Designing a garden for birds
Follow some basic principles to guide your garden design. Assess your garden site carefully before you start. Garden with the future in mind - your garden could make a difference to your local biodiversity and may even encourage your neighbours or wider community to do the same.
Some basic design principles
Use these simple principles to help you plan your garden. You will find them equally useful for designing a brand new garden or modifying an existing design.
- Plant for vertical and horizontal structure: Avoid stark simplicity. Simplified garden structure and design may seem convenient but reduces the volume and variety of food and shelter for small birds.
- Plant for shelter: Several shrubs close together (five or more) can form dense, protective thickets, great habitat for small birds. Grow rambling, light climbers in amongst medium to tall shrubs and trees, to give extra shelter and possible nesting sites
- Plant for food: Small birds eat nectar from native flowers and seed from native grasses, as well as associated insects.
- Plant locals: Plants that grow naturally in your area are suited to local conditions. They will provide the right food and shelter for local native birds, unlike some hybrids or plants from other parts of Australia, and are less likely to become weeds in adjacent bushland areas.
- Create diversity: Small birds use ground covers, grasses, small, medium and large shrubs.
- Plant below trees: A dense understorey is less attractive to Noisy Miners but enjoyed by smaller birds.
- Remove exotic species that produce berries: Over time, replace fruiting plants like Cotoneaster that attract Currawongs.
- Reduce lawn area: Replace unused lawn areas with garden beds or native grasses which produce attractive seed heads that provide food for finches and other seedeaters such as Crimson Rosellas.
- Use small gardens effectively: With limited space, it is better to plant several plants of the same type, than only one of several types.
- Design for formality or informality: A variety of Australian native plants can be planted to create a formal garden or a bush-like garden, whatever you prefer.
- Provide water: Birds need fresh water. This can be provided in a bird bath or garden pond but remember, birds are vulnerable when they are drinking or bathing and need to feel safe.
Assessing your site
The answers to the following list of questions will tell you a lot about your planned garden site, including what plants are likely to grow there and what sort of garden would best suit it. This important information forms the 'building blocks' of your garden plan.
1. Where does your garden fit into the geography of your area?
Is it in a gully or on top of a ridge, does it slope or is it flat?
2. What is its aspect? When, where and for how long do you get sun on your garden?
Does your site predominantly face east, west, north or south? Track the sun for a while and find out which parts of your garden get plenty of sun or are mainly shady. Allow for seasonal changes in the sun's position. A hot spot in the summer may be quite cold and damp in the winter.
3. What type of soil do you have or would you naturally have?
Is it sandy, stony, heavy clay or alluvium? If you don't know, take a sample from several places in your garden from about 30 cm - 50 cm (about 1 ft) below the surface, and take this to your local nursery for advice.
4. What type of plants would live in this area if it wasn't urban?
This doesn't mean you will only plant the local plant species (although this would be ideal), but it will help you understand what might grow successfully. Find out more using our plant lists or contact your local council.
5. Where does the dominant wind come from?
This will determine where you might want to place windbreaks et.c.
6. How much space do you have?
How much space do you have for your garden and what can you realistically do with it? Are there large buildings nearby that restrict sunlight?
7. What else is the garden going to be used for?
Consider your own needs. This space is also for you and your family, so you need to factor in some areas that are useful for you.
8. What sort of gardens surround yours?
This may not always be useful, but if your neighbours are also trying to attract birds, it is a good idea to work together and provide the same or complementary plants. This will increase your chances of success.
9. What habitat do you want to recreate?
Consider what type of habitat you want to create. e.g. If you live in a gully which has some protection from wind, it might be suitable for rainforest plants or if you live at the top of a ridge which has a lot of wind and gets the full heat of the midday sun throughout the year, you would be better to develop a heath-like garden.
10. What design and layout will you use?
Finally, decide on your overall garden and plant design, plant mix and the position of your plants. You can use our Choosing native plants section and our extensive Resources section to guide you further.
Gardening for the future
Gardens can help to maintain local biodiversity, an essential part of ensuring long-term ecological sustainability. Many plants, particularly trees and large shrubs, take quite some time to mature and provide valuable habitat for birds and other wildlife. It is just as important to plant some of these as it is to grow plants that mature quickly. Fast growing plants will often have a fast life and need frequent replacing. By using slower growing species to form the structure of your garden, you will always have a constant framework to work within. Also think about how big your plants will become - will they be all canopy with no understorey? And do they complement the bush nearby or the plants of neighbouring gardens, making wildlife corridors?
Can your garden really make a difference?
Yes, by making sure that you do some of the following things, you can really make a difference to your local birds:
- Talk to your neighbours. Together you can create a larger area that is suitable for small birds.
- Be patient. Bird attracting gardens take a while to become established. Make a start now.
- Tell your local council you want more dense shrubs and native grasses in public parks and gardens, to provide a home for small birds.
- Develop good gardening habits. By not using chemicals for pest and weed control and mulching all leaf fall and garden cuttings on-site, you can easily increase available food for birds.