Speaking of garden biodiversity

[Gloria]

Read this article about a nature photographer finding that losing a lawn meant finding her calling.

Create a back-yard buffet for birds, bees | StarTribune.com

"I was mowing my lawn like everybody else," said Kalantari, a nature photography hobbyist who used to have to go to her cabin or to a public garden to find wildlife.
Not anymore. Now her yard is alive with butterflies, birds and bugs. "I'm amazed how many can find my little Shangri-La -- it's like I'm in a nature preserve," she said

[NEWisc]

And it doesn't hurt to realize that the members here at Wildlife Gardeners are on the cutting edge of a top trend in landscaping:

Few gardeners go as far as Kalantari, who works for the Nature Conservancy, but a growing number are incorporating native plants into their landscapes. Natives have been identified as a top trend by both the Garden Media Group and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Create a back-yard buffet for birds, bees | StarTribune.com
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[Gloria]

A pdf with pictures and plants for different areas from Delaware. Finding plants for the specific conditions of place is important. Plants are native to conditions within an ecosystem not always the entire area.

http://ag.udel.edu/extension/horticu...s18spreads.pdf
small garden
salt and sand
sunny slope
pond stream edge
forest edge
rain garden
dry shade
wet area
meadow

[BeeWonderful]

That's a great article in the StarTribune. I am amazed that since beginning to make the transformation to natives, that so far I have added more than 60 different species, all within less than a 1/4 acre yard.But there is still room for more, and still many non-natives that I'd like to remove.