A pond is a wildlife magnet!

[MDtibbies]

Three years ago we put in a tiny pond - it's only about 7' x 12', but what a wildlife magnet it has been. A public garden I was working on decided to replace all the soil in its garden, intending to take the old soil to a landfill.

Mine is so bad (clay and rocks) it doesn't even deserve the word 'soil' - it's nothing but 'dirt', so I asked for the old soil, paid to have it trucked to my house, and dumped in a large pile in the driveway circle out front. We bought some old carpet padding, and a large sheet of EPDM rubber lining to go over it, and over about two weekends made our wee pond. Pump and fountain, as well as the EPDM, came from eBay at a good price.

We get visits from the hummingbirds as well as larger bird bathers, chipmunks, squirrels, an occasional raccoon, and a large variety of frogs who make music in the evening.

Funniest pond sight yet was the hummers trying to bathe in the drops from the fountain -- birds are small, drops are large, and the resulting collision makes the wee bird just furious! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Pat, rural Maryland

[WindChimes1]

Water is an excellent way to attract wildlife to your garden and I have one trick that will have butterflies swarming to your garden. Take a ripe banana, slice it into round 1/4 inch slices and place them above the ground on either a post or feeder of some kind. Make sure you place a few around the garden area and just do this for a couple of days then watch as the butterflies flock to your garden to feed.

[Rita_Mae]

There's no hope for a pond in my garden but the banana idea sounds great. Have you both planted flowers, bushes, and trees that appeal to the B's (birds, butterflies, bees, and--yes--bunnies)?
... rita b

[Zuppa]

It really is