Articles / Garden Design / GARDEN DESIGN: ATTRACTING WILDLIFE

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6 min read | by Ben Walcott, Updated 19/04/2019

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ATTRACTING WILDLIFE:

If you are interested in attracting wildlife to your garden, consider the following:(Extract from: Australian Plants for Canberra region gardens)

• A small water feature is sufficient to attract birds and other wildlife into the garden. If cats frequent your garden be sure to have some water provision above the ground.
• Planting ‘insect magnets’ will attract pollinating insects, which in turn will attract insect-eating birds to the garden.
• Rocks which get morning sun are attractive to basking lizards and piles of rocks or rock walls with crannies will provide homes for them
• Birds are very good at controlling insect outbreaks, reducing or eliminating the need for insecticides.
• Having flowers in every season will attract insects and birds all year round. Nectar producing plants are better restricted to one corner of the garden as nectar feeders can be very territorial.
• Dense growth (intersecting branches or prickly foliage) provides habitat and security for small birds.
• Plants that produce lots of seed, such as acacias, will attract parrots and other seed eating birds.

 

You should consider that there are three layers to a garden: the trees, shrubs and ground-covers. A good balance between these will encourage birds and other wildlife.

 

A wonderful resource on this subject is a great book by AB Bishop “habitat”  a practical guide to creating a wildlife-friendly Australian garden. This is published by Murdock Books and is full of fantastic pictures and ideas on how to create a garden that attracts wildlife of all sorts, birds, insects etc. Everyone who is interested in wildlife should have this book.