As spring rolls in, lots of wild friends will be returning to your backyard! Two of the friends you might see are frogs and toads! These green friends can be indicators of environmental health, with their presence often meaning that the ecosystem is thriving. Frogs and toads are not just cool to watch; they also play a crucial role in our ecosystem by controlling insect populations! If you’re looking to connect with wildlife and help out some adorable amphibians, creating a backyard frog garden is a fun, easy project that your froggy friends will thank you for. In order to entice frogs to use your garden, it’s important to create a space that meets their needs. Frogs love to hide from the heat of the sun, keep their bodies cool and moist, and eat insects. While it may take a while for frogs to notice your little oasis, it is easy to create a space that caters to their needs and makes a great habitat. You can create a frog garden of your own in a plant pot, bowl, or in an out-of-the way spot in your backyard. Here’s how you can make your backyard into a froggy paradise!
⇒ Step One: Making Space
Frogs like a mix of shade and sun: find a spot that gets a little sun during the day but also has shaded areas. Take a walk around your outdoor space at a few different times of the day, and find a place that doesn’t get full sun. It’s also important to keep your frog garden away from pets to keep your frogs safe! Frogs are also attracted to the bugs that gather around nighttime light sources, like lamps or porch lights, so keep that in mind when placing your garden. You might even consider placing a solar lamp nearby to keep your frogs happy and well fed!
⇒ Step Two: Sneaky Hiding Places
Having a hiding spot for your amphibious friends is an important part of your frog garden. Not only does it keep them sheltered from predators, but can also serve as insulation for cooler days and shade for the coming summer months!
Terracotta or clay pots are an excellent choice for your froggy hideaway, as they are excellent insulators and retain moisture.They can help keep your frogs cool in the summer, and warm on those chilly evenings in spring and fall. You can also add moss or a layer of fallen leaves inside your pot to give your frogs an extra layer of insulation.
Use large fragments of broken pots to create smaller hiding spaces, or partially bury a fully intact pot in the dirt to give the frogs a ‘cave’ to hide in. Terracotta pots can also be painted with acrylic paint, so you can add your own personal flair to your project!
⇒ Step Three: Cool by the Pool
Frogs also like to stay moist, as they breathe through their skin, so it’s important to keep your habitat near a source of water. The easiest way to do that is by adding a small pond to your frog garden! You can use a shallow container buried in the soil to collect rainwater, or fill it with water from your sink. Ensure that the water level stays consistent, especially during dry spells or especially hot days. You can also add moss to your garden as another source of moisture, as moss has a high water retention rate. Your frogs will thank you!
⇒ Step Four: Keeping it Natural
Once you have your hiding spots and pool in place, it’s time to create a natural-looking habitat! Place some rocks, tree bark, twigs, or other natural elements you collect from your yard. Frogs love to perch on these, and they create more hiding spots.
If you want to make your frog garden a permanent part of your yard, you can go a step further by planting native plants and flowers. Wildflowers like Brown Eyed Susans and Butterfly Weed are beautiful native additions to any garden, and ferns and species of ground cover like Wild Strawberries, Moss Phlox, or even clover can not only add hiding spots to your garden, but also help support your local ecosystem! You can likely find these plants already in your backyard, just go looking for them!
You can check out the University of Maryland’s list of recommended native Maryland plants here for suggestions on what to plant in your garden!
⇒ Step Five: Get Creative!
You can also add decorations! Make your own Jurassic Park with plastic dinosaurs, a magical fairy garden with tiny furniture, or a miniature sculpture garden out of clay. The most important thing is to have fun with it! Even if frogs don’t often have the most discerning tastes in art, making the garden your own will make it all the more special to see your amphibious neighbors checking it out! Creating a backyard frog habitat is not just a fun project; it’s also a way to contribute to local wildlife conservation. So grab your gardening gloves, get creative, and make your backyard a hopping haven for our froggy friends!
Want to learn more about Frogs and other amphibians or find other awesome outdoor crafts to make? Check out these and other titles from our catalog!
The Firefly Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians covers every family, ranging from large, predatory constrictors and crocodilians to miniature tree frogs and salamanders. This third edition adds 32 extra pages to incorporate numerous important updates based on the latest scientific findings and interpretations. Big increases in the number of known families and species: 17 new families of amphibians and 18 new families of reptiles; Amphibian species are up from 6,182 to 7,387; Reptile species are up from 8,726 to 10,038. Frogs alone have gone up from 5,453 species to the currently agreed 6,508. Maps for all families of salamanders, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, and crocodilians. More than 320 stunning full-color photographs and illustrations. Information on current conservation and environmental concerns. Extinctions and Declining Amphibian Populations section and map.
-Provided by Publisher
A collection of nature activities, ideas, and information to get the whole family outside and involved with nature.
Collects essays of thirty-seven European scientists on the biology and ecology of the Amphibian species, from tree frogs to sand toads.
“Step-by-step instructions, tips, and full-color photographs will help teens and tweens create outdoor-themed projects.”
Provided by Publisher
Provides step-by-step instructions on making crafts using natural and recycled materials, including plastic bottle bird feeders, CD mobiles, and pressed flower bookmarks.
