by Sue Leahy, Board Member at Large and Outreach Committee Chair
Check it out! Wild Ones National Office has released an exciting website and publication entitled Creating Your Own Native Garden Design. The new Native Garden Designs website showcases native garden designs from different eco-regions of the country. Designs are downloadable and printable PDFs, and each includes a detailed design, information about site conditions and plant communities, the planting phases, and a plant list.
Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter is proud to announce that the St. Louis region design is by our own professional member Susie Van de Riet, founder of St. Louis Native Plants LLC, whose services include consulting, coaching, design and education. She is an IDS certified arborist and an NAI Certified Interpretive Guide. Susie has worked as a horticulturist for Forest Park and served as a Grow Native! Education Subcommittee Chair. She has been landscaping with native plants since 2009 and has had her past and present yards Platinum Certified by St. Louis Audubon’s Bring Conservation Home program. Susie calls herself a “garden ecologist” which essentially means she combines traditional horticulture aesthetics with plants and landscaping practices that work with and support our local ecosystems.
Hear Susie’s interview on KWMU here
Wild Ones Executive Director Jen Ainsworth explained, “We hope these resources inspire, encourage and motivate individuals throughout the United States in their native garden journeys. Native gardening not only provides beauty and respite in our personal spaces but is a critical part of restoring natural landscapes and wildlife habitats.” Wild Ones Honorary Director Doug Tallamy, author of Nature’s Best Hope, says that native plant gardens in our own backyards are our best hope for saving our environment.
Our chapter has copies of the printed publication, which does not contain the designs but has general information on creating native gardens, geared toward new native gardeners. We will make these available at our April garden gathering and plant sale. If you would like copies before that to distribute to friends and neighbors, please contact Sue Leahy, Outreach Coordinator, via the Contact Us page.
The steps of the printed publication are also available online, start here
The website designs and the print publication were funded by a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust. This is the same trust that has supported the Native Demonstration Garden renovation at the Missouri Botanical Garden, which will open by early summer. This trust supports education and research in the art and science of ornamental horticulture, to foster human interest in shaping, nurturing and appreciating nature’s beauty.
