Web Pages & Fact Sheets
Gardening for Bats
Check out a list of plants that feed insects that become bat food and a guide to gardening for bats.
How to Fight Plants with Plants
by Nancy Lawson (Humane Gardener). What’s to love about native plants that spread like crazy? Everything! Enlist these hardy troopers to help reclaim habitat from invasive species.
How to (Gently) Fight Plants with Plants Handout
by Nancy Lawson. Handout/Fact Sheet to pair with How to Fight Plants with Plants web page listed above.
Nativars
Wild Ones latest statement on nativars.
Native Plant Finder
by National Wildlife Federation. Type in your zip code and a list of native plants is generated ranked by the number of butterfly and moth species that use them as host plants for their caterpillars.
Native Plants for Beginners
Interested in native plants but don’t know where to start? Check out this web page by Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter!
Native Plants from Seed
A guide to starting native plants from seed by Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter. An easy and cheap way to add native plants to your garden!
Soft Landings and Green Mulch
Learn about incorporating soft landings under keystone trees to provide critical habitats for moths, butterflies, fireflies, and other beneficial insects. Scroll all the way down through the web page for excellent information and beautiful implementation example photographs.
Choosing Native Plants
20 Most Valuable Wood and Perennials Native Plant Genera
in Terms of Supporting Biodiversity in the Mid-Atlantic Region by Doug Tallamy.
Monarch Nectar Plants – Southeast
by Xerces Society.
Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
Guides to selecting ecologically beneficial and environmentally friendly native plants in place of popular invasive/exotic species from a variety of sources.
Native Plants for Your Backyard
by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Plant Native Ground Covers & Make America Green
by ChooseNatives.org. 12 Notable Native Ground Covers.
Planting Guide for your native pollinator garden
by Pollinator Partnership.
Selecting Plants for Pollinators
A Regional Guide for Farmers, Land Managers, and Gardeners by Pollinator Partnership and NAPPC.
Spring Plant Combinations for Difficult Situations
by Ian Caton/Woodthrush Native Nursery. Written for Virginia but most plants are also native in our region of Kentucky. Check wildflower.org or another trusted source to verify. Document gives native flowers that thrive in poor soils and sloped and washed out areas along with companion plants.
Table of Native Trees & Shrubs for Pollinators
A comprehensive table of native trees and shrubs for pollinators.
Twenty-five Kentucky native plants that attract birds and butterflies
by Betty Hall. Betty Hall is a photographer whose website has an aggregation of information and original photographs of Kentucky native plants.
Warren County Monarch Waystation
Information about the local Warren County Monarch Waystation maintained by the Warren County Master Gardeners.
Native Garden Designs
Want to incorporate native plants into your home garden but want some help on the design? Check out these resources you can use to help plan your own native garden!
Wild Ones Native Garden Designs
A guide to creating beautiful home landscapes with professionally designed garden plans funded by Wild Ones!
Plant by Numbers
Like the paint by numbers kits you can buy to help you recreate a masterpiece, pick from a variety of native garden designs for different yard locations, sun exposure, and moisture conditions to suit your landscape and plug in the plant options provided to create your own native garden masterpiece!
Podcasts & Blogs
A Native Plant Every Day
Hosts Tom Knezick and Fran Chismar, along with Producer Kristianne Goodenough, bring you a different native plant every day.
Backyard Ecology
Website and podcast by Shannon & Anthony Trimboli (owners of Busy Bee Nursery & Consulting, a native plant nursery in Barren County, KY) providing a variety of information on native flora and fauna. Our local resource for all things native plants in South Central Kentucky!
Crime Pays but Botany Doesn’t
A show about plants as viewed through the lens of evolution and ecology with a side of deranged ranting, crass humor, occasional profanity, & the perpetual search for the filthiest taqueria bathroom.
Cultivating Place
Conversations on natural history & the human impulse to garden.
Growing Greener
Join us every week for a different perspective on how to make your personal landscape healthier, more beautiful, more sustainable, and more fun.
Jumpstart Nature
The Jumpstart Nature Podcast is an entertaining, innovative, and inspiring nature and climate production from the Jumpstart Nature team! Each episode ties expert commentary together with an engaging narrative – packing captivating storytelling with cutting-edge science in a concise 25 minute package.
Native Habitat Project
You can’t appreciate what you don’t know, so our number one priority is providing services and creating educational content that highlights the incredible things our native ecosystems have to offer. We take pride in our native ecosystems and want to see native biodiversity saved for future generations. Follow along on facebook and instagram for short videos and listen to the podcast.
Native Plant Horticulture Foundation
Working to expand the availability of native plants and native plant professionals so communities everywhere can be truly sustainable. Their new podcast is for those curious about starting a career or business with native plants.
Native Plant Podcast
Growing from a friendship forged at the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference many moons ago, this rock star garage band has brought podcasting to a whole new level.
Native Plants, Healthy Planet
Podcast hosts Fran Chismar and Tom Knezick interview some of the top minds in ecology, restoration, conservation, and of course, native plants. Join them on their journey towards knowledge and understanding of some of the larger problems that our ecosystems face.
The WildStory Podcast
The Wildstory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants by The Native Plant Society of New Jersey, is hosted by Ann E. Wallace, Poet Laureate of Jersey City. Art and nature intercept in each episode to bring listeners inside the world of poetry about the natural world and to introduce them to other well-known voices from the world of ecology. This show challenges us all to think about our own relationship with nature.
Book Recommendations
- Cullina, William, Wildflowers: A Guide to Growing and Propagating Native Flowers of the United States and Canada, New York, NY, Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
- Diekelmann, John and Schuster, Robert, Natural Landscaping: Designing With Native Plant Communities, Madison, Wisconsin, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.
- Dove, Tony and Woolridge, Ginger, Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States, Charlesbridge Publishing Inc., 2018
- Dunne, Niall (editor), Great Natives for Tough Places, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2009
- Gracie, Carol, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History, Princeton University Press, 2012.
- Hunter, Margie, Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee: the Spirit of Place, The University of Tennessee Press, 2002.
- Lawson, Nancy, The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife, Princeton Architectural Press, 2017.
- Stein, Sara, Noah’s Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Back Yards, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995.
- Summers, Carolyn, Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East, Rutgers University Press, 2010.
- Tallamy, Douglas, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Portland, Oregon Timber Press, 2007.
- Tallamy, Douglas, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, Oregon Timber Press, 2019.
- Tallamy, Douglas and Darke, Rick, The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden, Timber Press, 2014.
- Tylka, Dave, Native Landscaping for Wildlife and People, the Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri, 2009.
- Vogt, Benjamin, A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future, New Society Publishers, 2017.
- Waser, Nicholas and Jeff Ollerton, editors, Plant-Pollinator Interactions: From Specialization to Generalization, The University of Chicago Press, 2011.
- Weaner, Larry and Thomas Christopher, Garden Revolution, Timber Press 2016.
- The Xerces Society, 100 Plants to Feed the Bees, Storey Publishing, 2016. (not all listed are native plants)
- Zimmerman, Catherine, Urban and Suburban Meadows: Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces, Matrix Media Press, 2010.
Videos on Native Plants & Landscaping
Check out our Youtube channel for past presentations.
- Backyard Conservation Projects
The Warren County Soil Conservation District offers both advice and financial support for your backyard conservation projects. Morgan Mairs and Penny Warwick talk with Wild Ones SoKY Chapter about how they can help. - Butterflies and More!
Learn all about the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) with a bonus presentation on the 2021 Texas Butterfly Festival. Speaker: Karen Michul, President, NABA-Central Kentucky Sponsored by Southern Kentucky Chapter of Wild Ones. - Formal Landscape Design with Native Plants
presented by James Faupel, horticulturalist and ISA trained arborist of the Missouri Botanical Garden. He has a wealth of experience in managing reconstructed prairies and restored woodlands, nursery work, traditional landscape maintenance and design, habitat restoration, botanical garden propagation and maintenance, and is trained in field botany and bee identification. - Gardening for Bats
Erin Cord of Bat Conservation International shares myths and facts about bats including their beneficial role in our ecosystem and ways to attract bats to your home garden. - Native Trees in Your Kentucky Landscape
Jared Weaver, city arborist for Bowling Green KY, shares tips on how to care for trees and recommends some trees native to Kentucky. The presentation was sponsored by the Southern Kentucky Chapter of Wild Ones. - Restoring Nature’s Relationships at Home
Dr. Doug Tallamy, noted entomologist, ecologist, and author, is a Lifetime Honorary Director of Wild Ones. Through his research, writings and presentations, Dr. Tallamy encourages us to landscape with native plants and “Garden as if life depended on it.” This presentation was jointly sponsored on 11 March 2021 by the Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky Chapters of Wild Ones. - Right Plant, Right Place – Microclimates
Elinor Markle, a Landscape Architect, explains the importance of microclimates and choosing the proper plant for each site. This presentation was for Southern Kentucky Wild Ones in September 2020. - SoKY Wild Ones Tour of Kentucky Native Garden
An August tour of Barbara’s Kentucky Native Garden for the SOKY Wild Ones Chapter, based in Bowling Green, KY. Members saw 25 native plants in bloom among the 100 species in the garden. Follow Kentucky Native Garden Channel to see native blooms throughout the seasons and learn about native plants and pollinators. - Southeastern Grasslands: Growing Your Own
Speaker: Brittney Viers, Grasslands RCPP Coordinating Biologist, of Quail Forever /Southeastern Grasslands Initiative/NRCS. - The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants
Neil Diboll and Hilary Cox delve into the making and application of this essential guide, sharing rich historical and ecological insights about prairie ecosystems, all while showcasing stunning images of prairie flora. - Wintercreeper is Coming
Local Native Plant Nurseries
Busy Bee Nursery and Consulting – Barren County, KY
A selection of potted and plug straight native flowers, grasses, shrubs, trees native to our region and grown locally.
busybeenurseryandconsulting.com
On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BusyBeeNurseryandConsulting
Dropseed Native Plant Nursery – Goshen, KY
A selection of straight native plants.
https://www.dropseednursery.com/
On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dropseed-Native-Plant-Nursery-119164238210182
Ironweed Native Plant Nursery – Waddy, KY
A large selection of straight native flowers (including spring ephemerals), grasses, ferns, sedges, shrubs, and trees.
https://www.ironweednursery.com/
On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ironweednursery/
Phone number 270-250-3587
Pick n Grin Farm – Willie Huston – Rockfield, KY
Offering Elderberry (Sambucus nigra canadensis), False indigo (Amphora fruiticosa), Aronia sp., Mulberry, Paw paw, Persimmon, Honey Locust, Passion flower, and a variety of other plants.
On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066974467483
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pickngrinfarm/?utm_medium=copy_link
Phone number 615-483-7418
Keep an eye out for our Wild Ones SoKY Chapter Spring and Fall Plant Sales!
Local Arborist
Very Good Tree Service – Chad Singer
https://www.verygoodtreeservices.com/
On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075969471104
Phone number 270-991-4444
Local Angencies & Organizations
- For help with drainage issues, sink holes, stream stabilization, or other drainage related issues in Warren County contact Warren County Stormwater.