How to Attract Wildlife to Your Garden

Attracting wildlife to your garden can be exciting, pleasurable, and interesting.  In order for you to enjoy a blue bird sitting on a small group of viburnums, you must provide them with adequate shelter and food.  There are many ways to provide food and shelter for the wild inhabitants of the woods, but most have specific criteria for living and thriving much like plants do.

How do I attract birds to my garden?

Provide Food and Shelter

• The different types of seed attract certain birds so make sure you learn what kinds of birds you want to attract
• A healthy lawn that is rich in organic material will provide worms a great place to live
• Providing berries such as Viburnum berries or other native shrubs with berries will promote birds to frequent your landscape

By providing a bird feeder you can attract a plethora of birds to your garden:

Shelter can easily be provided by giving birds a place to stay Bird Houses work great, but the size of the bird house will determine the kind of bird staying as residence, we carry many different styles of feeders. Chickadees tend to frequent small holed bird houses because they are small themselves and like the protection against predators Large conifers -Conifers such as Blue Spruce and Serviceberry can provide an excellent house for birds like Morning Doves or Mocking Birds.

To specifically attract Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are specifically attracted to bright colors such as red, yellow, orange, etc. If you choose to use Hummingbird feeders, remember to change the feed every 3-4 days. The sugars in the water can be more harmful than good if neglected. If you see black dots in the nectar feed, it could be mold, replace immediately. Use plants with tubular flowers such as:

Trumpet Vine	Deciduous Azaleas Millennium Azalea shown	Weigela Wine and Roses Weigela shown

Some Perennials that will attract Hummingbirds such as:

Beebalm Monarda shown	Columbine Little Lanterns shown	Liatris

How do I attract butterflies to my garden?

Provide food and places for the butterflies to rest.

Butterflies prefer flowers with long narrow tubes which hold nectar at the bottom. Butterfly Bush or Honeysuckle are two great plants to attract butterflies. At night when the temperatures eventually get cooler, Butterflies will rest on rocks to warm up in the following morning.

How do I attract bees to my garden?

Provide the bees with trees or shrubs to make hives.

Most bees are attracted to any flowering plant. Provide different plants with different blooming periods. This will allow the bees to have a constant food source.

How do I attract other wildlife?

By providing other functions in your garden such as:

Ponds Ponds will attract amphibious and other wildlife Use plenty of non-invasive water plants as a source of food and shelter for wildlife creatures Ponds should have shallow margins, deep areas, and gradual sloping sides

Decaying Wood

• By offering just a few logs to naturally decay in your garden Wildlife will enjoy the food source from the insects who break down the wood
• The decaying wood also brings a rustic look to your garden as an aesthetic bonus

Rock Piles

• Rock piles or Pockets in Stone Walls will attract frogs or toads
• Rock piles provide shelter for frogs and toads in those nooks and crannies
• Giving them a place to stay will encourage them to take residence in your garden

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