There's nothing quite like lying in a hammock listening to the sound of birds singing in your garden, while ladybugs take care of your aphid problems and black beetles snack on your slugs. You may think that this is a pie-in-the-sky fantasy on a summer's day, but it is actually an everyday occurrence in a wildlife-friendly garden. And the basics of wildlife-friendly gardening are fairly simple: adding plants and other features to your garden that attract birds, butterflies, beneficial insects, and other wildlife, then maintaining your garden in ways that will keep them living and thriving there.

For your efforts, you will be rewarded many times over by the visual beauty and life that these delightful creatures add to your own backyard, which plants alone cannot provide, and by the natural pest, disease, and weed control that increases your garden's health. To top it off, many of the plants and maintenance practices of a wildlife-friendly garden also conserve resources and decrease your maintenance time. Sounds like the ultimate win-win situation!

The 4 Keys To Success

Just as building good soil is a vital ingredient to growing healthy trees, shrubs, and perennials, there are key ingredients to a wildlife-friendly garden. Providing any one of these 4 Keys to Success will attract wildlife, but providing all of them is optimal: Food, Shelter, Nesting Places, and Water.

1. Food
2. Shelter
3. Nesting Places
4. Water

Maintaining Your Wildlife Garden

Once you chose the features you want to add to your garden to attract wildlife, it's important to maintain your garden in ways that will keep them safe and thriving there year-round. Enter this section for a list of Key Maintenance Needs for these gardens.

Resources and Information

Look here for a list of publications, websites, and organizations working to provide the public with the best advice and information on creating and conserving habitats for local wildlife.

Photo Credits

All photos in this guide are by Emily Bishton.