Gardening for the birds How to create a bird-friendly backyard

George Martin Adams

Book - 2013

Demonstrates how to arrange native plants to mimic natural ecosystems that attract and provide for birds, outlining seasonal bloom and fruiting charts while offering close-up profiles of a variety of North American bird species.

Saved in:

2nd Floor Show me where

635.9268/Adams
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 635.9268/Adams Checked In
Subjects
Published
Portland, Or. : Timber Press 2013.
Language
English
Main Author
George Martin Adams (-)
Edition
Rev
Physical Description
444 pages : color illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781604694093
  • Planning a bird-friendly garden
  • Your region and your garden
  • Plant directory
  • Bird directory.
Review by Booklist Review

Birds have been celebrated in Egyptian hieroglyphs, medieval tapestries, and countless paintings and poems through the ages, symbolizing freedom and joy, and bringing song and color to our lives. Creating a bird-friendly garden is the making of a sanctuary for birds and people. Adams' how-to involves the use of native plants as the central structure both for building a cozy bird-welcoming ecosystem and aiding the preservation of North America's distinctive natural heritage. He provides steps for planning, which include providing food, shelter, water, and nesting sites and planting wildflowers. His coverage includes information on gardening regions, soil pH, fertility, and drainage, and preparing the soil, choosing native plants, developing a landscape plan, working with small spaces (including urban terraces), and more. Adams also provides both a plant and bird directory. Full-color photos and drawings throughout complement the text, and appendix materials include a metric conversion chart, lists of resources, recommended reading, and an index, making for an engaging and inspiring comprehensive guide.--Scott, Whitney Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Adams's latest, which expands and revises a nearly 20-year-old work, is a win-win-win. The first win is the book's cogent, helpfully detailed and brightly illustrated information about horticulture and garden design strategies. The second win can be found in the book's seamless marriage of impressive information about ornithology to stunning photographs. The third relates to the prospective readership and happy cross-pollination of audiences: this book will draw birders to gardening; gardeners to birding; and nongardeners and nonbirders to both. The charts are easy to read and the information about birds and bushes is accessibly organized, offering a sublime adventure for the average gardener. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Introduction Birds have inspired mankind through the ages, bringing joy, song, and color to our gardens while taking away only insect pests. You and your family can have countless hours of pleasure from birds, plants, and the natural environment when you create a bird-friendly garden as your own backyard sanctuary. Your garden will become a source of entertainment and a restful escape from the pressures of the outside world. When you landscape your yard with carefully chosen regional native plants to provide food, shelter, and nesting sites for birds, you'll find that an increased variety of birds will visit--species that might not usually be regarded as garden birds or attracted to a bird feeder. You will be providing a variety of food niches in your garden, and you will also be creating an environment that will encourage biodiversity, from the tiny organisms we are barely aware of, to captivating butterflies, moths, and dragonflies. Even if you only have a small place for planting, choosing plants that are beneficial to birds will add to the overall availability of habitat for our local bird populations. A great benefit of creating a bird-friendly landscape is enjoying your garden while watching a bluebird dropping in for a worm in a freshly dug patch, a phoebe snapping at insects, or a hummingbird probing nectar-rich flowers while robins sing in the trees. Simply put, when you create a garden with attracting birds in mind, you will be providing an open invitation for spectacular birds to make your garden their home. To attract birds to your garden, the backbone of your landscaping plan should be local native plants. By putting in native plants and using an organic, sustainable approach to gardening, you establish a balanced ecosystem in your yard. A greater variety of birds and butterflies will visit and linger, insect pests will be kept under control by insect-eating birds (reducing the need for harmful insecticides), and the wonder of nature will be part of your everyday living environment. The ultimate aim of this book is to give you the tools to set up a sustainable ecosystem in your own yard. There, the natural order of things can flourish and you can count the local birds among your companions.   It is easy to turn an ordinary landscape into an extraordinary backyard filled with lively, colorful birds. In this book, I explain how. First, I introduce you to the basics of planning and creating a bird-friendly garden. I discuss the elements that all birds need--food, water, shelter, and nesting sites--and give you plenty of practical suggestions for providing them in your yard. You'll find details on creating a hummingbird garden, and how to use wildflowers to provide for butterflies and seed-eating birds. I've also included flowering and fruiting calendars to help you select plants for a continuous supply of nectar, fruit, and seeds. And I offer tips for the best native nesting and shelter plants and how to build nest boxes. Next, in part 2, I guide you through understanding how your yard fits into the larger environment of your region and what plants will grow well in your geographic area. I discuss the importance of native plants in attracting birds, and give you helpful information on planning and creating a garden that will be full of likely bird habitats. To help you get your garden up and growing, I include many how-to tips: on soil care, planting, plant care, and plant feeding. And to make this section even more useful, I clarify how to choose and use plants in the garden to attract the most diverse range of birds. You'll also find suggestions on working with small garden spaces, and how to protect your garden from pests and unwanted visitors. The Plant Directory, part 3, is a detailed guide to important North American native plants that provide food, shelter, and nesting sites for local birds. The native trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, annuals, ground covers, and grasses I describe are all beautiful landscape plants that appeal to the gardener as much as to the birds. Many of them may already occur naturally in your area. Each plant is discussed and many are illustrated in a color photograph. You'll find a list of birds attracted to the plants. Then I give the best plant species for attracting birds, with descriptions, distribution, cultivation information, and hardiness zones for each. Part 4, the Bird Directory, provides discussion of many of the delightful birds you may want to attract to your backyard garden. I have featured a broad selection of the most beloved birds from coast to coast, from the eastern bluebird to Anna's hummingbird. Each entry has a photo of the bird and one of my original drawings of the bird with a favorite native plant. You'll find a description of the bird and its habits, what its song sounds like, plus its preferred habitat, breeding behavior, nesting style, and feeding habits. A range map is provided for each bird, along with its migration and winter range and its breeding range, so you can see if it lives or spends time in your area. A list of plants for food and shelter tells you good plant choices to attract each bird. At the back of the book, I've also provided a metric conversion chart. And if you want to learn more about birding and gardening to attract birds, I have included a resources section as well as a reading list. Joining some of the organizations listed in the resources is not only a great way to learn more; it's a wonderful way to meet other native plant enthusiasts and fellow bird fans. By establishing a bird-friendly ecosystem around your home, arresting color, birdsong, and antics of our native birds will add to the splendor of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers to create a spiritually uplifting garden environment. You will also be making an important contribution toward the preservation of North America's distinctive natural heritage.   Excerpted from Gardening for the Birds: How to Create a Bird-Friendly Backyard by George Adams All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.