PictureMonarch butterflies feed on summer blooming purple coneflower, a popular native plant in the garden.



GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE
 Making room for birds, bees, butterflies and more ​in an urban garden
AN INTRODUCTION:  It feels like the right next step.  We've been out exploring green spaces, wilderness, wildlife, in our bit of Wisconsin for several years now.  Sharing these spaces, spreading the good word about Wisconsin's green treasures.  We've enjoyed it so much.  Now is our chance to return the favor to wildlife and open our space to the natural world. To make them a home at our home. To create a habitat, right here in the heart of the city,  where they can feel safely, freely, wild. ​
In the fall of 2018 we moved into a home in the city of West Allis.  Bonus: it had a nice backyard!  One of our first thoughts when we saw the yard was what a great sanctuary it could be for wildlife, and for us.  A way to bring the nature we found on our hikes back home, and to create a space in the city for wildlife to flourish. 

The yard itself had good bones.  Previous owners had installed a raised flower bed, though in need of some tidying up. A little more purpose.  There are two grand old pine trees that almost feel like a woodland respite as is.   We put up a few feeders, added two bird bath features.  Planted a couple bushes.  And already this first spring we had feathered visitors who were making their way up to Wisconsin for spring migration.  Indigo Buntings, Red-breasted Grosbeaks, Orioles, and more.  A really good, and encouraging start. 
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A white-crowned sparrow visiting the habitat during migration.
We've been reading books and articles on gardening for wildlife.  Adding more native plants in the raised garden, and in some pots on the patio. It's mid-summer now, and the native plants are blooming, the birds continue to show up every morning,  and the butterflies are coming through every day now, lingering over cone-flower, and phlox.  The phrase "if you build it, they will come" may be borrowed from a famous baseball movie, but it's more than appropriate here. 

We've much to learn, and much to do, but we are off to a good start.  I hope to share what we've learned thus far, and encourage others who are interested, no matter the size of their space, to embrace this movement. This renaissance of sorts.   I can't imagine a morning without birdsong.  Hopefully, with more and more of us gardening for wildlife, I won't have to.
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Native bee balm has been a welcome addition to the garden.