By Savannah Furman
Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter member
Like any other area of interest, the native plant world is awash with books, journals, and online information. A new addition to the genre is Besa Schweitzer’s The Wildflower Garden Planner. Though it’s a book meant to be used month by month, it is also chock full of plant information presented in easily accessible language and format. The book arose during the isolation period of the Covid pandemic, when friends and activities were limited. Organizing and sharing her knowledge for post-Covid activities seemed a good way to maintain ties to the plant world.
Besa is a St. Louis native. She grew up playing in her mother’s flower garden and that early inculcation directed her vocation. While still in school she converted her parents’ backyard lawn to a native landscape. Although Besa studied computer science, she found it boring and switched to her lifelong passion, plants.
The Horticulture Department at Meramec provided a base, later built into a degree in environmental studies from Knox College. She worked at the Missouri Botanical Garden, then switched to Shaw Nature Reserve where she worked for thirteen years. While there she helped organize the Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter booth at the annual plant sale and was an early manager of the chapter’s website.
During those years she came under the tutelage of David Tylka, James Trager, and Scott Woodbury among others. Terri Brandt and Cindy were also great mentors to Besa. She wrote of Cindy, “Cindy inspired me to start a native plant monthly newsletter when I worked at Shaw. In the 5 years I published it I ended with more than 2000 subscribers. That has been one of the more rewarding things I have done in my career. I really felt like I was making a difference in the landscaping world to make it more native plant friendly.” Besa’s book is a sterling example of her success in making native plants more visible. It can be ordered from her website: https://besaschweitzer.wixsite.com/growswild
Besa’s own garden has evolved. She first planted a vegetable garden in the sunny middle of the yard. Then she drew a plan and planted numbers of trees. After installation of a geothermal system Besa planted the disturbed ground with native plants rather than grass. Sewer construction later resulted in another section of the yard being disturbed, so she used native plants there, as well. As she observed, “At that point all the lawn was gone and my plan was complete.” Besa’s yard also contains ponds, as natural attractions for wildlife. Adding native plants to these ponds provides habitat for aquatic insects and perches for birds. Ponds may vary in size from barely larger than a bird bath to nearly a lake, but all require intent in developing and maintaining. In one of many blog posts on her website Besa describes her pond adventures and examines approaches and plants that have worked well for her.
As a businesswoman, gardener, author, and native plant advocate, Besa has contributed impressively to the St. Louis gardening world. Organizations that are important to her include: Wild Ones, Bring Conservation Home, Missouri Master Naturalists, and Missouri Stream Team. Books that have influenced her include Native Landscaping for Wildlife and People by Dave Tylka, Ozark Wildflowers by Don Kurz, Gardening is a Verb by Cindy Gilberg, and Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy
No gardener is without favorites, and Besa’s (at the moment) are wild canna because of the seed swirls, dittany because of the frost flowers, and bur oak because it’s ”big and gnarly and independent.” Her advice to new enthusiasts is, “Start small. Join Wild Ones.”
