There are more than 300 trees and plants, two ponds, some sit-and-rest-a-while benches and more than 30 years' worth of patience and love here. There is a spot where firs climb so far to heaven Madden calls it "The Cathedral." Everywhere are the life-affirming colors of nature--sunshine yellows; berry reds; cool, comforting shades of green.
There are birds and butterflies, raccoons, squirrels and many other little creatures. But the welcome mat was yanked and fence erected against the neighborhood deer. "The deer came in, and you know, you can't have a sign, 'Please don't eat my hostas,"' Madden said.
Except for predatory domestic cats almost all other neighborhood wildlife is more than welcome--the garden was built with them in mind. The plants, trees and ponds therein provide food, water, shelter and places to raise young for dozens of animals.
There are no chemicals. No pesticides. Only organic fertilizers used here.
Madden's garden, already certified as a Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary by the Washington Department of Wildlife, this summer was recognized as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat from the Reston, Va.-based National Wildlife Federation.
There are 30,000 such backyard sites across the United States and Canada and another 1,000 at schools across North America, said Mary Burnette, spokeswoman for the federation. The nonprofit group has about 4 million members.
Certification is not easy to earn. Gardeners must submit lists of the plants they've grown, prove they meet the four criteria for a backyard habitat (food, water, shelter and a place to raise young) and provide a detailed map of the area.
Once the information is submitted, it's reviewed by wildlife experts to make sure it meets the Backyard Wildlife Habitat standards. If it does, a certificate is issued.
Jean Madden's garden, 30 years in the growing, sits on two city lots and holds a variety of plants and trees: barberry, Japanese maple, Japanese holly, dwarf Eastern white pine, alpine weeping hemlock, lingonberry, alpine strawberry, huckleberry, blueberry, ferns, columbine, wild ginger, sweet woodruff, gold-leafed forget-me-nots, Oregon grape, hazelnut, lilac, dogwood and lily of the valley.
Her favorite is a pinkish-purplish flower called Joe Pye Weed. "I like the softer colors," she said.
Madden's garden was rooted in tragedy and the personal loss she felt when her daughter Colleen died at the age of 26 in 1973. "I went out there to find some solace and began slashing at the blackberries," she said. "The garden became my place of healing. I think the earth is a very healing thing. Gardening is a sort of healing therapy."
Through the years, Jean planted and planted and planted some more. She hadn't planned to create a wildlife sanctuary, but the die was cast when her husband, Jim, began coming out, stringing birdfeeders and refilling them with seed every day.
"He loved the birds, and he had a Stellar's jay he named Charlie. When Charlie didn't come around for a couple of days, Jim was always worried about him."
Madden wasn't quite sure what to do when Jim died, at the beginning of 1998. "Jim started it (the habitat) and I really didn't know if I could finish because they were asking for maps and things I couldn't do," Madden said. "Then one day I just decided I would finish it because it was something he started."
She wasn't proud of her hand-drawn map and hand-written lists of flowers and trees, but the wildlife experts didn't mind. The garden qualified easily. The 76-year-old gardener still spends between three and five hours a day there, sometimes getting down on her knees and crawling around her yard "like a child."
Madden carefully takes a visitor through her yard, across sometimes uneven stone paths, past gurgling pools where water burbles over well-placed stones (no fish or frogs, though; the predators would eat them), through fields of vibrant flowers, into The Rustling Garden, the Frog Pond Area, the Shade Garden and Kailee's Kitchen; through the Hide-aways, into the Healing Gardens and back to a weathered porch swing waiting at the house.
Bird feeders hang above heads and at eye level in many spots around the garden. In one spot for reflection, a ceramic plaque proclaims: "One is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth."
The National Wildlife Federation's Burnette thinks people like Jane Madden build gardens not only to be friendly to animals but also to help undo some of the environmental damage humans have created.
"I think people are interested in trying to compensate for some of the habitat loss that they see in their communities," Burnette said. "People probably see this as the first step in a greater environmental awareness. Today they're concerned about the birds in their back yard. Tomorrow they're concerned about the rain forest."
Madden agrees. "As much as making a habitat for animals, I'm very concerned about what's happening to the Earth," she said. "If my garden helps call attention to the Earth, that's good."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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