Your outdoor view and helping too

Yup, it's true. I'm on a garden/ outdoor living space roll, a thread that extends in many directions actually.

Today's post was inspired by goldfinches and the news. The goldfinches were in my back garden (there's one in the photo; the little yellow guy on the feeder at left). By the way, this photo was taken from inside the house.

Backing up bit, in my "Extend Your Living Space without Adding On" post, I mentioned how working with the view outside your windows can extend your living space beyond your four walls. And if you own some of that outdoor space you're looking at, you can create outdoor rooms that you actually can use and spend time in. So, creating visual beauty and extended living space are part of my love and motive for gardening. But there are other things that contribute to my gardening choices, including my selection of plants and trees. One is cultivating wildlife habitat, even though this is the city. Actually, especially since this is the city.

This is where goldfinches and the news comes into it. Although habitat restoration has played a role in my landscaping this and my previous house, making it happen is not necessarily instant. It can take time to get things cooking, especially if you're having a lot of inside work done because you really can't do much outside until that's taken care of. Why? Because until that time, outdoors is both a makeshift workshop and a dumping ground (even if you have a dumpster). Not to mention that the sounds of table saws and nail guns are not especially inviting to wildlife.

But I've adding trees and shrubs around the edges that slowly have expanded to my finishing the front garden this year, along with further developing the beginnings of a butterfly garden in front of the trees I planted earlier on in back. This Spring, my efforts have begun to produce noticable results at this house. For the first time in the 6 years we've lived here, there are chickadees, tufted titmouse, nuthatches and now, this week, I spotted goldfinches. We've also had the first sightings of chipmunks. In the intervening years, the gardening efforts have gradually attracted woodpeckers, cardinals, mourning doves and blue jays. When we first moved here, there were "city birds" only -- sparrows, starlings and occasionally pigeons. (By the way, sparrows and starlings are not native birds and actually have played a significant role in taking over habitat of native species, including the Eastern bluebird.)

Although practically making a wildlife oasis happen has taken a lot of time and effort (and I'm not done yet), it hasn't really taken that much in terms of thinking. Just the following of a simple formula: Food, water, shelter and nesting opportunity. You don't need a big yard for that. Our own is the standard city lot surrounded by houses on 4 sides. But I've planted trees and shrubs and grasses and flowers, mostly native plants, that attract and sustain various birds, butterflies and other wildlife. I'll give a list of plants later in this post.

But right now, I want to caution about invasive plants, which defeat the purpose of establishing a native habitat. Don't plant the invasives, including the ever popular "burning bush" (Euonymus alatus) which is on most Massachusetts (amongst other states) invasive species lists I've seen yet is still sold in many local garden centers. These and other invasive plants take over habitat of native plant species and plants like burning bush, Norway maple and others can escape some distance from your own little yard. You know the gorgeous purple flowers you see in wetland areas? It's purple loosestrife, brought here as a lovely garden plant which has escaped into wetlands causing a major problem as it chokes off native plants. To learn more about invasive plants, visit United States National Arboretum and view the 2006 Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List.

So, pulling this all together, what inspired me to turn my interest in habitat gardening into a Digs Doc post? On the same day I spotted the goldfinches, I saw this headline: "16,000 Species Face Extinction, Group Says." The World Conservation Union, a Swiss-based conservation group, reported that "one in three amphibians, a quarter of the world's mammals and coniferous trees, and one in eight birds" are in danger of extinction. The primary reason: People, mainly through "habitat destruction."

Obviously, this is a big topic which calls for various measures, but the fact is that some restoration of habitat can happen even in one's small city lot. And obviously, the more people who do it, the bigger the effect. And goldfinches and woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees, cardinals and tufted titmouses (titmice?), where there were a few sparrows and pigeons only, speaks for itself. Remember, this is only one city lot.

So, if I can do it here, anybody can do it anywhere. I hope you'll be inspired to try. Even if you don't have a yard, perhaps you have a deck or balcony where you can pot some plants or have a community garden nearby where you can rent a plot of land.

Here are some plants that attract wildlife:

* Coniferous trees and/or shrubs for shelter, nesting. (Pay attention to the ultimate size of the tree/shrub so it will be in scale for your garden. Interestingly, there are many cultivars now that are more "dwarf" in size for people with small spaces.)
* Deciduous and shrubs trees that are also fruit bearing (but are not invasive as the popular burning bush is), such as service berry (amelanchier), choke cherry (aronia), blueberries, eldberberries, rugosa roses (with rose hips), viburnums, and so on.
* Flowers such as coneflower (echinacea), yarrow, liatris, butterfly weed (not butterfly bush which can be invasive), cardinal flower, etc.

While I hope this gives you a place to start, there are many websites that provide helpful, comprehensive information and/or resources about plants and other materials/things to consider for wildlife gardens. Here are some examples:

* New England Wildflower Society
* Project Native
* Niche Gardens

As much as you put into it, you will be rewarded many times over with a garden that is nurturing not only to wildlife but to you and whoever lives with you. I guarantee it.

Enjoy!