Garden for Wildlife - NWF Green Hour

Let’s Get Started

Discover the mysteries of nature. Create a garden that helps wildlife with the following Checklist.

Provide food for Wildlife
Everyone needs to eat! Planting native plants, shrubs, and trees are the easiest way to provide the foliage, nectar, pollen, berries, seeds, and nuts that many animal species require. You also can incorporate supplemental feeders and food sources into your garden.

Supply Water
Clean water for drinking, bathing, and reproduction are supplied from nearby natural areas such as ponds, lakes, rivers, springs, oceans, and wetlands. You can help wildlife by adding water sources as birdbaths, puddling areas for butterflies, or rain gardens.

Create Cover
Animals big and small require places to hide to feel safe from people and predators. They also require thermal cover to protect them from extreme temperatures and bad weather. To provide cover, use native plants, shrubs, thickets, brush piles, or even dead trees.

Give Wildlife a Place to Raise Their Young
Without sheltered places to raise their young, wildlife cannot successfully produce offspring. Many features that provide cover can double as locations for nesting and reproduction, from wildflowers and bushes where butterflies and moths lay their eggs to boxes where bats roost or birds build nests.

Certify!
Once you have provided these essential elements to make a healthy and sustainable wildlife habitat, join the thousands of schools and individuals across the country who have earned the distinction of being part of our Certified Wildlife HabitatTM program.

Document Your Discoveries

Make a plant list for your garden.
Describe or draw the wildlife that you observe at your feeder in your Nature Notebook.

Bonus: Go to www.nwf.org for a wide range of ideas and resources to help plan and certify your wildlife garden.

I’m finished