

Allison invites us to give a gift back to nature by designating a part of our yards as the Back to Nature section. She will outline what this means: leaving the leaves, no pesticides, no landscapers, no mowing, and other easy, do-less steps. Walking you through iNaturalist and the Illinois wildflowers site, Allison shows you how to Bioblitz your garden by identifying species of plants growing in it. She will share her experience in her own yard and those of other Evanston landscape clients: Removing all non-native plants and letting only natives grow back, every year native plants multiply and new native species show up. Natives appear that she did not plant, possibly just because she cleared space for them. The return gifts: many more pollinators and birds.
Allison Sloan is owner of Shady Grove Wildflower Farm, a former natural areas steward at Harbert Payne Woods, a certified Openlands TreeKeeper and a bird rescue volunteer with Bird Friendly Evanston. Since 2017 she has been restoring her turfgrass lawn on Wesley near Main Street back to native habitat for birds, pollinators and people.