Cindy Brown Ahern shows me her wildlife garden
It is time to start looking at the principles of Conservation and Ecosystem Gardening in practice, and to start this series off, I made a visit to the wonderful wildlife habitat garden created by Cindy Brown Ahern.
Cindy enthusiastically met me at the sidewalk with binoculars in hand. She was surprised that I did not have my binocular, but it is hard to manage the camera, the digital recorder, and bins (my shorthand for binoculars), too. I spent the next several hours touring her garden, watching the birds, bees, and butterflies swirling around everywhere. A Conservation or Ecosystem garden is full of LIFE!
Monarch Caterpillar (c) 2009 Carole A. Brown
Before we got very far, Cindy joyfully exclaimed as she plucked a Monarch caterpillar from the milkweed where it was feeding. Cindy raises each caterpillar she finds in a protected place and then tags them when they have emerged. For a description of monarch tagging see MonarchWatch. This caterpillar was our companion for the rest of my visit, contentedly munching a milkweed leaf in Cindy’s hand.
Audubon certified Bird Habitat (c) 2009 Carole A. Brown
Cindy arrived in her current house in 1998 as a dedicated cottage gardener. She liked symmetry, neatness, and color coordination. This all changed on an August day in 2000 when she saw her first hummingbird at some of her snapdragons. That one sighting sparked a major change in her gardening philosophy.
Since that fateful chance meeting, Cindy has become an avid birder and naturalist and volunteers at Tri-State Wildlife Rescue. She is also a passionate and devoted wildlife gardener, and has worked to create welcoming habitats for many types of wildlife in her Conservation and Ecosystem Garden.
Northern Red Salamander (c) 2009 Carole A. Brown
As we walked up the driveway, Cindy pointed to a set of car floormats laying in the middle of the drive. She said that when she went to pick them up to return them to the car, she had found a Northern Red Salamander hiding underneath. So the car mats stay laying in the driveway, and the little guy has adopted them as his home.
Green Frog (c) 2009 Carole A. Brown
Cindy walks through her garden every day, binoculars swinging from her neck. She knows where every critter likes to be, from the Newt to the many frogs in her pond, to the favorite perches of the hummingbirds, goldfinches, and chickadees.
Cindy's Pond (c) 2009 Carole A. Brown
Her pond was a birthday present from her husband, who had wanted to throw a big party for her. Cindy said that parties come and go, but I’ll have the pond for a long time. What a mensch! He began the work of installing the pond that weekend. Now she is ready for another pond for dragonflies, a bog garden, and a rain garden.
The Monarch Garden (c) 2009 Carole A. Brown
The inspiration for the ladder in Cindy’s garden came from a garden tour with Pat Sutton, who had discovered that the Monarch caterpillars often choose the ladder as a great place to transform into the chrysalis stage.
First Flight (c) 2009 Carole A. Brown
As we ended our tour, we found a just-emerged Monarch Butterfly drying its wings in the sun. Cindy’s garden is a great example of Conservation and Ecosystem Gardening. A definite “tip of the garden trowel” to her for her continuing efforts.
What does your Conservation Garden look like? If you would like to see your wildlife garden in the Garden Showcase, let me know in the comments below.
Check out these other gardens in the Ecosystem Garden Showcase and submit yours:
A Visit to Irma McVey’s Garden
A Visit to Pat Suttons’ Garden
© 2009 – 2010, Carole Brown. All rights reserved.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
My gosh, Cindy’s garden is a true inspiration! I especially love the pond and the red spotted newt. Thanks for sharing such wonderful photographs. To see what is possible is so motivating.
Alison Kerr´s last post ..The Cost of Prairie Restoration
That’s actually a Northern Red Salamander, not a Red-spotted Newt.
Thank you Kevin. I have corrected my mistake.
This is a great example of what gardening for wildife is all about!
wow, you are an inspiration! Everything is perfect…
{ 4 trackbacks }