Native Pollinators in the Wildlife Garden
It seems that January is the time of year for making predictions about what this year’s trends will be in the gardening world. I am so thrilled that at least for some, creating welcoming habitat for wildlife in our gardens has made an appearance on these lists (Notice that this list also includes designing with native plants, and more use of edible native plants).
Instead of making the usual list, I’m going to make my wish list for trends I’d like to see a whole lot more of when it comes to wildlife gardens and making the world a better place for us all to live in.
Energy-Wise Landscape Design
Author Sue Reed says:
What is the point of gardening in support of pollinators, birds and wildlife habitat, when the natural world is on the verge of becoming strange and unfamiliar, if not unlivable, to so many species? We should intentionally design all gardens and grounds so that they – and we who create, maintain and inhabit them – consume less energy.
Learning to manage our landscapes so that we are conserving energy may be the biggest gift we can give to wildlife, and to ourselves, and a healthy planet.
I interviewed Sue Reed about her principles of saving energy in our landscape:
Adding More Native Plants
Native Plants provide food and shelter for wildlife
Why go native? You may be wondering what all the fuss about native plants is.
Native plants support local food webs and over the millennia have developed crucial interactions with local wildlife.
Our typical landscaping models have over 80% lawn, 16% non-native ornamental plants, and less than 4% (if any at all) native plants. Since our goal is to create welcoming habitat for wildlife, we need to turn this model on its head and start adding more native plants to our gardens.
Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
Invasive plants do not support local food webs, outcompete existing native plants, and provide very little food and other resources for wildlife.
My team at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens has been compiling a great resource guide to discovering the best native alternatives to invasive plants, and we’ll be continuing to add to that growing list this year.
Pollinator Protection Becomes a Priority
While much attention has been paid to the decline of the honey bee (an introduced species used in agriculture) our native pollinators are also in deep trouble due to habitat destruction and the continued application of pesticides.
Even our garden clean up efforts may be harmful to native pollinators in our quest to have a tidy, neat, and “beautiful” garden.
But we can learn to care for native pollinators and protect them even through the coldest winter months in our wildlife gardens.
Native plants and native pollinators are intricately tied to the food on your dinner table, so now is the time to start protecting them in our wildlife gardens.
More Attention to Ecosystem Gardening Essentials
1. Provide Food for Wildlife
An Ecosystem Garden will provide food for all stages of life. Feeding wild animals meansgoing beyond bird feeders and learning about the native plants that support all the wildlife of your area. Your wildlife garden is an ecosystem that contributes to the inter-related food webs on which your local critters are dependent. Pollinators, butterflies, birds, mammals will find a welcoming home in your garden when you plan your garden to include the plants that will best provide for their needs.
2. Provide Water for Wildlife
Access to clean water is one of the most important elements in caring for wildlife in your Ecosystem Garden, especially in winter. Providing water in your wildlife garden is not limited to birdbaths, but can include rain gardens, wildlife ponds, saucers, fountains and more. Ecosystem Gardening also uses water sustainably and manages rainwater in a responsible way to protect our streams and watersheds.
3. Provide Shelter for Wildlife
Your Ecosystem Garden will provide safe places for wildlife to get out of the heat and cold and find respite from predators. Urban neighborhoods provide particular challenges as some species of wildlife have adapted very well to living near humans, for example raccoons, opossums, and introduced species such as starlings, house sparrows and domestic cats.
4. Provide Safe Places for Wildlife to Raise Young
Your Ecosystem Garden will include many places for wildlife to raise their young, including your garden pond for frogs, toads, dragonflies, and salamanders, tree snags with cavities for birds and crevices for butterflies, wood piles, brush piles, and rock piles. The more of these elements you add to your wildlife garden, the more wildlife will choose to raise their next generation in your habitat. You need to make sure that these places to raise their young are safe from predators.
Your Wildlife Garden Trends
These are my wishes for wildlife garden trends for the coming years, but this is just scratching the surface. What would you add to this list? What trends are you setting in YOUR wildlife 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.
© 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
These are very comprehensive Carole. The energy-wise is one I need to explore more. I am definitely removing more invasives and replacing them with natives this year., I am also adding more trees and shrubs for food and shelter for wildlife. One of the big trends this year is the use of flowering shrubs. there are some nice native shrubs that flower that I hope to highlight when I post on Workhorse Native shrubs in February. You have given us lots to think about!
Donna, I’m sure all of us could benefit from learning more about saving energy in our landscaping and gardening practices. It’s something I’m looking at more and more. Can’t wait to read about your Workhorse Native Shrubs!
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Top 10 Tips for Your Winter Wildlife Garden
A VERY powerful article with a wealth of knowledge! Thank you!
May all your gardens grow,
Jan
Jan @TWOwomenANDaHOE recently posted..Fill. Plant. Grow!
Thanks, Jan! Also thank you so much for sharing this on Google+. You’re a rock star
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Reflection and Anticipation
As usual, Carole, you sum it up all so well. “Your wildlife garden is an ecosystem that contributes to the inter-related food webs on which your local critters are dependent. ” This really important to help folks get into their heads. Everything IS inter-dependent, that’s why native plants matter. And why pesticides do not belong.
Kathy Vilim recently posted..Stand Up and Be Counted
Thanks, Kathy
Remembering that everything is connected will hopefully help people to learn to make healthier choices in their gardens!
Carole Brown recently posted..Wildlife Habitat Gardening at Coastal Maine Botanical Garden
Carole, I don’t know how you do it. This is a spectacular post and a very important one. Not only have you gotten me fired up about doing more for wildlife, but you’ve provided links to the resources needed to do so! I love that I can follow a trail of breadcrumbs from one post to another as I learn more about specific elements in designing for wildlife.
Genevieve recently posted..2012 Garden Trends: What the Cool Kids are Planting This Year
Thank you, Gen for being the inspiration for this post! And for including wildlife gardening and native plants in your “What the Cool Kids are Planting the Year” post
Yes, I like to leave breadcrumbs so that each reader can click on those things that interest them most and potentially have a completely different reading experience than another reader. For myself, I can spend hours following links in posts that grab my attention gobbling up fascinating information.
Carole Brown recently posted..4 Steps to a Beautiful Wildlife Garden
Carole, thank you for this clear and comprehensive post.
I am thrilled to see you highlight the opportunities we have to make our landscapes more energy-wise; growing some of our own food (and eating local food) is a big piece of this, but so is planting more trees and shrubs that shield our living spaces from sun and wind, decreasing our heating and cooling demand.
Also I’m very glad that Donna mentioned shrubs, as they are essential pieces of a living community. We tend to remove/avoid having vegetation at eye-level, but that vertical layer is key for songbird nesting. And if we choose native shrubs, we can attract leaf-eating bugs (food for baby birds), supply nectar for pollinators, and maybe even berries for wildlife. All while adding a bit of mystery and privacy to entice ourselves outdoors more.
Finally, I’ll just point out that all these trends that you hope for will require less lawn, which as you know is an idea near and dear to my heart.
And thank you for your valuable work! What a contribution you are making at this critical time when we are reimagining our national landscape and our role with respect to the rest of nature.
Evelyn, any trend that encourages less lawn and more native plants and wildlife habitat is wonderful in my book! Thank you for the work you are doing to spread this message
Carole Brown recently posted..Reflection and Anticipation
High summer and our neighbours are frantically weeding, it’s green, it’s nasty, take it AWAY.
I’d like a trend towards – it grows, it lives, it is part of the web of life. To see nature with the eye of wonder, instead of ‘clean and tidy’ to the eye of ‘civilised city’ people.
Elephant’s Eye I love how you think!
Carole Brown recently posted..Give a Little Back to Wildlife for the Holidays