I spent most of my life in the landscape industry, commercial companies and some city and county parks along the way. The last 15 years before retirement I had a desk job with a non-profit.

Over the years I took AG classes, each time getting totally into each part - plant ID, entomology and diseases, etc.

While with the parks system I worked with some ladies who really knew their natives. One lady had a wild-type native yard and told me all about the hassles she encountered.

When I bought my house there was no active HOA and empty HUD houses up and down the street. The yard was an empty canvas to play with. I spent two years building the soil before I planted.

I put native trees in a woodland arrangement (too close together by normal standards) and started adding plants to test what would survive. 90% are native species. I did clumps like a cottage garden idea so it didn’t look like the wildness people complain about.

Jump forward 30 years. The yard has matured into a little 60 x 110 critter paradise. I have more shade than sun in the front now so different plants. The back has the pollinator plants and pond.

I have birds that visit at certain times of the day. A cardinal is nesting in the cedar. I have seen a Red Shouldered Hawk that lives 3 houses up the street drop in for a drink and a splash. This past week I have watched a mating pair of Mississippi Kites in the Bald Cypress and the Scotch Pine, the male trying to mate and once he brought her something to eat.

Now that I’m retired I have dusted off my horticulture, birds and similar books. I am reawakening my love of the outdoors and enjoying piddling in the dirt as a hobby, not work.