Growing plants that attract, feed or shelter native fauna gives your garden the opportunity to reward you with the full richness of our Australian lifestyle.

A garden without native birds and animals is a silent garden. In many ways, a silent garden is not natural. That’s why the nursery industry has started promoting plants that attract and shelter native wildlife. It’s called Flora for Fauna and it offers an exciting dimension to your gardening.

The impact of a garden is somewhat diminished by a lack of movement and the gentle sounds of nature. The atmosphere can be likened to a school without children. It, too, would be lessened by a lack of movement and sound. Certainly, a school without its students still looks like a school; the buildings and grounds still require maintenance, just like a garden without native wildlife, but it is the eerie silence and stillness that is unsettling.

Don’t let silence and stillness pervade your garden. Surround yourself with movement, colour and the gentle sounds of native fauna. Encourage native visitors to your garden to enjoy what you can provide – nectar from flowers, shelter, perhaps a juicy bug or two, a refreshing drink or perhaps a splash in a water bowl.

Allowing native animals and birds into your garden does not require a major re-fit or re-think of your landscaping. Only minor modifications are needed to get spectacular results. An inviting area can even be limited to one section of the garden. Every little bit helps. You can simply plant a few native shrubs to provide shelter and food for birds or you can transform your whole garden into a wildlife haven. Flora for Fauna gives your garden an opportunity to reward you.

Our native animals and birds do not reside exclusively in the Australian bush – we share our cities and towns with many birds, butterflies, frogs, lizards and others. These creatures are part of our biodiversity – the web of life that makes Australia unique. Unfortunately, many of the species that make their home in urban areas are struggling to survive, as their sources of food, water and shelter dwindle. It needn’t be this way. Everyone can help the fauna that lives in our neighbourhood by turning our gardens and backyards into natural havens.

Flora for Fauna plants are Australian native plants. You may have already experienced the power of bird-attracting native plants like the bottlebrushes. Imagine what you could do with understorey shrubs to entice smaller birds, ferns for lizards or sedges and rushes to encourage frogs to a pond. This is just the daytime entertainment!

• Bandicoots, possums and bats come out to play at night.
• Birds love bowls of water set up on pedestals. They are more vulnerable when drinking at ground level, and feel a sense of protection when elevated. Shallow bowls are perfect for birds of all sizes.
• A small shrub planted next to the bowl and a larger, more open shrub or small tree within a couple of metres is ideal to encourage and protect shy birds.
• Keep the water clean. If at first birds don’t visit, be patient. Although you may get regular visitors within days, sometimes it can take weeks. Once the birds start visiting, they usually keep coming back.
• To provide a perfect spot to lay eggs and a damp canopy for shelter, frogs need a pond up to 30cm deep with some water plants and grasses around the edge. The frog population increases once the eggs have hatched and the tadpoles have grown.
• A shallow pond is preferable, though not vital for frogs, but it is essential for tadpoles. Frogs enjoy living in damp conditions. A wet area could be planted up with native grasses, clumping plants, groundcovers and ferns to encourage frogs. Tadpoles need only water in which to live. Frogs need plants and leaf litter to hide under.
• Putting out bread or seed for birds is also an invitation to unwelcome guests, like mice and rats. Using sugar water will attract only honeyeaters. Half a cup of any sugar mixed with boiled water is recommended by The Gould League. A teaspoon of Complan mixed in will provide extra vitamins and minerals.
• Butterflies and moths are nectar feeders. They have a coiled proboscis that uncurls and extends to sip nectar from flowers. It is not essential to plant special plants to supply nectar to adult butterflies. They usually use whatever is flowering at the time. Butterflies usually have at least one special plant that their caterpillars feed on. This host plant should not be confused with the plants that the adult butterflies obtain nectar from. Female butterflies seek out the host plant and deposit eggs on it. When the eggs hatch, tiny caterpillars feed on these leaves until they have grown large and plump.