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Backyard Habitat

  • You Can Make a Difference in Your Backyard and Community!
    Join us in our mission to improve the world through gardening. Just doing one thing on this checklist will get you well on your way to making a huge difference in the health of people and planet.
  • Lawn, Reimagined
    Join us in redefining the perfect lawn not as a weed-free sea of green, but as a beautiful and thriving place that’s welcoming to people and pollinators!
  • Pollinators 101
    Pollinators play a massive role in our food systems, environment, and economy! Learn who they are, what they do, why they're struggling, and how we can all help them thrive.
  • Instructions for the Mason Bee House
    Orchard mason bees are small bees native to North America and are very good pollinators for flowers and fruit trees. They visit as many a 1,000 blooms per day.
  • About Mason Bees
    Learn how to put mason bees to work, pollinating your garden.
  • Beekeeping: A Hobby With Sweet Rewards
    Beekeeping and gardening go naturally together. Here are some things prospective beekeepers should consider.
  • Saving the Monarch Butterfly
    Monarch butterfly populations have been declining over the past decade, with sharp declines in the last few years. What can gardeners do to help ?
  • Landscaping That's for the Birds
    Choosing the trees, shrubs and perennials that birds like.
  • Pollinator Garden Plan for Attracting Bees
    This garden puts out the welcome mat for honey bees, native bees, and other beneficial insects. While the bees are sipping nectar and collecting pollen, you'll enjoy a beautiful raised bed garden that produces flowers in every season, spring through fall.
  • Pollinator Garden Plan for Attracting Butterflies
    Planting plan to attract butterflies all season. In spring, the orange milkweed foliage provides food for monarch butterfly larvae.
  • Attracting Beneficial Bees
    Planting pollen- and nectar-rich flowers is a very important way to help counter the decline in pollinator populations. Most bees are attracted to flowers for their pollen as well as their nectar.
  • Lawn, Be Gone!
    With tight water restrictions, traditional lawns are going from green to brown. What’s a homeowner to do?
  • Protect Yourself from Summer Insect Pests
    For most of us, mosquitoes and other insect pests are mere annoyances, but sometimes they pose real threats.
  • All About Bats
    Learn how -- and why -- you should make a home for bats in your backyard.
  • Gardeners Play a Role in Creating Wildlife Corridors
    By planting wildlife-friendly gardens, backyard gardeners can help reverse the habitat destruction and species loss that has occurred over the last century.
  • Attracting Butterflies, Hummingbirds and Other Pollinators
    Five ways gardeners can welcome pollinators; a list of plants that attract butterflies, hummingbirds and beneficial bees.
  • Pollinator Garden Plan for Attracting Hummingbirds
    Planting plan with bold flowers in brilliant hues to attract these winged wonders. Once hummingbirds discover this garden's buffet of blooms, they'll stick around all summer and return again each spring.
  • Fall Landscape Cleanup Dos and Don'ts
    Tidying up the garden in fall gives you a head start next spring. Here are tips that also invite pollinators and birds to your landscape through the fall and winter.
  • Attracting Birds
    How to attract a variety of birds to your yard.
  • How to Choose a Birdfeeder
    A guide to choosing the best bird feeder for your feathered friends.
  • Attracting Wildlife
    How to create a backyard habitat for wildlife, such as birds, frogs, pollinators and fish.
  • Pollinator Protection
    It's impossible to overestimate the importance of pollinators — to plants, animals, people, ecosystems — to the survival of the planet as we know it. Many pollinators are small insects, easily overlooked in our day-to-day lives.
  • Create a Monarch Waystation
    Monarchs are in trouble because of the elimination of milkweed that used to grow in farm fields. Grow a patch of milkweed in your backyard, which will provide food for monarch caterpillars.
  • Garden Design: Create Planters and Raised Beds for Butterflies
    To attract butterflies and other pollinators, simply plant flowers they love -- lots of them. The designs here feature blooms that are rich in color and nectar, ensuring that you will welcome dozens of beneficial insects -- especially butterflies.
  • 5 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day!
    Start by planting a tree. With this simple act, you celebrate the earth by increasing the leafy canopy.
  • Attracting Birds and Other Wildlife
    Gardeners share tips on attracting backyard wildlife.
  • Choosing The Best Birdhouse
    There are more than two dozen North American bird species that prefer to nest in a natural cavity. These cavity-nesting birds will often adapt to nesting in a birdhouse (also known as an artificial nesting box).
  • Keeping Squirrels Out
    Tips for keeping squirrels out of your birdfeeders.
  • Meet the Pollinators
    Yes, honeybees are important pollinators. However, many species of butterflies, moths, birds, flies - even bats!
  • How to Attract Bug-Eating Birds
    There are lots of great reasons to make your yard and garden more welcoming to birds. But here's one more: pest control!