• As we have become accustomed to our well-manicured (sterile) lawns and heavily mulched landscapes, we have forgotten the calm beauty of a tended wildflower meadow or the lovely winter interest of a patch of dried seed heads frequented by cold-hardy birds. Somewhere along the line, we decided that trimmed grasses are more important than the native bees that would have overwintered in the stalks, we decided that our enjoyment of double-flowered blossoms was more important than providing a food source for pollinators and that choosing an eye-catching color palette was more important than providing the colors nature intended to attract birds, bees, and other insects. By filling our gardens with the plants that found their places long before we arrived, we are being the stewards of the land as it was intended.