Doing Good With Native Plants At The Avon Land Trust

American Meadows donated plants to Tom K., a thoughtful community member doing good through gardening. Tom is working with The Avon Land Trust in Connecticut to remove invasive plants and replant a garden at a popular trailhead with native species.

In the spring of 2024, we sent 57 native plants to Tom for a new garden (the first of many) in partnership with the Avon Land Trust. Read on for our conversation with Tom and Tabar, the Partnership Cultivator at American Meadows!

Tom: I have a large native flower garden at my home and after listening to a native plant podcast episode where the guest spoke about the importance of planting native plants at the community level, I decided to make a bigger effort than just my own garden...  I realized the land trust may be the perfect place to start a native garden, rather than only focus on traditional trail maintenance. So I emailed the president of the land trust to see if he was ok with me clearing invasive plants and replanting with natives, which of course he was very happy to support. 

Tom: The Avon Land Trust was founded on May 23, 1973 in order to conserve and hold in trust the natural resources of the Town of Avon – woodlands, fields, lakes, rivers, open spaces and the plant and animal life living therein. Part of our mission is to preserve and protect undeveloped land in Avon, enhance our town’s environmental and historic resources and scenic beauty, to maintain wildlife habitats on our properties, to provide public access to appropriate properties for the public enjoyment of nature, and to promote the conservation of open space, an appreciation of nature, and stewardship of the environment.

So, clearly meadowscaping and native plant gardening help us carry out our mission. Not only does it enhance the beauty of our properties for our human community to enjoy, native gardening creates new habitat communities that diversify our local wildlife, leading to further enjoyment of nature for generations to come! 

Tom: I truly believe all people should be gardening in some fashion, and for multiple reasons. Whether that be as small as a 2x2 container bed of tomatoes on your apartment patio, or as large as replacing your entire turf lawn with a meadow of native flowers and grasses. Being outside, observing nature, and enhancing the environment around you brings so many health benefits to you and your local community.

With how busy and stressful the world is today, taking the time to put down your phone and step outside to just appreciate the present and take a breath of fresh air can be so therapeutic in itself. Digging in the dirt is not only a good physical workout, but it's also a mood enhancer, stress reducer, and immunity booster, all while making your outside look better! 

Gardening also brings neighbors and communities together. One example of this was in our first house 10 years ago, my wife and I decided to turn the strip of turf grass between our driveway and our neighbors into a garden. We had just moved in and hadn't really met any of our neighbors yet. However, when we started working on the garden, our neighbors began stopping during their walk to talk to us and ask questions. Over the years, we began to get to know more people, swapped a few plants, and expanded our garden, which all made the neighborhood a friendlier place to live. 

Tom: The community is going to benefit from the native plant donation in many ways. Since we created the garden right at the trailhead, anyone who comes to the property to hike or bird watch from the gazebo will be able to enjoy the pretty garden growing alongside. As the garden grows, there will be an increase in pollinator diversity, which will only add to the beauty and interest for our community. 

Furthermore, as we continue to clear invasive plants from this property and plant more natives, there's going to be less ticks (this is Connecticut) to worry about when hiking. Now imagine how different an outdoor experience could be if instead of going on a hike that resulted in mosquito and tick bites, it led to witnessing a hummingbird feeding on wild bergamot together, or seeing a Monarch butterfly for the first time on some coneflowers?

Additionally, I plan to put up a sign to use this as an opportunity to educate the public on ALL the benefits of native plants! Hopefully that inspires others to plant a native garden at their house, or do something similar in a different community.  

Tom: Probably the most important part of native plant gardening is its direct impact on the food web, i.e. the food humans consume. Native plants, both through providing food and habitat, attract pollinators like butterflies, bees, moths, flies, and beetles, which then attract songbirds, small mammals, predators and so on. Without enough vegetation to support the current volume and diversity of species, we will see species decline due to lack of resources.

Fortunately, there are certain plants that support a large number of species, known as keystone species. For example, one mature oak tree supports about 500 different species!

Alternatively, there are certain species that can only feed on one specific native plant, which is known as a host plant. Most people are aware of the decline of Monarch butterflies and how native milkweed varieties are a host plant for them (meaning the caterpillars can only eat milkweed leaves, nothing else).

Learn More: How To Grow Milkweed Seeds

However, this is just one example of many. Without a large number of keystone species to support the volume of insects we need, and without the specific native host plants to support a diversity of species, the numbers of pollinators will decline. These are the same pollinators that allow food crops to grow that humans eat and feed to our livestock. This is all to say that YOU can have a direct impact on your local food web and support both humans and wildlife by planting a combination of native keystone and host plants to your ecoregion! How cool is that?