Unless you're already an avid native plant gardener, the phrase "gardening for wildlife" might conjure up this image in your mind. I imagine some of my students who are frequent Animal Planet viewers might have similar misconceptions.
Photo and photoshopping courtesy of Mike Elliott.
In my science electives we start out learning the basics of habitat creation following the National Wildlife Federation guidelines. If we introduce sources of food, water, shelter, and places to raise young, the animals are sure to follow.
A more realistic expectation emerges. Birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals will show up. Sometimes in great numbers:
Click on this photo and search for the bees and butterflies. You should find more than a dozen.
While working in the flower beds, students get used to having bees around. This picture is a non-native honeybee, a great garden friend. When I caught wind of a bee habitat certification program, I logged on to beewatchers.com to find out if we would qualify. Not only did we, but the site's owner/webmaster, Kim Peoples Bacon, came out for a visit. Click on the link on the right side of this page and see what she has to say about our school gardens.
About 6 years ago, we registered with Monarch Watch to become a certified waystation for the annual migration. October and November are when we see the most. We catch and tag them, but I'll save that for a future posting.
It's amazing to see what photos students take when you give them a digital camera and tell them to shoot whatever they think is interesting. Katie F. captured this red admiral nectaring on Indigo Spires.
They were a bit perplexed when I told them to be sure and leave them on the service driveway when they were finished investigating them.
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