Introduction to Landscaping for Wildlife

Small side yard with wild bird feeders and birdbath

  • Basics

  • Rural Properties:

  •         Hedgerows

  •         Wildlife Corridors

  • Plant Invaders

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    Basics of Landscaping for Wildlife

    With the loss of wildlife habitat that is occurring in so many places around the world, it can be possible for us as property owners to create a little bit of habitat in our own yards so that we can be wildlife stewards in our own small way.

    The four basics needed by all animals are:  food, water, shelter, and a place to raise young.  It is possible to provide these for songbirds, butterflies, frogs, bats, and other desirable species without encouraging populations of pest animals.

    As a landscape designer, my first responsibility to any design is to provide good aesthetics to the homeowner by giving them pleasing and livable outdoor spaces with plants well-selected to the local environment and micro-climate.

    When possible, I can also try to select plants that are friendly to wildlife and that may provide shelter or food for them.  This can be accomplished through the use of native plants at times, or through the use of non-native ornamental species that are non-invasive and may provide berries, nuts or other benefits to our local wildlife.  While an all-native plant palette is a goal for some, most of us would find the resulting landscape to be somewhat unruly, brushy-looking, and not that pleasing to the eye.  I like to use an integrated approach that combines good visuals with wildlife-friendly plants that require little or no use of pesticides or inorganic fertilizers to maintain their healthy growth.

     

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    Rural Properties:

    For those of you lucky enough to be proud owners of acreage either near a town or city or in a truly rural area, you may want to consider setting aside part of that property for the construction and maintenance of wildlife habitat. Two of the most cutting-edge trends in this area are the use of hedgerows and wildlife corridors.

    Hedgerows are common in the United Kingdom, especially England and Ireland, and are considered a national treasure that receives its own government funding for their upkeep and public education.  Hedgerows combine many different types of shrubs and trees into an unmowed and pesticide-free border that provides food, shelter, and a place to raise young for many small animals and birds.  Where a hedge is a closely-planted, tightly sheared row of the same shrub and may have its uses in an urban or suburban setting, a hedgerow is planted in a more natural arrangement and requires less intensive management.  The variety of plants in a hedgerow provides a tapestry of flowers, fruits, seeds, and foliage to wildlife throughout the year.  To read more about hedgerows, see the article "A Guide to Multifunctional Hedgerows in Western Oregon".

    Wildlife Corridors:  There are many sizes and types of these, from urban greenbelts, railroad rights-of-way, ravines full of bushes, and farm hedgerows, to just an area of connecting backyards planted with trees and shrubs.  It may be possible for a group of adjacent rural homeowners to agree to set aside a non-fenced corridor running across the ends of many properties to allow wildlife to migrate and reach water and other resources.  Wider corridors provide more benefits, and can protect water quality if located along a waterway.  This concept is being used successfully on a larger scale in exotic threatened habitats around the world, from Madagascar to Brazil to our own Pacific Northwest.

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    Keep Out Plant Invaders:

    The following list of non-native invasive plants is not a complete one, but gives the major introduced invaders now threatening our local native plant ecosystems.  They should be ruthlessly gotten rid of when first spotted, and persistence is necessary with all of these species to prevent their re-establishment.  For information on control methods, contact your county extension service.  To find your local office, you may go to http://extension.oregonstate.edu
     

    1.)  English Ivy: Hedera helix---A fast-growing introduced vine that forms a dense layer wherever it grows, smothering out all other plants.  It grows up trees and eventually stunts and may kill them.  Pull out as much as possible, do not compost cuttings. Re-introduction is inevitable as birds eat the berries and spread the seeds back into wild areas, so vigilance in containment is crucial.  For more information visit the No Ivy League at www.noivyleague.org

    2.)  Himalayan Blackberry:  Rubus discolor---This aggressive trailing bramble has angular stems and spreads by rooting wherever branches touch the ground, and also by birds.  It crowds out native berries and shrubs and will take over whatever area it gets started in.

    3.)  Scots Broom:  Cytisus scoparius---A tough, fast-growing shrub with bright yellow flowers in spring. Spreads by seeds which burst from ripened pods in late summer, scattering up to 15 feet.  Seeds can remain dormant for 50 years.

    4.)  Reed canary grass:  Phalaris arundinacea---Also called timothy, this grass takes over in partially flooded areas and will choke out all native grasses, especially along waterways.

    5.)  Purple loosestrife:  Lythrum salicaria---A flowering perennial that seeds profusely and roots aggressively.  It displaces native plants and decreases plant diversity along water's edge.

    6.)  English holly:  Ilex aquifolium---A non-native tree that is spread by birds throughout our forested areas.  While not aggressive, you should remove these trees before they get too big.

    It's important that we all pay attention to what we plant in our gardens as some of our most attractive and desirable landscape plants may escape the bounds of our keeping and become a problem to the greater environment.  As a designer, I am sensitive to this issue and always choose plants for a landscape with these considerations in mind.

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    To contact Visionscapes Northwest, please call Patricia at 503-531-3947 or e-mail her at pashmun@comcast.net