May is Gardening for Wildlife Month. Planning a wildlife garden to attract the type of wildlife you want can be fun. You can always purchase pre-planned kits from reputable sources or you can plan your own. The National Wildlife Federation has a certified habitat program and provides some great tips to get started.

To provide a balanced habitat, here are the elements you’ll need to consider.

1. Food sources: Wildlife needs herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees that can provide food including pollen, nectar, seeds, berries, and the like. You’ll want to pick a variety of plants that will provide food throughout the year.
2. Water: You’ll need to provide a source not only for drinking but also bathing and reproduction.
3. Cover: Animals need and want cover plants so they can either hide or stalk their prey.
4. Places to raise young: Many species have different habitat needs in their juvenile phase than they do as adults. Providing spaces for raising young will attract more wildlife.

Happy planting!

Debra

When gardening for wildlife, using native plants is the best option for attracting local wildlife. One of the most useful plants in the native garden is purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). It’s benefits include:

• Attractive, long-lasting summer blooms add beauty both on it’s own and mixed in with other flowering plants in the garden. Blooms last from summer to fall and the seed heads lend intrest to the garden in the winter
• Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds use the coneflower as a nectar source.
• Caterpillars and moths use it as a food source.
• It’s a hardy, naturalizing perennial. They self-sow, don’t need to be divided, and are drought tolerant. You’ll save time, money, and other resources .
• After the blooms fade, birds feast on the seeds.

Coming right after April as National Gardening Month, May is Gardening for Wildlife Month. Adding elements in your garden that attract wildlife has a number of benefits:

• A diverse landscape using native plants can support an abundance of wildlife and can especially help declining populations, like pollinators;
• Using native plants conserves energy since they are acclimated to the local climate, requiring less water and maintenance once established;
• Attractive plantings and the wildlife drawn to them create artistic and educational opportunities; and
• You can share in the food abundance! Herbs like mints and parsley attract butterflies and fruit trees and shrubs attract lots of birds and mammals.

Throughout the month, I’ll be posting more info about resources and specific plants for specific wildlife. Feel free to let me know what you’d like to see here.

Peace,

Debra