A Green Rest Area
By Lina Younes
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This past weekend I was walking around Allen Pond Park in the City of Bowie enjoying the beautiful autumnal day. During my walk, I was admiring the migratory birds that had stopped along their yearly trek to warmer surroundings. There were many in the pond, flying, bathing, eating and the like. Luckily, around the Bowie area we have plenty of trees, waterways, and settings that are welcoming to birds and nature’s creatures.
While a visit to a park is a great way to connect with nature in an urban area, you can actually create an environment in your own garden that can be equally inviting to birds and pollinators all year round. You can achieve this objective through greenscaping techniques that integrate pest management practices and planting native shrubs and trees that will be inviting for birds and wildlife through the seasons. 
Certain evergreen shrubs and trees will produce small fruits during the fall at a time when migratory birds in the Northern Hemisphere are starting their journey south. While other flowering plants and trees will produce needed food for birds, pollinators and other wildlife during the spring and summer months.
By planting a variety of native annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, you will have plants that will provide food and shelter to birds and wildlife for their basic needs. I’m including a GreenScapes Seasonal Planner that may help you to incorporate greenscaping practices into your lawn and garden care. Basically, let nature do the work!
Have you seen any interesting birds in your area lately? As always, we love to hear from you. Feel free to share ideas. To share photos using Flickr you could participate in our photographic State of the Environment project. We would love to see them.
About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and currently serves the Multilingual Outreach and Communications Liaison for EPA. She manages EPA’s social media efforts in Spanish. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
The Good Force be with you!
Excellent, Lina! Thanks for sharing!
Live forever and prosper!
I really aprecciate to read your blog. We here from Brazil have learned a lot from your posts.
Thanks for the seasonal planner. I appreciate your tips for plantings that will serve the birds in winter as well as the pollinators and birds in spring and summer. A butterfly garden is on my list for spring and since I’m moving into a “new” home (to me), I want to make it as green and inviting as possible all year long.
I really enjoy your blog!
This article is impressive and I’m glad to read and understand the plan for to”REST”. Now I have the idea what to tell my students from Boston Yoga Classes where to great way to connect with nature.
Thanks for the comments! If you have any tips of your own on creating green rest areas for pollinators and wildlife, please feel free to share with us. We can always learn from each other.
Lina