I first created this site back in 1998 to document the wild plants that I encountered. But it has grown into a clearinghouse of information on landscaping, backyard birds, butterfly gardening, plant identification and making paper from plant fiber. After leaving Kansas, I thought of deleting the site. But realize it has a wealth of information that people rely upon.
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Garden and Wildlife Galleries
About My Gardens
I've created various garden types in my yard located in Topeka, KS. The key to having a successful garden is to choose plants that match the site's sun and moisture characteristics.
Plant sun loving plants in the sunny locations that get over half a day of sunlight.
Shade loving plants should be placed in areas that get shade for at least part of the day. Most still like some sun, so filtered sun is good for them.
I also created a water garden with a marsh which provides a place for wetland plants.
In addition to the gardens, I've placed nesting boxes for birds like bluebirds, great crested flycatchers and flicker woodpeckers.
Garden Galleries
My garden galleries are grouped according to the type of garden. The types represent a range of site characteristics.
- Prairie Garden Gallery contains sun loving plants.
- Woodland Garden Gallery contains shade or partial shade loving plants.
- Water Garden Gallery contains moisture loving plants
About My Wildlife Galleries
Planting native plants can help attract all kinds of wildlife. Small animals like insects (e.g. butterflies) are attracted to the plants. This attracts larger animals like birds. Native plants are at the bottom of the food chain. Without them our wildlife suffers. Alien plants offer little to no value to wildlife.
To attract various kinds of wildlife it's important to have a variety of habitats such trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers. Most yards have trees and lawn but little else. Providing a shrub layer as well as a grass and wildflower layer will provide a variety of habitat for birds and beneficial insects.
Wildlife Galleries
See various kinds of animals that have visited my yard in the following galleries.
- Bird Gallery contains birds attracted to my yard
- Bird Videos contains videos of birds in my yard, many nesting
- Butterfly Gallery contains butterflies and moths
- Insect Gallery contains insects other than butterflies & moths
- Other Animals Gallery contains reptiles, amphibians, & mammals
DISCLAIMER: This page contains affiliate links in the right hand panel, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support my website and allows me to continue to add new content. Thank you for the support!