Our discussion of homegrown national parks continues. This refers to the work of Dr Doug Tallamy. He has launched in his words “a grassroots call to action to restore biodiversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks.”

Dr Tallamy isn’t looking at public lands. Instead he is calling on private land owners to join what he calls “the largest cooperative conservation project ever conceived or attempted. The goal is 20 million acres of native plantings in the U.S.” 

Sound impossible? What I’ve learned from the horses is major change begins with small foundation steps. So what are the land management steps we could all be taking? That’s what we’ve been looking at in this current series.

I am joined in this discussion by Coralie Palmer. Coralie is a director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation, and she’s on the council of the Indiana Native Plant Society. So far we have talked about several key elements that are needed to create what Dr Tallamy refers to as homegrown national parks - shrinking the lawn, planting natives, especially the keystone species, and controlling invasives. In this episode we’ll learn about neonicotinoids. Buying seeds and plants is not as simple as you might think.

We also discuss the merging of landscape design and ecology. When you add plants to your garden there is so much more to consider than simply the appearance and size of an individual plant. Now we are considering plant communities and ecosystem services.