Lay out the welcome mat for birds, butterflies, lizards and frogs. You might even tempt in a possum or three.

Wildlife-friendly design
Make your garden more like a clearing in a forest. Surround an open grassy area with dense multi-layered plantings. Include a mulch layer, groundcovers and tussocky grasses, bushy shrubs and trees. The more layers you have, the more creatures will come. Make sure you include some of the following: banksia, eucalypts (dwarf varieties are best for home gardens), wattles and grevilleas.

If you're starting your garden from scratch, plant all the layers at once, and space plants 1-2m apart. If you have an established garden, add to the soil level (away from stems and trunks) and plant extra layers, including an understorey and canopy.

Food and water
Just five foods - leaves, nectar, seeds, fruit and insects - satisfy almost every native bird and animal. Don't be tempted to put out honey and water or other foods, as this can lead to diseases and nutrient deficiencies. Provide as much water as you can buy having birdbaths and bowls of different depths set at different levels around the garden. Ponds also supply drinking water. Scrub water bowls regularly and organise someone to top up water whenever you're away.

Providing shelter
All wild creatures need shelter - somewhere to sleep away from predators, the sun, wind and rain. The best shelters include prickly shrubs, dense climbers, hollow trees and logs, piles of rock, and plants which are bushy to ground level. Nest boxes made of untreated timber and attached to trees are also appealing to birds and small animals. A wide metal band around the tree base deters climbing predators.

Simply irresistible lures for...

Butterflies: Mass butterfly favourites such as buddleia, lilac, cosmos, thyme, achillea and zinnia in a sunny, wind-protected spot. Butterfly larvae like to eat parsley, milkweed, crepe myrtle and citrus leaves.

Lizards: Provide deep leaf litter, dense prickly bushes, low spreading plants and grassy tussocks, then watch the lizards come. Flat rocks in sunny spots are sunbaking heaven! Make your lizards a bolt hole by laying out a piece of terracotta pipe in a shrubbery or secluded spot and covering one end with soil. Avoid using snail pellets or pesticides, as the lizards will eat the poisoned snails and insects and die.

Birds: Plant natives, including bushy shrubs with spiky or thorny leaves, and provide water for the birds to drink and bathe in. Don't use pesticides as the birds will eat the poisoned insects.

Possums: Provide dense bushes, hollow logs, nest boxes (7cm opening for ringtail possums and 12cm opening for brush-tailed possums). Their favourite food is fruit, insects, nectar and new shoots. Don't feed them bread and jam! Forget using pesticides as you may poison your possums.

Frogs: Attract frogs by building a pond or semi-permanent pool planted with native aquatic plants and grasses. Moist, mossy areas are frog havens.