As wood frogs kick off the season with a cluck and a bang, it’s time to forget “maintenance” and learn what amphibians really need (and don’t need) to thrive and successfully reproduce in wildlife ponds.

Plants, leaves, and dead wood provide important habitat structure. Here, a female wood frog has attached her egg masses to the center of a water lily.

The frogsicles thawed out for the first time on February 17, announcing their triumphant return to the above-ground world at 4 a.m. Their ...