We’ve been talking about the essentials of an Ecosystem Garden for wildlife in the past several weeks. These are habitat elements critical to the wildlife you’d like to share your space with.
In part 1 we discussed Ecosystem Gardening Essentials: Provide Food For Wildlife
In part 2 we talked about Ecosystem Gardening Essentials: Provide Water for Wildlife.
In part 4 we learned about Ecosystem Gardening Essentials: Provide Safe Places to Raise Young.
Today we’re going to talk about the essential wildlife habitat element of shelter.
And shelter means more than just hanging a few birdhouses (although I have Chickadees who find shelter from the winter elements in the birdhouses in my wildlife garden).
What does shelter for wildlife include in your wildlife garden? The wildlife in our gardens need to have safe places to hide from predators, get out of heat, wind, rain, snow, and frigid temperatures
Trees and Shrubs
Trees are one of the biggest bangs for your buck in your wildlife garden as they provide not only food for so many species, but they are also the best form of shelter you can provide to keep them safe, warm, and dry.
Trees create wonderful windbreaks, not only for wildlife, but also to keep your home warmer in winter.
Native evergreen trees, such as Pines, provide shelter from the elements, and food for many different species.
Adding more native trees and shrubs to your garden will ensure that many different critters will find food and shelter in your wildlife haven. For a little help in choosing the best trees and shrubs for your site, see Top 10 Best Woody Plants for Your Ecosystem Garden.
Brush Piles
Brush piles are a very important habitat element for many different kinds of wildlife. They provide cover from predators and places for nests, escape routes, and dens. Many insects are attracted to this pile of decomposing wood, which provides a bounty of food for birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.
Leaf Litter
An amazing array of wildlife makes their home in the leaf litter, including spiders, many butterflies and moths in various life stages, other insects, salamanders, frogs and toads, and other wildlife. One of the biggest joys of my life is watching the many birds who spend all winter and spring picking through my leaves in search of something good to eat.
My friend Pat Sutton had this to say about the value of the leaves:
Rake leaves? Never! Once I learned that so many of our butterflies (and moths) winter in leaf litter as partially grown caterpillars or as a chrysalis, I abandoned even the thought of raking
Our own Ellen Sousa put it this way:
Leaf litter is also valuable habitat for many forms of beneficial garden wildlife, including predatorial insects, butterfly caterpillars, springtails, mites, as well as the many birds who scratch around in leaves eating all those bugs and insects.
And Heather Holm put it this way:
Leaves provide habitat for so many organisms during the different stages of their lifecycles. Without a good layer of leaf litter left on the ground, we are severing so many of the connections in the food and plant web in our ecosystems. Leaves provide much-needed protection from cold temperatures during the winter months, as well as the fluctuating freeze-thaw cycles.
Add More Shelter to Your Wildlife Garden
Providing shelter for wildlife in your garden is easy when you understand what these animals need. You will be helping them stay safe from predators and providing protection from extremes of heat and cold, wind and rain.
What’s your favorite way of providing shelter for wildlife in your garden?
Carole Sevilla Brown lives in Philadelphia, PA, and she travels the country speaking about Ecosystem Gardening for Wildlife. Check out her new free online course Ecosystem Gardening Essentials, 15 free lessons delivered to your inbox every week.
© 2011 – 2012, Carole Sevilla Brown. All rights reserved. This article is the property of BeautifulWildlifeGarden.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Carole Sevilla Brown
I think this is the one element many forget and certainly I have had to enhance. Adding native shrubs is one thing, but not cleaning up the garden is the best. I love keeping leaf litter now. Besides it being easier on the gardener, it is easier on the garden. I love the pic of the 3 pileated woodpeckers…majestic creatures…
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Wisdom
Thanks, Donna! Those Pileateds were a lucky catch for sure. It’s amazing how much shelter we can provide when we put our minds to it.
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Fall Garden Chores, or NOT
I wanted to agree—great shot of the pileateds!
UrsulaV recently posted..Migrant Season
I agree about not cleaning up. My So Cal lizards are very happy with the oak leaf mulch I leave for them. Lots of tasty bugs & cover, too!
Kathy @nativegardener recently posted..Pitter Patter.. First Rain for Topanga this Season
My family hopes to implement a “sculptural shelter” soon in our backyard.
Picture a 1/3 acre of English Ivy, planted 50 years ago and doing VERY well. We’ve cut a mulched walking trail in the middle, and have carved out a few spots where we just planted natives.
The brush pile will begin as a tubular lump, then a snake-like structure will be added as we pile on brush clippings and yanked out ivy. It will grow bit by bit, snaking around the trees.
Re: that pic of woodpeckers; it must have been fun taking those shots. Do you see the piliateds often? I’ve never seen that many in one place.
David Bourne recently posted..The girls asked for paper mâché. They got balloons to make blowfish. And I, a shark. #SharkWeek
David, English Ivy, UGH! Your plan for a brush pile sounds lovely and will provide so much habitat under your trees.
The photo of the Pileated Woodpeckers was actually a lucky catch. We do not see them often around our house, but one afternoon I took my dogs out on the back deck and heard an unusual sound. It took me a while to spot the 3 woodpeckers in a tree in my neighbor’s yard. I dashed inside to grab my camera, praying the whole time that they’d still be there. And luckily enough I was able to get a few shots off before they left. I’m pretty sure it’s a family unit: mom, dad, and juvenile. I felt very blessed that day
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Healing the Wounds Part 3: Habitat Fragmentation
Carole, your Pileated Woodpeckers remind me of our Acorn Woodpeckers… same coloring, but the back of the head doesn’t come to a point. It is fun to watch them gather in the acorn trees collecting acorns then pile them into holes they make in dead pine trees.. or even telephone poles!
Kathy @nativegardener recently posted..Pitter Patter.. First Rain for Topanga this Season
I am sitting here watching the leaves fall like gold flakes from the sky each time a breeze blows through. The tree closest to the house is a honey locust with tiny leaves and leaf stems that form this wonderful mulch on the ground. I sweep that which falls on the drive and in the alley to use on the path through the hobbit garden so as not to waste by being blown away. With shrubs and ground covers and plant stems the leaf mulch stays in place very well all winter long.
Paths are lined with tree branches fallen during storms or from pruning and along the fence within the shrubbery logs lie decaying slowly. Stumps are used to hold trays of water or small planters in several places. The garden and its creatures are creating a winter retreat.
Gloria recently posted..Lincoln Park Zoo’s Nature Boardwalk
Gloria I love the sound of a “hobbit garden” that’s very intriguing
I’d love to hear more about that!
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Fall Garden Chores, or NOT
I am so impressed with your photograph. Those woodpeckers always get on the other side of the tree whenever I see them. Dry stone walls are our favorite shelter for wildlife even though I still shriek when I see the snakes or furry rodents. They are welcome here. It’s just a little stress test for both of us.
Becky recently posted..Autumn Metamorphosis
Leaving dead trees is helpful, too. I never saw a woodpecker until I moved to Duncanville, Texas, a corner of Dallas county with tall, old trees. I have a couple of dead or dying trees that are a danger to the house, but I will get them cut to about 12 feet, so when they finally collapse, they won’t crush the house. Until then, the woodpeckers can still enjoy them. I also leave the trees that have fallen in the creek (drainage ditch), shifting them so they don’t obstruct water flow. We have seen at least two tortoises and a copperhead. My daughter released at the creek the shrew she found just inside the front door; I hope the copperhead finds it before the shrews find the pantry.