Create a Backyard Wildlife Habitat
- Information for Gardeners in North America
Welcome! I've written this page specially to give gardeners in the USA and Canada some ideas where to get further information about creating a backyard wildlife habitat. Your soils, climate and native wildlife are significantly different to those here in North Western Europe, so information on wildlife gardening intended for British gardeners will not always be appropriate to your conditions.
However, the general principles on my Basics page do apply to you. Plenty of structure, making your garden into a 'habitat mosaic' with plenty of variety, dense 'cover' where birds can nest safe from cats, planting berry bushes for birds, leaving dead stems and seedheads over winter, and not using pesticides - all this applies to you too. It doesn't matter what size your garden is - Even small city yards can make a difference. It's mainly in the details of choosing plants that are suitable for your region and appropriate for your local wildlife that you need to seek local advice.
For example, several well-behaved British wild flowers that are often recommended in the UK as bee and butterfly plants, such as the rare Meadow Clary (Salvia pratensis) and Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) have turned into such invasive weeds in parts of North America that you could find yourself in trouble with the authorities if you planted them. Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia), a charming and well-behaved wild flower here in Britain, and one that I use in my garden and recommend as a good ground cover in damp places, has gone out of control in parts of the South Eastern USA. And so on...
On the other hand, there are many scarlet, trumpet- shaped flowers such as Penstemons, Monardas, Pentas, Epilobium canum, Lonicera sempervirens and Lobelia cardinalis, that are of little or no use to wildlife here in Europe, but are perfect for many North American gardens as they will attract hummingbirds. (Pentas is illustrated on the masthead above, being visited by a female Costa's Hummingbird). We don't have hummingbirds in Europe - you are so lucky to have these fascinating litle birds visiting your gardens.
Where to get information
Your first port of call should be the website of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. As well as informative articles and fact sheets that you can download, and links to other wildlife gardening sites, they publish a series of excellent, readable, small books on such subjects as bird gardens, butterfly gardening, using native plants, and natural water gardens, all written specifically for North American gardeners.
Next, go to the Pollinator Partnership site, where you can find out about National Pollinator Week in the USA, June 22-28 2008. There is a link to a factsheet for gardeners about protecting pollinating insects. This site has other cool stuff you can get from them including a 'pollinator wheel' showing flowers, where they grow, and what beneficial insects they attract - perfect for young gardeners!
For further reading I personally recommend:
Stein, Sara Bonnett:
Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of our own Backyards.
ISBN: 0395653738 (out of print, but readily available from book dealers such as abebooks.com)
Marinelli, Janet: Stalking the Wild Amaranth: Gardening in the Age of Extinction.
Henry Holt, 1998. 238pp. ISBN: 0 8050 4415 9
Grissell, E: Insects and Gardens. Timber Press, 2001. ISBN 088192 504 7
(One of my favourite books - should be compulsory reading for every gardener).
Roth, Sally : Attracting Birds to Your Backyard: 536 Ways to Create a Haven for Your Favorite Birds. Rodale, 1998. ISBN 0875 96892 9
Buchmann S, and Nabhan G P: The Forgotten Pollinators. Shearwater Books, 1997. ISBN 155963 353 0. (A "good read" - not at all dry or boring - another of my favourite books).
Ortho's All About Attracting Hummingbirds and Butterflies. Meredith Books, 2001. ISBN 0897214560.
Butterfly Gardening: Creating Summer Magic in Your Garden
Sierra Club Books, 1998. 208pp. ISBN 0 87156 975 2. Sponsored by the Xerces Society and the Smithsonian Institution.
Pollinator Conservation Handbook. A guide to understanding, protecting, and providing habitat for native pollinator insects. Xerces Society, Portland OR. 2003. ISBN 09744475 01
The list above, (which is specially for gardeners in the USA and Canada) is by no means exhaustive, but gives you some very good places to start. My bibliography (go to reading page for download) has a few more ideas. Although it has a UK bias, I have included a North America section.
A further good list of reading material is given on the Ecological Gardening page of the BCGI Canada site. This page has 'gardening for wildlife' and 'native plant gardening' sections, recommending a series of reference books for gardeners in the USA and Canada. (BCGI stands for 'Botanic Gardens Conservation International.)
Here are some good links for gardeners in the USA and Canada:
Wild About Gardening: Wildlife gardening pages of the Canadian Wildlife Federation:
www.wildaboutgardening.org
National Wildlife Federation : Native Gardening and Invasive Plants Guide, with links to plant lists by state and other information about wildlife gardening:
www.enature.com/native_invasive
Butterfly Gardeners' Quarterly: www.butterflygardeners.com
What's the Buzz on ...Planting a Bee Garden: An excellent site about planting your garden to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds; succinctly sums up the wildlife-friendly approach to gardening. http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/na/bgardn.html
Xerces Society: www.xerces.org A marvellous society that deserves your support!
Backyard Wildlife habitat: www.backyardwildlifehabitat.info
My Backyard Wildlife Habitat (Stewardship Garden) www.stewardshipgarden.org
USDA Backyard Wildlife Factsheet: www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard/WildHab.html
North American Native Plant Society: www.nanps.org
Urban Bee Gardens: A site from University of California at Berkeley about planting your garden to encourage wild solitary bees (desirable and harmless, by the way). http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/index.html
Knox Cellars: A family business that sells Mason Bees (useful pollinators and harmless ) and all sorts of nesting aids and equipment for solitary bees, including 'Bring Back the Bees' T shirts!
www.knoxcellars.com
Migratory Pollinators Program: An attractive, slightly more scientific site from the Arizona-Sonora Museum explaining the ecological role of pollinator species that migrate with the seasons.
http://www.desertmuseum.org/pollination/introduction.php
Enjoy your gardening, and thanks for visiting this site
Feedback is welcome. Please email me if you have any comments.
Copyright © Marc Carlton 2008. You are welcome to print this page, but for personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes only. Re-publication in any medium without permission is prohibited.
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