A Garden of Possibilities

 This is the first in a series of posts about creating a garden that is not only colorful, interesting and inviting but is also sustainable and welcoming to birds and other small wildlife.  In this post I’ll discuss the basics of landscaping to specifically entice birds to visit your garden and make it their home, or bird-scaping, and in subsequent posts I’ll look at a variety of trees, shrubs and perennials that attract birds, bees and butterflies.    

Birds make a garden truly come alive

A garden designed to attract birds can be beautiful and sustainable and have many side benefits.  The same plants birds enjoy will also attract butterflies, bees and beneficial insects to your garden.  You’ll see better pollination of  flowers and vegetables and your garden will require less maintenance if you allow natural predator-prey relationships to develop.  Did you know the majority of insects in our gardens are beneficial?  So you can stop using chemicals to control ‘bad’ bugs and let the ‘good’ guys, like lacewings and lady bugs, do the hard work for you.   

A bird friendly garden utilizes a mix of trees, shrubs and perennials to provide layers of all the essentials birds need to survive – food, shelter, water and protection from predators.  If a bird can find all four of those fundamentals in your garden, they will be more likely to make your garden their home.  When designing a bird-friendly garden, consider using native plants since they provide just the right type of food and shelter birds are looking for.  Incorporate plants that flower, fruit or berry during different seasons.  Location of plants is also important.  A densely planted mixed border on the perimeter of your lawn is more inviting to birds than an island bed in the middle of an open space.   

Use a diverse mix of plants but don’t plant one of everything.  Instead, depending on the size of your garden, choose a few plants that match your site conditions and plant them in mass.  A group of three of the same shrub is more appealing to birds than three different shrubs planted near each other.  The same is true for perennials.  Following this design principle will also make your garden more visually attractive since it will flow more naturally.  

When your garden offers all the essentials, birds will make it home

Bird-scaping is also a great excuse to stop being so rigid and orderly about garden chores.  Not only is slacking off OK, it’s actually encouraged.  Birds like a little bit of disorder.  The open, loose habit many trees and shrubs naturally obtain as they mature is ideal for birds so you can stop pruning your plants into tight balls every season. A little bit of leaf litter or a small brush pile are good things in a bird-friendly garden.  You can reduce maintenance further by leaving seed pods and dried flowers on perennials and ornamental grasses over the winter to provide food and shelter for birds.  This also adds interest to your winter garden.   

Before you rush out to buy new  plants, take an inventory of what’s growing in your garden right now.  Chances are you already have some bird-friendly plants.  If you have several deciduous trees, consider adding a few conifers. Don’t have any shrubs with berries?  Add one or two to your list.  No fall-blooming perennials?  That’s easy to fix.  In the next installment of my bird-scaping series, I’ll highlight some trees and shrubs that are ideal for putting out the welcome mat and enticing birds to visit your garden.