Our garden provides intrigues in all seasons. Sometimes this has been accidental, but mostly it is through our design intent. (As daily observers of the garden, whether from strolling, gardening, or viewing a vista from a window, we enjoy talking about the what, why, and how of our creation and future ideas.) A couple of early design ideas still remain bedrocks in our intent: to plant for outstanding fall color through foliage, fruit, and flower, and to bring lots of birds to the garden. We’ve not had difficulty in selecting plants for either of these complementary goals. About a decade ago, however, we ‘accidentally’ greatly enhanced the latter by creating ‘stick fences’ from the abundance of sticks, branches, and limbs constantly generated in our 29-year old, 1.5 acre garden. The original goal was to block out unwanted lights from a neighbor, help keep our dog from running off the property, and to have someplace to go with the woody plant material, all of which we accomplished. What we hadn’t anticipated, however, is the number of birds that would find shelter, food, and habitat in these stick fences, and how much this has not only increased the bird population in our garden but our level of fascination, especially in autumn as the days cool and we find ourselves viewing the garden through windows.
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