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I’ve enjoyed your website for a long time. Thank you for taking the time to create it, write posts, recruit really interesting articles from other writers, involve your daughter, and keep it going all of these years. 💕🪐

Creating habitat isn’t easy. It takes a lot of sweat and planning. But you can do it! The hardest part is taking that first step. Find one small area and tackle it. Learn from your successes and mistakes. Have fun!

Unwanted changes can provide new opportunities. I was sad when one of our largest trees, a majestic shagbark hickory, fell during Helene last fall. Now that area is getting a lot more sun in the morning. I’m thinking of planting blueberries there this fall.

Our native habitat still requires maintenance - mostly weeding. This should get easier as the garden matures and fills in. With the greatly reduced lawn area, mowing takes very little time and I don’t miss it. Grassy areas were replaced by meandering step stone paths through garden beds.

Leaving the leaves in the fall is great for wildlife and also helps the plants. We also use wild strawberries as “living mulch”. They spread quickly and are excellent ground cover. I’m sure the berries are delish, but our squirrels do the harvesting. 🐿️

You also need to be patient. Some of the new plants needed several years to really get going and bloom profusely. Smaller plants are less expensive and easier to install, but they will take time to mature. I used annuals to fill in the spaces until the perennials reached full size.

Observation plays an important role. Water flow, sunlight, soil. When you introduce a new species, how is it doing? How do things look? Don’t be afraid to move them if they aren’t liking their spot or if they end up larger or smaller than expected.

The key has been to work on one area at a time. Otherwise the task seems overwhelming! Clear out an area and plant natives. Then move to the next spot. Winter is a good time for large scale removals. Spring and fall are the best time to install new plants. In summer, enjoy!!

Next step was introducing a variety of plants native to the Piedmont region of Georgia, that were compatible with our clay soil and abundant shade. Slope stabilization also a priority. We even found some pollinator plants that were OK with only two hours of direct sunlight!

First step was removal (mostly by hand) of invasive species like English ivy, liriope, vinca, privet, eleagnus, stiltgrass. Found a few natives that began to flourish with the competing exotics removed. We had violets and two types of native ferns growing here already.