Natural neighborhoods: re-knitting the fabric of life

What's interesting me now, especially, as I've transitioned to volunteer outreach, is how those of us who are keen and passionate about gardening for nature (especially with native plants in mind) can help reach more folks.

And even more importantly, how do we create neighborhoods that help sustain life, both ours and the birds, bees, toads, butterflies, squirrels, insects, etc. that support the ecological underpinnings of life on our planet.

a pollinator-friendly pocket meadow

I've seen lots of people gravitate to wildlife-friendly gardening from more "traditional" gardening practices (and from plants that don't work for a living in our environment to ones that do), as they realize that they don't have the biological diversity of birds, insects, and other wildlife in sterile, ornamental landscapes filled with lawns, specimen trees and ornamental shrubs.  But there's a lot to do in our urban and suburban landscapes...

How do we encourage more folks to become part of the process of re-knitting our urban and suburban landscapes with strong threads of native plants, pollinator and wildlife-friendly corridors made up of our personal home gardens?  How do we encourage similar plantings in public and commercial landscapes?

I'm not really sure.

I've been involved with teaching about these things for my entire career, and I'm still not always sure about what works the best, aside from inspiring through story and example, encouragement, and sharing ideas and suggestions. 

My basic level ideas simply start by encouraging folks to grow things, preferably native or edible, and learn more about them.

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Landscaping with Native Plants

It's been a lovely couple of days at the Landscaping with Native Plants Conference in Cullowhee, NC.  Now in its 32nd year, the conference brings together native plant enthusiasts of all sorts, from horticulturists to academics, homeowners to designers, wonderful native plant vendors, and everyone in between.

I've been coming sporadically since the mid 80's, but have been here the last three years, as I've had more time in the summer (and my gardening companion has, too). And we've both been involved with programs, as well.

It's a great conference, and it's been wonderful to see how it's still flourishing, continuing to bring in new people interested in native plants in all of their guises (field trips to wonderful natural areas nearby is a core part of the Cullowhee experience).

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