Thanks to very wet weather, I haven’t been out in the garden much, but I’ve been reading, listening to podcasts, and watching videos to keep learning about native plants and animals.
Margaret Roach is a garden writer and podcast host whose garden vision, like my own, is transitioning over time to prioritize native plants, insects, and animals. Her A Way to Garden website is full of articles and podcasts that relate to native gardening.
This article is relevant now for planting native plant seeds. I have a batch of native seeds, including some that my brother shared with me and some that I plucked around the Tonasket cabin and some that I purchased from Etsy. I plan to sow them all tomorrow.
Joe Lamp’l from “Growing a Greener World” on PBS hosts a podcast called Joe Gardener. The podcast’s main focus is on food gardens. Joe has been great about having Doug Tallamy and other guests talk about more ecological-friendly gardening. Here is the most recent example about a botanical garden trying to balance traditional public garden expectations with providing healthy spaces for native flora and fauna.
This article/podcast is the latest one with Doug Tallamy about his book, the Nature of Oaks. But they talk about so much more and really go back to the basics of why planting native is so critical.
For reading, my sister bought me a wonderful book called Nature Oscura by Kelly Brenner. This book discusses fascinating plants and animals, provides insight into their life cycles, written in a clean, positive manner that makes for quick reading. The reverence the author shows for nature is contagious.
The last link I’ll provide is for Homegrown National Park, the new nonprofit dedicated to converting residential and commercial plantings to native plants across the US and beyond. The movement is growing, with over 10,000 people dedicating a portion of their yards to native plants. HNP is doing fundraising now, as well. Their website has some great information, including this excellent article by Dr. Doug Tallamy himself, the founder of this movement.
I was surprised to find some moths on the side of the house in late October. It seemed too cold and wet for them, but I’m realizing more and more that they aren’t as delicate as we might think.
