A Welcoming Yard

Spring has arrived and our thoughts turn to our yards. What to plant? Shrubs, trees, vegetables? Whatever you choose, why not consider making it more appealing to wild passers-by as well? If we substitute native plants for more exotic varieties, those visitors will stay longer – and that promotes a healthier environment for all, restoring some balance to the local environment.

The first part of creating the welcoming yard is selection of plants. Using native species such as the black-eyed Susan, for example, we restore part of our area to its original natural surroundings. Choosing a selection of plants brings diversity to your yard. With diversity of plants comes diversity of visitors – and those are not only attractive, but beneficial. Birds keep pest insects away, including mosquitoes. Bee and butterfly populations are in serious trouble, so provide a variety of flowers for those pollinators to do what they do best. (You may feel further inspired and wish to get a beehive or two. Not yet! Beekeeping can be expensive, and you should see how your new yard is getting along before taking that plunge. Check out Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees by Sanford & Bonney for more on that topic.)

Strive for a mix of plant types. Grasses anchor and shade the soil. Flowers for pollinators and color, and are what you were probably thinking of planting first. Shrubberies provide cover for birds, as well as an additional food source. Lastly, if you can, trees. Keep in mind not only the possible ceiling of wires on utility poles (I’m old, I was going to call them “telephone poles”) but also neighboring trees and, well, neighbors.

For plant ideas, the Mercer County Library System has many useful titles, including New Jersey Gardener’s Guide (revised edition) by Pegi Ballister-Howells and Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening & Conservation by Donald J. Leopold. Keep in mind the amount of shade in the planting area, and check the type of soil (clay, sandy, how compact or loose, etc.) too. Also, some older titles may show a different Hardiness Zone, so check the USDA’s site for the latest:

https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

For example, in a book from 2006, my area was zone 6b, indicating average annual winter temperatures from 0 to -5 F. It’s become warmer, and my current zone is 7a: temperatures 5 to 0 F. Certainly feels right! Need a little help getting started? Check out the Jersey-Friendly Yards website at

https://www.jerseyyards.org/

which has a handy New Jersey-native plants database, as well as an interactive tool to help plan your future yard.

The second part of the welcoming yard is the visitors. Primarily, we’ll be supporting local birds and beneficial insects by the choice of plants. Birds will help manage the insect population in your yard and, during colder months, we can return the favor with our feeders. Take care with your bird feeders, as too much spilled seed could attract mice. Which might attract a fox - although the one that visited our yard in the past seemed to have had squirrel on his menu. If your yard gathers a wide range of birds, consider taking part in Cornell University’s Project FeederWatch and share your data with others to see how ranges are changing over the years.

There will be plenty of other visitors, too – squirrels, rabbits, deer – which, while enjoyable to watch, can be problematic. Make sure to fence in the more enticing parts of your yard, like the tomatoes. A good resource for balancing those interactions is Theresa Rooney’s The Guide to Humane Critter Control, available at five of our branches.

The final part of a welcoming yard could be certification! If what you’ve done meets the criteria, organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) can make your yard a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Certify

There are usually five areas that you must have to qualify (some organizations may differ, but these are the basics)

Provide food sources, such as native berries, nectar plants for the pollinators, as well as seed and suet.
Provide shelter. Could be birdhouses, but shrubbery and trees are very useful here.
Provide a source of clean water. Start with a bird bath, or move up to a fountain and pond! (Squirrels might be more likely to avoid your tomatoes if they can get a refreshing drink).
Provide nurseries - which ties in with good shelter locations.
Sustainable practices – from the NWF: “Maintain your yard or garden in natural ways to ensure soil, air, and water stay healthy and clean”.

So make a plan, get some plants, and see what you can do!

In the Library branches, head to nonfiction and the numbers 635 for gardening, 712 for landscaping, for ideas and information. Two to consider:

Mid-Atlantic Gardener's Handbook: Your Complete Guide: Select, Plan, Plant, Maintain, Problem-solve: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C by Katie Elzer-Peters. Not strictly an organic nor native book, this still has good gardening basics, a sizeable list of plants, and is appropriately regional in scope.

100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants for Northern American Gardens by Lorraine Johnson. Excellent resource – just remember this book covers most of the US, so make sure you’re choosing something in the appropriate region.

Other useful online resources to help:

https://www.njconservation.org/is-your-yard-a-food-desert-of-non-native-plants/

https://njaudubon.org/gardening-for-wildlife/

https://www.jerseyyards.org/create-a-jersey-friendly-yard/8-steps/step-7-create-wildlife-habitat/

https://www.njfishandwildlife.com/ensp/chanj.htm

https://ewingwildlifegardens.com/about/

- by Dennis, West Windsor