Protect & Encourage Wildlife

Remember to protect and encourage wildlife by planting in masses of 3 to 5 plants rather just one or two; this will provide enough food to support the numbers of good bugs needed to keep your garden healthy. Consider using native plants – native plants have co-evolved with the native fauna over millennia!

To create a habitat inviting to birds and bees, we just need to add a source of water and good nesting sites. The water source should be shallow and include some rocks and stones along the edges so the insects can reach the water without risk of drowning. Birds will also thank you for providing a place for them to get a drink of water during those hot summer days. Remember also to provide habitat for our native bees, primary pollinators for most native plants. Most people are not aware that honey bees first arrived on this continent with European settlers. Before that, native North American bees pollinated all plants and to this day, honeybees are not able to pollinate such important crops as tomatoes, pumpkins and blueberries.

Native bees do not nest in hives like honey bees. They tend to live a solitary existence, laying their eggs in the ground or in hollows in dead wood. When mulching, it’s important to leave a bit of bare ground to provide nesting sites for our solitary native bees. Or install bird houses and a ‘bee hotel’ in the garden to provide good nesting sites for these important beneficials insects. Instructions on building and maintaining a ‘bee hotel’ can be found here and with another model here. Follow this link to find information on building and properly locating a nesting site suitable for all types of beneficial insects.