How To Garden For Wildlife

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If you want to invite wildlife into your yard and neighborhood, plant a simple garden that provides habitats for them.

Imagine birds, butterflies, and hummingbirds coming to visit your garden space, all attracted by what you’ve planted.

Provide a sustainable habitat for wildlife by planting in your garden. Plant native plant species that wildlife depend on.

Add water sources, nesting boxes, and other habitat features. By choosing natural gardening practices, you create a safe habitat 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 such as millet, sorghum, blanketflower, 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 removing 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 vines provide ideal cover for birds. The vines’ flowers also attract nectar-seeking birds like hummingbirds.

Fruiting vines, such as grapes and multiflora roses, provide 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 tree species to attract more bird species. Start by finding out which trees are indigenous to your area. 

Oaks, aspens, maples, beeches, and birches are all found in the natural landscape. Each offers nesting sites among its branches, in hollows, and under its boughs.

Evergreens provide protection from the hot sun in summer and from rain, snow, and ice in 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. 
Hanging baskets will add flair to your space while offering a good source of 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 which native plants are thriving and attracting wildlife and birds.