From Suburban Yard to Wildlife Haven: Amanda’s Story

Introduction

Amanda: I remember one day I was reading an article from Audubon, I think it was, that said lawns are food deserts for birds, but native plants can provide for them.

And I just read that and I thought, “Well, this makes sense. These things have been in the wild together for forever. So that makes sense that they would need each other. So, when we buy a house, we’re going to plant native plants.”

And my husband was totally on board. He’s like, “Yeah, like we can’t let the birds have a food desert.”

Shannon: Nature isn’t just “out there” in some pristine, far-off location. It’s all around us, including right outside our doors.

Hi, my name is Shannon Trimboli and I help busy homeowners in the eastern U.S. create thriving backyard ecosystems they can enjoy and be proud of.

Welcome to the Backyard Ecology podcast.

Welcome

Shannon: In today’s episode, we’re talking with Amanda Johnson about how she and her husband are transforming their small, suburban yard into a thriving ecosystem. Amanda is a mom, medical writer, former biomedical researcher, and nature enthusiast.

I met Amanda about a year ago when she joined a small group coaching program we were offering in the Backyard Ecology Community. She dove right in and continued as a community member after the coaching program was done.

Hi Amanda, welcome to the podcast.

Amanda: Hi Shannon, thanks for having me.

Shannon: Oh, you are welcome and thank you so much for sharing your story with us today because that is going to be so helpful I think and beneficial for people to be able to hear some of our stories and to know that they’re not alone when they’re trying to do all of this because that’s a common frustration that I hear when I’m talking to people.

Inspiration for Creating a Backyard Habitat

Shannon: So, I’m just curious. I know a little bit of this because, of course, you’re a member of the community and we talk all the time. But, what was your inspiration for deciding to create your backyard habitat? And, again, we’re all using backyard loosely – front yard, side yards, that’s all included. So, why did you decide to start doing this?

Amanda: So what really got both me and my husband into creating a habitat in our backyard is birds. Um, we picked up birding on a whim, Back when we lived in an apartment, we lived next to Radnor Lake, which is a really nice park in the area where I live. And I read one day that it was good for birding.

So, I went to my husband said, “Hey, we’re going to go to Radnor Lake. Um, let’s, let’s try this, this birding thing.” And we just really got into it and we learned more and more. And I remember one day I was reading an article from Audubon, I think it was, that said lawns are food deserts for birds, but native plants can provide for them.

And I just read that and I thought, “Well, this makes sense. These things have been in the wild together for forever. So that makes sense that they would need each other. So, when we buy a house, we’re going to plant native plants.”

And my husband was totally on board. He’s like, “Yeah, like we can’t let the birds have a food desert.”

So, we decided that whenever we bought a house, we would plant native. And in 2020, we bought our first home and got started.

Shannon: It’s always fun, I think, to hear how different people get started. Because
We’re all attracted to different things.

Amanda: There’s lots of different ways to go about it for sure. Some people are in it for the bees or conservation. I feel like there’s so many reasons to do it, that it’s almost hard to, at this point, to find a reason not to do it.

Shannon: Yeah, pretty much. And then you get turned onto one thing, and that brings you to the next, and then it just kind of snowballs.

Amanda: And that’s what it was for us for sure. I mean, it started with birds, but there’s definitely so much that keeps us going. If I had to sum it up in like just a term or two, I would say it’s just life giving.

We’re giving life to the nature around us.

We’re giving life to ourselves. My mental health is better because I spend more time in nature.

I feel like we’re giving life to the people around us and even other people like downstream of us per se, because we’re contributing to clean air and water, and we’re contributing life to the neighborhood because we try to have people over to enjoy what we’ve created.

So, that’s a big motivator in our house.

Property Description

Shannon: That’s a good point – you are in a neighborhood. You live in a pretty standard suburban neighborhood, not a small town at all.

Amanda: We’re actually pretty close to downtown in our area, we’re in Franklin, Tennessee. So, a suburb of Nashville. And we’re probably about a mile from the town square. So, not too far.

We are lucky in that we don’t live in an HOA neighborhood. So, that’s not an issue that we’ve had to deal with as we’ve worked on our habitat.

Shannon: Yeah, because that’s a concern that a lot of people have when they do live in HOAs. But even without living in an HOA, when you live in a neighborhood, it’s still, “Okay, what are the neighbors going to think?” And you still gotta kind of think about some of that stuff, even if it’s not officially, you’re going to get cited for it.

And that is something that I do want to talk about – what your neighbors think and what your community thinks. But before we do that, can you tell us a little bit about what you have done so far so that people can kind of relate a little bit?

Amanda: So, we have a front foundation planting that we hired someone to install. We have a pollinator garden that we created with a pollinator kit that I purchased from our Wild Ones Middle Tennessee chapter that we’re a part of.

We have some shrubs and trees that came with the property essentially when we bought it.
There’s a hackberry. There’s a line of osage orange. There are two river birches out front.

And then we have a couple of shrubs and vines that we’ve planted. We have two coral honeysuckles. I have a row of black raspberries because not only are they native, they are my favorite fruit and you can’t buy them at the grocery store. So gotta grow them.

And then our big win for this year was our back foundation planting, which I had really wanted to DIY. And I’ve been really struggling, honestly, with doing the DIY part of it, because I have a math science background. So, I’m pretty good at keeping plants alive, but as far as making something look nice…. uh, that’s why we hired somebody who does this all the time to do the front because that wasn’t my strong suit.

But, we did the Backyard Ecology coaching course and we’re in the Backyard Ecology Community. And with the help of your program, I think I was able to create a really beautiful back foundation planting for our house.

Shannon: I think it’s gorgeous. I’ve loved seeing how it’s grown and developed, and I can’t wait to see more pictures of it.

Amanda: I’m looking forward to next year when it really fills in. I think it’s gonna be great and it’ll be exciting to see if we can get more hummingbirds because our red bee balm and our obedient plant are just gonna spread and there’s gonna be more blooms and so maybe, maybe more hummingbirds… that’d be awesome.

Shannon: Yes, and I’m sure you will because you’ve already started getting hummingbirds with just the blazing star and stuff that you’ve got in the front.

Amanda: Yeah, we had four this year and my two year old daughter loved watching their hummingbird wars. She’d just giggle as they dive bomb each other.

Shannon: I’m a little more than two, and I still do that.

So, you said you’ve got the front foundation, the back foundation plantings, and you’ve got another pollinator garden.

Amanda: Right.

Shannon: About how big is that?

Amanda: About a hundred square feet.

Shannon: So, good size for a lot, but not huge either.

Amanda: Yeah. So, we’re on a standard, I think it’s 0.2 acre lot… 0.25 acre. So, we’ve probably landscaped between the areas I just mentioned… Oh, well it’s always, I feel like it’s always hard to count the trees, right? How do you count those trees? I’d say around like 500 to 700 square feet.

Shannon: So, that’s quite a bit really for that size lot. And it just goes to show that you don’t have to have a hundred acres, or ten acres, you can do a lot on just a little bit of property.

Reactions of Family and Neighbors

Shannon: What do your neighbors think about it?

Amanda: They love it, actually! So, some of the quotes that we’ve had are, “This makes my heart happy.” That was one of my next door neighbors.

I mentioned I have a two year old daughter. I had another family come over for a play date to play in our backyard. And the three year old boy, as he was walking through the gate to our backyard said, “This is amazing!”

Then we’ve had family come in from out of town and they went outside with their daughters who are in elementary school. And they were talking about all the butterflies that were in the backyard.

We had another neighbor comment on how we’ve been able to attract a bird that they’ve never seen before. Another neighbor said, “Oh, all the hummingbirds go to your yard. We watched them fly from our yard into yours.” I’m like, “That’s because we have the stuff that they like.”

So, I think, even if they don’t fully appreciate the plants, I think people notice the wildlife that’s there because of the plants.

Shannon: And I agree that even if people don’t notice the plants themselves, they
tend to like the wildlife because they’re charismatic and they’re pretty and who doesn’t love butterflies and hummingbirds and stuff like that.

I think that’s a very common route into it – the love of the critters. And then you start to fall in love with the plants. At least, I know that it was for me.

Amanda: Yeah, that was us too. I grew up gardening. So, I like to grow edibles too, but I didn’t have any attachment necessarily to the non-natives. And I think that’s probably made our journey a little bit easier than it might be for some other people. Or, I guess in other ways you could say it’s harder because then I have to learn about these plants. But that’s a joy too.

Shannon: Well, you’d have to learn either way, no matter what you were planting.

Amanda: Yep, gotta learn something.

Shannon: But that is so exciting to hear that your neighbors like it, that they’re enjoying, and the things that they’re saying to you are just amazing.

Amanda: Yeah, it really makes me want to do more for sure.

Shannon: And then maybe they’ll start to be open to doing some of it as well.

Amanda: Yeah, actually there’s a neighbor a few doors down that started planting native plants. And I think I’m becoming sort of the go to person in my circle of families in the neighborhood.

If they have questions about gardening, they’re like “Amanda, what should I plant here?” And I’m like, “I can probably help you out and we can get you some native plants. And you know, you guys can enjoy these things at your own house.”

Shannon: And then of course the impact starts to spread because it’s not just 500, 700 square feet on a 0. 2 acre lot…

Amanda: Now we’re taking over the neighborhood. That’s our goal.

Shannon: I love it.

Getting the Work Done

Shannon: And you said that it’s you and your husband. I mean, it’s not like you’ve got lots of help because that’s something else that a lot of people are concerned about… “Is it going to take all my time,” or “It’s just me, or mostly just me.” But you’re proof that it can be done that way.

Amanda: Yeah. I mean, I would admit that you do have to make it a priority. My husband works. I work a little bit. I mostly take care of my toddler, but she does take a lot of time. So, we did make choices for a season when we were working on it.

We’re like, this is going to be a priority. We’re like, we’re not going to watch TV and that’s okay. But we’re going to get this really cool thing out of it.

And I would say it’s totally worth it. Like, yeah, you can do it. It may take longer than you want it to, but that’s okay.

Shannon: I think that’s true with anything.

And you were talking about you work a little bit, but you’ve got a 2 year old toddler. Um, Anthony and I don’t have kids. But I think anybody that’s had kids, or has friends that have kids, or family that have kids, knows that’s not just working a little bit.

Amanda: Yeah. I would say it’s also been fun though, to try to figure out, like, how can I include her in this? And I think there’s things that she can do to help a little bit. Like we installed this edging that you had to put stakes in. So, I had her take the stakes and put them where they were supposed to go. She’s actually helped me plant some of the plants.

So, there have been some things that she’s participated in. And I think that’s cool, too – to make it a family activity, because it, it helps us get the work done, and she gets to learn.

Shannon: And she’s a part of it, so therefore she’s even more interested in it, too.

Amanda: Yeah, and she definitely likes seeing all of the things in our yard. We’ve already been teaching her about the birds and the butterflies, and she can recognize some different kinds.

Shannon: That’s amazing. Well, you’re talking about different kinds of butterflies and stuff. How many different kinds have you seen that you can think off the top of your head.

Amanda: Oh gosh, well, butterflies, I’d probably say like in the 10 to 15 range, maybe even up to 20, just in our yard. I feel like I don’t know the butterflies as well. So, it’s definitely more of an estimate than a precise number. But I think for a suburban yard, we’ve got pretty good diversity.

You do have to pay attention and there’s obviously different ones and different seasons and everybody who knows more about butterflies than I do would be like, “yeah, yeah, we know that.”

But yeah, we’ve seen the spring azures, the summer azures, we have a couple different kinds of fritillaries, a couple different kinds of skippers, a couple different kinds of swallowtails, and then of course monarchs. We had one that I couldn’t really identify. It was like a Painted lady, maybe. I’ve definitely seen a question mark butterfly. That was pretty cool.

Shannon: Yeah, I mean you’ve got a lot of diversity for butterflies, especially for the size of property you have, which also points to having a lot of diversity of plants so they get everything else that they need there as well.

Amanda: I’ve definitely noticed that our diversity has increased as we’ve increased the diversity of native plants. When we started off, I mentioned my struggles with my design skills, we had what ended up being a bunch of random opportunistic plantings is what it felt like. And so, we’d get a butterfly here and there, but not a lot.

Then I installed the pollinator garden and I had milkweed that wasn’t really getting anything. And then all of a sudden the monarchs came and started laying eggs on the milkweed. I’m thinking maybe they came for the nectar on the flowers and noticed the milkweed. So, then we got those caterpillars. And it feels like it just keeps growing and as we add more, we get more. It’s a synergistic effect.

Shannon: Yes, and that’s one of the things that I love too is that it just continues to grow. I mean, I know in my own gardens and on my own property, I’m the type of person that I want it all done yesterday.

Amanda: Yeah. I feel you.

Shannon: Yes, we’ve had this conversation before. But yeah, we’re both that way. We want it done yesterday, which goes back to what you were saying earlier about, yeah, sometimes it takes a little bit longer.

Sometimes you have to make it a priority, but it is worth it and it’s a growing process. The longer you go with it, the more you find, and the more diversity it brings in, and it’s just so much fun.

Amanda: Yeah. It is exciting I think to continue to add new things and make observations of how the habitat changes.

Shannon: Exactly. So, you’ve already talked about some of the things that you’ve observed and I’m sure we’ll bring those back up later.

Celebrating successes

Shannon: What would you say is what you’re most proud of with your pollinator gardens and different habitat that you’re creating. Because I think it’s important to recognize and celebrate the successes and to see those differences that we’re making. Because like you said, you are making a big difference. You’re already starting to see it and you’ve been doing this for… four years.

Amanda: Been in the house four years. Really only three years that I’ve started with native plants.

And I feel like that’s really good, especially since the start of my journey was walking up to Richard Hitt, who’s the president of our Middle Tennessee chapter who I have to give a shout out to because he’s been such a big help and I know he’s such a big help to the Middle Tennessee community.

I wandered up to him at the gardening show and said, “Oh, Wild Ones. Native plants. I know they’re important and I want to plant them, but I don’t know anything. Can I sign up?”

And he said, “Yes, I didn’t know anything when I got started either.”

Um, so yeah, I literally knew nothing when I got started. So, I would encourage your listeners, like, even if you don’t know anything – this is possible. You just chip away at it a little bit at a time.

Shannon: Definitely. Yes. And I’ve met Richard too. And he is, he’s amazing. He’s a great resource if you’re in that middle Tennessee area.

Amanda: What was I most proud of? That was what you were asking me. Sorry.

I would say that backyard foundation planting, cause that just, that was a huge win for me. Like I said at the beginning, I always wanted to do DIY.

I think I mentioned that we had a professional do the front landscape and it looks really good, but once they were gone… it’s like, “What do I do?”

Like, I can’t add to it. Their knowledge and abilities are gone. So afterwards, it’s like you’re almost back to square one in a way as far as making progress. But the cool thing about learning how to do the backyard foundation planting and then implementing it is that it’s empowered me to do the rest of the yard.

I feel like anything that I want to do now, I have the ability to do it. And not only does it look really good, but now I can tackle other projects that I have in the back of my mind that I think would really add to our backyard ecosystem, and also our enjoyment, and the neighborhood and our local community’s enjoyment. Friends, family – how much they can enjoy the yard.
So that’s really exciting.

Shannon: That is. You’ve done an amazing job and that’s exactly why we created the Backyard Ecology Community, was because so often we see it happen, either with people we’re talking to and working with, or whether it’s other people talking to us about it. They get somebody to help them, and they get help for that one little project, but then it’s like, “Okay, now we’re stuck. What else?”

And we wanted to be able to empower and teach and give you the ability to have the confidence, as well as the skills to go, “Okay, yeah, I can do this. I know what I’m doing here.” It’s been great having you in there.

Amanda: Well, thank you so much.

Shannon: You’re welcome. But, you were talking about not knowing everything, especially when you’re starting out. And that’s true of everybody. We all started there. I think sometimes it’s easy to say, “Oh yeah, they’ve always known it all. They were born that way.”

No, no, no, none of us were born that way.

The Importance of Community Support

Amanda: Yeah, I think one of the things that I would like people to know that I hope would encourage them is that, you know, people do say that native gardening is easier than a lawn. And I think that’s probably true, but first you have to get over this mindset shift. Because what did most of us grow up with? Probably a lawn of some kind. That was definitely my background.

So, you moved into your house and that’s what you know how to do. So, it’s about learning and practicing a new approach to managing your outdoor space.

And I think that’s one thing that Backyard Ecology has really helped me with is it’s a place I can go. I can ask people. I can ask Shannon and Anthony, who are trained and are experts. Like “I’ve run into this. What do I do?” And I know I’m getting the right answer.

And I also really like the reminders of the seasonal tasks, because when you’re a busy person, you know, whether that’s your job or your family or whatever it is that you have to do, I think it can be hard to establish that practice without support.

Shannon: And with the checklists, I mean, not only do you get busy doing stuff so you forget, but if you’re starting out, you don’t know where to even go on the checklist to begin with.

Amanda: Yep, right.

Shannon: Yeah, and then you get people like us who like to overthink things a bit and get stuck in our brains. And then it’s like, “Okay. I’ve got all these things I should be doing….”

No, no, no, you don’t have to focus on everything at once. This is what we focus on now.

Amanda: Right. And just having that accountability is huge too. And being able to have somebody else check your thinking, like, “Hey, what do you think? Is this going to look good?” You want somebody to tell you, “no,” if it’s not going to look good, and if it’s going to look good, like, “yeah, yeah, that’s good.” Then you have the confidence to move forward.

Or like, “Hey, this is what I’m thinking…” Then you might say, “Yeah, that’s good. That’s really exciting, but I think that might be too much for the timeframe that you’ve suggested.” So that’s, really helpful. It helps that we have a place where we can keep each other on track.

Shannon: That’s another thing I really love about the community is because everybody’s there helping and supporting each other. I mean that edging that you were talking about earlier with your daughter helping, I hadn’t seen that edging before and when you posted and shared it I was like, “Oh, I like this,” and so now I’m using it on my garden beds

And yeah, so like I said, we’re all learning from each other. Nobody knows everything.
So what are some of the other resources? that you’ve found to be really helpful in your journey from starting out to now.

Amanda: So I mentioned Wild Ones Middle Tennessee earlier. I would say if people have a local Wild Ones chapter to join it as a starting place. And, for sure, the national organization is a good place to start. They’ll point you to helpful resources you can use, helpful books that you can read and educate yourself.

I also had this small organization called the Habitat Connection come in and do what they call their Bird Sanctuary Certification Program. And they’ll basically go in and they have a checklist of different criteria that they want you to meet on your property to provide for all of birds’ needs. And then they’ll also give you suggestions of what to plant in your yard. And that’s one of the things that I did when I got started.

Bird Diversity and Habitat

Shannon: Birds! Because that was one of the things that you were talking about to begin with that you were really excited about and really inspired you. So, you’ve done the certification, you’ve started doing a lot of planting and stuff. This was one of the things that you were really excited about doing, supporting the birds. What kind of bird diversity do you have on your property? Any idea about how many species you’ve seen?

Amanda: I’ve never stopped to think about it.

Shannon: That’s my problem, too, is I never stop and count it up.

Amanda: I’m pretty sure that I’m not counting everything. Gosh, like, I might say I put it in the 20 to 30 range, even like with the migrants.

Shannon: I wanted to quickly break in here and say that Amanda and I were talking a couple of days after we recorded this. And she realized that she had vastly underestimated their bird diversity. They’ve easily seen 40 to 50 species in their yard, maybe more, which I think is just further testament of how much good you can do even on a small lot. Ok, back to the conversation.

Amanda: We’ve definitely had ones that we’ve heard and not seen. So, we heard a yellow-bellied cuckoo. We have rose breasted grosbeaks come in usually every year. I am pretty sure I’ve seen a common yellowthroat hiding around our pollinator garden in the fall.

Shannon: I could see it.

Amanda: Um, and then one year, we actually had a first-year male orchard oriole in one of our coral honeysuckles. That was just a lucky sighting. We looked out the window and the mockingbird who was, I think, trying to build a nest in the coral honeysuckle, or just thought it was his. Like, started making this “chop, chop, chop.”

And we’re like, “Oh, something’s in the backyard. We should see what it is. Like, there’s something in the coral honeysuckle. What bird is that? I’m not sure.” Like, looking it up. “Oh, it’s a juvenile orchard oriole. It’s a male. He’s probably making his first spring migration.”

So that was really, really exciting. We’ve also had a pileated woodpecker come and drill holes in some of our wood posts to get the carpenter bee larvae. That was pretty cool.

Shannon: And from the pictures you’ve shown, a pileated woodpecker is not one that I would first guess for your area. So that’s really exciting.

Amanda: Yeah. We’ve heard eastern screech owls. Seeing the birds nest is always really exciting.

So that’s actually something that I’ve tried to talk to the Habitat Connection more about is we have stiff competition for nesting in our yard. Like, I mean, there are wars over our nest boxes. So that’s something that I want to think about in the future. How can I maybe provide more natural cavities? Because on our 0.2 acre property and with our time limitations, we probably can’t have a whole bluebird trail’s worth of nest boxes.

But yeah, the titmice want the nest boxes, the bluebirds, the chickadees, the tree swallows. Um, we have a downy woodpecker that likes to roost. We seem to have Carolina wrens nesting on our property every year. Robins like the eaves. We had house finches nest in this awkward little thing on the back of our house that I think at some point served a purpose and now doesn’t. So, I mean, I think for a 0. 2 acre property to have that diversity of birds looking to nest and fighting over nesting spots means that there’s a real need for this.

Shannon: But even if you can’t do everything on your property, You’re already helping because you’re getting your neighbors involved, and it’s going to spread out.

Amanda: It’s only a matter of time.

Shannon: Yes, so you’re making the difference.

Amanda: Thanks, Shannon. We’ve already corrupted my parents a little bit.

Shannon: And yeah, it’ll just keep spreading out. So, you may not be able to do it all yourself with a full bluebird trail on your own property, but that doesn’t mean that within a few years it doesn’t happen, just kind of naturally spreading out throughout the neighborhood.

Amanda: Mmm hmm

Shannon: And not just bluebirds, but boxes for everything else, or natural cavities for other species as well. It takes time.

Challenges and Solutions

Shannon: So, what has been your biggest challenge, do you think? Was it just trying to figure out the designs? Or was there something else that you’ve really struggled with?

Amanda: Um, I would say, designs has definitely been the hardest designs and I should say, along with that, like, figuring out how to focus. And I think that’s another area where the community really helps.

I mean, we already touched on it a little bit, but I think it’s far too easy, even asking for help from the Habitat Connection, or Wild Ones Middle Tennessee, and people give you advice, it’s far too easy when you’re not in touch with them on a regular basis to just say, “What? I’m just gonna do this now,” and then let it go. And “I’m just gonna do this other thing now,” and then let it go. And then all of a sudden, you’re where I was before I joined the Backyard Ecology Community, and you have a bunch of kind of random seeming native plantings, which are adding value, but they don’t look the nicest.

And then I think about like, “Well, I want to have people over and are they going to want to adopt native plants if I, you know, have this kind of messy looking yard?” And I mean, at some point it’s going to be maybe a little messy, but there are ways to make it less messy.

They talk about cues to care. I’m sure you’ve talked about that on your podcast before. You know, just having it be more organized is something that I think I struggled with it at first, just from the lack of accountability and the lack of discipline. Now having it, I feel so much more proud. Like, I don’t look out and go like, “oh, like, that doesn’t look right. It’s driving me crazy.” And “I’m like, okay, now there’s like a coherent garden.”

Shannon: I think you phrased it this way once before, “You like it strategically messy.”

Amanda: Strategically messy. Yeah, it can be messy, but you want to have the messiness in certain places and have a reason for the mess like this plant may be misbehaving, but it’s because it is a powerhouse for wildlife.

Shannon: Right, and strategically messy doesn’t mean ugly, either. Or unkempt. I think it’s important to be strategic and remind people of that. Remind ourselves of that too. Because otherwise we start to feel bad about it. And then that’s never any good.

And that’s another reason why when we’re trying to do this project and that project and this project and that project, and you’re doing all these random little things, because I know I’ve done it too, and I still have to focus myself and remind myself of everything I’m telling you guys, you then start to get to the point where you’ve got all these little projects started and nothing completed. And that’s never fun either because it just feels like, “Oh my gosh, I’m never going to accomplish anything.” Or at least that’s the way it feels sometimes to me.

Amanda: That’s how I feel, too. Yeah, it drives me crazy. Like, when am I going to have peace even about this one section of the yard?

Shannon: But when we start to focus and prioritize more, something gets accomplished. And then we have the confidence to go and do it again somewhere else.

Amanda: Right.

Future Plans

Shannon: So, what’s your next thing? Are you still thinking about expanding and adding to what you’ve got going on? Or are you kind of entering into that stage of, “I’m going to maintain things where I’m at for a little bit and then see where things go.”

Amanda: So, the immediate priority right now is maintenance. I am starting to try to think about the rest of the yard and what might be next. My plan is to try to come up with a more thorough plan for the other areas that I want to do, and then pick one and flesh it out.

Right now, I’m thinking our next big thing should be a gathering space. Um, cause right now we don’t really have that. But we have this big concrete pad in the back of our yard because the prior owners had a towing company, and they had a huge shed. We have a shed too, but it only takes up half of the concrete pad.

So, I’m thinking for that other half, like maybe having some sort of structure. I’m envisioning a pergola with some crossvine or other native vines growing on it. And then maybe some picnic tables where people can just gather and chill out and watch the wildlife. You know, maybe, the butterflies, the hummingbirds. Maybe have some friends over after the sun goes down and watch the lightning bugs. I think that would be really cool.

Shannon: That would be really cool. And yeah, that’s two things that you just brought up that are so important I think as we’re planning the habitats on our yards. First of all, it’s okay to take a break and to recognize that sometimes we’ve got to be in that maintenance stage and just taking care of what we’ve got before we can even think about adding on or else we get overwhelmed. We are all busy. We’ve got too much going on. We don’t need more stuff to overwhelm us.

Amanda: For sure.

Shannon: So, recognizing that and accepting it and being at peace with it. And then also, it’s our yards and we’ve got to have these fun little nooks and places for ourselves, too. Yes, I think having a little gathering space, as you put it, in that area would be so much fun, especially with some of the stuff that you’re already doing and talking about doing.

Amanda: Right. My idea is that it’ll help us enjoy what we already have more. Because right now, a lot of the things we see, we’re observing through the kitchen window, at least bird wise. And it would be cool to have a dedicated place where we can just kind of lounge and relax and see what’s coming to our yard.

And then meeting that other goal of bringing the community into it, a place where they can maybe enjoy this too and maybe want to take some of it to their home.

What if You Had to Start Over?

Shannon: So, let’s say you have to start over, completely blank slate…

Amanda: Oh, but not completely blank because I’ve learned a lot.

Shannon: Yes, exactly. So, knowing what you know now, you’re just starting over with the property. What would you do differently? What would you do the same?

Amanda: So, I would utilize the group more as I’m starting out to make sure I don’t make any mistakes. I know one of the things that was kind of a bummer when I was working on the back foundation planting is I had this mature fragrant sumac that I wanted to move. And I thought about moving it in the winter. But I didn’t.

I was just like, “it’ll be okay. I can move it in summer.” Set it way back. I think it’s gonna make it, but it is not happy. So, I would make sure that if I have those thoughts in my head, I should just post in the community, say like, “Hey, can I go ahead and move this in the winter?”

And then you and Anthony can say, “Yeah, you want to move it in the winter. Don’t wait till summer. You’re going to kill it.”

Shannon: Yeah, when you posted that picture and said what you did, I was like, “Oh, no. Oh, no.” I was just like cringing, because it was right at the start of that really, really, really, really, really super hot dry spell that most of us experienced. But yeah, based on what you’ve done, and what you’ve said, I think you’re going to get lucky and save it.

Amanda: Yeah, I still need to kill two more so that I really understand fragrant sumac according to Larry Weaner’s principle of you got to kill it three times to understand it. But yeah, that was regrettable, and it could have been avoided if I had just shared what I was thinking in the group.

Shannon: But we all do it. We all make mistakes and we learn from each other. and yeah, I always say that none of us have time to make all the mistakes ourselves. So, let’s kind of share our mistakes and learn from each other and make new mistakes.

Amanda: So, what would I do the same? Um, I really liked actually drawing up a plan. I think for me having that in hand was really motivating and helpful. Like as I went along to have that to look at and to actually have thought about all the steps that I would need to complete.

Um, one of the things we did in the coaching program was to talk about a vision and goals. And I guess if I had to start over again, I would definitely, take time to do that step because I think once you understand your vision, what you’re trying to accomplish, it makes it much easier to make decisions as you go along.

So, I had my plan that I drew up in the coaching course, but I realized as I was implementing it, that I hadn’t planted thickly enough or used the recommendation of a plant every foot. Um, and I hadn’t really done that, but I remembered that my goal was to have this organized area instead of the disorganized gardens.

So, what I did was I took the desirables out of the disorganized gardens and moved them into my organized spot. So, this backyard foundation may only be like 300 square feet, but it really improved my whole backyard because now those random gardens are gone. Like everything that I wanted to keep is in that back foundation now.

Shannon: Yeah, big win for sure! It accomplished multiple things and you didn’t have to go out and buy a bunch of extra plants for it either.

Amanda: Yeah, I grabbed those. Then I had a sedge, or I had what I thought was a sedge volunteer and you were able to confirm that it was a sedge and maybe the one I thought it was. It’s hard to tell the difference between some of the sedges. And that’s done really well. So having, having that sedge to fill in some of the spaces was really nice. And like you said, it’s hard to beat free plants.

I guess that’s another thing I would definitely do again is think about what’s already there and what I can get for free. I got my obedient plant from a friend. And I have gravel that was from the old gravel driveway that the people who had the towing company used to have. That’s a buffer zone between the house and the bed. Using the sedge – it’s already growing in my yard. It’s probably gonna grow in the bed too.

Shannon: Yeah, if it’s growing five feet from where you want it, and there’s no real difference as far as the soils and stuff, then it’s probably going to grow just fine in your bed, too.

Amanda: Yeah, um, and I guess one more thing that I just thought of is leaning into what you already have, or I guess embracing your conditions, really makes your life so much easier.

Because there’s so many great native plants out there, you might as well just say, “okay, this is what I have” and let that narrow your search as opposed to say, “well, this is what I think I want.” And end up fighting an uphill battle to try to get it to live and probably losing. Maybe not if you have some more determined folks out there, but actually for me it took a lot of the stress off of the decisions like, “okay, instead of just treating it like a blank slate where I can do anything…These are the limitations of my site. Well, Let’s just accept them.”

Shannon: That’s why I teach it that way is because I think it makes it so much easier. Why fight Mother Nature? Just accept it and go on because we’re busy and we don’t have time to fight it and we want to be successful.

Amanda: Yeah. We gotta be realistic. Dream big, but be realistic.

Shannon: Yeah.

Advice for Those Getting Started or Struggling

Shannon: Anything else you want to add or you would want to share with the people who are maybe thinking about doing this themselves or struggling with the idea?

Amanda: I’d encourage them that it’s worth it to invest in a community and support. Like I said earlier, it’s all too easy when you’re kind of on your own… well, people told me that I needed to focus on one section at a time, but it was way too easy to just forget about it and not do it when they weren’t there.

Even though I remembered that they said to do that, I was like, “eh.” Nobody’s really making you accountable to it and just having a group of people, you know, that you can share your progress with, share your struggles with, and that can walk through that with you is it’s really powerful and can make the difference.

The other thing I would say is don’t give up and if you want to do it, you can do it. Start small. It’s okay. Every little bit is going to add up. There was somebody in the group who did a landscaping project in what I imagine is a pretty small space. And they got some really cool results. So I wouldn’t underestimate the power of, you know, even a 100 square feet. Even pots and planters.

Shannon: Yeah, you can do a lot in container gardens. Not all natives work well in container gardens, but some of them do.

Well, thank you so much for being a guest on the Backyard Ecology podcast, and for sharing your story with our listeners.

Like I’ve said before, I’m really grateful for everything you bring to the Backyard Ecology Community, and I have so enjoyed getting to know you, and I’m really impressed by everything you’ve accomplished over the past year. I look forward to continuing on this journey with you and seeing how much your property continues to grow and how much you continue to corrupt neighbors and family and friends.

Amanda: Thank you so much, Shannon. You’ve been a big help. This was really the breakthrough that my husband and I were looking for.

Shannon: Oh, you’re welcome. And I invite any of our listeners living in the eastern U.S. who are interested in gaining that same type of community support to check out the Backyard Ecology Community. You can learn more at backyardecology.net/community.

Also, if you would like a free checklist of Amanda’s tips on how to create your own thriving backyard ecosystem, just go to the episode webpage and scroll down to the Bonus Content heading.

As always, I want to thank our Patrons and other financial supporters who go above and beyond to help us produce free content focused on creating thriving ecosystems and exploring nature in your backyard.