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Home » Gardening Information » Gardening for Wildlife

Inviting Wildlife into Your Winter Garden

Plants & Gardens News | Volume 22, Number 3 | Fall 2007/Winter 2008

by Claire Hagen Dole

Some crisp fall day when you're harvesting pumpkins or throwing spent vines on the compost pile, take a moment to sit quietly and observe all the wild activity in your garden. Listen to the drowsy hum of a bumblebee in your herb garden or the sharp call of a flicker high in an apple tree. Watch a red admiral butterfly avidly feeding on the juice of a fallen apple. As the late afternoon turns chilly, perhaps you'll begin to wonder what happens to the birds, insects, and other wildlife that live year-round in your corner of the world. Where do they take refuge during the cold months?

You may not realize it, but your own garden is host to many wildlife species, from tiny larvae inside plant stalks to lumbering raccoons making midnight visits. You can provide shelter and food to help a number of creatures get through the winter.

And although the localized food chain of your backyard is bewilderingly complex, you don't need a degree in ecology to support it.

Design Considerations

If you want to maximize your yard's attractiveness to wildlife, give a critical eye to its layout and plant choices. Fall is an excellent time to plant perennials, trees, and shrubs. As trees begin to show their winter silhouettes, study your yard from the viewpoint of an animal seeking shelter and food. Are there safe hiding spots and food such as seeds, cones, and berries that persist into late winter? Is there a diversity of habitat—a layering of vegetation from ground cover to shrubbery to tree canopy?

Augment lone trees in your garden with a surrounding grove of small trees like common serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) and eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), along with smaller shrubs, flowers, and grasses. Such layered landscapes enable small animals to range safely in search of food. These travel corridors are especially important in winter, when a hovering hawk has a clear view of the ground.

Reserve a corner of your yard for a thicket-forming plant, such as redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea ssp. sericea). Or create a hedgerow, a dense living fence of thorny shrubs and vines. Hedgerows provide safe travel, shelter, nesting sites, and food, all in one spot. By placing close together such plants as blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium), juniper (Juniperus communis), and trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), you'll create an excellent wildlife-harboring tangle.

The edge of the grove or hedgerow will become an important space for wildlife, especially when insects begin to emerge in spring. In winter, shrubbery that borders the lawn or garden offers small birds an escape route from predators. Life's biggest dramas—feeding, mating, sheltering young—are played out in the spaces where habitats overlap.

Plant Choices

Many plants that attract wildlife also offer pleasing color and texture to the winter garden. The brilliant red fruit of winterberry (Ilex verticillata) stands out exceptionally against the striated white bark of paper birch (Betula papyrifera). The winter silhouette of a magnificent old maple tree casts shadows on snow, while soft green pine needles break the monochromatic gray sky.

Plants native to your region have developed special relationships with the pollinators, seed-dispersing birds, and beneficial insects of your area. Local birds often show a preference for the fruits of one tree—for example, in the West, cedar waxwings devour Rocky Mountain juniper berries (Juniperus scopulorum).

There are plenty of native trees and shrubs with gorgeous berries from which to choose. Some, like sassafras (Sassafras albidum) in the eastern U.S., have berries so tasty and rich in fat that they'll be stripped clean by fall-migrating birds. To make sure the bounty lasts all winter, also plant less-favored berries such as hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)—whose berries soften and become less tart during months of harsh weather. High in carbohydrates, they can be lifesavers for wildlife when there is nothing else left to eat.

Evergreen trees provide important roosting and nesting sites for many birds. Some game birds and small animals seek shelter under low-hanging branches. Cones and berries feed numerous animals, from squirrels to juncos foraging beneath the trees for stray seeds.

The beautiful form and color of ornamental grasses are enhanced by a dusting of snow. And native grasses like Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) also feed and shelter birds and insects. In winter, sparrows perch on the stalks, gleaning seeds from the feathery heads. The caterpillars of many skipper butterflies feed on switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and overwinter in leaf nests on the plants.

Go Easy on Fall Cleanup

Spare yourself the labor of cutting back spent perennials like purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and globe thistle (Echinops sphaerocephalus). Their seeds will be picked over by finches and sparrows long into the winter months. The downy fluff of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) provides nesting material in early spring. Examine plant leaves and stalks carefully for tiny butterfly larvae, such as that of the Pearl Crescent, which favors aster leaves. If you find any, leave them alone until fresh spring growth lures them off the old plant.

Goldenrods (Solidago species) host the larvae of goldenrod gallflies—tiny insects responsible for the galls on the plant stalk—as well as the wasp larvae that parasitize them. In winter, downy woodpeckers and chickadees tear open the galls, seeking an insect meal. Juncos forage for goldenrod seeds on the ground.

In the vegetable garden, let broccoli, carrots, mustard, fennel, and parsley go to seed to attract finches and chickadees. Leave a few cornstalks standing to shelter foraging birds and field mice.

If you have a lawn, allow a section of grass to remain unmowed as a safe corridor for frogs, snakes, mice, and insects. In winter, birds will search the grass for seeds and an insect meal, such as the hibernating larvae of satyr butterflies.

Brush Piles and Other Enhancements

One of the most valuable features in a wildlife garden is a brush pile. Depending on size and composition, brush piles can provide winter refuge to a large array of birds, amphibians, small mammals, and insects. Field mice, rabbits, and even foxes may find shelter inside a brush pile. Many birds, such as sparrows and wrens, use the pile for winter shelter or nesting in the spring. Towhees and yellow-throated warblers perch on the protruding twigs to sing, preen, and catch insects. Cold winds may drive birds temporarily from evergreen trees to the warmer brush pile.

If you have space, make two or three brush piles out of tree limbs, branches, twigs, and lightweight garden trimmings such as sunflower stalks. Place the heaviest and largest material at the base of the heap to attract snakes, salamanders, and lizards looking for somewhere to hibernate. You can pile the rest of your materials on top in any order. To attract the largest variety of wildlife, position one pile in a sunny spot, another in the shade, and one near your hedgerow or vegetable garden. Do not make the piles in low, damp spots or near busy roads.

Another haven for wildlife is an undisturbed woodpile—something you can create with minimal effort. Beetles and worms will populate the rich soil that forms beneath an old woodpile, and spiders love the protected, insect-rich environment of these piles.

Leaf litter, especially when composed of small leaves like hawthorns (Crataegus species), is a magnet for juncos, towhees, and sparrows. They spend hours scratching through debris, looking for insects. Several butterflies and moths pupate in leaf litter beneath their larval host plant (look for the rounded, papery cocoons of the Luna moth under sweet gum or hickory trees). Use a light hand in your fall cleanup and leave some leaf litter to form a warm mulch. Winter snows actually insulate a leaf litter pile and protect the insects and small animals beneath, so there is no need to rake before a storm.

A dying tree or snag should be pruned for safety but otherwise left in place as a natural wildlife habitat. Cavity-nesting woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees make homes in such trees, and many other birds perch on the dead limbs or look for insects under the bark. Squirrels and mice store food in crevices of dead trees.

Yet another wildlife-harboring part of the garden is rough bark. Either peeling from a tree trunk or loosely attached to a fencepost, bark shelters adult Anglewings and Mourning Cloaks. A warm, sunny day in midwinter may bring them out of hibernation for an hour or so. They are attracted to tree sap, which provides nutrients to these long-lived butterflies.

When frigid winter seems most entrenched, it is heartening to know that your garden is still teeming with life. The gardening decisions you make in autumn can lend a hand to those animals, small and large, that wait out the cold months in your yard.

As you develop your winter wildlife garden and begin to enjoy its rewards, share your enthusiasm with neighbors—getting them involved in wildlife gardening can result in richer habitat and safe travel corridors in the region.

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