their young.

As you know, Bill and I are very big into bird watching so we set out food sources such as bird feeders filled with black oil sunflower seeds or nyjer thistle, hummingbird feeders, and blocks of suet. But we did more than that, which I’ll go into in a moment.

We installed two ponds. One is 11′ x 15′, holds 3,000 gallons of water and has a waterfall which is a great attractant for birds. The other pond holds just 50 gallons but is very popular with the birds and a nice place for me to grow a few aquatic plants. Water is so important to birds because they need it for drinking and bathing.

Providing shelter was our biggest project because, when we moved to our 5 acre property 28 years ago, it was a blank slate with just one or two native Ponderosa pines on it. That is definitely not enough to attract birds and make them feel safe! We quickly set about planting trees and shrubs so they have places to hide from predators, to stay out of nasty weather, to sleep in at night, and to build nests to raise their young.

OK, back to the concept of providing food. Bill and I feel it’s really important to plant native plants and have done so in many areas of our property. In addition to providing shelter and places to raise young, native plants are the KEY to attracting and helping out wildlife that have been displaced by development (and/or use) of the land all over this planet.

This was an important part of Joe’s discussion with David and it really hit home with me. As David pointed out, a lot of folks think native plants are ugly and not worth adding to our landscapes. But let me give you some examples of why this is so erroneous.

Bill and I have planted vine maples, snowberries, serviceberries, oceanspray, golden currants, American cranberry bushes, ninebark, chokecherries, red-twig dogwoods and woods’ roses. All of these plants make such an important contribution to our landscape. (note: you can see our landscape by watching our episode on Joe Lamp’l’s program, “Growing a Greener World”)

At this very moment, our yard has been lit up with fall colors (notice all of the photos) from the foliage on the vine maples, golden currants, American cranberry bushes, ninebark, oceanspray and serviceberries. In the spring, the currants, cranberry bushes, snowberries, chokecherries, red-twig dogwoods and serviceberries have beautiful flowers. Oceanspray blooms in the summer and what a magnet those flowers are for pollinators! And the woods’ roses have lovely single pink blossoms.

The currants, cranberry bushes, snowberries, chokecherries, dogwoods and serviceberries have berries from summer into winter. In addition to adding a lot of interest to our garden beds, those berries are an important nutrition source for the birds and critters that visit our garden during the fall and winter months.

I cannot imagine our garden without these wonderful plants… and there are so many more than the ones I’ve mentioned here.

As you may or may not be aware, the National Wildlife Federation has been a champion for encouraging homeowners to landscape with native plants and with wildlife in mind. I’ve known about their Garden for Wildlife program for years, but never took the time to get my garden listed as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

After all, why bother? The birds and other wildlife in the area know about our garden. And Bill and I know what we’ve done in our garden. But, when David Mizijewski mentioned how the National Wildlife Federation is a non-profit agency that has been the source for a lot of positive change, I immediately decided it was high time I did it. And I’d like to encourage you to do it, too!

The process is very simple. Just go to their information page on how to list your garden as  a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Click on the “Certify Your Habitat” button, and follow the steps. It costs $20 to certify your garden (this includes a certificate and subscription to the NWF’s magazine). You will also have the option of paying an additional fee for a yard sign or plaque, which gives you the opportunity to show your commitment to your neighbors and friends. I purchased the sign and am excited for it to arrive so we can install it.

But most of all, you’ll be lending your support to the National Wildlife Federation and their valuable programs. I hope you’ll join me in adding native plants to your landscape and providing wildlife with their basic needs. This is a win-win situation!