Your landscape IS an ecosystem, and it behaves like an ecosystem, whether you think about your piece of paradise in such terms or not. Most gardening problems/difficulties and hard work stem from not understanding or downright ignoring this fact. Want a “low maintenance” landscape? Thinking about your garden as a habitat might help.

A LOT of things have been written on the topic of why you want to encourage or attract wildlife to the yard. Everything from expanding urbanization and reduced natural habitat, to decreasing biodiversity and increasing spread of exotic aggressive species, to name a few reasons. For Wellfield, the “wildlife” around us becomes key to an organically preferred approach: protecting Elkhart’s drinking water (you do know Wellfield’s relationship to Elkhart’s water supply, right?). We rely on the balancing and resilient effects of ecosystems to hold many things in check, thus reducing our dependence on expensive fertilizer or plant health control measures.

There are four essential ingredients to making habitat work for you:

• Diverse food sources
• Diverse water sources
• Diverse shelter types(a place to hide)
• Diverse locations to raise some babies

You probably can guess what the keyword might be. Yep, that is right: “diverse”. It is not enough just to put out a birdbath and check off “water source”. Not everything is going to visit the perch. Different organisms obtain moisture from different sources. If you plant a lot of different species, native especially, of various sizes, textures, root types, and plant them in layers, you are doing much already to provide these four elements. 

In the coming weeks, we will take up each of these essential ingredients and examine them in turn. 

Wildlife is already present outside your windows, whether you want them or not. You can either partner with them to create some win-win relationships, or you can spend a lot of time, energy and cash to banish them to your neighbor’s kingdom.

Josh Steffen, Horticulture and Facilities Manager

Miss any of Josh and his team’s latest posts? Click below to see what you’ve missed!

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  How to Care for Your Garden in Extreme Heat
  Sometimes, the best thing we can do in extreme weather is wait it out. There are some things you can do to help out your landscape in the meantime; Lead Horticulturalist Mary Wojcik gives us some tips and tricks to get us through.
• 
  Alternatives to a Conventional Lawn
  Culivated, manicured lawns have a storied history and come with their own set of issues. Today, Kyle offers some alternative groundcover options for you to explore for your landscape.
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  Water Retention and Diversion
  At Wellfield, more than half of our acreage is water. Really, we’re all about water! But how do we manage the water when there is too much? Today, Mary looks at some of our “hidden” water retention and detention methods.
• 
  Garden Mutants: Fasciation and Variegation
  Sometimes, our horticulture staff finds “treasures” in the Gardens – sometimes these come in the form of unusual mutated plants. Today, Cody shares some of his favorites.
• 
  The Amazing Azalea
  As we watch them begin to bloom, Cody asks the question: what is the difference between an azalea and a rhododendron? 

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