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Creating a Wildlife Garden

Creating a garden to attract birds, frogs, lizards, insects and other animals doesn't have to mean having a messy garden with rampant ‘scraggy' native vegetation. Your garden can be as formal or informal as you wish it to be, you may wish to retain exotic plants you have longed to grow, or keep a vegetable garden.
Wildlife in the garden is a great way to involve the family and educate children about protecting the natural biodiversity of our wildlife species and their habitats.

See also Bugs, Birds, Bettongs and Bush , Kit 10 from the Tasmanian Bushcare Toolkit. This excellent publication looks at how to manage native vegetation to provide good habitat for native animals.

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Growing locals

Putting in plants that naturally occur in your area, or would have been likely to occur in your area, provides habitat for local birds, animals and insects.

Some species have variations in form, according to where they grow (provenance) - using locally sourced propagation material ensures that the genetic diversity of the species is maintained. For Silver Banksia Banksia marginata is widespread across Tasmania and is found from coastal to alpine areas. However its form and leaf size varies markedly depending on where it naturally grows.



Attracting invertebrates

Invertebrates (animals without backbones) play a significant role in nature as decomposers, pollinators, and prey for many wildlife species – without them we would not see other larger species.

Creating a Layered Garden

Creating a Layered Garden

Creating bird habitat

Having native birds in your garden is a delightful experience and very rewarding. To attract birds to your garden choose plants that provide them with food, shelter, nesting sites and even nesting material.

Landscaping ideas

You can create various habitats within your garden to provide safe shelter, food sources and nesting sites to attract a number of wildlife species to your garden. These can be achieved by either physical structures or by landscape planting.

Protecting your plantings

How to protect your new plants from browsing animals and other risks

Water features

A water feature in the garden looks attractive and provides a cooling calming element in the landscape. A garden pond has the additional benefit of providing a watering point for birds and other animals and a habitat for frogs and aquatic invertebrates.