The Wildlife Garden at Garden in the Woods has just been renovated by Nathan McCullin as his 2009 intern project.  Located between a large white pine and the meadow, the Wildlife Garden needed a complete overhaul in order to show the public the important role that native plants play in the web of life. 

In his book, Bringing Nature Home, Dr. Doug Tallamy emphasizes the connection between native plants, the native insects that utilize them for food, and the native birds that rely on those native plants and insects for habitat and food sources. Nate had taken classes with Dr. Tallamy at the University of Delaware and shown him preliminary sketches for a wildlife garden he hoped to construct.

Nate restructured this garden by first devising a plan that included his list of important components. He created paths to a sitting area and beds with clusters of plants taken from the nearby meadow. He built bird baths, wildlife habitat boxes, garden containers, and a woodpecker nesting box. He also constructed a trellis with “windows” for viewing the Wildlife Garden. By utilizing clusters of plants from the meadow, Nate created a structure whereby visitors could better understand which plants were being used in the meadow and why.

Bird baths were constructed out of logs which were cut, hollowed, then fitted with hammered copper bowls to hold water. Wildlife habitat boxes were built of wood and their interiors filled with pieces of broken pottery and wood, creating pockets of various sizes for a variety of animals to seek shelter. Garden containers were made from hollowed logs, turned on end and planted. The woodpecker nesting box sits on the uppermost section of a tree-trunk pole. The trellis is constructed of tree branches and leads a visitor from the main path to the sitting area. The “windows”, on both sides of the trellis, frame scenes in the Wildlife Garden which Nate felt were very important.  

All of these elements serve both wildlife and the visiting public. Wildlife will enjoy the plants, insects, habitat and nesting boxes, and the bird baths. The public will enjoy seeing, sitting, and learning about native plant species, the wildlife living in and visiting this garden, and the impact plants and wildlife have on the area’s web of life.