Creating a Wildlife Garden

​​​​​​​​​Creating a garden to attract birds, frogs, lizards, insects and other animals doesn't have to mean having a messy garden with rampant ‘scraggy' native vegetation. Your garden can be as formal or informal as you wish it to be, you may wish to retain exotic plants you have longed to grow, or keep a vegetable garden.

Wildlife in the garden is a great way to involve the family and educate children about protecting the natural biodiversity of our wildlife species and their habitats.

See also Bugs, Birds, Bettongs and Bush , Kit 10 from the Tasmanian Bushcare Toolkit. This excellent publication looks at how to manage native vegetation to provide good habitat for native animals.​
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In this Topic

  • Creating Bird Habitat
    To attract birds to your garden choose plants that provide them with food, shelter, nesting sites and even nesting material.
  • Layered Gardens
    A layered garden creates a range of habitats for a much greater diversity of wildlife and hence valuable protection and enhancement of biodiversity in urban areas.
  • Landscaping Ideas
    You can create various habitats within your garden by using physical structures and landscape planting.
  • Protecting Your Plantings
    How to protect your new plants from browsing animals and other risks
  • Attracting Invertebrates
    Invertebrates (animals without backbones) play a significant role in nature as decomposers, pollinators, and prey for many wildlife species – without them we would not see other larger species.
  • Water Features
    A water feature in the garden looks attractive and provides a cooling calming element in the landscape. A garden pond also provides a watering point for animals and a habitat for frogs and aquatic invertebrates.
  • Sustainable and Environment-friendly Gardens
    Sustainable practices effectively create an environment-friendly and cost-effective garden.

Some species have variations in form, according to where they grow (provenance) - using locally sourced propagation material ensures that the genetic diversity of the species is maintained. For Silver Banksia Banksia marginata is widespread across Tasmania and is found from coastal to alpine areas. However its form and leaf size varies markedly depending on where it naturally grows.​