Wildlife garden
Both public and private gardens can be specifically transformed to attract the native wildlife, and in doing so, provide a natural array of support through available shelter and sustenance.
Wildlife gardens can also play an essential role in biological pest control, and also promote biodiversity, native plantings, and generally benefit the wider environment.
[7] Planning a successful wildlife garden requires consideration of the area surroundings, and a focus on overall ecological functionality.
Vegetative structure and complexity play an important role in the benefits the landscape will provide to the wildlife, through the varying plants serving as sources of food and cover for survival.
[8] In particular, planting native vegetation creates greater diversity in yards by providing habitat for birds, pollinators such as bees, and other wildlife, which results in their numbers in population growing.
[9] There are countless ways in which wildlife gardens can be built or converted, as long as food, water, shelter, and space are provided.
Building a successful garden suitable for local wildlife is best accomplished through the use of multiple three-dimensional habitats with diverse structures that provide places for animals to nest and hide.
A balance between ground cover, shrub, understory, and canopy species will allow different sized wildlife shelters, varying in height, that fit their individual needs.
Vegetation changes occur in successions, with a meadow eventually becoming a forest in its final stage after gradually being replaced with woody species; to achieve horizontal structure, vegetation must be arranged and interspersed in these different stages with some proximity, so that different wildlife species will be supported.
Significant essential natural processes are also enhanced during the implementation of a vertical structure such as that of maintaining soil temperature, protection from erosion, decomposition, replenishment of nutrients, and additions to the food web.
[18] Although some exotics may also be included, as discussed in the previous section, wild gardens usually mostly feature a variety of native species.
[20] Invasive species can always prove problematic in the garden due to the absence of natural predators and their ability to reproduce rapidly.
[22] Careful thought about how to balance invasive species management with what is best for urban biodiversity is needed for the best outcome in your garden.
Leaf litter, or material that has fallen from a plant on to the ground, creates the perfect mulch and fertilization for a wildlife garden.
Many wildlife gardens will have native vegetation planted due to the benefits it offers to the local fauna, as well as its convenience to humans because of its easy maintenance.
[10] In cases such as this, the wildlife garden instead becomes a habitat sink; thus it is important to plan carefully and take precautions, while always expecting the unexpected.
Some examples include visual or olfactory contact with flora or any kind of nature, which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, and an association between an increase in attention in humans who experience plant and animal diversity, implying a reduction in anxiety.
It is important as well, when considering types of food to include to consider those from categories such as seeds from flowers or trees, nectar, twigs, fruit such as berries, pollen, and sap.
[24] Residential wildlife gardens can help strengthen connections between humans and the environment, between both its abiotic and biotic features.
