Creating a habitat garden

What’s a habitat garden, and why do you want one? Do you enjoy seeing hummingbirds drink nectar from your salvias? Do you love the beautiful monarch butterfly that visits your milkweed? Do birds come to eat the berries on your coffeeberry shrub? Perhaps you should consider making your garden more friendly to birds, bees, butterflies and beneficial insects.

In Nancy Bauer’s “The California Wildlife Habitat Garden,” we learn that there’s a loss of wildlife habitat around the country. Roads, development, agriculture and urban sprawl all contribute to the loss of biodiversity. We can make up for this loss by creating habitats for butterflies, bees, birds, toads and frogs. We need to provide food, water and protection. Butterflies need host plants for caterpillars and nectar plants for the adult butterfly.

Other plants you might want to include are Ceanothus, sunflowers, verbena, flowering currant and spicebush. Enjoy a beautiful natural garden and contribute to conservation and biodiversity.

— katie martin, UC Marin Master Gardeners