Plants for Winter Wildlife

Summer days with the droning of cicadas and the sun warming the green fields are almost over. Late spring and summer are times of plenty for people and for wildlife. Bushes are replete with sun ripened berries, the grass grows tall and green, the boughs of trees offer shade and shelter to a myriad variety of birds, mammals, and insects, and there is plenty of browse available for the animals of the forest. Soon though, the winds will blow chill and whip the winter bared branches of fruitless trees over fields that lie stripped after the harvest. Winter is a time of want for wildlife, but with a little forethought the gardener can supply a twelve month harvest of food and shelter for the wildlife in their area.

When planting trees the gardener should keep in mind that deer, squirrel and chipmunks, in those areas where the smaller mammals do not hibernate, trees such as the oak and hickory bear and abundance of food in the form of acorns and hickory nuts. Deer especially love the acorns of the white oak and will gorge themselves on this natural source of nutrition for as long as possible while squirrels will seek out hickory trees and will begin to harvest and ‘squirrel away’ the fat-rich nuts for as long as they can be found. For smaller animals such as birds the highly popular dogwood is very useful for the tiny red berries it bears in late fall and into early winter.

Evergreens, such as pines, firs, and cedars, as well as practically any varieties of evergreen shrub should not be overlooked. While most evergreens bear very little in the way of food, except for the tiny nuts found in pine cones, they do provide much needed shelter to smaller animals which are very susceptible to the cold weather. In more rural areas deer will even use groups of evergreens

which have been placed as borders and hedges as handy places to shelter themselves from the storms of winter.

Bird feeders are fine, and hay or corn left out for larger wildlife is good, but with a little thought and planning a gardener can easily landscape an area to not only supply themselves with a spring and summer bounty of shade, fruit, and flowers but also provide for the native wildlife in the area. A spring spent growing lovely flowers and a summer spent taking in a bountiful harvest can easily become a winter spent watching the birds, squirrels, and other wildlife as they enjoy the food and shelter the gardener has provided for them.