American hazelnut Corylus americana (filberts) are a valuable shrub in the habitat garden, providing food and breeding sites for backyard wildlife. American hazelnut is native to eastern North America from Maine west to Saskatchewan and North Dakota, south to eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and south to Georgia. For details on native distribution, please see USDA Plants [...]

Okay so it’s been awhile. Long story, won’t go there… ANYHOW, on with the post and all of that. So, wildlife gardeners, I would like to recommend using Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society’s Ebird as a tool when planning a backyard habitat. It seems to be very underused by wildlife gardeners and [...]

It’s spring and I am wandering my little plot of woods, checking for chores that need to be done and to generally see how everything has survived the winter. While puttering about I discovered a couple of animal dens tucked away in crannies on the forest floor. This was an interesting one. It is in [...]

Wildlife gardeners just love their brush piles and I am no exception. Mine had grown to a point where if What the Heck awards were given for brush piles, I could just prep my acceptance speech now. When I first started on the project I searched for how to instructions – I’m just the type [...]

Stop Cleaning the Garden One thing a gardener needs to learn when creating a backyard habitat is to stop tidying up the place. Leave leaf litter. Not only does it save the hassle of raking, it provides a place for insects to live which will then attract salamanders, turtles, toads and lady bugs which feed [...]