>>This is black chokeberry and so it has a white flower in the spring.

In the fall, you see we have lots of berries that the birds really like, especially the migrating birds.

And as you can see, the bees are going crazy over them.

There's some mountain mint here.

The pollinators go crazy over that one.

>>I have plenty of that in my garden.

>>Oh yeah, this is a pollinator favorite, and it likes to spread itself about.

>>What are some of these plants right here that are going to seed?

>>Yeah, it looks like some rudbeckias, and I think they've actually planted themselves versus us planted them.

And that happens too in the meadow.

>>So homeowners have to be conscious of the fact that a lot of things that they may initially plant or have been planted, our pollinators are gonna bring in basically and plant some things themselves.

>>Yeah, the seeds come in on birds and stuff, but the same thing can be said for invasive plants, so we have to be conscious of that too.

>>We have some beautiful plants here with the beautiful berries!

>>We have winterberry back there.

If you notice there's three, but only two of them have berries.

Those are the females and the male doesn't have berries.

His job is to pollinate.

>>Beautiful.

They keep their berries all year round?

>>So they do not have berries all year round.

They have kind of an inconspicuous flower in the spring, but in the fall, then they have these beautiful berries and they retain them during the winter time, so that's why they're called winterberry.

And so all of these leaves actually drop down, they're deciduous, and then the berries are left and it's just really gorgeous in the winter.

So kind of imagine this in the winter with snow and nothing but these red berries.

It's a lot of fun.

>>Gorgeous.

>>Yeah, and then we have some goldenrod over here.

>>They seem to really have spread out and taken over!

>>And that's what goldenrod does, so you have to kind of plan for that.

And sometimes you might need to pack up some and give 'em to some friends.

(both laughing) >>That's always good.

>>And so we have milkweed.

The milkweed has already gone to seed, but really important for the monarch butterflies.

There's zizia down there.

That's actually one of my favorite native plants, zizia aurea, because it just can be put in many different places and- >>And I love that we also include some high plants, but some low things that help smother out some of the weeds as well.

>>Yeah, it does help, but definitely weeding is really important in the garden.

Even when you have these really big plants and the smaller plants, it can still be infiltrated by lots of weeds.

>>Wow, look at these!

We have these beautiful asters and they're covered with bees right now.

>>Yeah, they are covered with bees.

This is great for late season pollinators.

>>I saw the witch-hazel over there.

Tell me more about that.

Why did you decide to put that in?

>>So witch-hazels are really great because they can take full sun as well as part sun and they don't get too big, so they're helpful in landscaping because often we're not allowed to put in a big tree.

So when you have an HOA, sometimes your HOA will kind of determine what heights are appropriate and whether or not you can plant a tree.

So that's one you can kind of slide under the radar because it's not gonna get as big.

So we have baptisia over here.

So this is the blue false indigo.

And there's some, like, wild petunia.

There's some columbine that's growing in there, some bee balm, iron weed in the back, penstemon, amsonia.

And this is a Chinese magnolia.

Originally the homeowner wanted to keep this and that's how this whole garden came about, because this one was doing terribly.

So we gave it a community, pruned it up, and now, you know, all the blooms.

This is next year's blooms.

They're popping up and it's doing just fine.

>>As a conservationist, what are you trying to provide for the homeowner, as well as for the wildlife, when you create these habitats?

>>Yeah, so we're really kind of marrying together, y'know, what the homeowners want and need and what the habitat needs.

So we're creating wild spaces in areas that really didn't exist.

If we look around this neighborhood here that we're in, nobody else has a wild garden.

It's mostly Asian plants, European plants, grasses, which are not really providing for habitat.

So the homeowner gets, y'know, the pleasure of kind of coming out and seeing all of these things and watching them in each season as they change and watching the pollinators and the birds interact with it.

And it really brings them a sense of peace and understanding and kind of a feeling of togetherness.

>>[And we're creating this harmonious space, not just for the wildlife, but as well for us to enjoy.

>>Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

>>When they come out here, what various ecosystems would they explore in their garden?

>>Well, that's the thing.

In residential properties, it's more of a microclimate.

You're gonna have some parts of your property that are one way, certain parts of your property that are another way, and so it's really important to learn what's going on around you within the local plant communities.

So in the local plant communities, there's gonna be specific plants that are doing really well in that area and you kind of mimic what you're seeing.

And if you have those conditions, the soils are the same, y'know, the moisture's the same, different things like that, then you can mimic that within your own garden.

>>So the homeowner really has to do some research.

They just can't go to the big box store and just purchase some plants and just plop 'em into the ground.

>>And that's kind of the difference why you don't see a lot of these plants in big box stores.

They don't do well in cultivation sometimes.

And some of them are really soil-specific, pH-specific.

So it really depends on the plant.

So planting for your community is important, so learning about your local soils and what's expected in your local soils and what grows around you is really helpful.

>>So say, for instance, I want to plant some different varieties in my garden.

What would you suggest some of those plants?

Or is it really more important to see what's best for my community and my soil?

>>I think that's more important, and because also you're contributing to the seed bank locally.

So sometimes if you, y'know, have hybrids of something that is more commonly found in your area, then you might be changing that plant by adding that genetics to the area.

>>Okay, so what advice would you give a new homeowner who wants to start transitioning their space and incorporating more native plants?

>>First figure out how much time you have to contribute to this garden, 'cause if you don't have a lot of time, then you want to go for something that's really easy to take care of.

So starting small rather than big is usually better, especially if you haven't had the experience of working with the plants before and you're not sure how much time you will need to kind of devote to it.

>>Start small, perhaps even map it out, think about what we want to actually plant?

>>Yeah, absolutely.

>>Not just rush into it?

>>Yeah, I often say, y'know, your foundation plantings, put those in pen and then pencil in the stuff you want to kind of play with and learn about.

>>Sounds great, Steph.

I know one thing, I'm definitely gonna pay more attention to the native species list, and I suggest that our homeowners do the same thing because often in these box stores, you find tons of native plants, but you also find even more invasive plants, so it's also very important to be mindful of what's out there.

>>Absolutely, all areas typically have a native plant grower that specializes in that local ecotype, so getting to know them and getting their plants is really important.

You're supporting the local community by doing that, but also preserving some of those genetics that are from this area, rather than mixing them from areas that are all over.

Those plants may not be adapted to this area.

>>Steph, thank you for sharing this beautiful oasis that you guys created.

It has been a pleasure learning about the native plants with you.

>>Thank you.

I really appreciate you learning with me.

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