Why it’s time to let native plants shine over lawns

By Christopher White, February 25, 2021, Broadview.org

Lorraine Johnson wants people to consider the ecological value of their property.

Lorraine Johnson is an environmentalist, passionate gardener and activist. In 2002, she released her seminal work, The Gardener’s Manifesto. This call to action has inspired a generation of gardeners to embrace their work with an ecological and social purpose. She writes: “I believe that we garden to participate in the planet, and through this, change the world and be changed by it.”

Native plants are species that have evolved in a specific area for thousands of years and have developed a web of relationships with the wildlife that are part of their habitat. Johnson sees native-plant gardening as a way to positively respond to both the climate and biodiversity crises. When Christopher White first met her for this interview, she was cleaning native seeds for fall planting.