When choosing plants for your yard, consider their function or role, as well as their form or appearance. You may have limits as to what you can plant because of the size of your yard or the cost, so choose plants that serve more than one function. Diversity Diversity or variety in your habitat will promote a healthy landscape and attract diverse wildlife species. Aim for plant species and structural diversity, as well as a variety of non-living materials. Having many species of trees, shrubs, perennial and annual flowers and grasses in your yard will also attract more varied wildlife.
Diverse plants provide a wide range of foods that are available throughout the year.
The shape and size of different plants combine to create structure in your landscape horizontally and vertically. You can increase the diversity of the edge by widening the ecotone, the zone of transition between habitat types. For example, you could plant small shrubs such as butterfly bush, tall shrubs such as serviceberry, and small trees such as crabapple to the edge between a lawn and a line of trees, as shown in the illustration. You can widen the ecotone in a flower garden by planting species of increasing heights. This may be low-growing plants, such as sedum and marigolds, in front of medium height plants, such columbine and liatris, with tall plants, such as phlox and yarrow, located behind.