This is a series of stories, my own journal, of buying the lot next door… and turning it into a (mostly) native garden.
My goal is to promote Doug Tallamy’s concept of a “Homegrown National Park“. And to document the journey from beautiful family home to derelict to vacant to garden in hopes that others may also adopt vacant space and make a garden that is not only pleasant to humans, but that also grows plants that feed the caterpillars that nourish baby birds, provide food and shelter to the butterflies, bees, snakes, opossums and maybe even a woodchuck.
I learned about the importance of caterpillars at a conference that I attended with my sisters and mom. Caterpillars are much more nutritious than worms and are essential for birds to raise their broods successfully. Areas that are planted with non-native trees, shrubs and flowers may look pretty, but they are a food desert for our native birds. You can read about that in one of Tallamy’s books, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard or Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens.
Please stop by again to see how the lot – as well as this website – changes over time. My intent is to grow this storybook both forwards as I add new plants and hardscape and the garden evolves — and also backwards to document the lovely – and beloved – home that was here before, to the extent that I can.
~ Carol