If you asked me three years ago what a native plant was, I may have responded with a confused look. If you ask me today, I may not be able to stop talking about natives. I have the Texas Master Naturalists to blame!
When I joined Class 45, I was a true nature novice. I enjoyed spending time outdoors and visiting local state parks, had an emerging interest in birding, and spent several years trying to grow flowers in container pots. I went into the Master Naturalist program with an open mind, ready to be a sponge to soak in all the knowledge I could about topics completely new to me – how the Edwards Aquifer recharges, the difference between salamanders and lizards, the history of early humans in the Edwards Plateau region – to name a few.
I loved it all, but there was one topic that caught my interest and sucked me in completely – native Texas plants and their critical role in supporting our local insects and wildlife. Learning about the importance of our native plants completely changed my mindset about gardening. I realized I should be selecting flowers for my yard not purely based on how they LOOK but based on what they DO. Never before had I thought of flower gardening as a way to help the environment and provide food and habitat for insects and wildlife. It was very empowering to know I could have a positive impact on my local ecosystem, all while doing something I enjoyed.
Once I caught the bug, I took every class I could on native plants, joined the Native Plant Society of San Antonio, read Doug Tallamy’s books, and volunteered regularly at native plant demonstration gardens including the Circle of Springs Garden at the Headwaters Sanctuary and the AAMN Wildscape Demonstration Garden at Phil Hardberger Park.
It was only inevitable that I would start to transform my own yard, eventually converting over 500 square feet to native plant beds and adding over 40 different Texas native perennial and wildflower species to my yard, which was previously dominated by non-native Nandina shrubs and Asiatic Jasmine ground cover.
As I was transforming my yard, I realized that I could play a unique role in helping spread the word to others about native plants. As a professional blogger and online content creator for the past decade, I had experience creating engaging content online. I realized there was a lack of simple-to-understand, quick-to-read information for people just starting to learn about native plants.
I started the website Native Backyards in 2020 to change that. It has articles about how to get started growing natives, how to find plants that are native to your local area, how to maintain a native garden, and more! After working hard over the past two years to create content, the website now gets thousands of visitors from across the United States each week. People are hungry for more information about native plants and how they can incorporate them in their yards. I am excited to be an advocate and resource to help them do just that! To that end, I recently self-published Native Plant Gardening for Beginners – a quick start guide for native plant newbies. It is available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle forms. I’ve heard from many people that it is just the information they needed to get started!
In many ways I feel like I have found my calling in my 40s – combining my unique skill set with something I’m passionate about. It is so fulfilling to hear directly from people I’ve encouraged or helped.
