Over the years, we’ve encouraged people to pursue “wildlife gardening” to support migratory songbirds, bees, butterflies, beneficial insects and displaced animals. We’ve
Winterberry, or Ilex verticilata, is a little known deciduous holly! An underused, but lovely multi-stemmed shrub, winterberry drops its leaves in the late fall to reveal branches full of sparkling red berries. It's a great ornamental as well as a great source of food for resident winter birds.
seen the impact on our nation’s wildlife as nesting generation X-ers have cleared wildlife habitat to build homes for their own families. Locally, we’ve seen an increase in daytime sightings of normally nocturnal animals as they search for food and cover when their homes are cleared for new development. We’ve never felt a concern for wildlife, however, like we did a few days ago when we had our own sighting of a displaced animal at the garden center.
One morning, a few of us saw an odd looking animal approaching from across the yard. It was too big to be a cat, too small to be a dog, extremely pale and mangy. What’s more, it moved clumsily as if it were ill. When we realized that it was a possum (or opossum if you prefer), normally seen at night, we assumed that a daytime appearance by this haggard animal must indicate rabies. Just before we reached our own rabid frenzy, however, we realized that the possum’s mangy appearance was actually caused by tiny balls of fur (that’s right, possum babies!) clinging to Momma Possum for dear life and a safe ride. It seems that we had inadvertently cleared Momma’s nesting area while pruning and “cleaning up” a corner of the property in preparation for future display gardens. Now Momma needed a new place to settle down.
At this point, it took no time at all to agree that the first display garden would be a wildlife garden (it was the least we could do for the possum family). We chose a spot that’s bordered by existing cedars whose evergreen boughs will offer protective cover for wildlife. We brought back some of the cleared brush to offer even more protective cover. We planted (nursery-grown) plants that are native to the South Jersey coast such as, bayberry, serviceberry, river birch, blueberry, inkberry, winterberry, rugosa rose, and viburnum, because they are more well adapted to the local growing conditions and, once established, will require less fertilizer, water and pest management than less well adapted plants. Native plants also tend to provide the perfect food for the local wildlife species that have evolved along with them.
Although not necessarily native, we chose other nourishing shrubs and flowers such as, autumn olive, red twig dogwood, butterfly bush, bee balm, coneflower, columbine and lobelia. We’ll be careful not to use any chemical fertilizers, insecticides, or fungicides because chemicals become part of the flowers, berries and seeds of plants and subsequently, are absorbed by the wildlife that eats them. We fertilized with Espoma’s Plant-tone, a 100% organic, granular fertilizer and mulched to help retain moisture and prevent weeds.
Even though we’ve provided many plant food sources, we’ve also placed several bird feeders in the garden and, even more important, a bird bath. We often think to feed birds, but tend to underestimate their greater need for a clean source of fresh water! Last, we will install a foot path to facilitate the care of the plants and feeders. Seems that all we need to do now is let the plants get going (wild and wooly works better than well groomed in a wildlife garden) and stay out of the way to give Momma Possum and her babies an opportunity to move back in!
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