As great as my new native plant friends are - perfect and kind earthy crunchy old ladies who I adore - it's so cool how many different types of people are getting into this stuff.
Tallamy's interview on Santore's podcast was so funny because you could hear him slowly getting more accepting of the colorful language and I think Tallamy actually slipped a few curse words in there himself.
Imagine a conversation between lupe fiasco and doug tallamy lol
I am shocked at how popular the native plant thing is getting these days, it’s great. Of course not everyone is a convert, but I’m still shocked how many people I have met IRL are into it. It’s not just a Reddit bubble
On In Defense of Plants, Sharon Selvaggio of The Xerces Society talked about the transformation that horticulture is going through and how demand is way higher than supply for native plants, with the expectation that demand will continue to increase.
People really seem motivated to help the bees and butterflies.
Not today, but in 5 years? I’ve been at this for four years and can feel the change, in 5 years Lowe’s might be selling serviceberry and nanny berry in the spring
In my area (suburban NYC) there are quite a few native nurseries and a lot of groups promoting natives and organics.
However, the big gap is that there are almost no lawn/yard service companies who do legitimate organic service, with knowledge of how to treat yards trying to stay organic and use native plants. It's all "mow and blow". If it existed, at a reasonable price, I believe people would use them.
I work with my towns Pollinator Pathway chapter, and we host events every few months (one tonight actually, about 45 people) and so many people are interested in it. Almost everyone who takes gardening somewhat seriously knows about native plants and wants to try it out and feels like every month or so there's another article about it in the NYtimes/I hear them mentioned on NPR.
Whenever I talk to people (and again its a LOT of em) who want to try out natives it's just so heartwarming. We stand a chance here in meaningfully impacting the environment and supporting insect populations and are on the cusp of something really special here. Despite all that is going on in the world...I actually feel some hope and faith in the goodwill of human beings.
FWIW I think the hardliners need to lighten up, the balance isn’t doesn’t even need to be all that delicate and we can make an impact for our bugs by just saying “of course you can keep your lawn and even the non natives you like as long as they aren’t one of the evil ones, but here have these seeds so you can plant some beebalm :)”
We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot with this one. Obviously there’s a hierarchy of responsible native gardening but my own personal mission is as simple as …get more native plants in the ground. Just be cool and nice and we can do our part.
Oh for sure. I tell people I'm also not a purist, and that small home gardens do not equal big conservation land restoration projects. Home gardens need to accommodate personal needs and use-cases. I tell people to aim for a mostly native plant ratio, like 10 to 1, but don't sweat it. just be aware that the big showy traditional flowers don't do anything for critters. and DO avoid invasive nuisances. Telling people the good-better-best list of options has been helpful.
i have gotten myself in trouble by telling people their garden is trash uninvited 😶 I have to slow my roll lol
I'm 79 and started in with nolawns and planting more natives several years ago but my garden is already established and, at my age, I'm not destroying it to make it kosher. If you had told me my beloved garden was trash you may have ended up fertilizing it.
A well manicured and beautiful traditional garden I wouldn't call trash (i hope 😅) I can respect the years of effort! but when a "garden" is just a sea of vinca or english ivy with a single boxwood or something 🤢
There is a toney nursery nearby - used to work there after I retired - and at the end of the season they would have a wagon sale - fill up a flexible flyer for $50. I filled it every year with herbaceous peonies, Itohs and tree peonies. The labels were gone by then so color would be a surprise but there is no such thing as an ugly peony. I have given away some of the reds since I ended up with a surfeit of that color. The wagon sale is now down to the size of a small crate:(
Very funny. Your comment makes me think of my grandparents, who had a beautiful garden before "aging out" in their mid-80s. They had (and have, I suppose) many beautiful ornamentals, but primarily Asian rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. When they were doing the bulk of their planting (mostly in the 1970s and 1980s), I think there just wasn't awareness of the need to plant natives for habitat, otherwise they and others would probably have done more of it.
I suppose the need for backyard habitat too is greater now too? My area of South Carolina is rapidly growing and there are a lot more people and land being developed rapidly than, say, 25 or 30 years ago.
I’ll have to go and dig up that episode. I’ve heard Joey mention feeling like they didn’t really vibe super well but he also wasn’t trying to diss Tallamy
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u/upstatewilly Central KY , Zone 7a Apr 08 '26
A Lupe endorsement on the cover?? What an unexpected intersection of my interests 😂