The attraction of Paulette’s garden  is the metamorphosis from ordinary backyard to a wildlife habitat. And like all good heartfelt visions, the idea is rooted in childhood memories. Paulette grew up next to the forest in Terrace Bay, northern Ontario, when the town only had 15 houses. “Friends used to call me nature girl,” Paulette says.

With this affinity for nature, Paulette is in the process of transforming her urban downtown garden into a wildlife-friendly habitat. To assist her in the change, Paulette is following Canadian Wildlife Federation’s (CWF) Backyard Habitat Certification Program.

The procedure is relatively straight forward. The CWF looks at three key areas:

wildlife-friendly gardening, earth-friendly gardening and naturalized habitat.

Wildlife-friendly gardening covers wildlife basic needs: food, water, shelter and space. For example, Paulette’s garden already has the following features:

• A pond (water)
• Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) native to Ontario and Quebec, provides food and shelter for birds and mammals as well as attracting pollinators (food, shelter & vertical space).
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), native to Ontario, attracts pollinators, provides food for butterfly caterpillars and for birds (food)
• Black walnut (Juglans nigra), native to Ontario, which offers space (vertical), shelter as well as food for birds and mammals (space, shelter and food).

Earth-friendly gardening examines your approach to gardening. Is it eco-friendly?

Eco-friendly gardening would include

• Owning a rain barrel
• Setting up your own composter
• Using natural fertilizers (i.e. aged manure or compost)
• Watering the lawn only once a week
• Using fall leaves to mulch beds or as compost
• Leaving grass clipping on the lawn

Naturalized habitat sounds cryptic, but in small urban areas it boils down to the use of plants native to your area. If you have a large property, naturalized habitats could include a forest or a meadow.

The procedure to certify your backyard as a wildlife-friendly habitat is simple, and there are plenty of online resources available to help you.

Wild about Gardening

Evergreen’s native plant database

By the way, certifying your backyard as a wildlife-friendly habitat is free!