Martin

I have not noticed an increase is bird species visiting my yard but there appears to be an increase in numbers of each species.  There are another couple pairs of American Robins in and around my yard.  More Northern Cardinals are hanging around and there appears to be a couple more House Wrens.  Hopefully when my flowers open up a Ruby-throat or two will show.

I had never given any conscience thought to "vertical" diversity until this lesson!  I was aware of it of course by walking though woods and other natural areas but as to landscaping my yard up and down to promote biodiversity would have been done accidentally.  As with many 30+ year old city neighbourhoods, lot size can impose landscaping limits.  I live in a duplex and my "half" of the lot is ~30' x 100'. Fortunately for me, one of my immediate neighbours has a large lilac bush following our shared fence which is quite full.  My other neighbour has mostly lawn but has landscaped the boarders of her yard with Easter White Cedars, a Flowering Crab Apple and several flowering plants.  My third "neighbour is a K-8 school where the school board has a mix of shrubs and trees along the boarder between the parking area and my yard. As to my vertical landscaping, I have some lawn in both my front and back yards.  The front yard has a couple flowerbeds, a small shrub line and a 20+ year old Norway(?) Maple that is quite full and ~35' tall.  Earlier this spring, I dugout and replaced a small circular flowerbed around the truck of the maple where I transplanted some hostas species and a couple of plants from the mint family.  My back yard has several raised beds where four raised beds where I grown strawberries and various vegetables for our consumption.  In amongst the vegetables are marigolds and borage.  The other beds I have planted flowers to primarily attract wildlife.  As I have already mentioned my small pond in early discussion boards, I will add that I have directed any overflow from the pond into a bog/peat garden where I have iris species growing.  The Pin Cherry is providing about a 25' vertical height and the pergola over my vegetable beds also provides some vertical habitat and I do have some messy areas in my back yard which are not too large (and yet still bother my wife...;)).

Good day to all.  My back yard is a space where: 1.  I grow some fruits and vegetables for consumption in raised beds that I made in 2017; 2.  I grow bird/insect friendly (mostly) native plants; 3.  I have my Project Feeder Watch (PFW) site located; 4.  I have an approximate 50 gallon above ground three-season "pond" where I keep three goldfish and some aquatic plants.  I planned and placed my "pond" in the spring of 2019; and 5.  My wife, the family dog Blue and I enjoy the small, occasional summer's night fire. I live in Kingston, Ontario which is located on the north-east corner of Lake Ontario/mouth of the St. Lawrence River/Seaway. I do greatly enjoy my yard and continually make small landscaping changes/alterations in order to continue in making my yard more attractive to the natural world, be it birds, insects, (small) mammals and even people!