In 2020, University of Delaware entomologist Dr. Doug Tallamy and landscape designer Rick Darke issued a challenge to American homeowners: convert half your lawn to native plant habitat. If enough people accepted, they calculated, the resulting network of connected native gardens would cover an area larger than all of the United States' national parks combined.
They called it the Homegrown National Park and it is one of the most inspiring conservation ideas of the 21st century.
The Vision: 20 Million Acres of Private Habitat
America has approximately 40 million acres of lawn the single largest crop, by area, in the United States. Lawns are not inherently evil; the problem is that most American lawns are monocultures of non-native turf grasses managed with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, producing food and habitat for virtually no native wildlife.
The Homegrown National Park initiative asks homeowners to rethink that equation. By converting at least half of their lawn space to native plant communities, individual homeowners collectively contribute to a continental network of wildlife habitat that can support the same birds, insects, and mammals that depend on wilderness areas.
The mathematics are staggering. If all 40 million acres of American lawn were converted to native habitat, it would represent more functional wildlife habitat than all national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges combined. Even converting 25% 10 million acres would be a conservation achievement of historic proportions.
The Science Behind the Idea
Tallamy's research, detailed in his influential books 'Bringing Nature Home' and 'Nature's Best Hope,' has documented the essential role that native plants play in terrestrial food webs. The core finding is deceptively simple: native insects can eat native plants, but most cannot eat non-native plants. And insects particularly caterpillars are the foundation of virtually every terrestrial food web.
A single pair of nesting chickadees requires between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars to raise one clutch of chicks to fledging. Those caterpillars can only be found on native plants. A yard full of ornamental plants from Asia and Europe cannot support chickadees. A yard full of native oaks, willows, and wildflowers can support them abundantly.
This trophic cascade the chain of relationships from native plant to caterpillar to bird is what makes native plant gardening so much more powerful than conventional gardening, regardless of how many exotic 'pollinator plants' a conventional garden contains.
NativeFloraSeeds.org and Homegrown National Park: A Partnership for Restoration
NativeFloraSeeds.org is a proud partner of the Homegrown National Park initiative, and the collaboration runs deep. Not only does NativeFloraSeeds.org direct a portion of proceeds toward HGNP-aligned projects, but their Seeds in the Ground grant program specifically funds native plant installations on private and underutilized land exactly the kind of habitat that HGNP needs to succeed.
NativeFloraSeeds.org also offers gardeners the opportunity to list their native plant garden with the Homegrown National Park program directly through their website. By registering your garden, you contribute your habitat data to the HGNP map, helping researchers and conservationists track the growth of the movement and identify ecological connectivity gaps that need to be filled.
👉 List your native garden with HGNP at nativefloraseeds.org/pages/submit-photos/submit-photos-svujt5mg
What It Means to Be a Habitat Connector
One of the most important concepts in conservation ecology is habitat connectivity — the degree to which wildlife can move through a landscape between suitable habitat patches. Isolated habitat patches (even excellent ones) support fewer species and smaller populations than connected networks of habitat.
Your native garden, however small, can function as a 'stepping stone' habitat that allows birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife to move through an otherwise inhospitable suburban or urban landscape. A native wildflower bed in your front yard connects your backyard habitat to your neighbor's bird-friendly shrubs, to the park two blocks away, to the creek corridor a mile beyond.
This connectivity is why the Homegrown National Park idea is so powerful: it's not just about individual gardens but about the network they collectively create.
The Seeds You Need to Join the Movement
Building a Homegrown National Park garden starts with choosing species that provide the highest ecological value — plants that support the greatest diversity of native wildlife across the greatest range of seasons. Based on Tallamy's research and NativeFloraSeeds.org's catalog, here are the top ecological value plants to prioritize.
Goldenrods (Solidago speciosa, Solidago ptarmicoides) support over 100 native bee species and are host plants for 115 caterpillar species among the highest wildlife value plants in the eastern U.S. Milkweeds (all Asclepias species) are essential Monarch host plants and support specialized milkweed bugs, beetles, and aphids that form unique mini-ecosystems. Asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, Symphyotrichum laeve) provide critical late-season nectar and support over 100 native bee species. Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea, Ratibida pinnata) provide summer nectar, winter seed, and host numerous specialized native insects. Wild bergamot and mints (Monarda fistulosa, Pycnanthemum spp.) support specialized native bees, including bumble bees and sweat bees, that depend on mint family plants.
Community Advocates: Taking the Movement to Your Neighborhood
NativeFloraSeeds.org trains and supports Community Advocates local leaders who bring the native plant message to their neighborhoods, schools, faith communities, and municipalities. Community Advocate Jamie L. of Ohio put it beautifully in a testimonial on the NativeFloraSeeds.org website: 'Becoming an Advocate gave me the confidence and the resources to transform my yard and inspire my entire neighborhood to go native. It's the most rewarding work I've ever done.'
If you want to amplify your individual garden's impact by organizing neighborhood native plant installations, leading seed swaps, or advocating for native plant policies in your local government, the Community Advocate program is your gateway.
👉 Join the movement online @nativefloraseeds
👉 Donate to support NativeFloraSeeds.org's restoration mission at nativefloraseeds.org/pages/donation/donation-vgtu9l4n
👉 Shop native seeds to build your Homegrown National Park at nativefloraseeds.org/collections/all
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