January 2026: Taking Care of Wildlife in Our Gardens Monthly Challenge.

 

Welcome to the 2026 Taking Care of Wildlife in Our Gardens Monthly Challenge. Taking care of nature has been the overarching theme of this blog for a very long time. It's what I do as a gardener, it's what I write about and it's what I encourage all of you to do. January 2026 will be the start of the fifth year of the taking care of nature challenges and it's even more relevant in the midst of the many challenges facing wildlife today.

Wildlife is facing major threats from habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, pollution, overexploitation (poaching/overhunting), the effects of invasive species, disease, and human-wildlife conflict. Although the population of earth isn't growing as fast as it once was there are still over 70million people added to our world populations each year. The more crowded we get the more we continue with our unsustainable practices that disrupt ecosystems and consequently push species towards extinction. 

Radnor Lake in winter

 What can we do? I suggest we start taking care of wildlife.There any number of ways we can do this and the Taking Care of Wildlife in Our Gardens Challenge is one I especially recommend.

What the challenge is all about!

The first part of this challenge is to do something or even lots of things each month that supports nature. 

• Be it for the critters living or visiting our gardens, 
• volunteering at a nature center or 
• joining an advocacy group. 
• Adding native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be).
• Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. 
• Helping others learn about nature is included. 
• Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. 

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Share your activities with everyone. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature!  

Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners/citizens can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? Our neighborhoods are changing. Almost everyday in my own neighborhood an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar, hackberry and other trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when trees are lost. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris causing runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's extremely important that information about the role trees play in our ecosystem is shared. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

The "bee lawns" in my neighborhood that are composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses  and sedges are disappearing. Instead, they're sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally.  Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

 

• Gone are the lightening bugs.
• Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
• Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
• Gone is plant diversity. 
• Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
• Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
• Gone is a healthy foodweb.
  

 It breaks my heart. 

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help all our neighbors, new and old, see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

Here's 5 things that might inspire you this month.

• Join a local WildOnes. They offer fabulous webinars, opportunities to volunteer, garden tours and monthly meetings where you can meet and chat with other members. Here's a link to my local chapter, Middle Tennessee WildOnes. You can join the national chapter and help form a local chapter where you live!

• Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects. 

  
• Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)
• Take an online course on designing with native plants. Winter is a great time to begin planning changes in your garden that support wildlife.
• Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our parks, and parking lots.

Thanks for reading and I hope you feel inspired to take up the challenge.

I'd love for you to comment and share your thoughts, your frustrations, your successes in your garden or within your community. Please feel free to suggest topics and I hope you know that any input or feedback you care to offer is greatly appreciated. 

May this be the start of a hope filled year for all of us. Happy New Year.

xoxogail

Need more activities? Here's an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden, and things you can do for and/or in your community. But don't limit yourself to my list, make your own list or check out the internet for ideas.

 

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. Buy them nature books.

Get in the garden with your children and grandchildren.

Give nature books as baby shower gifts (Nature books for infants and toddlers)

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.

 

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source) 

Plant for bloom from late spring to early winter. Bees are most active from February to November (longer in mild climates) late winter blooming Hamamelis vernalis and the earliest spring ephemerals (like the toothworts, hepaticas, spring beauties, and False rue-anemeone) are perfect plants for a variety of pollinators.

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Make a rain garden in low spots to collect and mitigate runoff.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Get rid of the plastic weed barriers in your garden, it's not good for anything.

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

 

Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves. Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall and need a soft landing site and a place to live over the winter.

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.

Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and they're great bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds. 

Turn off your yard up-lighting, eave lights and porch lights after 11pm. This is important for nocturnal critters including mammals, snakes, insects, bats, birds (especially during migration). (Birdcast suggestions)

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: You can observe visitors to your water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group you can join the national organization.  (Middle Tennessee WildOnes)

Support your local native plant sellers. (GroWild in middle Tennessee, Overhill Gardens in east Tennessee,  Resource Guide TN Native Plant Society)

Encourage your local garden clubs to offer native plant talks.

If your garden club has a plant sale encourage them to sell more native plants.

Get trained as a naturalist (Tennessee Naturalist Program. Almost every state has their own Master Naturalist training program

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id. 

Take an online course on designing with native plants.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

If you are already gardening with wildlife in mind then add a few signs that help educate your neighbors. (Xerces Society, Pollinator Partnership)

Join the Xerces Society.

Set up an information station where neighbors can pick up brochures about your garden and other info. 

Get certified (National Wildlife Federation, check to see what your state offers)

Support trees by joining the effort to make sure developers don't remove more trees than are necessary for their project. Work to make sure there are tree removal permits and that they are actually enforced in your community.

 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.