Writer and gardener Nancy Lawson takes gardening for wildlife to the next level. After first encountering her book via my library system’s digital lending services, I have since fallen for the way Nancy writes about wildlife and their interactions in our garden and in our lives. She frequently touches on points that create those ‘aha’ moments and you wonder why you hadn’t been thinking that way from the start. The episode is packed full of great ideas and ways to re-think your approach to gardening for wildlife.

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A wooden swing used to hang from this trellis. A couple of months ago, I sat on its lichen-covered planks, and it gave way. I’ve replaced it with an old chair that will one day give way too. Knockout roses used to surround the swing, fronted by catmint and mulch all around the border. Over time, the birds, bees, squirrels and other wild gardeners conspired with wind and rain to supplant those original garden center finds with wild senna, violets, pokeweed, broomsedge, black raspberry, wild grapevines, Virginia creeper, boneset, asters, Canadian black snakeroot, false nettle and hickory trees — all of them native plants that feed and shelter wildlife and none of them added by me. ? The trumpet vine I originally planted remains, popping up where it pleases and not flowering a whole lot. But I think one day, when conditions are right, the vine will be resplendent, in its own time and on its own terms. In the meantime, I sit here ensconced in green of all shapes and shades, trying to understand what it might be like to be a plant, looking for the light, waiting for the waterfall, and beckoning the bees. The buds on some of the sennas are nearly bursting, and in a few short days this space will be abuzz from dawn to dusk. ? I’ll never really know what it’s like to be a senna or a violet or the tiny jumping insect crawling on my chest at the moment. But here in this chair, where I am just one life and one species among so many others, I can watch and listen and feel and try to imagine, and in that imagining let new ideas take root for helping all of our wild friends grow and flourish. #plantlove #haveyouthankedaplanttoday

A post shared by Nancy Lawson (@humanegardener) on Jun 30, 2019 at 4:47pm PDT

Music: “New Day” by Lee Rosevere

Show Notes:
Episode 3-5 with Nancy Lawson