Many people wonder, what is biodiversity? It simply means you have many different types of plants and critters in your garden. Many gardens are not biodiverse and are dominated by lawns of non-native grasses and ornimental plants from outside North America. Our native animals have evolved along side native plants. A garden high in biodiversity is a healthy environment for all living things.

The old line from the Field of Dreams movie applies to biodiversity, “If you build it they will come” but in this case it means growing native plants and creating habitat for birds, bees, butterflies or whatever else you are trying to attract.

It is easy to add a few native plants to your garden. The beautiful flowers will attract native bees and butterflies. You can buy native plants from the Ontario Native Plant website and they will mail them to your door. If you want to learn what other people are doing with native plants you can join the Facebook group Ontario Native Plant Gardening and learn from 20k members which plants will work best in your garden.

Once you’ve got the garden planted you might want to give the birds a place to nest. The Credit Valley Conservation Authority sells bird houses, lots of different kinds.

I just bought one for Chickadees. All of the boxes are built from untreated solid wood which will last for many years.

You can shop for them at the Credit Valley Conservation Store. You might get lucky and attract an owl or tree swallow to your garden.

Spring is a great time to make a few changes to your garden and encourage biodiversity. You will be pleasantly surprised by the new visitors to your biodiverse garden.