A ‘Winter Wildlife Foodscape’ Is the Easiest Way to Feed Garden Visitors This Season, Says A Designer – 3 Beautiful Ideas to Get You Started
Curate an edible landscape for birds, bees, and other small mammals seeking refuge in your winter garden
It's crucial not to forget about wildlife this season, as they need our help more than ever. If you don't have lots of time to dedicate to topping up bird feeders or de-icing water sources, I've got a landscaping hack that makes it almost effortless to support winter wildlife: foodscaping.
Foodscaping is an increasingly popular trend, where you curate an edible landscape. It's an approach to sustainable gardening, allowing you to grow your own food in a particularly ornamental way that brings beauty and function to your yard. Foodscaping for winter wildlife is not much different, but rather serves pollinators, birds, and small mammals that visit the yard for refuge.
Foodscaping For Winter Wildlife: 3 Beautiful Ideas
Not only are these ideas suitable for a wildlife garden, many of them will also bring year-round interest to your yard.
1. Create a Perennial Border with Architectural Seedheads
Feeding birds in winter isn't all about keeping bird feeders topped up, though there are plenty of bird feeders for fall and winter you can incorporate in your yard.
Seedheads from faded summer perennials offer a vital natural food source for birds during the winter months.
'I always encourage homeowners to not cut back every plant going into winter, save it for early spring. The birds love snacking on the seedheads plus it gives winter interest,' says Laura.
'My favorite perennial for the birds is coneflower as it’s spikey seedhead has such an interesting texture. Other perennials that make good snacks for the birds include black-eyed Susans, asters, sunflowers and beebalm,' Laura adds.
By planting a perennial border, you can benefit from a colorful summer display, followed by a seed bank for birds to feast on in the coldest months.
This pack of perennial wildflower seeds from Amazon has a range of the plants Laura recommends.
Display natural bird feeders nearby, such as hanging from a tree branch to add some height to the display and encourage more birds to your yard.
Bonus: you can collect a handful of seeds from the seedheads to grow new plants for free and extend your offering to winter wildlife in following years. You can use seed packets (like these from Amazon) to label and store them until it's time to plant.
Laura Janney is a renowned landscape architect and designer, and CEO of The Inspired Garden Masterclass. Laura has left her mark on the cottage garden landscape design scene, recently winning the 2023 Houzz Best in Design award for her work in the New York area.
2. Plant Shrubs with Berries for Structure
When exploring garden and landscape ideas, one of the core elements to consider is the framework of your yard.
Trees and shrubs are ideal for this, bringing height, texture, and year-round interest.
For foodscaping for winter wildlife, Laura urges to choose shrubs with winter berries.
'There are many shrubs that not only offer beauty in grey winter months but produce berries for the wildlife. Some of my favorites are holly, viburnum, and serviceberry,' Laura says.
Not only will berries feed birds, they also provide a food source for squirrels, foxes, and more. There are even native plants to feed birds in winter you can plant alongside them.
Shrubs also provide shelter for small mammals trying to escape adverse weather conditions during winter.
Try planting these shrubs at the back of borders, providing a backbone for your planting as other blooms fade away, and creating a quiet, undisturbed spot for wildlife to enjoy.
To make your display even more dynamic, turn shrubs with berries into intentional design features by training climbing ones up trellises (like this white cottage garden trellis from Wayfair).
Firethorn is a good choice for this, for example, creating a fiery vertical garden when the berries come out in the fall and winter months.
3. Design Containers for Winter Pollinators
Although lesser seen in the coldest months, many beneficial insects are still on the hunt for nectar during winter, including bees, hoverflies, and moths.
For this reason, you can incorporate some of the best winter flowers for pots into your winter wildlife foodscape.
'There are some perennials that emerge in mid-winter, depending on zone and climate,' says Laura. 'Hellebores start blooming mid to late-winter and are great for birds and bees. Pansies (like this pack of potted pansies from Walmart) are very cold-tolerant and are another great source for wildlife,' she suggests.
The beauty of creating pollinator containers is you can dot them among your borders, place in them in quiet corners, and use them to brighten up particularly grey areas of the winter garden.
Many of these flowers will support winter pollinators through to the spring garden awakening.
FAQs
How Can You Incorporate Water into a Wildlife Foodscape?
Water is vital for wildlife in the winter months, especially when natural sources are frozen. Use bird baths to frame pathways with a submersible fountain to create movement that stops a bird bath freezing, like this bird bath fountain from Walmart. You can likewise incorporate a garden pond in your yard, surrounded by the best plants for seedheads, so winter wildlife can access food and water all in one spot.
Beyond these ideas, you can also grow the best winter plants for wildlife and create shelter with deadwood and leaf piles.
Shop For Your Wildlife Garden
A bug hotel has a range of hiding spots for insects to refuge to for shelter and warmth in the harshest seasons. This one is made from sturdy fir wood and is weatherproof.
This beautiful resin bird bath is timeless, with a blue finish and bird motifs. It has a shell-shaped bowl design, accessible to a wide range of garden birds.
Spread these pollinator wildflower seeds in spring and watch as beautiful nectar-rich blooms emerge, attracting pollinators to your yard throughout the warmer months.
