Everything in this world is connected.

In nature, plants, insects, and other animals form diverse communities. You may have heard that monarch butterflies need milkweed to survive while in their caterpillar form, but did you know that other butterflies also have their own host plants? And did you know that most baby songbirds do not eat seed, but are actually fed thousands of various insects by their parents? The timing of chicks hatching coincides with the emergence of many insect species. I am no longer worried when I see aphids or evidence of caterpillars on leaves - Hummingbird moms love to collect aphids for their babies, and the songbirds help take care of other pests. When I started adding native plants to my property, I decided to also spend time identifying all of the insects that I found while gardening, because the more you understand something, the less you have to fear. I was terrified of "bees" for most of my life (generically anything with black and yellow stripes), but I soon learned that most native bees, native wasps, and other native insects are mostly solitary and honestly quite docile. In my state (Washington), there are approximately 600 species of native bees, including bumble bees. In fact, a lot of bugs I used to generically call flies or gnats were actually tiny native bees! There are also over 300 species of wasps here, many that are the size of a pinky fingernail, are solitary, non-aggressive, and also help with pest control. I am grateful to the Bird Alliance of Oregon for putting together a program that helps educate people about native gardening and offers a Backyard Wildlife Habitat certification program - in 2025, after 3 years of transforming my property from a front lawn and back lawn to a magical wildlife paradise, I was awarded Gold Level Certification. I am donating 10% of my sales to them in gratitude, and the remainder will be used to help maintain my property.

By planting native plants, and not using insecticides/pesticides, you too can have a thriving wildlife habitat!

My design incorporates a rainbow of native flowers to symbolize inclusion and diversity, based on species I have planted in my western Washington State garden - scarlet monkeyflower (Erythranthe cardinalis), California poppies (Eschscholzia californica ssp. maritima), Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), fragrant popcorn flower (Plagiobothrys nothofulvus), harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), and Douglas aster (Symphyotrichum subulatum).