Gardeners mostly didn’t focus on our native plants as such in 1988 when Steve Castorani and Dale Hendricks founded North Creek Nurseries to propagate them in bulk for distribution to retail nurseries. Learn how North Creek’s innovations in the years since have continued to shape and expand the native plants movement.

Creating a native lawn, Dave Kaplow says, may require no more than a change in maintenance regimes.  And, the ecological restoration pioneer adds, it provides a biodiverse and sustainable turf that is friendly not only to people but also wildlife

Brother James Lockman of the Franciscan Order, whose personal ministry is ecological restoration, discusses the nature-embracing spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of his order, and how it has inspired the ecological activism of the current Pope

When Carol Bouska and her siblings inherited the family farm in Iowa, they seized the opportunity to commit to restoring the soil, enhancing wildlife habitat, and bolstering the community in which they had grown up ­– and used this process to reinforce family ties

Join pioneering nurseryman and ecologist Neil Diboll for the second half of our conversation about how gardeners can familiarize themselves with the natural characteristics of the soil on their site and use that knowledge in selecting a community of adapted, self-sufficient native plants for their gardens.

Traditional gardening emends the soil to suit the needs of the selected plants; pioneering nurseryman and ecologist Neil Diboll takes the character of the soil on site as the foundation of garden design and key to the selection of an adapted, ecologically functional, and self-sufficient plant palette

Internationally acclaimed landscape designer Edwina von Gal’s Perfect Earth Project uses imaginative strategies to connect landowners big and small with nature-based, chemical-free  and biodiversity friendly management practices

Garden activist and educator Cathy Ludden describes her encounters with hydrangeas and how transforming the flower heads to suit human aesthetics has proved both harmful and beneficial to pollinators

Richard Hayden, Senior Director of Horticulture at New York’s magical garden, the High Line, describes how it integrates  North American native plants with carefully chosen exotic species to create a whole that delights human visitors while also supporting wildlife and providing a powerful reconnection with nature

Many homeowners who admire the beauty and environmental benefits of native plants don’t care for the wilderness look of the typical naturalized native plant garden.  Garden designer Britney O’Donnell shares tricks for designing and maintaining a more domesticated native plant landscape, one that fits better a neater suburban context