Landscaping for Wildlife

photo by Chris Chow

Designing a wildlife-friendly garden may not be your biggest priority. You may have never even considered encouraging wildlife into your landscape or sharing your space with them.  This quote by author Doug Tallamy may give you something to chew on:

 'Chances are, you have never thought of your garden – indeed, of all the space on your property – as a wildlife preserve that represents the last chance we have for sustaining plants and animals that were once common throughout the U. S.  But that is exactly the role our suburban landscapes are playing and will play even more into the near future.” ' 

Recently a few of our staff attended a presentation by David Drake, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension wildlife specialist in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. The talk was entitled Managing Wildlife and of course the expectation was that he would address how to keep rabbits out of the garden, squirrels out of the feeders, and raccoons out of the garbage. Instead, he gave a refreshing lecture on the benefits of drawing in beneficial wildlife such as birds, bats, snakes, frogs, toads, and turtles. Here are a few practical take-aways that we all can implement.


Provide food, water, and shelter clustered in groups throughout the landscape. Feeders, shrubs with fruit, perennial seed heads planted near a birdbath or small pond check the first two boxes. Shelter can be in the form of bird houses, brush piles, and conifers. 

Plant for all four seasons and include trees and shrubs that have persistent winter berries. 

Install a bat house. 

Choose plants that have a purpose - like natives.
Not sure what natives to plant? Check out the Native Plant Finder supported by the National Wildlife Federation to  discover which indigenous plant species are the very best at supporting the insects that drive local food webs. A search of our 53105 zip code revealed that oak trees support over 300 species of butterflies, caterpillars, and moths. Goldenrod is the best native perennial supporting 102 different species. Be sure to check it out for the complete list. 

For more ideas, read Doug Tallamy's article here. 

Learn more about David Drake's work with urban wildlife here.