Welcoming Wildlife to Your Natural Landscape
by John Yazo
When it comes to natural landscaping, trees shrubs and perennials are usually the predominant elements, but are only a small part of a much larger ecosystem. Wildlife like bees, butterflies, birds and larger animals,like chipmunks, deer and squirrels are just a few more elements that make up the ecosystem in nature and can be a part of your backyard home garden. A natural landscape can be a fascinating diversity of creatures and the encouragement for wildlife to come into your garden.
Including features like brush piles, compost piles, hedgerows and stone walls can provide shelter for a large range of small animals, and attract them to your gardens. When designing your natural landscape gardens, you need to look at it more as a location that can shelter and provide for wildlife, not like the normal method of landscape is designed to be well manicured. The ecosystem provides for many needs of wildlife to survive and work together with nature to provide an environment for plant life to thrive.
One example, an old rotten log could represent a home for a large range of wildlife in the ecosystem, like birds, insects, toads and other mammals. If one exists don't remove it and if there isn't one there place one there and garden around it, let nature do it job.Natural landscape gardens are designed for the needs of wildlife, food, shelter and water.
Now that you are look at your landscape through a new set of eyes, wildlife needs and you can imagine what it would take for you to survive there, it's time to start designing. There are a few way you can accomplish a garden that will work for you.
To create a truly diverse natural landscape, you will need to provide a source of food, shelter and water for the specific wildlife you want top attract, lets use birds and butterflies for an example.
First choose a host plant, monarch butterflies like butterfly weed that is a type of milkweed and hummingbirds you can choose from bee balm, fucsia, red columbine, rose of sharon or trumpet vine.
Next you will need to think about a source of water. This has many options, from just a simple birdbath to a landscape pond or water feature. Use your imagination and get creative with an interesting ways of having a water source in your garden.
Food, depending on what you are looking to attract, you can incorporate things like a log like we mentioned earlier to harbor insects or you can include strawberry plants for wildlife that like berries and flowering plants to provide nectar. Food sources can vary on what you want to attract and stay around.
The plants, along with the habitat that is going to be required is obviously going to be different depending what your goals are for attracting the specific wildlife you prefer. Research and learn what is native to your area and try to stay with native plants.
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