A site for Woodland/Wildlife Gardeners & those who love Photography
Ferns & Feathers is not your average gardening website. If a natural garden means more to you than pretty flowers and you have always had a soft spot for wildlife, then this Woodland/Wildlife Gardening website is meant for you.
My focus is on native plants, trees and shrubs that provide food and habitat for wildlife. Below, you’ll find featured posts on gardening, attracting birds and other wildlife and finally, we’ll focus on backyard garden and wildlife photography.
Why should you spend time on this site? Because a garden without wildlife is just a stage set.
Woodland/Wildlife gardening has been a labour of love for me for more than 20 years. Like all gardens, mine continues to be a work in progress and, like the garden, all are welcome here. Please, join me on my journey.
I am greatly honoured to be the recipient of the Ontario Nature Media and Conservation Award for the work done on Ferns & Feathers and the accompanying newsletter, Naturally Native. Ontario Nature is an outstanding organization that is working hard to protect the environment in our province and one that deserves our complete support.
Intro to woodland Gardening
- Batch1 139
- batch3 117
- batch 3 64
- Batch2 58
- batch5 57
- native plants 26
- attract birds 14
- Budget 12
- birds 11
- woodland 11
- backyardbirds 9
- hummingbirds 9
- photography 9
- People 8
- backyard birds 8
- garden photography 8
- native 8
- wildflowers 8
- wildlife 8
- phototips 7
- Garden Art 6
- book review 6
- bookreviews 6
- carolinian canada 6
- trees 6
- woodland gardening 6
- bird feeding 5
- Fox 4
- Garden design 4
- Garden gifts 4
- Gardenproducts 4
- attracting wildlife 4
- bird feeders 4
- books 4
- garden books 4
- gardendesign 4
- grasses 4
- landscaping 4
- photographing woodland 4
- Baltimore Orioles 3
- DIY 3
- Garden photography 3
- Plantpeople 3
- Wildscape 3
- Woodland trees 3
- attractbirds 3
- backyardbirdphotograpy 3
- boulders 3
- dogwood 3
- ferns 3
Gardening & wildlife
- Budget 1
- Carolininan zone 1
- DIY 1
- Fall colour 1
- Ferns 1
- Flower 1
- Garden design 1
- Garden tips 1
- Photography 1
- Wildflowers 1
- Woodland 1
- attract birds 1
- backyard design 1
- batch1 4
- birds 3
- ephemerals 1
- fern garden 1
- ferns 2
- garden on a budget 1
- garden photography 1
- gardening 1
- habitat 1
- mammals 1
- meadow 1
- native plants 7
- native shrubs 1
- native trees 3
- natural garden 1
- nature 1
- nature photography 1
- photography 2
- pollinators 1
- predators 1
- rewild 1
- shade garden 1
- wildflowers 1
- wildlife 5
- wildlife friendly 1
- wildlife garden 2
- woodland 3
- woodland garden 3
- woodland wildlife garden 1
Welcome to a walk in the woodland where I explore a natural woodland, its flora, fauna and its hidden secrets and natural beauty.
It’s time to worry about our native bees’ future and how we can help them in our gardens.
Adding a few native plants to your garden every year will go a long way to building the landscape of your dreams.
Are you and your garden ready for spring migration and the influx of warblers and other backyard birds from their wintering grounds. Providing the necessities of life is a good start but how do we do that in our gardens?
Evergreens play a key role in the woodland garden creating vertical structure and a strong presence throughout the seasons.
Evergreens are vital for the survival of our backyard birds. Not only do they provide a natural food source, they also create habitat for nesting birds.
Building a Woodland garden can be a fun and rewarding experience. The key is letting go of what you may have perceived as the perfect garden and let nature do much of the work. Your focus should be in establishing layering the site with tall trees, understory trees, shrubs and ground covers. I hope this blog will help you achieve your dream.
Ground covers are an integral part of a Woodland Garden. Ferns form the backbone of our garden both in the front and back yards, but there are many others. Here are three of my favourite ground covers that I use in my garden.
Are woodland gardens a solution to the world’s climate problems? If they are not the solution, they certainly can play an important role.
There should always be some mossy areas in the woodland garden, whether it’s growing on the ground or used in containers or even in a dedicated moss garden.
Gardens seem to be trending in the right direction as more and more gardeners recognize the importance of using native plants to encourage wildlife.
Landscape designer Angela den Hoed shares how she creating an impressive meadow garden in the side yard of her Pennsylvania home to be used a show garden for her landscape design clients. The result is a stunning garden that will slowly evolve each year to become a beautiful meadow garden teeming with insects, bees and other wildlife.
In 1989 Ken Druse wrote The Natural Garden. Was it a groundbreaking book that changed the way we garden today?
Flower photography is always rewarding, but it is especially so when you are photographing flowers in your own backyard that you planted and nurtured over the years.
Catherine Cleary and partner Ashe Conrad-Jones of Pocket Forests are dressed for action. The team is giving Ireland a taste of what life could be if there was more nature.
Spring ephemerals are an important part to any woodland garden both for their early colour and value to native wildlife. Here are 35 woodland wildflowers you will want to consider for your shade/woodland garden.
Rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife is critically important for the survival of so many of our backyard birds, animals, reptiles and amphibians. The dedication and commitment of volunteers is what keeps these wildlife centers working hard to save local wildlife.
The relationship between our garden predators, including backyard birds, and the use of native plants is tied together by the insect herbivores that depend on native plants as a food source. Together the predators, prey and native plants work to keep our gardens in harmony.
Here are six of the best trees for fall colour in your woodland garden. Three are for the upper canopy and three are understory trees. Among the best trees for fall colour include the Sugar Maple, The Oaks and the Tulip Tree, as well as trees in the Dogwood family, serviceberries, and Japanese Maples.
Getting your yard designated a wildlife habitat, or pollinator-friendly yard is a worthwhile endeavour and one that will inspire gardeners to create more an better habitat to help birds, mammals, bugs and butterflies in our gardens. This article provides a resource for anyone thinking about having their gardens designated a wildlife habitat.
Why should we use native trees, shrubs and plants in our landscapes is an important question many gardeners ask. Native plants are vital for the survival of our birds, pollinators and other animals that depend on the food these plants provide. It’s never been more important for gardeners use more native plants and save our environment one garden at a time.
A woodland wildlife garden is the best environmental choice for garden design. Ecologically, a woodland garden using native plants will help to restore native flora and fauna in our urban and suburban areas that are being over run with non-native, exotic plants that are damaging our environment. Here is a design plan complete with a plant list so that everyone can help to save our environment one garden at a time.
Even today's smaller backyards have room to create a native fern garden. Whether you have a small or large backyard, a fern garden will bring a sense of solitude to your woodland wildlife garden. These garden tips and ideas will help beginners and experienced gardeners plan, design and create the perfect fern garden in a corner of their yard to attract birds and other backyard wildlife.
Is picking or digging up wildflowers and other plants from the wild wrong. According to experts in the field, it is almost always the wrong thing to do. Even collecting seed from rare plants can be a bad decision, especially if approval is not sought from the landowners in advance. Ferns and Feathers asks the experts what they think about collecting plants from the wild and what are alternatives.
A beginners guide to backyard wildlife photography exploring how to attract birds and animals to your woodland garden, how to use get close to them and what camera systems to consider to capture images of birds, insects, butterflies, and mammals.
Putting up a bird feeder and hoping for the best might not be the most successful approach to attracting the greatest varieties of birds to our yards. Many birds are primarily insect- or berry-eating birds and will not readily come to your feeders. Consider adding these native plants, shrubs and trees to ramp up your birds.
What tree should I plant in my garden? A question heard often in on-line forums and nurseries everywhere. The simple answer: Plant an oak tree. Its everything you want in a tree – solid, stately and it feeds, protects and is home to more forest creatures than any other tree you could plant. There is room in every garden design for an oak, and if you think there isn’t think again. Here are four great oaks to consider.
Creating a garden of your dreams can be expensive, especially if you’re young with children and in your first home. The good news is that you have time to create that woodland, cottage or contemporary garden on a budget you can afford. The keys to a successful landscape plan are patience, the willingness to get your hands dirty and learning the money-saving tips to get you on the right path.
The above posts are an introduction to the Woodland website. For more, click on any of the links below.
The Foveon sensors in Sigma cameras may be difficult to work with but the results can be stunning.
The Japanese culture has its own way to describe and experience the joy of spring greens. We too can learn from their enlightened perception of the woodland.
Native plants, especially native columbines, are an important early spring food source for migrating hummingbirds.
Mid May is an exciting time in the woodland garden when spots of colour break the beauty of the spring greens.
A dead hedge or brush pile just might be the solution to blocking an eyesore and/or creating much needed vertical wildlife habitat in your backyard.
Early May in the woodland garden brings with it a rush of new birds from warblers to orioles and hummingbirds. In addition creeping phlox is beginning to put on its spring show in our front garden.
Week two at the end of April in the spring woodland garden introduces the world of epimediums, trilliums, ferns and more.
The popularity of knee walls in the landscape creates an opportunity for gardeners to add interest to their front landscaping.
Creating backyard habitat for owls, bats and bees is one of the greatest gifts you can give this holiday season.
Some of my favourite plants for the best late fall colours in our garden captured with the original Lensbaby Composer lens.
It’s hard not to notice the sheer abundance of window boxes and container plantings throughout the small towns and cities in Europe. In this post we explore the world of European window boxes.
Spotted bee balm is a fascinating native plant that will be a mainstay in our natural woodland garden.
Trees may be the first step in saving our environment from climate change, either planting one or saving one.
Dames Rocket is considered a non-native invasive plant, but it can be a flower photographer’s dream come true.
Adding a path-side planter from a large branch or decaying tree trunk is a project everyone can accomplish by following the steps in this post.
I take a walk in the woods to explore the native wildflowers. Trilliums, Marsh Marigolds, Wild Geraniums, Mayapples, Forget-me-nots and a host of others that we can use in our own woodland gardens.
Should nativars be used in our gardens or is it better to stick with unmodified native plants?
Finding inspiration for garden design has many sources, from nature to the work of fine artists who capture the essence of place in a single image or work of art.
Foliage is an elegant oversized coffee table book featuring the beautiful images of master photographer Harold Feinstein.
The Garden is Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson’s tribute to his garden in Shamper’s Bluff, New Brunswick where he combines his passion for nature with his love of gardening and photography.
Nothing says spring quite like tulips, daffodils and a range of colourful spring bulbs. There are lots of ways to experience tulip festivals from local events to European river cruises to Amsterdam, the motherland of tulips.
Growing threats from American president are resulting in Canadians looking to buy Canadian products rather than shop in the United States. Here are suggestions for Canadian gardeners.
Garden inspiration can be found in many places but I would not have expected to find it in a fantasy garden show at my local botanical garden. But that’s what happened at this incredible garden display.
The importance of growing native plants including wild grasses has been brought home to me on a daily basis by, of all things, a couple of wild male turkeys. Check out the full story here.
Wild Ginger is a native ground cover that just might make a great replacement for your hosta plants.
Adding Hepatica to your woodland garden is the perfect way to kick your spring garden into action early.
Gardening does not have to be difficult. Here are five tips to make gardening easier and more rewarding.
By combining a garden journal and photography, you can create the ultimate record of your garden over the seasons and over the years.
Trees can help turn a dull winter landscape into a woodland wonderland not only be adding texture and interest in their bark, but catching the snow on their branches as it falls.
The Chinkapin Oak is a fast-growing oak that might be perfect for your back or front yard.
Alliums are the perfect addition to any garden whether it's a formal or more natural garden setting.
Buckthorn is a non-native invasive that is not difficult to control if you get on top of it in its early stages.
Hydrangeas can be an extremely showy addition to any garden, but their value to wildlife is not always fully appreciated because not all varieties are valuable to wildlife.
Providing a reliable winter water source for backyard birds begins with an electric water heater. But it does not have to end there. Check out the DIY outdoor photo studio and reflection pond that birds are flocking to as winter approaches.
A fallen tree has transformed the woodland garden encouraging a greater variety of fauna – from wild turkeys to owls.
A recent heat wave put the focus on ways we can help our garden visitors through these difficult times and a mister is the perfect choice.
Rabbits are a reality in any garden. They are sweet little beings that need a safe place to call home and why not make it our woodland gardens.
Screech owls are popular visitors to suburban woodland gardens and are beginning to increase their numbers in Canada, in part, because more homeowners are installing nesting boxes on their properties. Screech owls are among the smallest in North America but they eat more than their share of mice and rats making them a favourite for woodland gardeners.
Having a possum in your garden is a blessing not only because they are sweet little animals but they are North America’s only marsupial and, most importantly, they eat more ticks than you could ever imagine.
Hummingbird moths are fascinating creatures that mimic both the look and flight patterns of our native hummingbirds.
Cardinals are one of our favourite birds to have around the garden. It’s no surprise considering their beautiful colors and their cheery songs.
Winter is approaching an time for woodland gardeners to change focus from their gardens to backyard birds and wildlife. Here are five outstanding books that will help birders get the most out of their backyard feeders by attracting the greatest number and variety of birds to their backyard.
Both Blue Jays and Cardinals are often seen with bald heads in late spring or early summer when the birds are molting their feathers.
Wondering how long that little hummingbird that visits your yard every year will be returning. If everything goes well, you might be surprised how long the hummers might be returning to your yard.
Ever wonder where the heck our hummingbirds go during the winter. You’ll find out all about their incredible journeys and where they spend their winters here.
They’re boisterous, bullies that add a hit of colour to our backyards. Blue Jays are one of the most beloved birds in our gardens, but it was not long ago when they were threatened by a deadly virus that wiped out hundreds of thousands of birds.
Butterfly weed, a member of the milkweed family, is both attractive to butterflies as well as a host plant for monarch butterflies. You want it in your garden.
Creating a hangout in your garden just for hummingbirds involves providing them with their favourite things and then sitting back and enjoying the fun they have.
It was an unforgettable weekend of warblers in the woodland garden. Here’s how it happened and how it can happen to you if you create the right habitat.
Learning to embrace nature in our gardens is an important step to discovering the beauty of our gardens and the wildlife that call it home.
In her book Wildscape, Nancy Lawson explores the sense of taste and how it shapes the flora and fauna in the garden.
Cultivating your own vision of beauty in your garden should include a focus on wildlife.
The importance of scent in the garden is critical for the survival of many insects, mammals and other garden critters.
Nancy Lawson, author of The Humane Gardener, explores how the senses come to life in our gardens both through our plants and wildlife.
The Mourning Cloak butterfly may look a little drab in its rough coat of brown and yellow, but it’s the butterfly’s ability to blend in with nature that helps to make it successful.
A hanging bird bath is the perfect way to attract songbirds to your your garden by providing them a safe, discrete area to get a drink or a quick bath.
Attracting orioles to your yard starts with having a high quality feeder that includes the ability to feed nectar, oranges and grape jelly.
These bird feeders from Wild Birds Unlimited are a good example of the new recycled resin feeders available at a number of locations.
Choosing the best bird seed to attract specific birds to your garden starts with knowing what seed they like and using the proper feeder. Black oil sunflower seeds are a great start but other seeds will ensure you attract the greatest variety.
Red-bellied woodpeckers are woodland birds that have made their way into backyards across the south and into northeastern United States up into Canada.
The American robin has always been a mainstay in our backyard whether they are eating crabapples or enjoying themselves in the bird bath.
The Foveon sensors in Sigma cameras may be difficult to work with but the results can be stunning.
Getting in close doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Tamron’s 500mm F8 mirror lens is given new life with digital cameras and the latest in post processing software.
Bringing the garden into the kitchen with a bouquet of flowers and a handful of Lensbaby lenses.
Luminar Neo’s powerful photo editing package goes mobile.
Luminar Neo post processing software is the simpler way to create outstanding images.
Kolari Vision neutral density filter system can turn your simple photographs into works of art.
Colby is our new 4-year-old flat-coated retriever rescue that has taken over our home and became my mate in the garden and walks in the woodland.
Adventure cameras like Pentax’s WG2 are not just for beach vacations and climbing mountains, they have their place in the garden, at home and certainly as an every day carry.
Winter can be the perfect time to watch for wildlife in our gardens. Besides the regular cast of characters, watch for more elusive wildlife that may visit your garden in winter, when they are much easier to spot in the barren, snow-covered landscape.
Days in the making, a fraction of a second in the taking. Capturing the elusive coyote in a winter woodland.
Hand feeding chipmunks in your wildlife woodland garden is not difficult. All it takes is some patience and a good supply of peanuts. Then, it’s just a matter of befriending the Chipmunks to trust you enough to take the nuts out of your hand.
Dr. Nadina Galle and her work with the Internet of Nature uses technology to shape the future of the urban forest. The Canadian born former Fulbright scholar and MIT researcher now at the University of Amsterdam uses ground sensors and satellite imagery among other technologies to help cities monitor, care for and protect the urban forest to provide a better place for people to live in future.
Let me introduce you to my garden buddy. We’ve walked down the same garden path together, stared death in the eye, and came out stronger on the other side. Holly, our Humane Society rescue is quite the little fighter. Take a minute to get to know her and our incredible journey together.
In her book Grow Wild, Lorraine Johnson tackles three main garden zones in Canada and the United States. Prairie gardens take up the second chapter and offer an insightful and informative look at this popular garden style that turns its focus
on tough plants and hardy grasses.
Lorraine Johnson’s book Grow Wild was an early inspiration for me to explore native plant gardening.
Creating a backyard escape has never been more important than it is today. Hiring unemployed students or part-time gardeners could be incredibly rewarding both for homeowners as well as students and small business people who learn new skills and appreciation for the importance of gardens.
The decision to use an organic vs a non-organic mulch is not always obvious. Here are some tips on when and how I use mulch in our woodland gardens .
Not all Nurseries are created equal. Most provide plants your average gardener is looking to plant. But Woodland gardeners and native-plant gardeners are not your average gardeners. Here are four specialty nurseries you will want to check out online if you are looking for special plants or just reliable information on growing plants you already own.
Building a solid foundation starts with your garden’s soil and there’s no better way to build a high-quality soil than to use mulch. Cedar mulch forms the foundation of our low-maintenance woodland garden. It’s benefits are too numerous to list but here’s a start.
Mary Reynolds’ The Garden Awakening is an important book during these troubled times. It is both a gardening book and a road map we all need to follow into the future. For some it is a treasure map to help them rediscover nature and themselves. For others, it will provide them with a new way of looking at their gardens, their land and their life. Please, click on the link for the full review.
Large bird feeders are an excellent choice to not only provide a reliable food source for backyard birds, but also makes keeping them filled less taxing, especially in winter.
Bats are an important addition to all garden and critical for the health of the environment. Consider installing a bat house in your garden this year.
Forest bathing has found its place in North America during the Covid pandemic, but it got its start in Japan in the 1980s. Come explore Forest bathing in your own backyard.
Here is your opportunity to have Chelsey Gold Medal winning landscape designer Mary Reynolds create a garden of your dreams based around her concept of creating Arks. A natural landscape or woodland garden based on native plants for wildlife.
It took the death of his father and a complete immersion into nature, the forest and woodlands to take Evan Rosens art from the darkness into the sunlight.
Alexa LeBouef Brooks is a west coast garden designer looking to convince people that we need a more sustainable approach to garden design in the face of climate change.
The days of wood bird feeders are quickly giving way to Resin feeders made out of recycled plastic containers. These resin containers look great and are more importantly, easy to clean.
Raccoons can be very beneficial in your woodland garden, but too many of these masked bandits are a recipe for problems.
The Bumble Bee needs to be celebrated for the work it does quietly and without a lot of fanfare. You can thank this native bee for the spaghetti sauce on your pasta and the toasted tomato sandwich that you ate for lunch. Unfortunately many of the native bees face an unsure future.
The Japanese culture has its own way to describe and experience the joy of spring greens. We too can learn from their enlightened perception of the woodland.
Native plants, especially native columbines, are an important early spring food source for migrating hummingbirds.
Mid May is an exciting time in the woodland garden when spots of colour break the beauty of the spring greens.
A dead hedge or brush pile just might be the solution to blocking an eyesore and/or creating much needed vertical wildlife habitat in your backyard.
Ticks can be both a real nuisance as well as dangerous. Here are some steps you can use to control and deter them in your garden.
Pentax was ahead of its time when it unveiled its Optio VS20 portrait centric digital camera with separate shutter releases for the portrait and landscape modes. Did they foresee the future of social media platforms like instagram.
Fujifilm’s travel cameras are capable of impressive results whether you are travelling the world or just wandering into your garden for a day of flower or wildlife photography.
High quality bird seed sourced as locally as possible can make a significant difference in the number and variety of birds you are able to attract to your feeders.
Restoring vintage family photos has never been easier with Luminar Neo’s new Ai restoration module.
Is the Pentax Q system the ultimate travel camera? Decide for yourself after checking out the results on our European river cruise.
The incredible Sigma DP series of cameras with their minimalist approach to design combined with an outstanding foveon sensor makes them a true cult camera. Adding a third-party 3-D printed grip only makes the cameras even better.
Let’s put Luminar Neo post processing software to work to try to rescue a roll of long-expired film.
The Minolta 125, point-and-shoot, 35mm film camera is ideal for a new photographer or one interested in experimenting with Lomography.
Wide angle photography is taken to a whole new level with the Pentax Q and 08 extreme wide angle lens.
Sigma’s DP2 enthusiast camera has a cult following of photographers looking for the highest quality images in a simple point-and-shoot camera.
The Pentax PZ20 is a modern film camera and when teamed with Luminar Neo is capable of magical results.
Enthusiast cameras from yesterday can be incredibly valuable tools for the everyday photographer looking for a simple carry-everywhere camera. Here are four I took with me for A Walk in the Woods.
Is Luminar Neo the only photo editing software you will ever need? Let’s explore what it offers and see some results.
Photographing the woodlands is always exciting, but when you can create magic in post processing using Luminar Neo, the fun never ends.
Why not try your hand at taking environmental portraits in nature? Try telling a story rather than moving in too close and put those wide angle lenses to work.
A misty morning in late spring with freezing rain still clinging to some of the trees and rural fences captured with the Sigma DP2 and its excellent, built-in 42mm (35mm) lens.
CCD-sensor cameras have developed a bit of a cult following now that working copies are getting harder and harder to find. The Pentax *ist-D is an example of an excellent CCD camera that continues to deliver in its old age.
The Pentax PZ1-p was the flagship of the lineup in the 1990s when autofocus swept the market and technology began to influence the design of all cameras. Today, these cameras are some of the most inexpensive film cameras on the market, yet they are among the most modern technological masterpieces available.
The Konica C35 Automatic is a brilliant little rangefinder camera that sets the shutter and exposure automatically while leaving the photographer to set the ASA and focus.
Putting Lomography’s colour films to the test with the Pentax 110 against Pentax’s digital Q line of cameras.
Wild Turkeys, for better or worse, have become a part of some our more rural gardens. Find out more about these massive wild birds and how they play a role in our woodland gardens.
Creating a woodland/wildlife garden using native plants has many benefits including being able to photograph the wildlife that lives in and visits your backyard.