Wildlife: flowers that attract wildlife, 1 by DreamOfSpring

DreamOfSpring wrote:
Oh, Anna, how wonderful that you are a wildlife rehabilitator! I'm sure they need you very much, and I know that you must also get so very much from them in return. (I didn't know that we had chipmunks aournd here.)

I bought my house in fall 2001 and started my garden shortly after. I found that the builder had left about an inch or so of soil/sod over pure clay (grey). Clay does'nt drain well so when it rained the backyard was a swamp! I sank to my mid calf walking back there after a modest rain. When I dug holes for planting, the holes would quickly fill with water! A few days after a rain the yard was like a concrete desert. My city makes wonderful, rich compost from the grass clipping, tree branches, etc that it picks up and then sell it back for $10/truck load. Over the years I brought in more than 8 tons of compost - by myself, slowly but surely, one shovelful at a time. It has made a world of difference! Now my backyard is solid, neither swampy nor like concrete, and everything (including weeds) is growing like crazy - and every shovel ful of soil is loaded with earthworms, a sure sign of goodness below!

I live in the city limits. When I 1st moved here it was all lawn, no trees, just a house with foundation hedges. I hung a feeder full of sunflower seeds, nuts, fruit and not one single bird would dare to cross that expanse of lawn. A cardinal sat on the back fence drooling over the seeds that went bad in the feeder. Now that I've packed the space with plants, it's full of life. To concur with city rules, I have to keep the front yard tidy. In the backyard I leave some places a bit "messy" for the birds: a little grassy patch here, some fallen leaves there, a small brush pile in one corner, a batch of compost brewing in another corner, dead flowers (seedheads) in fall, etc. So my place is kind of "city" in front, and "wild" in back. BTW, the butterflies are also quite fond of that brush pile. Here's a Gulf Fritillary on the brush pile last summer.

Pics to come.

Sheryl