To go natural or not????...............

Natural as in letting areas of your yard grow wild in hopes of attracting more birds, not the "other" natural. *shakes head knowing someone was thinking THAT* I used to have a great looking natural area, mulched, weeded, the whole deal. Well now thanks to our great dept of transportation I have an incredible crop of weeds because when they seeded the right-of-way the seeds drifted into what was once a great looking space. (See pic.) I can mow it down fairly easy, but I'm not going to mulch it again only to have the weeds come back. It's way too big to try and spray, etc. So I'm wondering if there would be any benefit to let it go wild and would it attract more birds or should I just keep it mowed? Inquiring mind wants to know? :)

If you don't mow, you will have soon have saplings coming up everywhere. If you have Eastern Red Cedar near, probably a lot of that which is a nightmare to those of us with allergies and a fire hazard if near your house. Can you live with that? Maybe let it go wild and a controlled burn every 3 years. :-)

I live in a very rural area on the water. I have a section, with a rough fence around it, that I keep wild. I have ferns, wild raspberry, blackberry bushes, wild cherry trees and bushes, in this area. Also many different weeds, such as mullen and natural wildflowers. This area has a varriety of mature trees and saplings. It is a wonderful area for the birds.

A couple years ago, the area got kind of overgrown. So I made a path down the middle, added an arbor, birdbath etc. It actually looks quite nice, yet wild.

The birds love this area. They have natural food and cover from preditors. Over the years we have added more feeders and the birds seem to love it.

Bird watching seems to get better every year.

I say "go for it" Watch what happens and maybe shape it a little.

Good luck.

I am doing the same thing with an area of my lawn in the back that borders woods. I am helping it go "meadow" by planting a bunch of sedges, warm season and cold season grasses, asters, milkweed, etc. I am also renaturalizing the woods behind there with native woodland plants. It's taken about 2 years, but now it looks great and the birds love it. I think if you help it along by adding native plants you can get a beautiful area that looks wild. Once every 3 - 4 years, mow it in later winter and mulch in the clippings to keep the sapplings from getting too high.

Those are great ideas, I appreciate it! The saplings I'm not that worried about as I can keep them under control. I do have cedars and several of those have nests in them. I think adding native plants can only help so I'll give that a shot. The biggest resistence I've run into so far has been the wife's B&Cing about how it looks. I told her to stop looking that way. LOL It feels good to walk out there when it's a hot 95 degrees in the sun and it feels like 75 in the shade. :)

I have 10 wooded acres with about 2 cleared for buildings and gardens. We have found that, left unmaintained, the woods takes back the territory quickly. The tended parts of my yard have a lot more birds than the untended parts. The denser parts have very few. I would mow and add trees and shrubs that are known to be loved by birds. The native trees and shrubs also do a lot better if you give them a little breathing room. A brush pile or two in out of the way places is also a good solution for both your clearing efforts and for the birds that like that location for nests. One area we thinned trees out of last year has wild red elderberry coming up absolutely everywhere! They will be mowed if they are in the open areas and left alone on the sidelines as I love them but they really take over. The soil back there is so wonderful that the things I have planted or nurtured are doing much better than my formal gardens.
It is raining again today, but I will take a picture and forward it on this thread later. (Imagine! Rain in the PNW!)

I always leave my boarder natural, and I have a corner of the yard I call my WMA (wildlife management area). It has a birdbath with some potted plants and I put seed on the stumps for the birds. There are plenty of milkweed, poke, strawberry, black berry, trumpet vine galore and wild clematis. And trees and weeds, its my favorite part of my yard!
Stick piles for them to hide in and a few birdhouses, also.

This message was edited May 12, 2009 6:31 PM

Another view

And along the back fence is all left natural too. Cherry trees, wild roses, dogwood, sassafrass and oak are there also.
And some more I dont know the names of. The gray catbirds always make their nest in this area.

I do need to take out a few pine trees PNWMountainGirl and open it up some to allow for the other trees to grow. It's mostly shady now. I do have a huge brush pile, however I burn it when I get time then start another. I can do one in the natural area and just leave it. I'd love to see your pics when you get some! :)

Very impressive Grandmaggie, I love it! Thank you for the pics, they look great, very relaxing. I have plenty of poison ivy, does that count? LOL I do have a couple of birdhouses, but no luck with them this year. :( I'd like to have a stream/pond of some kind for water, however I had one in the yard and that was almost a fulltime job keeping it clean, etc so I filled it in and did away with it. Your pics have given me some great ideas. Now all I have to do is get a move on and make something happen! Btw, I'll be close to you sorta in September when I go to the Dover race. I'm hoping to see some cool birds then? :)

24going4 - I have a natural woodland garden in my shaded front and have a number of young berrying shrubs that you may dig and transplant if yo are in Winston. also some wonderful shade ground cover that I would share with you. Just let me know. I also have 3 acres of natural woodland and I disagree. it is full of woodpeckers and other birds. I have an abundance of birds and wildlife and absolutely love it!

My front naturalwoodland area

Thanks Birdie, I'd be happy to take some of them! I have a few woodpeckers, but nothing like the red headed or pileated. I love the way you have your landscaping done, it looks great. Speaking of wildlife, before I moved I had a LOT of deer foxes, etc. I moved across US 1, maybe a 1/4 mile at most and have only seen one deer and no foxes, etc. :(

OK, so the PNW is a lot different from the Eastern US. My "denser parts" consist of only stands of cedar with a few ferns underneath. On the other side of the states there is a lot more of the underbrush and cover for the birds as well as insects. I still maintain that some brush along with some clearing, along with appropriately planted "enticers" will do the best. I am sure you can find lots of sources to let you know what natural stuff to plant and what would also be wonderful to introduce.
It is STILL raining here, but a picture will come, eventually.

Yes PNW, the growth is different. We have a lot of "natural" stuff like Dogwoods and Redbud and many different berrying shrubs that easily take over.
I was born in Bremerton and have family in WA that have visited and they comment on th greensimilarities but say that "our (the WA) mountains are more peaky" and trees taller and fatter. I love both areas and am so greatful to be surrounded with trees and hills and mountains. I don't think I could live in a prairie area and enjoy it.