A gardener in the southern U.K. planting bonsai mint encountered a friendly visitor and shared a clip of them with the r/gardening Reddit community.
The original poster mentioned in a comment that their neighbors breed pheasants and that visitors sometimes drift over.
Pheasant populations are healthy in Britain. Many are bred for hunting, a practice that some argue has been a threat to native adder populations. One Redditor also warned that pheasants are likely to have a taste of any tomato plants that happen to be in the garden.
The right birds can be helpful to gardeners. Guinea fowl have an appetite for destructive insects, for example. Penn State has some great suggestions for growing plants that can attract wild birds, which can keep pest populations low. Ensuring birds have proper nesting habitat has also been shown to dramatically decrease nearby pest populations.
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Growing a healthy garden with native plants provides loads of benefits, besides simply looking nice. A good range of plants can provide home and food for pollinators, which are under consistent threat despite being a vital part of our food systems.
Compared to grass lawns or exotic plants (like the bonsai mint that the OP showed off), native gardens also require less watering and maintenance. They've evolved to naturally thrive in your climate. That's bound to at least save a few bucks on the water bill and reduce the amount of yard work needed.
A healthy wild yard with deep, diverse root systems will also protect against soil erosion and flooding. That is ultimately good news for the physical stability of your home.
Regardless of the state of the OP's garden, Reddit community members were charmed by the gardener's visiting fowl.
"What a dapper gentleman!" one commenter said.
"Your friend is beautiful!" another wrote.
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