How to Increase the ‘Wild Factor’ in Your Garden
It’s raining catepillars. I’ve just come inside from working in my garden and find four of the pin-sized butterflies-in-the-making hitching a ride on my clothing.
I’m thrilled.
Why? Because although I’ve never been particularly drawn to caterpillars, I love birds. And as I recently learned, the majority of bird species rely on caterpillars (not seeds) for sustenance. Especially for feeding their babies.
Birds rely on caterpillars, not seeds, to feed their offspring.
Bird parents need hundreds of the wriggling creatures a day to feed a nest full of growing fledglings. Having alot of caterpillars in the garden means I will be able to help sustain the breeding birds. I put out bird seed in Winter, but my feathered visitors need the catepillars for their main source of nutrition.
If you too are a bird lover you may be asking yourself how to get more catepillars in your garden?
I will tell you after I step outside for a moment to gently remove the wriggling creatures from my shirt and pants and place them on some leaf mulch.
OK, I’m back.
So, how do you support catepillars in order to support birds in your garden?
The good news is that there is one main thing you can do to help birds thrive –
grow a keystone native tree in your garden.
A one hundred year old oak embraces the back patio of my small California cottage. Its branches almost touch my bedroom sliding doors, comforting me when I sleep. Now that I’ve learned about the oak’s role as food and housing for over 400 species of catepillars my already immense respect and love for the resident tree has quadrupled.
Oaks (Quercus) are a keystone tree that will go a long way to helping your avian visitors and adding biodiversity to every garden. Keystone species for other areas include the cherry (Prunus), and willow (Salix). Those as well as birches, cottonwoods, and elms are the top woody producers in the USA.
Find native plant inspiration for your garden along your local hiking trails.If you are thinking I don’t have room for a tree in my garden, read on.If you don’t have room for a tree, plant herbaceous natives. Goldenrods, asters, and sunflowers (top three to plant in the US) also provide shelter and food needed for insects that feed birds.
When keystone species are removed from an ecosystem (your garden is an ecosystem) the arch of that system falls down. The food web falls apart. And the wildlife suffer.
Adding only one, or a few, of these native plant powerhouses will go a long way towards helping our wild friends, making your garden more eco- friendly and increasing biodiversity on this planet.
96% of bird species rely on insects for their nutritional needs.
There is one more thing to consider in making the most of your plantings.
These keystone plants need to cared for in ways that enable the caterpillars to complete the four stages of their lifecycles. A catepillar’s egg and larval stages rely on the host plant. Afterwards, the grown caterpillar falls to ground under the tree (or bush) to burrow into soil or spin a cocoon in the leaf litter. This is just one of a myriad of reasons why not planting a lawn under your tree or bushes, and not raking up all your leaf litter are good gardening practices. Add ground cover, plant beds of compatible natives, or simply leave the leaves be. Your soil, tree, and wildlife will be better off.
To find out what keystone trees and herbaceous plants are good choices for your area visit the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder website.
Saving Wild starts in any patch of earth (no matter how large or small) we have the privilege of stewarding. The wilder we allow (and encourage) our gardens to be, the better off our wild friends, the planet and we will be.
So go get yourself a new native caterpillar loving plant from your local nursery or botanical garden, and let me know what’s happening in your garden.
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