My wife’s and my little front yard (“ECollegee Cottage”) just turned three as a native plant garden. It’s been quite a process, but a (mostly) joyous one. Especially now that the plants have gone from sleep to creep to leap!
Native or indigenous plants provide what local birds and insects need to survive, because they co-evolved reciprocally together. Our pollinators are in trouble these days—and that means so are we. Restoring pollinator habitat in our little corner of Heritage Hill/Grand Rapids/the universe seems small, but lots of small lots—even a dedicated little section of a lot—can truly add up and create a critical habitat chain. (See homegrownnationalpark.org for more on this.)
Supporting the web of life is a big motivator for me. But I’ve found many other benefits of habitat landscaping with native perennials. It has helped me learn plants better; it has freed me from a lawn mower and its sound and pollution and time; it has soaked up water that would otherwise dive toward the drains or foundation; it has helped reduce heat; and it has attracted birds.
We started in June 2022 with plans from Native Edge LLC. After killing grass, mulching, and planting perennials, the process has involved a lot of learning: which plants liked their habitat and which didn’t, how much water to use to establish these young plants over uneven rainfall years, what to weed versus let go, and lastly, how to integrate the front yard into the rest of the site and its water and human system. We didn’t do it all at once, and we have a ways to go. We are in phase 2 of 3 and have hopes for the backyard, which is part of the tour. It is a work-in-progress and I hope it can serve as an example of how even a small space, with a little effort and patience with the learning process, can contribute to the web of life in a small way.
