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From Violent to Violet

We can never forget that the living world is worth fighting for, not through war but through active, relentless love.

Today’s task: Look down at the violets and really see them. Watch them glow in the light. See who visits: the mining bee whose babies eat only pollen from violets; the fritillary caterpillar just coming out of diapause so she can one day become a butterfly; a rabbit plopping her bunny-butt on the whole plant while her babies rest nearby.

These things matter. They aren’t abstractions. And more than ever before, these animals and plants depend on us not just to notice them but to care for them and protect them.

Six years ago, I joined my local Howard County Bee City so I could be part of a team advocating for the littlest creatures in our community. One of our many initiatives is the annual Violets Photo Contest that awards fun prizes for submitted images in numerous categories. But you don’t have to live in my town to love and appreciate the wonder of violets. Take a picture anyway. Post it so your friends start noticing violets too. Let’s start a violet movement, dropping the “n” out of “violent” in favor of flowers.

Also in this newsletter:

• April 25: Harpers Ferry, a collaborative event that includes a walk led by park biologist Angela Moxley and and a talk by me
• My new role as an honorary director for Wild Ones
• My latest articles from the American Gardener
• Contributions to the new Maryland Native Plant Guide
• Gardenista article featuring my tips on gardening with deer
• Great new books, plus some newly discovered ones

P.S. If you’re in the DMV, consider coming to our class on alternatives to mosquito spraying tomorrow at Howard County’s Greenfest in Columbia, Maryland!

The Human Connection: Of bluebells, botanists, and bee biologists

My next speaking event, “Bluebells in Bloom: Celebrating America’s Natural Heritage,” will be at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia, only about an hour’s drive from my house. But in many ways, it’s the culmination of a much longer journey that’s as intertwined as a clematis vine with the journeys of two extraordinary women I’m lucky to know.

The talk itself will focus on philosophical and practical ways to gently shift the balance of conventional home landscapes toward wildlife habitat. That’s not the most exciting part for me, though. Prior to the lecture, National Park Service biologist/botanist Angela Moxley will lead us on a walk in the park to admire Virginia bluebells and other spring wildflowers.

I first knew Angela as a passionate animal advocate and exceptional writer and editor. We worked for years on the same team at the Humane Society of the U.S., creating magazines together. We also shared an interest in habitat gardening. I gave her native plants when she bought her house. She gave me pollinator conservationist Heather Holm’s first book, Pollinators of Native Plants, which inspired me to take a deeper dive into the world of native bees.

Our next chapters led us more formally into the study of plants. I started Humane Gardener to write full time about plant-animal interactions. Angela went to graduate school and became a botanist and expert in plant identification and ecology.

In March I got to spend more time with one of the people who inspired both of us—Heather Holm!—at the Oklahoma Native Plant Network’s Welcoming Garden Speaker Series events. Speaking alongside Heather and meeting the wonderful horticulturists and scientists of that gorgeous region was a highlight of the year for me.

Partnering with Angela at the Harpers Ferry event will be another highlight, and it feels a bit like coming full circle—though, as often happens, it may also be the start of another journey with destinations still unknown. If you’re in the area, I hope you can join us!

The program is included with park entry, but reservations are recommended.

Speaking Up for Wild Ones: I’ve been named a national honorary director!

Not nearly as many people were speaking up for native plants and local habitats in the 1990s. So I felt a great sense of kinship when an HSUS colleague in the urban wildlife department learned of my interests and passed along her archive of the Wild Ones Journal. Flipping through them, I could tell that this Wisconsin-based organization shared similar sentiments toward our often forgotten wild neighbors—and I was impressed with all the group had accomplished.

It would be 16 years before I took the leap to working full time on behalf of plants and wildlife, but I never forgot the hope I felt in that moment. In my 12 years of operating Humane Gardener, I’ve interviewed Wild Ones advocates and lawyers, written for the journal, given presentations for chapters around the country, and led tours of my habitat for local Wild Ones groups. I’ve also watched Wild Ones grow exponentially (we didn’t have any affiliates in Maryland when I started; now there are at least four!).

So it was an exciting honor to be asked last fall to be a national honorary director of Wild Ones, a role that will involve advocating for the organization, providing ideas and input on their activities, and being a part of some of their events.

Stay tuned for more! And if you aren’t familiar with the organization, sign up to become a member of Wild Ones.

Sharing with Our Wild Friends: Featured in Gardenista: My tips for gardening with deer

Thanks to Melissa Ozawa of Perfect Earth Project for featuring some of my tips on gardening with deer in her Gardenista column this past fall. Please read past the click-bait headline, which wasn’t written by Melissa and doesn’t convey the thoughtfulness of her piece. It’s not about fighting “foes” or “deer-proofing” everything or keeping animals out; it’s about creating enough resilience and natural habitat that we can share with all the wildlife who visit and live among us.

I’m also grateful to Joe Lamp’l of Joe Gardener as well as the Native Plant Society of New Jersey for featuring my presentation on this topic. If you’re interested in learning more about the talk, send me a message here.

You can find more tips in my piece, “Deer Eat This Garden (and It Flourishes).”

Want to Create Real Habitat? Read my next American Gardener column!

Nurturing a space where frogs can thrive and reproduce has more to do with ungardening than gardening. Leave leaves, forgo fish, ditch lawn—those are key steps. You can learn all about it in my next American Gardener wildlife habitat column, out in early May. (Check out the magazine and sign up for a subscription.)

In the meantime, read some of my recent pieces in the magazine:

• “Hitting the Pavement”: Across the globe, the Depave movement is transforming hardscapes into gardens, restoring climate resilience and community spirit
• “Throwing Good Shade”: Learning from nurse plants and nurse objects
• “The Ghosts of Pawpaws Past”: In an age of extinction, our seed-dispersing, land-shaping roles take on new importance

(And don’t worry, if you need frog tips ASAP, I’ve got you covered! You can pick up some hints from my website piece: “Pristine Ponds Be Gone!”)

A Step-by-Step, One-Stop Shop: University of Maryland creates new native plant guides

Long-timers will recall with fondness a book called Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed, produced by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2003. Many of us carried our coveted, dog-eared copies to every far-flung native plant sale we could find, checking the species profiles to decide what might thrive in our budding habitat gardens and community projects.

That resource was a hard act to follow, but more than two decades later, an expert team of horticulturists, advocates and scientists created this beautiful, accessible, information-packed Maryland Native Plant Guide for the Piedmont region. Other editions, tailored to the mountains and coastal plain, are already in the works.

I was delighted to be invited to contribute to the guides, and you’ll find my first piece—about working with spreading native species to create resilient habitats-—on pages 46-49 of this first edition. You’ll also find extensive plant lists and profiles, articles on rain gardens, meadows, ponds, Indigenous plant practices, soft landings (or understory plantings that provide nesting and overwintering habitat for caterpillars and other insects), and more.

Order a copy or download the PDF.

I’m Finally a Nature Writer: Spotted recently at Barnes & Noble: Wildscape on the Correct Shelf!

Somewhere between Barry Lopez and Robin Wall Kimmerer, not far from Helen Macdonald and just below Dan Flores, I finally saw it: Wildscape sitting in the correct section of the bookstore.

When my second book first debuted in March 2023, Amazon bots (or so I was told) made the unfortunate move of designating its primary category as “physical anthropology,” which is almost totally unrelated to a book about the more-than-human world. Secondary subcategories were deeply embedded under the general “Science & Math” heading—much closer to the subject at hand, but still doomed to obscurity. Nowhere did my book appear in the nature writing category, even though that’s exactly what it is: an introspective dive into the wonders of animals and plants whose sensory experiences we often unwittingly disrupt in our own landscapes and communities.

The faulty designation lives on, appearing also on Bookshop.org in the category of “politics” that links to an anthropology page. In bookstores, Wildscape sometimes appears in the gardening section, but only if it’s lucky enough to fall into the hands of an employee who takes the time to open it. The book is just partly related to gardening, but at least that category isn’t way out in left field.

Between appointments in town recently, I had some extra time, so I wandered over to the Barnes & Noble to see what new books I could drool over. Not only was I pleased to find a Nature Writing section, but—surprise of surprises!—Wildscape was featured in it!

I hope Wildscape finds its way into more hands because, based on messages from readers and comments on Goodreads and retail sites, it does seem that many who’ve read it have been moved and inspired by it. If you’d like to read the book or help spread the word about it, you can:

• Support your local library and check out Wildscape or request a copy
• Find or request a copy at your local independent bookstore; and last but not least
• Purchase Wildscape on my Bookshop.org author’s page here.

When you order books through my author page on Bookshop.org, a percentage of your purchase supports independent bookstores, and a small amount goes to me and helps fund my work. Thank you for supporting writers and small businesses!

Great Reads: What I’ve been reading–and you should too!

I’ve run out of time to give you the details on all the wonderful books I’ve been diving into lately, but here’s a photo so you can check them out yourself on my Bookshop.org page (links above)!

Images: Heather Holm and Nancy Lawson: Tulsa Audubon Society; Maryland Native Plant Guide: UM Extension; all others: Nancy Lawson/HumaneGardener.com