Wildlife Garden Showcase would like to see your habitat garden

Over the past few weeks I’ve been taking you on visits to the private gardens of folks who have made helping wildlife the primary focus of their gardening efforts.

The photographs of these gardens, as well as the photos I use in every post here, were taken by me to illustrate the fact that the simple choices you make in your garden can help wildlife almost immediately.

If you build it, they will come.

Now we want you to show us your garden. Seeing what others have done will stimulate creative ideas for all of us in designing our own gardens. Sharing ideas can inspire us all to create better gardens to benefit wildlife and improve the health of the environment.

Today’s photos come from some extremely creative gardeners who are my friends or clients, and they’ve made “giving a little back to wildlife” a priority in their garden while infusing their gardens with an artful, attractive flair.

So now it’s time to show off YOUR garden. I’d like you to share photos of your native plant gardens and tell us about the wildlife you’ve seen in your garden as a result of your choice to “give a little back to wildlife.”

Here’s some ideas about what we want to see:

Before and after shots. Show us what you started with when you made the choice to focus on wildlife and then show us your garden now.
If you’ve installed a pond, green roof, rain garden, or any other project like this, show us in pictures how you accomplished this and what it looks like now.
Show us the “critters” who have found a home in your garden.
Let us see the beauty of your garden in bloom.

You get the idea. Be creative. And have fun!

Please check to make sure that none of the plants you are showing off are invasive, unless you’re telling us about how you removed it. Invasive plants cost us as taxpayers billions of dollars every year in control and eradication, they are destroying wildlife habitat, and decreasing healthy ecosystem function.

Answer these questions (this is not homework, you can answer any or all of them):

When did you decide to make gardening for wildlife a priority in your garden?
Was there one event that caused you to make this choice?
What kind of wildlife do you see in your garden?
What projects are you planning next?
What mistakes did you make and what did you learn from them?
Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself?
What do you want us to know about your garden?

The important thing is, don’t stress about this, just show us what you’ve got!

Here’s how to send me your stuff:

Email me at carolebrown”at” ecosystemgardening “dot” com (insert the ”@” and “.” in place of those words, no spaces. I’ve written it this way to eliminate spam from the hated spambots).
Include your answers to the questions above in the body of the email or as a Word attachment
Attach 5-10 photos that best illustrate your Ecosystem Garden.
Write captions for your photos that identify the plants or wildlife in the photos
Please do NOT compress the photos or save them for the web as I prefer to do that for myself. You may have to send several emails to get all of your photos across the web, and that is ok.

This is what you need to know:

By sending me your photos, you are agreeing that you give me permission to use them, either on the web or in print.
I will always credit you as the photographer and the copyright notice will be in your name.
I may choose to use your photographs to illustrate any presentations or speaking engagements I may have.
I may use your photographs as illustration of Ecosystem Gardening in future books.

I can’t wait to see your garden, and to share what you have done with all of the readers of Ecosystem Gardening!

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.

Here’s some other gardens to inspire you:

A visit to Pat Sutton’s Garden

A visit to Cindy Brown Ahern’s Garden

A visit to Irma McVey’s Garden

Show off Your Wildlife Garden–we’d love to see what you’ve got, so pick your favorite photo of your habitat garden and get the chance to be published at Ecosystem Gardening