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Wildlife Gardening
Creating a Wildscape
"Our backyards can be a treasure trove of nature’s beauty and Colorado Wildscapes shows how to create an environment that encourages wildlife to visit. For me, being able to sit in my backyard and sketch all of the visitors that buzz, flutter and fly by is delightful indeed!" (Susie Mottashed, Illustrator)
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Denver County - Plains Grassland.
© Connie Holsinger
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MEET A HABITAT HERO:
A GATED WILDSCAPE IN DENVER
Barbara’s goal was to create a yard that would be a park-like peaceful oasis to block out the city chaos. “It’s an incredible world out there, and everything has a purpose. I consider it a gift to have a dragonfly visit my yard!”
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DILEMMA: Buying a city-size lot in Denver brought many gardening challenges for Barbara. Along with many diseased trees and shrubs, bluegrass was everywhere and “a huge hassle to keep green, mowed and weed-free.” Little by little, Barbara’s hands-on efforts have eliminated all the bluegrass. Her technique involved covering the grass with a layer of newspaper 12 sheets thick and saturating this layer with water. Then the layers were covered with 350 bags of soil, which she bought on sale and hauled into the yard one at a time. This backyard now meanders through flagstone pathways, raised planting beds, a cedar deck enveloping a huge Silver Maple and an untamed corner that hosts a lot of wildness!
PROVIDING DIVERSITY: Plantings include berry-producing shrubs and trees to feed wildlife and provide fall colors, such as Pin Oak and hawthorns, Cotoneasters and chokecherries and serviceberry. Combinations of flowers and vines attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, while overhanging branches support oodles of zany birdhouses and feeders. A cedar fence encloses the entire lot “to provide a sense of privacy and tranquility...I love watching all the life and activities going on among the birds, butterflies, moths, bees, spiders, and lady bugs.” Barbara even invites the squirrels in by simply adding another feeder - up to nine now! Her main source of pleasure is feeding the birds year-round and listening to their sounds through the day. “Absolutely delightful!”
WILDSCAPING TIP: Always adding mulch and compost - “I should have a mountain in the backyard but I don’t”.
FAVORITE PLANT: Barbara loves all the berry-producing bushes, along with Catmint, Wine Cups, ornamental grasses, and asters.
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