Creating a Native Landscape in Your Own Yard

Americans are in love with beautifully manicured lawns, free of weeds and fallen leaves. Every year, millions of dollars are spent on upkeep, but the bigger price is the damage done to local ecology by that perfect blanket of grass. The plants and trees in many yards today are not native to the region, making them an inhospitable dead zone to the insects and animals that need the land for their survival.

Ecologist Doug Tallamy has an idea: replace some of your yard with native plants and watch the birds, bugs and pollinators return. He calls it the Homegrown National Park, an interconnected network of yards that would be larger than all our national parks combined. He joins us to talk about connecting with nature and making the planet a better place for everyone.