CAPE MAY – The Nature Center of Cape May is offering a series of five “Gardening for Wildlife” workshops in March.

The series is led by Pat Sutton, with 30 years of wildlife gardening expertise, and will help participants design and create gardens that attract and support all species of local plant and wild life.

There will be an emphasis on native plants and wildlife-friendly practices. Although each workshop can stand on its own, each is designed to serve as a foundation for the next. Workshops include question and answer sessions, working lunches, open discussions and site visits.

“I am very excited about these workshops,” Sutton said. “Generally, I teach one or two hour programs which are rather one-sided presentations. These workshops, however, are presented in a five-hour format which will allow for more interaction, more thorough treatment of each topic, and more time for in-depth questions, answers and brainstorming.”

The workshop topics, dates and locations are: “Create a backyard habitat for wildlife” on Saturday, March 2; “Create a pollinator garden for butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, bees and more” on Sunday, March 3; “Create a wildflower meadow and wildlife pond” on Saturday, March 9; “Battlestar Backyardia – Battling the alien invader and how to deal with invasive species” on Saturday, March 16. These first four workshops will be held at the Cape May Bird Observatory for Research and Education, 600 Route 47 North in Cape May Court House.

The March 23 topic will be “Landscape Design with wildlife in mind” and will be held at the Nature Center of Cape May, 1600 Delaware Avenue in Cape May.

Detailed descriptions of each workshop are available at www.njaudubon.org/centers/nccm. 

Registration is required since space is limited. Register by calling 609-898-8848. The cost per workshop is $35 for New Jersey Audubon members and $45 for nonmembers. Discount for all five workshops $125 for members and $150 for nonmembers.