Wildscaping

Jason and I are avid NPR listeners because you never know what you are going to learn. A few weeks ago, we were introduced to the concept of "wildscaping", which is a term sometimes used to describe the process of making a garden attractive to wildlife - by offering water, shelter and native plants to eat - which is vital in urban areas where native species of bugs, amphibians, birds and mammals are in serious decline (click here to listen to the program). After days of searching I found a book tailor-made for Oklahoma: Landscaping for Wildlife: A guide to the Southern Great Plains. If you live in the OKC metro, you can pop into the Wildlife Department headquarters just south of the Capitol and pick it up for $15.00 or you can click on the book title which will take you to a page where you can purchase the book.

We already have at least three toads and a family of caramel colored birds that I've never seen before, as well as robins, cardinals, blue-jays and mourning doves that frequent our lot...and some other birds we can't identify. I've been researching urban frog habitats to keep the frogs happy through the winter and reproduce in the spring. We'll see!