|layers and layers of habitats|
This is a photo of (mostly) undisturbed habitats at Nygren Wetland in Northern Illinois-late October. You can't get to this spot on your own because we distrust unsupervised humanity in
♪ ♫Nature♫♫ these days, so I will give you a brief tour and identify a few of the sexier habitats that can be adapted to attract ♫ ♫ Nature♫ ♪ to your garden.
Begin at the sky and step down....very tall trees, then an understory of shrubby plants, below that, plants and grasses, mud and water. Here is amazing wealth: every level supports thousands of interrelationships between birds, insects, mammals, plants and each one essential to the welfare of them all. It's a lovely system; the best sort of garden...needing nothing from us.
The first habitat lesson to adapt to your home garden: diversity in everything beginning with the height of the plants. A garden ecosystem is vertical too, with some species of birds or insects, butterflies/moths preferring different "altitudes" for breeding, feeding and resting.
|a frog finds a habitat to nap in|
Don't stop at a nectar or seed feeder for birds.....provide sheltered nesting space.
|The purple finches nest in this prickly blue spruce every spring.|
|a landscaping nursery is excellent habitat....huge diversity of species; there's something for everybody|
|What a hornworm becomes if you don't kill it. A Sphinx moth, nocturnal pollinator|
|Sphinx moth caterpillar as habitat for somebody else|
|Native New England Aster-late blooming high nectar habitat plant|