Hi Gang,

I enjoyed sharing my program “Backyard Birds Attracted to a Wildlife Habitat” for Jenkins Arboretum via ZOOM (so it was available to all, near & far) on February 20, 2025! And it was FREE! And I gave permission for Jenkins Arboretum to record it. I’ll share full details further down in this post, but first let me gush a bit about Jenkins Arboretum and how excited I was to present a program for them.

Some of my favorite natives in our itty-bitty restored woodlands (1/3rd of our 1/2 acre property) came from Jenkins Arboretum, propagated on-site by staff and terrific volunteers from natives in their own landscape and sold in their Garden Shop.

My heart sings when Pinxterbloom Azalea, Rhododendron periclymenoides, blooms, a South Jersey native, but one that I could not find available for sale at any of the South Jersey native plant nurseries I knew of in 2009 (when we saved our woods from Multiflora Rose and Japanese Honeysuckle). So I am forever grateful to Jenkins Arboretum for this shrub.

For the first eleven years my Pinxterbloom Azalea did not bloom and, quite frankly, I forgot I’d even planted it. But then on March 30, 2021, a shrub I didn’t recognize with large, showy buds caught my eye. I stopped in my tracks, thinking “What the heck!” I found my plant sign near its base and recalled my purchase. I kept an eye on it. On April 22nd the buds were getting close to blooming, but one-by-one the stems (and buds) were disappearing (cleanly sliced off). I quickly realized why I’d lost track of this shrub. Our abundant rabbits, who must think we’ve planted everything for them, had been repeatedly pruning this shrub of its buds (resulting in no flowers of course). That day I gathered reinforcements and circled my brutalized azalea with chicken wire (1.5′ high). April 29th flowers finally bloomed on my Pinxterbloom Azalea. Now, each spring, I eagerly and with child-like wonder look forward to these big, showy pink blooms, always busy with pollinators, and now occurring on multiple branches safely within my ugly chicken wire protection.

So, when Jenkins Arboretum invited me to present a program for their Third Thursday Lecture Series, I eagerly agreed. And I gave Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens permission to record this program and add it to their You Tube Channel as an educational video. Details follow:

“Backyard Birds Attracted to a Wildlife Habitat,”
by Pat Sutton

was presented on February 20, 2025

Via ZOOM for Jenkins Arboretum and Gardens
as part of their “Third Thursday Lecture Series.”

A recording of the program can be seen HERE (link will be added shortly)
on Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens’ You You Tube Channel
as one of their educational offerings

Click HERE for Pat Sutton’s Backyard Birds HANDOUT
This handout should answer questions you may have after viewing this program; it shares some of my favorite books, resources, tools, protection measures, etc. that I include in the program.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM: Create it and they will come! Pat Sutton will share accounts of the diverse wildlife attracted to the South Jersey wildscape she and her husband have nurtured for over 45 years. They have tallied over 213 bird species, 79 butterfly species, and 116 other pollinators (37 different wasps, 34 different flies, 26 different bees, 10 different beetles, and 10 different diurnal moths) in their tiny one-half-acre wildlife oasis. How’d they do it? By questioning each practice as to whether it would help or harm wildlife. Get tips on creating a backyard habitat that benefits wildlife.

ABOUT JENKINS ARBORETUM: I’ve included Jenkins Arboretum’s offerings in my “Some Sources of Native Plants” for a number of years. If you live near there and haven’t visited yet, by all means do. And if it means a road trip, I promise you that it will be worth your while. Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens, 631 Berwyn Baptist Road, Devon, PA 19333 (Chester Co.); 610-647-8870. Garden Shop (open daily: 9 am – 4 pm) sells a wonderful selection of native seeds year round and, from mid-April until late October, also sells a great selection of native perennials, shrubs, trees, and evergreen & deciduous azaleas (most all are propagated on-site at Jenkins). Check their website for their regularly updated “Plant Inventory List.” See native plants in the landscape by visiting this 48-acre arboretum and gardens with 7 different trails (each about 1/4 mile or less). Garden map & trail descriptions can be found HERE. Open daily year round (hours vary seasonally, depending on when the sun sets): March 15 – April 30 (9 am – 7 pm), May 1 – August 31 (9 am – 8 pm), September 1 – 30 (9 am – 7 pm), and October 1 – March 14 (9 am – 5 pm). FREE admission, donations recommended.

Happy Wildlife Gardening,
Pat

2020 VIRTUAL Tours of Pat Sutton’s Private Wildlife Garden (43 Years in the Making)

Our wildlife garden has evolved over the last 43 years from a lawn and very few plantings (a Lilac bush and Day Lilies) to probably 100+ native plants and many different components (perennial garden, pocket meadow, shade trees and gardens, wildlife ponds, native woodland, living fences, etc.) that all lure in and benefit wildlife. Read this brief history to learn more.

This was the 4th year I led tours of my wildlife garden for CU Maurice River, a non-profit organization doing great work in South Jersey. With Covid-19, the 2020 Tour was filmed on July 2nd and folks could join the tour VIRTUALLY on Tues., July 14, 2020.

If you missed this garden tour, there is a 2nd opportunity to join me for this Virtual Tour. It will be one of many fun offerings as part of the 2020 Wheaton Arts Virtual ECO WEEK. Details follow:

2020 Wheaton Arts Virtual ECO WEEK
includes

WHAT
VIRTUAL GARDEN TOUR
of Pat Sutton’s Private Wildlife Garden
40+ Years in the Making

WHEN
Friday, August 21, 2020
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE
From the comfort of your home

Registration for this event is FREE! But you need to click on the Registration Link HERE. This Virtual Tour (a narrated video tour) will be followed by a Live Q & A session and is sponsored by CU Maurice River.

After you register, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining this selected Zoom webinar. Participants may join and rejoin the webinar at any time during the scheduled presentation.

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About the VIRTUAL Tour of Pat Sutton’s Private Wildlife Garden in Goshen, NJ (Cape May Co.), largely a NATIVE PLANT OASIS (filmed on July 2, 2020)

I’ll bet many of us have gardened more than normal this year, the year of Covid-19. Our wildlife garden and working in it has kept me sane during these uncertain times. I must give some credit for my sanity too to all the garden visitors I’ve discovered, learned about, and enjoyed this year. There have been so many fun sightings perhaps because we’ve been home a lot, out in the garden more, and savoring more. I hope this has been the case for you too.

I enjoyed sharing my garden with CU Maurice River on July 14th and am looking forward to sharing it again during the Wheaton Arts ECO WEEK. If you should join me and see the footage, keep in mind it hasn’t always looked like it does now. Like each and every one of us, I have made some serious mistakes over the years and paid dearly for them. I love sharing my garden, not only because it is packed with Nature Happenings, but also because in doing so, I might help save others some of the angst and frustration I went through. I love sharing my garden also because I have learned so much about wildlife gardening and how wildlife responds to habitat. Truly, create it and they will come!

We see so much in our little 1/2 acre for many reasons. We barely have any grass left to mow. There are robust native perennials and understory trees and shrubs under all of our trees, not lawn. Rather than fight their thugishness, I am thrilled when shade-loving perennials I’ve planted like Common Blue Wood Aster seed further and further out into the lawn each year. More native plants and less lawn equals more habitat. One section of what had been lawn is an itty bitty meadow instead (12 feet x 12 feet). The meadow of native grasses and perennials compliments the formal perennial garden and hosts nectaring and egg-laying butterflies and other pollinators, nesting Box Turtles, and more! Our woods take up about one-third of our property and are filled with native trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, grasses, a sizable brush pile and many smaller brush piles, a butterfly house (made of overlapping branches with roofing shingles in between to keep weather out), and a seating area that is always cooler than the garden and overlooks a busy Hummingbird feeder (Meghan got footage of a hungry female during our virtual tour from this seating area). Many of the butterflies that nectar in our garden lay their eggs on native trees, shrubs, grasses, and vines in our woods. The woods were an impenetrable wall of Multiflora Rose until 2009 when we reclaimed them, so many of the native trees and shrubs are eleven years old. In ridding the woods of invasives the seed bank of natives had a chance. The transformation has been complete, but does take routine vigilance because the very birds we attract are eating invasives elsewhere and sprinkling seeds of those invasives in our woods and elsewhere on our property.

So, join me if you can for this 2nd airing of a 2020 Virtual Tour of my Private Wildlife Garden. CUMR’s Meghan Thompson did the filming. I’ll be narrating the garden tour, which will include some of my favorite garden still shots from this spring and past magic moments. This virtual presentation will showcase many of the pollinators and sights from this season.

You may also want to download and print the latest update of my “Gardening for Pollinators” Handout (CLICK HERE), which includes lots of sage advice, Chocolate Cake nectar plants month-by-month, and sources of helpful signage. It will prove very helpful during the Virtual Tour and afterwards!

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For twenty-three years (1991-2014), I led “Tours of Private Wildlife Gardens” in Cape May County

Pat and Clay Sutton’s garden during the July Tour 2014

For twenty-three years (1991-2014), I led “Tours of Private Wildlife Gardens” in Cape May County. I saw these tours as one of the best ways to “grow” more wildlife gardeners. You can see the excitement in the photo above as tour participants find, study, and share with each other butterflies, spiders, caterpillars, native bees, frogs, turtles, hummingbirds, and the beautiful nectar plants, host plants, wildlife ponds, water features, and habitats that have attracted them.

Initially I led these tours for NJ Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory, where I worked as the Program Director. Between 2007-2014 I led the tours for NJ Audubon’s Nature Center of Cape May.

Many of the owners of these beautiful, private, wildlife gardens had taken workshops with me and / or attended these tours.

Many garden owners shared with me that a personal goal was to have their own garden included on these tours. The number of wildlife gardens grew and grew. Eventually there were so many educational gems to share that I broke Cape May County into three regions and led back-to-back tours, covering different parts of the county each day. I led these tours in July, August, and September so attendees could see first hand the different “Chocolate Cakes” in bloom month-by-month and the variety of wildlife attracted.

On the final tour, garden-owner Gail Fisher presented me with my very own Chocolate Cake made by her Mom (it was delicious).

And to further spoil us on that final September 2014 garden tour Gail Fisher served homemade Chocolate Cupcakes.

TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF PRIVATE WILDLIFE GARDENS

Many of the gardens that were included on the Cape May County tours can be seen in the photo galleries below. These photos (taken over the years) truly record the evolution of these private wildlife gardens and may give you some great ideas for your own garden.

South Tour (Cape Island: Cape May, Cape May Point, West Cape May, and Lower Township)
Mid-County Tour (North Cape May, Villas, and Erma)
North Tour (Cape May Court House, Goshen . . . including my own garden, Dennisville, Eldora, South Seaville, and Ocean View)