The California Wildlife Habitat Garden: How to Attract Bees, Butterflies, Birds, and Other AnimalsThis attractive, practical guide explains how to transform backyard gardens into living ecosystems that are not only enjoyable retreats for humans, but also thriving sanctuaries for wildlife. Beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs, this book provides easy-to-follow recommendations for providing food, cover, and water for birds, bees, butterflies, and other small animals. Emphasizing individual creativity over conventional design, Bauer asks us to consider the intricate relationships between plants and wildlife and our changing role as steward, rather than manipulator, of these relationships. In an engaging narrative that endorses simple and inexpensive methods of wildlife habitat gardening, Nancy Bauer discusses practices such as recycling plant waste on site, using permeable pathways, growing regionally appropriate plants, and avoiding chemical fertilizers and insecticides. She suggests ways of attracting pollinators through planting choices and offers ideas for building water sources and shelters for wildlife. A plant resource guide, tips for propagating plants, seasonal plants for hummingbirds, and host plants for butterflies round out The California Wildlife Habitat Garden, making it an indispensable primer for those about to embark on creating their own biologically diverse, environmentally friendly garden. |
Contents
CHAPTER 1 Growing a Wildlife Garden | 1 |
From Quail to Hummingbirds | 33 |
Butterflies Bees and Other Beneficial Insects | 67 |
CHAPTER 4 The Wildlife Pond | 107 |
Burying the Lawn Aesthetic | 129 |
Starting a Habitat Garden | 167 |
| 221 | |
| 225 | |
Other editions - View all
The California Wildlife Habitat Garden: How to Attract Bees, Butterflies ... Nancy Bauer Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
Anise Swallowtail areas aster beetles beneficial insects berries bird species birdbath bloom buckwheat Bushtits butterfly host plant butterfly species California fuchsia California native plants caterpillar Ceanothus chaparral coastal coffeeberry Common Buckeye compost cover coyote bush deciduous dragonflies drought tolerant evergreen shrub fall feed feet tall fescue flowers in spring foliage food and nectar foraging sites frogs full sun Garden Profile Gillilands grasses green groundcover grow habitat hedgerow Holodiscus discolor honeybees inches larvae lavender lawn low-growing mallow manzanita MIEKO WATKINS moist Monarch monkeyflower monkeyflower Mimulus native bees nectar flowers nectar plants non-native Nursery orange Painted Lady Penstemon perennial PHOTOGRAPH BY MIEKO pink plant communities pollinators predators purple sage Salvia season seeds shade sheet mulching shrubs Sidalcea malviflora soil summer Swallowtail tiny trees and shrubs tubular flowers Verbena vine West Coast Lady wild wildflowers wildlife garden wildlife habitat garden wildlife pond wildlife value winter yellow