Ecological Gardening Consulting & Coaching
Working with you
We are plant ethusiasts, we are practitioners, we are educators. We will work with you to help increase your awareness and knowledge of native plants and their ecologies. We have been working with and learning from native plants for well over twenty years and would love to share their wonders and splendor with you.
Do you want to adopt some native plants into your garden? Create a meadow or a hedgerow? Would you like to create an outdoor living space that is both beautiful and functional, where you can build homes for other beings, provide food and other useful attributes for you and your family, and is attractive and captivating throughout the year? Is there a community ecological restoration project that could benefit from local, ecotypic seeds and expertise?
Connect with us and we will work with you to co-create or restore rewilded spaces on your property!
To Ponder
Reintroducing layers to residential landscapes is the best strategy for restoring biological function on a vast scale, contributing to habitat and to a wide range of ecosystem services that are broadly beneficial, including replenishment of atmospheric oxygen, carbon sequestration, groundwater recharge and filtration, soil conservation, and moderation of weather extremes.
– Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy, The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden (2014)
How to begin thinking about rewilding
Develop an idea
- What would you like to see there? In one year, in five years?
- What kinds of critters and crawlies do you want to attract and support with the space?
- How do you want to be in, and use, the space?
Create a basic plan
- Sketch out the area on paper. Then, likely, resketch. Tinker with it and play!
- See the space from various perspectives and angles: out looking in, and in looking out.
- Consider three main components in the plan: (a) topography and movement; (b) living beings; and, (c) non-living features.
Consider space development
- Learn about and within the space and what will work well for you, and for all beings who will use it. Ecologically functional spaces develop over time; rewilding is a continuum.
- Work with nature and be adaptive and open. Allow your idea to evolve.
Additional things to ponder
- Site preparation usually takes more time than you think and is largely about creating good conditions for plants, and other beings, to thrive from the get-go.
- Sites usually become more ecologically functional sooner if you can plant multiple age classes (seeds, seedlings, potted plants) and growth forms (annuals, perennials, shrubs).
- Plants are resilient, they are hardy, they are forgiving, they are kin.
- Enjoy the process…
Help me Rewild my Garden
