To create a garden that will attract wildlife and birds one needs to choose a wide variety of trees and plants that fruit and flower throughout the year, so as to provide a constant supply of food and nectar. Then create these habitats within your garden.
1. Water is essential so provide a wetland with a pond or a birdbath. I often see dragonflies above our pond!
2. Sand bathing is enjoyed by birds and guineafowl so just leave a patch of soil unplanted.
3. The open area is a lawn or a meadow with wild grasses and low growing groundcovers.
4. An exclusion area is densely planted with various fruiting trees and shrubs. Try not to go into this area and rather leave it for the shy visitors to your garden.
5. A Canopy Corridor is a “passage way” of closely planted trees so enable creatures to move from one part of the garden to another. If this type of gardening interests you, do get Attracting Wildlife to your Garden by Roy Trendler. This is a local book written for South Africans.