Cary Garden for Wildlife Program

Grow a pollinator paradise in your yard!

Gardening for wildlife isn't just about beautifying landscapes; simple steps can help support critical pollinators like birds, bees, and butterflies. Cary is proud to offer a variety of tools and resources to help you reach your gardening-for-wildlife goals!

Whether you have a small terrace or a large lawn, the Cary Garden for Wildlife program is designed to inspire and empower our community to grow green. Hosted in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, your participation helps Cary maintain our community-wide designation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

Get Involved

Simple steps can create a powerful impact!

Homeowners, businesses, and other groups can register their outdoor spaces as a certified habitat!
Add native plants to your landscapes.
Remove and avoid top threat invasive plants.
Visit our Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve to tour a certified wildlife habitat in action.
Join us for a class to learn from one of our environmental experts.
Explore our Land Development Ordinance regarding overgrown vegetation exceptions.

Additional Resources

Parks for Pollinators Programming

Lights Out Program

Cary is teaming up with the Audubon Society to help prevent bird-window collisions through the Lights Out Program. Known as "bird strikes," these events are a leading cause of bird deaths and occur when birds become confused by artificial lights at night and fly into windows.

Migrating birds are particularly at-risk for this hazard due to exhaustion and their preference for flying at night, when the risk for predators is lower but the risk for window collisions can be higher.

Spring migration season: March 15 – May 31

Fall migration season: September 10 – November 30

The good news is there are things we can do to help them on their journey. Join us in taking the following actions at night during the peak fall migratory seasons:

Turn off unnecessary indoor and outdoor lights.
Keep blinds and curtains closed at night.
Remove plants from windowsills.

Thank you for helping us keep migrating birds safe, as they play an important role in our community’s ecosystem and bring joy to our world!

Program History

Town Council at its January 28, 2015 meeting, unanimously approved a new and exciting program called the Cary Garden for Wildlife Program in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation's Community Wildlife Habitat Program.

To achieve our initial designation as a Community Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation, a minimum of 300 homes, five schools, and three common areas (like churches) in Cary were certified as wildlife habitats in the summer of 2017.

Cary’s participation in this program will link the citizens with our Town’s long-standing conservation programs as well as regional resources and will provide recognition to individuals as well as the Town for its conservation efforts.

Find out more at NWF's Website or by reviewing our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

2019 Was The Year of The Monarch Butterfly

The Town of Cary proclaimed 2019 as the Year of the Monarch Butterfly. Through community action, education, and outreach, we took the National Wildlife Federation's Mayors' Monarch Pledge, a commitment to increase native habitat and promote pollinator conservation in the Town of Cary. Learn more about how the Mayors' Monarch Pledge is supporting pollinator conservation and education in Cary.