Garden Wildlife Habitats

If you live in a suburban development, your yard may be part of a former wildlife habitat. You can make peace with nature by creating small spaces in your back yard to provide food, water and shelter for birds, amphibians and small creatures that cause no harm.

Backyard wildlife habitats recreate a small haven for wildlife in any rural or suburban garden area without added risk of damage. It's easy to design small backyard habitats in a home garden area. Adding wildlife-friendly areas to your yard will attract birds and beneficial insects, beautify your property and restore natural balance to neighborhood ecosystems.

This hawk lives in our area and sometimes causes a panic at the bird feeder - he thinks it's a fast food station placed in the garden just for his benefit. Mostly, though, he soars above the field next to our small yard, on the lookout for moles and mice and snakes.

You don't need to live in a rural area to attract beneficial wildlife to your garden. Small suburban and urban gardens can support a variety of birds and other small creatures (not necessarily pests like mice or rats) that will enjoy your landscape and do no harm. Many wildlife species are beneficial and beautiful - they eat pests, make music and play games with one another.

Wild creatures provide hours of enjoyment and learning by giving us opportunities to watch them as they visit food sources, feeders and water sources in our yards year round, and while they build nests and homes, mate and raise families.

Rain Garden with Spring Runoff

Rain Gardens are easy to create low-maintenance natural areas that provide suburban back yard shelter, water and food for birds, butterflies, toads and beneficial insects like mantises, ladybugs and dragon flies. They don't hold water long enough to stagnate or allow mosquitoes to breed.

Note the clay flower pot that conceals a plastic drain pipe. Storm water from our driveway follows the pipe down into the rain garden to dissipate. In a few months the mulch area and clay pot will be almost hidden from view as perennial native plants grow all around the water area.

Rain Garden and Native Plants

By early June, native plants have almost hidden the clay flower pot that covers a drain pipe that feeds storm water into the rain garden from our driveway area. Frogs, deer, chipmunks, garter snakes and turtles visit this small rain garden after every storm.