When planning a spot to support wildlife, think in layers: Tall, medium and small trees plus shrubs plus ground cover. Planting ideas: In half sun plant Columbine, in full sun plant Butterfly Bushes, on a fence plant a Trumpet Vine and in garden spots that stay moist plant Sweetspire or Spicebush.

A book that is useful for our area is, “Landscaping for Wildlife” by Jeremy Garrett, published 2003 by University of Oklahoma Press.

Garrett’s emphasis is on providing wildlife habitat all year. The elements are food, water, cover and features for specific creatures you want to attract.

Honeysuckle provides fruit for songbirds, cover for rabbits and most years a bird will nest in the vines. Spring Azure butterflies use the nectar.

Cherry Laurel is a durable tree that provides berries, cover and a place to build a nest. Hackberry provides berries for birds and is a host plant for mourning cloak, hackberry emperor and American snout butterflies.

Providing water is especially important in the winter and during the heat of the summer. Use a patio pond or plant a children’s wading pool in your yard.

A pond with water plants will attract lots of wildlife. Consider: Buckbean for hummingbirds, Water Plantain for Cardinals and songbirds, Joe-Pye-weed for butterflies and hummingbirds, Milkweed for caterpillar food and nectar, and, Spicebush for hosting Eastern Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies.

If you can attract box turtles to your yard, they will eat garden slugs, grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars. (Avoid applying slug-killing chemicals where turtles live.) Provide a moist shady spot and a wet place to soak in the hot months and turtles will come to stay. Feed box turtles ripe fruit such as watermelon, cantaloupe and bananas.

“Landscaping for Wildlife” has charts and drawings that illustrate gardens for attracting butterflies, birds, reptiles, amphibians, etc. plus nest box designs with patterns and construction tips.

The book is out of print at OU Press so it sells for $70 online. The North America Butterfly Association offers it at $30 www.naba.com, sales@butterflybuzz.com or (541) 388-1659. Garrett owns a nature tour company in Vermont www.natour.us.

Oklahoma State University Fact Sheets are available from Muskogee’s Extension office at the fairgrounds, 686-7200 and online at www.osuextra.com.

Web sites with information on back yard wildlife habitat include: Wild Birds Forever http://birdsforever.com/chart.html, The Wild Ones at www.for-wild.org and Birds of Oklahoma www.birdsofoklahoma.net/Butterflies.htm.