Our own garden has changed enormously over the past few years and continues to evolve. Perennial plants that we love have natural lifespans and, when complete, not only allow space for new plants to take their place, but feed the soil for those new plants. This mutuality is the soul of any landscape. A good garden is attractive and feeds local insects and birds with abundance. A great one changes with time, welcomes a diverse group of plant and animal species, and becomes a beautiful place for both you and these species to cooperate in building a garden brimming with life.
Every garden is an opportunity. Our bias is to use that opportunity to plant native North American plants wherever possible because they are the most likely to have a positive impact on your local ecology, but there is no need to be a purist here. There are many beloved non-native plants that still provide nectar and pollen to native insects and there are cases where native insects adapt to use non-native plants as larval host plants as the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly has done with English Plantain and Black Swallowtail butterflies have with fennel and dill.
Whatever your garden context, we want to help you transform it, even if that transformation is small and subtle. And while planting a plant or two or scattering seeds on soil are seemingly minor acts from our everyday human perspective, those actions can - and often do - ripple outward in time and space, spreading wonderful plants and helping insect and bird species in the process. In a world often beset with scarcity mindsets, building a great garden is an extremely satisfying rejoinder, with abundance and reciprocity - the ultimate win-win.