About Native Backyards

My Native Plant Journey

For years, I was a novice flower gardener, starting with a set of container pots on the roof deck of our first condo in Chicago in 2005. While my plants in Chicago thrived in the mild summers, when we moved to San Antonio, Texas I struggled to keep anything alive! I spent way too much money on annuals that died once 100 degree temps hit.

I never gave much thought to the plants I chose at the nursery. I just picked flowers that looked pretty. I never considered where the plants originated from, or what ecosystem benefits they offered, such as feeding insects or conserving water.

Then I enrolled in the Texas Master Naturalist program in 2019 and I started to see plants with an entirely new set of eyes. I learned about the critical role that our native plants play as the basis of the food web, and how we’ve largely removed them from our landscapes, eliminating important food sources and habitat for our local insects and wildlife

I realized I had been gardening purely for aesthetics and my enjoyment, but what I needed to be doing was gardening for the planet. Once I realized I could make a real impact from my own yard, I was hooked! Since then, I’ve:

• Added over 50 Texas native plant species to my yard.
• Removed over 500 sq. foot of St. Augustine grass and replaced it with native plant beds.
• Seen my yard come to life with butterflies, bees, and birds!

I am now on the board of my local chapters of both the Texas Master Naturalist program and Native Plant Society of Texas. I spend hundreds of volunteer hours each year helping plant and maintain Texas native plants in local natural areas, create pollinator gardens at local schools, and spread the word about native plants.

In 2022 I published a book to help other “native plant newbies” get started growing more native plants today. Since launching NativeBackyards.com in 2020, nearly one million people have visited the site to learn about growing native plants!