Top Ten Things New Native Gardeners Need to Know 

I’m in the northeast and I thank you, sincerely, for this video. I’ve been afraid to do the right thing and get rid of my lawn in the suburbs and I expect some backlash from neighbors but this is my home and it should bring ME joy and not them. Recently, a couple moved in near me and immediately plopped a “Bird and Bee Sanctuary” sign on their front lawn and then installed a solar roof. I am now encouraged and inspired. I’ve decided to go for it in my front, back, and side yards. 🙌🏽

I just began native gardening a year ago. I’m constantly researching and it has brought me so much enjoyment

Wonderful. I took notes all through your talk/video. I actually live in Ontario, Canada, am into my 70s, have been gardening for 50 of those years. I learned a lot before, worked in 2 different nurseries over the years, one of which was almost totally organic. I've gardened for birds and butterflies and bees for decades. But there's always more to learn. They (the ubiquitous "they') know so much more now about soil and all the microbes and how much it's all interdependent on each other. I can't crawl around my gardens on my hands and knees anymore, or lug a 20 pound giant hosta out of the ground, and i have an infestation of goutweed (aegopodium, ie weed from hell) and I cannot get it out. I won't use any poisons. So, I want native plants that can shade it out, out-compete it. All this to say, I still learned a lot from your video. Thank you so much for sharing. I really enjoyed it.

Great video, learnt a lot as a rookie native plant gardener. Thank you

i think people tend to forget that indigenous people would do prescribed burns and that bison would graze on the prairie. so editing is that applied to the small (lawn-sized) scale

Thanks for the free education

EXCELLENT VIDEO and I just started it! I am driving 3 hours today to pick up 18 little native forbs that I can squeeze in yet this year (hopefully) and needed a bit of encouragement for that drive. So I came to youtube and searched and very happily found you. You are very nicely rounding up all the important reasons in your #1 and I am jazzed to got fetch my new adoptees. I've only last year moved to the midwest (17 acres!!!!) from L.A. where I have been entrenched in natives only since 2015. I planted hundreds of natives at my home in CA and knew them all by their (latin) names and tended them through 5-6 years. I knew Manzanitas, buckwheats, salvias (glad we have that here also), Ceanothus (lilacs - we have those too in IN I believe), Fuschias, and much more (Oaks! thankfully ubiquitous.) Now I am new to all these plants (wow, rain garden!!! Coming from L.A., where it is not supposed to rain at all but 3 months of the year) and have 17 acres to manage! But with books, RU-vid lectures, the County Water Conservation District, SICIM, neighbors, and the far away or few between native plants sales, I am learning...and learning...and learning.. thank you, can't wait to see the rest of the talk!!! AFTER I got fetch those mystery forbs - I ordered a "shade wet mesic" mix....don't know what any of them are and this using of common names is off-putting to me. I want to know specifically what I have. But it gets dicey when I talk to my neighbor about my newly-planted Andropogon gerardii and can't remember the common name..it's like having to learn not one but two new names for each plant....that part I am having trouble with. : | Damn these invasives! And YES, the 30 and 40-ft NORWAY MAPLE AND CALLERY PEAR TREES ARE BEING KILLED HERE (got rid of the easy ones right away. also those damn burning bushes)..one way or another. Sometimes I fell them and use for mulch; sometimes hack & squirt and leave the dead tree; sometimes I cut itt off at 4 feet and place a birdbox; sometimes when I fell them I leave them to rot. Sometimes before leaving to rot I cut the trunks into small logs. Leaving them DEAD is helpful to animals - including bugs and all life. Thanks again for the video!

I have turned my front yard into a pollinator haven.I have made it intentional. I used white ,purple,pink with one pop of yellow.I get compliments everyday and the birds and insects are all so happy.

Thank you for sharing your talk! I'm in Southeast Iowa where we are in dire need of permanent habitat. I love spreading the message of Bringing Nature Home. One can never stop learning and growing with native plants!

I’m a newbie and I appreciate this video! Looking forward to gardening 👩🏻‍🌾

I have newly-acquired wild property in SC. I'm trying to clean it up but gently. This is good info for doing what I'm already on track for . So far, one of my most important tasks is to provide water for the honey bees that nest in an old abandoned house on the property and for the birds. The deer enjoy the water also. I completely stumbled onto how native plants are better for the native bugs and birds and other flying critters. Thank you for sharing this information! I also took note of books that might be useful.

very insightful. thank you for the video. i just moved into an old house that has the steep little hill that goes up from the street, then levels out in the front yard. i am not mowing that thing so i terraced it with pavers in half moons that spill into each other (like a scalloped siding pattern) and planted mostly natives with a frog fruit ground cover. it looks pretty good right now after a brutal Texas summer. i can see that "editing" will be the key to keeping it looking good. Right now i have to trim the frog fruit and keep it off the pavers to keep it looking right.

What an education! Thank you!

Goldenrod is a very good medicinal plant!.. keep it growing in a manageable place.

Great video on native groupings for landscapes.. thank you❤

Thank you for your informative video. I’m moving from a townhouse in Central Florida to a house on 1.17 acres in SC. I am fortunate that my property was grandfathered in for natural gardening. I am doing what I can to research native gardening.

Thank you very much for this awesome presentation. I am gradually restoring ecology at home, at my school and at my mom’s. I gained important information from you while enjoying your delivery.

These were wonderful tips, thank you so much! This helped me plan and plant my very first native garden this past weekend❤

Thank you so much for the information and resources, Ken!

This was great. Stumbled into native gardening a year or two ago. So I have never hear of some the suggestions (eg, “air root pruning containers”). Maybe that’s why I enjoyed his repeated suggestions to relax about it and let nature do more of the work.

Invaluable information. Thank you for a fantastic presentation. 🎉❤

Thank you for this wonderful video with really helpful advice!

I have only had a small yard space living in Chicago and used just a portion for native plants, some for veggies and fruits and some grass for the kids to play. I’ve ALWAYS ended up with extra plants and as my family, extended family, friends and neighbors can attest, it gets shared! One of the many things I love about native gardening. I’ve even started sharing through FB gardening pages. Few things feel as good as sharing and swapping natives!!!

I really enjoyed this and shared with many people. Thank you for putting this together, very lovely! Just warms my heart. Super informational as well

Wow , how interesting by watching this wonderful video , love it ❤

Amazing! Great educational video!

This is a great video. I plan on doing an non editing re-prairie in my back yard. I wish I could burn it like Gerould Wilhelm does.

I appreciate the expert information and advice. Cats like platforms, and I don't approve of shooing them off. 😂

What you call "fancy names", are the names by which people who do not know *local plant names* are able to know without a doubt if they are buying the right one. As those *local names* can differ widely from place to place, let alone from country to country, Where I live (the Netherlands) I know of at least 5 plants that are in different places known as "Kattenstaart" ("Cat's tail"). They are all totally different plants for totally different uses, so you only know for sure which one you want or have if you know the *official (mostly Latin) name.* In other words: the "fancy names". :)

That was very interesting. Thanks for sharing🌱🌸👍

Thx for the information 😊

8:00 Wait... wait.... trees store Carbon in their massive root systems, they also release root exudates which is carbon into the soil also. Tree's aren't just carbon monoliths above ground. 😂

Could you please post more like this. It would be helpful if you posted some vlogs of going into over-full native gardens and pulling stuff out, and showing the 'after'. It might help train people (specifically me!) I think this is a big problem in native gardens and something even 'experts' are confused about. I expressed concerns to a Backyard Habitat auditor about falling into the pit of messy, chaotic native landscaping and was brushed off that 'it all just needs to go wild'. Get crazy. Let it run rampant, get over-full. I want to go native, but the program needs to understand that people also would not want to lower their property value. Curb appeal is one of the few actual value-added efforts a homeowner can make before adding interior square footage/bathrooms/whatever special new room is trendy. I see picture after picture of native gardens that are overwhelming messes. I think the native world needs WAY more content on making a pleasing, harmonious, layered, even "country garden" yet very native look. People let their natives grow over and it scares people away from the ecological benefits. I'm trying to be very intentional about creating clumps of species. I'm focusing more on low ground covers clumped in groups with taller stuff at the back, medium stuff between. I imagine I'll have to pull out quite a lot over the years. I'm a little concerned the one milkweed I got will take over the yard. Please post content to help people who don't know what they're doing with the mess! It's needed.

The first flower looks like trees from the Lorax.

What is the name of the plant with red flowers at 1:02:35..? I so enjoyed your presentation. This will be a great resource that I will be using as my property evolves to becoming a native habitat. Thank you for sharing.

I usually leave wood sorrel alone. I pick it and use the leaves in salad to add a lemon flavor. Taste these heart shaped leaves - pure lemon! Not the stems.

MOWING SHOULD BE A CHOICE!!NOT MANDATORY!!IN CANADA YOU HAVE TO MOWING GRAS ON YOUR LAWNS!! PLS WRITE TO GOVERNMENT!!STOP MOWING!!LET WILDLIFE LIVE

Great video! Love the info on editing. Regarding cutback, is that done in the fall or spring?

Has anyone had issues with HOA with removing their lawn and installing a garden to help the pollinators?

Hi Ken, just to clarify, was your point about Canada Golden Rod is that it's good like other golden rods, but that it can take over your native plant garden very easily, so get rid of it?

Do you have a video about editing your garden? How to sort through the abundance, how to select plants to remove, etc. I don’t need it yet, as I’m just getting started, but I know I’ll need to know this in a couple of years.

Ken, somehow creeping bellflower has popped up in my native garden space in my small Chicago backyard. This plants isn't anywhere else that I can see - but I do take care of my parents property (2 miles away) and they have creeping bellflower - on purpose. I have lots of natives already growing here. How do I get rid of the bellflower without disturbing the other natives?

How many of these flowers are for zone 9 ? I enjoy listening and watching but it doesn't apply to people in the warmer and humid states .

at 22:46 you mention your favorite plant, what is the name? legg plant?

Gulf Fritillaries caterpillars live on Passion Flowers (Maypops are Passion flowers)

Ken, this is wonderful...were you featured in the Cornell Gardening for Birds Course? You look so familiar!

28:33. Oops!!!

Always try to create a sense of place instead of just a lot of plants. Sculpt the land. Our work demonstrates this .

Do you know of anything similar to the WPPC for Kendall county? Im new and have been looking for a way to get started. Read a lot but have no idea how to do it. Would love some guidance

What zone is this man in?

Why don’t nurseries label plants as native or non native. Why are natives so hard to come by? I bought 2 semp ash spirea think g it was native. Now I have to take them out and buy something else

My goldenrod told me not to listen to this guy

Canadian goldenrod is my favorite! Its not for lazy gardener's!!!

Some very great points made. However, perhaps the comment of spraying chemicals for large grass kill projects should be reconsidered.

I thought that was Roy!!!!!

You should really credit Doug Tallamy's work more. This was basically a repetition of his talk, but he's only mentioned on passing.

I would make sure that the arborists were not cutting any pest infested trees. View any incoming material with extreme suspicion...because other than roadside drift, poor plant choices because they were not carefully researched, and animals, this is how you get garden pests and invasives.

Thank you. It is my dream to start a native garden. This is very helpful.

Ugh the first plant! Pink smoke

Thanks for another great garden video, my dear friend

Good knowledge for newbes