Resources

Search native plant databases, learn stewardship tips and sources for native plants, explore recommended readings, and be inspired to do more for wildlife in your space…

Earth-friendly Mosquito Control and Prevention

• Control Mosquito Larvae without Sprays. Colin Purrington Blog.

• Visual Guide to Eliminating Standing Water. Colin Purrington Blog.

Tips for a Bird-Friendly Garden

• 7 Simple Actions to Help Birds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

• Impacts of Light Pollution on Migratory Birds - Turn off indoor and outdoor lights during migration (April-May and August-October)

• National Lights Out Program

• American Bird Conservancy

• Recommended native shrubs with high-value berries for migrating birds

• Dark Sky International - Bird-friendly outdoor lighting practices

• Cornell Lab - Merlin Bird ID

• Feather Friendly - Help to prevent window bird strikes

• BirdCast - migration maps

• Bird Safe Philly

• Where to buy bird-friendly coffee

• National Audubon - Bird collisions brochure

• See native plant links below to search for keystone native plants from the National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Native Plants databases

Benefits of Arborist Wood Chips

• How to Get Rid of Your Lawn. Linda Chalker-Scott of the Garden Professors blog. (Describes one method for lawn conversion.)

• Using arborist wood chips as a landscape mulch. Linda Chalker-Scott. Washington State University Extension Fact Sheet FS160E, January 2015.

Request a street tree (for local residents of these municipalities)

• Narberth Shade Tree Commission

• Lower Merion Township - Request a shade tree and Sustainability Office

• How to Plant a Bare Root Tree - PHS Tree Tenders

Why and How to Love your Leaves

• Leave Leaves Alone - Ideas for reducing pollution, saving money, and benefiting wildlife and the environment with your leaves

• Learn about life in decaying leaves here.

• Leave the Leaves! Xerces Society - How to benefit wildlife with leaves

• Learn how leaves can benefit lawn and perennial beds - Fine Gardening

Search native plants appropriate for your area

• National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder by zipcode

• Audubon Native Plants Database

• Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

• Native Plants of PA - PA Enflowered

• Search Native Plants of PA - Choose Native Plants PA

• Mt. Cuba Center - Native Plant Finder

• NC State - Extension Gardner Plant Toolbox

• Native Plant Trust - Search for New England ecoregions

• North American Native Plant Society - Native Plant Database

• Chesapeake Bay - Native Plant Center

• Jersey Friendly Yards - Searchable Plant Database

Plant lists

• Plant Lists for Native Bees, wasps, and other pollinators by Heather Holm

• Plants of PA - PA Enflowered

• Flora of the Southeastern United States: Pennsylvania - Produced from the Flora Manager Database System, Alan S. Weakley and team, NCU

• Philadelphia’s Native Plants - Project of Seth Budick to create a comprehensive list of Philly’s native plants by transcribing, modernizing, and updating the 1818 flora of Philadelphia by William P.C. Barton.

• Recommended plants for migratory songbirds

• Selecting Plants for Pollinators, Eastern Broadleaf Forest (Oceanic Province) - Pollinator Partnership, Based on Bailey’s Ecoregions, USFS

• Top Pollinator Plants, Bees, Bugs, Blooms Pollinator Trial, Penn State Extension

• Native Pollinator Plants by Season of Bloom - Wild Seed Project

• Native Plant Profiles from A-Z, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

• Xerces Society Native Plants for Pollinators and Beneficial Insects

• Plants for specialist bees

• Guide to creating a native pollinator garden for specialist bees - Cornell

• Rain garden guide from the Lower Merion Conservancy and The Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy and The Darby Creek Valley Association and more info here

• Riparian buffers - PA DCNR

• Native Plants for the Small Yard, Kate Brandes, Lehigh Gap Nature Center

• Application for Pollinator Garden Certification with Seasonal Plant Lists, Penn State Extension

• Complete List of Plants of Montgomery County, PA, (lists both native (N) and introduced (I) species)

• Pennsylvania Plant Communities - Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program

• Palustrine Plant Communities of Pennsylvania

• Natural Communities of Maryland - Maryland Department of Natural Resources

• Guide to Delaware Vegetation Communities

Monarch Butterflies - Monarchs still need our help.  Support the migration and reproduction of these beautiful and iconic butterflies in your space.  

• How You Can Help Monarch Butterflies - Journey North

• Nectar Plants for Monarchs in the Mid-Atlantic - Xerces Society

• Milkweeds of the Mid-Atlantic - Xerces Society

• Monarch Biology - Monarch Joint Venture

• Configuration and Location of Small Urban Gardens Affect Colonization by Monarch Butterflies - University of Kentucky

• Mixed-Species Gardens Increase Monarch Oviposition - University of Florida and Florida Museum of Natural History

• Deforestation and Monarch Conservation - Monarch Watch

Range maps

• BONAP (Biota of North America Program) - County level species data listed by Genus or State and Province

• USDA Range maps for individual species in the PLANTS Database

• EPA Level III and IV Ecoregions for EPA Region 3

• DCNR (Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources) Physiographic Provinces of Pennsylvania

• Native Plants and Climate Change - Univ. of Maryland Extension

Other helpful websites

• Homegrown National Park

• Horticultural Myths by Linda Chalker-Scott

• Bringing Nature Home - University of Delaware Entomologist, Doug Tallamy

• Pennsylvania Flora and Fauna Links (including links to the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP) and plant communities of Pennsylvania). Pennsylvania Biological Survey (PABS)

• Mid-Atlantic Herbarium Consortium

• Pennystone - Pennsylvania Sustainable Landscaping

• Landscaping with Native Plants in Pennsylvania - pamphlet. Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

• Native Plant Trust (formally the New England Wildflower Society)

• Ecological Landscape Alliance

• Green Guide for Property Management (ideas to reduce stormwater pollution)

• Lower Merion Conservancy Stormwater Resources

Community Stewardship and Pollinator Action Plans

• Lower Merion and Narberth Pollinator Pathway

• Pollinator Pathway

• Homegrown National Park

• Great Barrington Pollinator Action Plan

Good Books

• Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2007

• Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2020

• The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas W. Tallamy, 2021

• From Wasteland to Wonder by Basil Camu, 2024. Free e-book.

• A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future by Benjamin Vogt, 2017

• Native Plants of the Northeast by Donald J. Leopold, 2005

• Native Trees, Shrubs & Vines. A guide to using, growing, and propagating North American woody plants by William Cullina, 2002

• The Northeast Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden, 2022 by Uli Lorimer, Native Plant Trust

• Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England by William Cronon, September 2003

• The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest by Rick Darke, 2002

• Wild Plant Culture: A Guide to Restoring Edible and Medicinal Native Plant Communities by Jared Rosenbaum, 2022

• Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard, May 4, 2021

• Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them by Paige Embry, 2018

• Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth's Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise by Michael L. Rosenzweig, 2003

• The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy, 2014

• Designing with Natives: A roadmap for backyard design and stewardship using native plants by John Rogers, 2011

• Field and Forest. A Guide to Native Landscapes for Gardeners and Naturalists by Jane Scott, 1984

• The Once and Future Forest: A Guide To Forest Restoration Strategies by Leslie Sauer, Ian McHarg (Foreword), 1998

• Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants by Heather Holm, 2014

• The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators by Kim Eierman, 2020

Insect Guides

• Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (Princeton Field Guides) by David L. Wagner, 2018

• Summer butterfly guide for Philadelphia, PA - The Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel University

Native Bees

• Quick Background on the Mid Atlantic Region’s Native Bees - Sam Droege, USGS

• Plant Lists for Native Bees by Heather Holm

• The Center for Pollinator Research - Penn State

• Book: Bees. An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide by Heather Holm, 2017

• USGS Native Bee Inventory Monitoring Lab

• Pollinator of the Month - U.S. Forest Service

Info on how to build a wildlife pond

• Xerces Society - Backyard Ponds - Guidelines for Creating & Managing Habitat for Dragonflies & Damselflies

• Pat Sutton’s 2-page wildlife pond primer

  • Pat Sutton’s Wildlife Garden

• Water for Wildlife: Bird baths and backyard ponds - Excellent summary article by Penn State Extension

• Field Guide to Migratory Dragonflies

• Buy native pond/wetland plants. Note: Avoid buying invasive non-native species. Double check the genus and species names before purchase.

  • Redbud Native Plant Nursery (Media, PA)

  • Center Point Pond (Worcester Twp, PA)

  • Clearwater Pond and Aquatics - 1060 Reading Rd, Narvon, PA 17555

  • Kind Earth Growers (Ottsville, PA) - Retail market during limited hours (check website)

  • Ponds, Plants and More - Bentleyville, PA (south of Pittsburgh)

  • Nature’s Aquatics - Baden PA (north of Pittsburgh)

• Pennsylvania Field Guide to Aquatic Invasive Species

• See “Wild Your Garden by Joel Ashton” on YouTube:

  • How to Make a Wildlife Pond: Part 1 (Digging the pond)

  • How to Make a Wildlife Pond: Part 2 (Lining the pond)

  • How to Make a Wildlife Pond: Part 3 (Planting the pond)

• 2013 webinar about dragonfly life history, ecological roles, conservation status, and habitat needs - National Resources Conservation Service, Xerces Society

How to protect new tree plantings from deer browse

Click the image below…