Create a layered garden to attract birds

Picture two gardens on the same street. Same rainfall, same aspect, but one is quiet, with perhaps a couple of Australian magpies or a crested pigeon, and little else. The other is full of song: fairywrens in the mulch, honeyeaters through the shrubs, a butcherbird carolling from the wattle. You could lose count before breakfast. The difference isn’t a bird feeder, it isn’t luck, and it usually isn’t money. It’s structure – the way the garden is put together, from the soil to the canopy. And you can build that, one plant at a time. 

Think in layers

Birds don’t all live at the same height. Some feed on the ground, some nest in the middle, some sing from the very top, and most need more than one of those places to get through a day. A garden of lawn and a feature tree or two offers just two floors; add the layers between and far more birds can find a living in your patch. 
This is where gardens in different parts of the country part ways. The layers are the same, but the plants are totally different. A garden in tropical Darwin might have a red bush apple (Syzygium suborbiculare); a Hobart garden a Tasmanian waratah (Telopea truncata); and a Perth garden a firewood banksia (B. menziesii). So, plant locally native, not just ‘Australian’ native. Some natives become weeds outside their range, and your local council or community nursery is the shortcut to what belongs. 
The best plants earn their place several times over. For example, a banksia offers nectar and the insects it draws, shelter in its dense foliage, a nest site in its fork and a lookout up top – one plant doing the work of four. It’s worth looking for that in every layer, from the ground up. 

Read more about each of the components of the layered garden, and examples of native plants for each layer and every climate, grab a copy of our October issue – on sale now.  

Images: iStock 

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