There are many ways to stay busy at home without making a permanent dent in the couch, like making a backyard habitat!
This past spring, News4Jax explained how to become a backyard naturalist during the pandemic and now we’re going to dig a little deeper.
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Florida Fish and Wildlife experts suggest that making your yard into a backyard habitat takes it to the next level by supporting local wildlife.
You can start by doing the following:
- Entice a variety of animals to your property
- Evaluate your current landscape and create a habitat plan
- Select the appropriate native plants
- Design a bird, butterfly or pollinator garden
- Add nest boxes, feeding stations and water features
A good way to bring in local wildlife would be to plant plants that are native to Florida, like a Live Oak tree.
“Birds build their nests in them, squirrels and other wildlife really enjoy their acorns and they provide really nice shade," said James Matheny, assistant manager at Liberty Landscape Supply.
Cabbage Palms are also great because they thrive in mucky swampy soils and sandy soils, perfect for living by the coast.
“Florida-native plants provide beautiful textures, dimensions and color to your landscape while also benefiting local wildlife such as pollinators and birds," said Amanda Herrera-Hernandez , business development coordinator at Liberty Landscape Supply.
Herrera-Hernandez said that plants like gaillardia, guara, tuberosa milkweed, purslane, firebush, coonties, live oaks, cabbage palms, ilex schilling, muhly grass, fakahatchee grass, blue-eyed grass, crinum lily, are all great for Florida yards.
Another key step to remember would be to provide the elements of good habitat essential to all wildlife, like food, water, shelter and space to raise young.
We've finally finished the rain garden! ⛈ 🌱
— FSU Sustainable Campus (@fsusustainable) June 25, 2018
The purpose of the rain garden is to help filter water runoff, improve water quality before it reaches the stormwater drain, and reduce potential flooding! 👨🏼🌾👩🏾🌾🥦#RainGardenFSU #Tallahassee #FSU pic.twitter.com/qESD01mN2H
You can also look into building a rain garden. This is a low-lying area in the backyard that is landscaped with flowers and other moisture-tolerant plants, shrubs, and trees to replace areas of lawn or bare ground.
It helps collect the rainwater from the roof, driveway, or lawn to this low spot and is drained naturally.
They are easy to maintain and help with ponding and flooding in the yard.