You don’t have to start from scratch if you want to attract wildlife to your garden, even if your landscape is very traditional and formal.
Bird feeders and birdbaths are a quick and inexpensive way to start. But as for plants and garden design, we have three things you can do now to bring in the wildlife.
- Ditch the honeysuckle! It’s invasive, chokes out native ephemerals and the berries have very little nutritional value. If you have honeysuckle, it’s most likely tucked by the garage or along the back fence, an easy place to remove and replace without disturbing your established landscape.
- Leave spent flowers up. I was so close to cutting my perennials at the park, it was quite late in the season, but I spied seeds still remaining and birds coming to grab a quick bite.
- Opt for native or single flowering varieties of plants, such as with echinacea. There’s a common thought that double flowering coneflowers aren’t as easy for pollinators to access or may offer less nectar. I tend to lean towards straight varieties or those closer to straight because they simply live longer. My native liatris is going on year five with ease. It’s always adorned with pollinators and come fall, when the flowers have faded, small birds are harvesting the seeds.
Attracting wildlife doesn’t have to mean grand changes in the garden. We can offer ideas for simple alterations to your landscape to bring in the birds and pollinators. Just give us a call.
