Landscaping tips for attracting wildlife! Welcome, here you will find landscaping tips for attracting birds and creating a backyard wildlife habitat that you値l enjoy for years to come. We値l explore the importance of quality sources of food, shelter, and water in the landscape. We aim to teach you how to achieve wildlife friendly landscapes. It all begins with land management, and we have the landscaping tips to get you there. First let us share with you a little bit about how we began our landscaping for wildlife adventure.
Upon the purchase of our property eight years ago, we discovered the beauty and importance of the wildlife and corresponding habitat found here. Wildlife we had not seen since childhood was abundant. Everything from lizards, writing spiders (orb) and praying mantis to wild turkeys and quail seem to thrive alongside the deer, birds and rabbits. What particularly was attracting birds in such large numbers, including species we had never personally seen? Where had the garter snakes and green frogs of our youth gone only to be now rediscovered here? To now see multitudes of animals slowly grazing and ambling in front us, daily, was beyond our wildest dreams.
 Wildlife viewing and bird watching became our new found passions. Research followed. We had to know the whys behind our questions. This embarked us on a wildlife conservation awakening. With the cooperation of the friends and family who purchased property alongside us, we all set out to garden and landscape for wildlife. The landscaping tips we offer are a culmination of research hours and personal lessons learned.
Our research proved the combination of specific trees, shrubs, grasses, brambles and wildflowers, along with the wetlands, (an accompanying stream) and topography were responsible for the diversity of wildlife here. We realized this natural landscape tapestry could be duplicated in urban settings to provide food, shelter and water for attracting birds, butterflies and other wildlife. We have assembled some of the best landscaping tips to accomplish this. Let痴 review each of the critical landscaping elements, food, water and shelter, in greater detail.
 Providing Wildlife with Food This section offers landscaping tips and recommendations for selecting beneficial trees, shrubs, and native plants. We値l focus on those that appeal to man and feed wildlife. You値l also discover how grasses, brambles and wildflowers play an important role in feeding our animal friends. Furthermore, we値l review supplemental feeding by humans, including feeder types such as, bird feeders, squirrel feeders and larger trough feeders for game species. We値l also review the impact of feeders on birds and wildlife as a whole. Here, you will also find landscaping tips for creating wildlife food plots. Tips include answering the dilemma of annual versus perennial crops, as well as those identified successful for us by season, and those most beneficial nutritionally to wildlife as a whole. Find these and other landscaping tips to provide wildlife food here.
 Providing Wildlife with Shelter This section provides landscaping tips for enhancing the natural bones of a property to better accommodate and encourage wildlife homesteads. Read tips on managing or creating corridors, thickets and openings to attract wildlife. Learn how evergreen plants play an important role in providing wildlife shelter. Here we値l review the two fold benefits of adding hardscapes, such as stone piles, rock walls and natural arbors to enhance a property痴 visual appeal while encouraging smaller residents of the wild. You値l find links for helpful instructions on building these hardscapes. We値l review the varieties of bird houses and correct landscape placements to increase your chances of attracting and keeping birds around your home. Furthermore, you値l learn the benefits of having bat houses in the landscape. Did you know yard waste can be utilized as an attractant and shelter for wildlife? We値l explain how. Find these and other landscaping tips to provide wildlife shelter here.
Here you値l find landscaping tips for several simple to complex ways to add water to your landscape. Did you know you can create water habitats especially beneficial to butterflies? Did you know the plant materials you often choose are critical sources of water for some wildlife? It might surprise you to know, deer and rabbits obtain most of their water needs through foraging, not drinking. We will review the importance of wetlands and offer tips how best to protect and preserve them. We値l even discuss the latest trend in America, water gardens or ponds and how to get the most out of your time and investment installing these in the landscape. Water gardens, wetlands, ponds and birdbaths, all the information you need to provide wildlife water is here.
 Specialty or Theme Gardens Feeling a little overwhelmed by your landscape? Narrow your focus to specialty or theme gardens. As we continually update this site, we値l share our landscaping tips for successfully creating these very specific gardens. What are specialty or theme gardens you ask? Some examples are: Butterfly Gardens Bird Gardens Children痴 Garden Healing Garden Raised-bed Vegetable Gardens Herb Gardens Moonlight or Night Gardens Check back here often for updates, as we are working feverishly to have each specific page available soon.
Landscaping with Recyclables For us there is no better landscape materials than those recycled. We have some excellent landscaping tips on utilizing recycled materials without being, what some might call, tacky. See how we turned an ice storm痴 destruction into useable landscape timbers, fence post, natural bird housing, and more. See how having an earthworm bed consumes kitchen waste and benefits our landscape. Learn the importance of composting and how this activity aids the whole landscape from cleanliness to healthiness. To learn more on composting go here.
 Personal Touches No landscape should be void of a homeowners personal touch. Here痴 some landscaping tips that incorporate new and used materials into artistic, functional or plain whimsical additions to the landscape. See how here.
Certainly, if you already love gardening, you値l appreciate the benefits of attracting more wildlife. The predator prey relationship in the veggie garden, for example, can mean more success with less maintenance. Is there a better garden pest control than amphibians, reptiles and larger insects, as such are without the harmful side effects that poisons carry? Mosquitoes making you nervous with the West Nile threat or keeping you from barbequing on summer nights? Encouraging our feathered friends in by day and our ally the bat at night aids in control. The average homeowner will reap such rewards by applying even a few of the landscaping tips offered on our site.
Landscaping w/ Children
Don稚 forget to include the kids. Most children naturally enjoy outdoors and even those who don稚 may be enticed by some of
the projects we offer. Look for the landscaping tips that encourage participation by children and visit our section devoted to kids,
Kids for Wildlife.
We hope you find these landscaping tips helpful and choose to embark on a wildlife conservation adventure with us. The rewards are tremendous. Who knows, a species we all thought to be long gone from our area or region could return with a fury. Recent sighting reports of the long thought extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker should give us all hope for a future with wildlife. We believe through proper land management and providing the right balance of food, shelter and water, bird watching and wildlife viewing will soon become your family痴 favorite hobby.
So please come back, visit often and check for updates. Most importantly, be sure to make time for gardening and landscaping for wildlife.
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