Soapbox: Landscaping for a song
Monday, January 14th, 2008By Janisse Ray
Winter is the time to plant native trees and shrubs that will turn your yard into a wildlife sanctuary. Large or small, your yard can be a habitat for wildlife. Songbirds are attracted to native, wooded gardens with many canopy layers, including mature trees and a dense understory.
First, let’s define “native plants.†They are those that existed in Georgia before Oglethorpe arrived. They are great for landscaping because they require less care, less attention, and less expense, since they don’t require fertilizers or pesticides. Once established, they rarely need watering.
The sassafras, for example, is a native tree that provides good cover and nesting sites for birds, which also like the fruit. Swallowtail butterfly larvae eat sassafras leaves.
Acorns feed a menagerie of animals high-energy food. Game birds, woodpeckers, flying squirrels, and raccoons are among the creatures that love them. Many species of oak (white, water, myrtle, and laurel) make excellent additions to a wildlife lover’s yard. In addition to food, the trees provide dens and nesting material, including Spanish moss, and a good source of caterpillars.
The bright red fruit of flowering dogwood and American holly are attractive to cedar waxwings and roving flocks of birds. Other impressive native trees that attract wildlife include American beech, tulip poplar, wild cherry, and bald cypress.
In terms of shrubs, Southern wax myrtle is perfect for a yard. It is an evergreen and, planted closely, makes a great hedge. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers peck neat rows of holes in the bark as they feed. Red buckeye is a favorite of ruby-throated hummingbirds. Many animals eat the seed of sparkleberry. Beautyberry, yaupon holly, and oakleaf hydrangea are shrubs that make excellent additions for a homeowner set on becoming more native.
Planting with wildlife in mind can turn your back yard into your own personal nature preserve. Less lawn will mean fewer hours spent mowing. But the greatest benefit of all will be that a more diverse yard, with foxes and deer making surprise appearances, brings a lot more excitement to your life.
Native plants are increasingly available from local nurseries, and a number of nurseries specializing in native plants may be found throughout the state. Information may be obtained from the Georgia Native Plant Society.
If even a fraction of Georgia’s gardeners turned part of their yard to a wilder state, there would be a measurable positive impact on wildlife.
Writer Janisse Ray has seen fox and wild turkeys in her yard in Appling County.
