This is a neat theme and one I am fully in to. When we bought this house 10 years ago, it had so many mature trees and a ravine with a small creek in the way back. I learned that I could register it as a Certified Wildlife Habitat, which I’ve done. We have a beautiful little sign that marks it.
We live in a semi rural neighborhood, so it looks like any suburban neighborhood from the front, but the backyard is very full of animal life. We see deer, raccoons, possums, skunks, groundhogs, foxes, and bunnies on a pretty regular basis, all from the family room and sunroom that face the wooded backyard. What a treat!
So the natural habitat is the type of gardening I do the most of. I love native wildflowers, and there’s a lot to learn about those. Some of them are very very pretty.
We have all the ‘natives’ for our area - already here! Of course we’ve ‘upped our game’ on the Milkweed for Monarchs and such. I think I’m going to ‘sacrifice’ a second of my raised beds for a ‘Pollinator Patch’ of perennials and annuals.
Here are a few links to ‘Native Plant Finders’ which will show you what to plant for your growing zone:
https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder
https://www.audubon.org/native-plants
Note: Some ‘natives’ can be aggressive and take over such as Monarda (Bee Balm) and anything even remotely ‘mint’ family-related, (Catmint/Nepita) so choose carefully! Everyday Daisies will happily take over the countryside if allowed. ;)