The creatures make the garden

Bee on swamp milkweed

If all the birds and the bees and the spiders and the insects and the chipmunks and the squirrels and all the other creatures disappeared from your garden, what would be left?

It’s a trick question.

Nothing would be left.

For soon without the birds and the bees and the spiders and the insects and the chipmunks and the squirrels and all the other creatures, the garden would no longer be a garden.

It would be reduced to a group of sad plants and flowers, with no reason to bloom.

So don’t try to figure out how to get rid of the birds and the bees and the spiders and the insects and the chipmunks and the squirrels and all the other creatures.

Learn to live with them.

Provide sources of water for them, so they have a place to drink, perhaps to bathe.

Provide a variety of plants for them, so they don’t get bored in your garden.

Provide a pesticide free garden for them, so they can safely eat and drink.

Provide supplemental food if needed, to get them to come to visit, perhaps to stay.

Of course, bad guys will show up in your garden, along with the good guys. That doesn’t mean you have to start spraying pesticides all around.  Look for other ways to thward the bad guys and they’ll move on.  It takes some time and research and trial and error but eventually, you’ll get to a balance where there are fewer bad guys and more good guys.

And then you’ll have a garden you can enjoy along with all the life that is in it.

For more info on gardening with wildlife, visit Gail at Clay and Limestone for Wildflower Wednesday!