Carole Brown is a Conservation Biologist, educator, and speaker who firmly believes that wildlife conservation begins in your garden. She is passionate about Ecosystem Gardening–teaching you to garden sustainably, conserve natural resources, and create welcoming wildlife habitat in your garden so that you will attract more birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife. Her garden is #35038 Certified Wildlife Habitat at NWF, and is located in Philadelphia, PA. Watch for her book, Ecosystem Gardening coming out soon.

Donna Donabella

Ellen Sousa gardens, farms, writes and teaches from Turkey Hill Brook Farm, a small horse farm in the Worcester Hills of central Massachusetts. Her “habitat farm” is Certified Wildlife Habitat #71074 at the NWF and registered as a Monarch Butterfly Waystation, to help rebuild monarch butterfly populations. Follow her Habitat Gardening blog for tips and ideas on wildlife gardening in New England.

Kathy Green is a garden designer, garden coach and master gardener who loves helping people learn about plants, nature and the environment.  Gardening at 7300′ along the Front Range of Colorado, her yard is a NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat. Follow her Gardening for Nature blog to see what you can do to help bring wildlife into your yard!

Kathy Vilim

Loret T. Setters

Author at Osceola FL Garden Blah Blah Blog

Facebook Page

Follow @PineLilyFNPS on Twitter

I’m a retired, transplanted New Yorker who lives on a rural acre in Central Florida with 3 sporting dogs and plenty of wildlife. I’ve always preferred wildflowers to sterile store-bought plants and love to watch things grow as I try to identify them. Since my move to Florida in 2004, I’ve learned the term “native plants” and apparently have always been a native plant gardener without realizing the important role my “weeds” and I have played in helping wildlife all these years. With the advent of digital cameras, I always took pictures of my flowers, but this past year I have developed a fascination with insects and love photographing them and finding out their purpose in a biodiverse world. I’m an active member of the Florida Native Plant Society and I tweet and maintain the Facebook page for their Osceola County chapter, Pine Lily. I’m also the editor of their monthly newsletter, The Lily Pad. I garden for wildlife ~ the benefit to my senses is merely a bonus.

Ursula Vernon

Author at Squash’s Garden

Author/artist at Red Wombat Studio

Ursula Vernon is a children’s book author/illustrator and painter of weird little things. She lives with her boyfriend in North Carolina, where she collects native plants and gardens with more enthusiasm than skill. In between battling Japanese honeysuckle and wrestling with heavy clay soil, she finds time to blog and chase birds around with binoculars.

Former Team Members

Barbara Pintozzi

Author at Mr. McGregor’s Daughter, Facebook Page, Follow @suburbangarden on Twitter

Barbara is a life-long resident of the Chicago area, and has gardened at Squirrelhaven, a typical suburban plot in the Northwest Suburbs, for over 15 years. A recovering attorney, she is now a stay-at-home mom and garden fanatic. In her spare time, she takes photographs and welds garden sculptures.

Gail Eichelberger

Author at Clay and Limestone

Facebook Page

Follow @clayanlimestone on Twitter

Part time psychotherapist, blogger, gardener and owner of Clay and Limestone garden~ home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other fantastic native plants. Gardens in middle Tennessee.

Kelly Senser

Editor at National Wildlife MagazineFacebook PageFollow @klsnature on Twitter
Kelly Senser is a nature-loving mom who’s passionate about wildlife gardening and outdoor play. She works at the National Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit conservation group. Her favorite place to explore is her family’s northern Virginia backyard, which is a Certified Wildlife Habitat site. When her son calls a bug club meeting or her daughter pauses to bird-watch, you’ll find her smiling from ear to ear. She’s happy to nurture their sense of wonder; it keeps her own alive.

Lisa Gustavson

Author at Get in the Garden, Facebook Page, Follow @GetInTheGarden on Twitter
I’ve been planting and growing with my husband and our four children for over fifteen years… starting when and we bought our first (and present) home in upstate NY (zone 6). In raising our four children we wanted to provide a beautiful and natural backyard playground for them to explore and discover in. Our choice from the very start was to grow only plants that would feed us or nature. Ever since, we’ve been growing organic, sustainable food for our family and nature right in our half-acre yard. We planted native shrubs and flowers for wildlife, provided feeders and shelters and have even built a small pond. Herbs, edible flowers, vegetables and fruit trees occupy the space that was once a lawn. We have regular visits from deer, skunks, possums, raccoons, rabbits, herons, woodchucks, ducks and even a fox! There are plenty of resident birds, frogs, toads and bees that not only are fascinating to watch…they’re co-workers in our efforts. Gardens and wildlife work beautifully together!

Meredith O’Reilly

Author at Great Stems, Follow @grstems on twitter, Facebook Page

Meredith gardens for wildlife in central Texas, Zone 8b. She believes that everyone should be touched by nature. Her garden is a Best of Texas Backyard Habitat, filled primarily with native plants, and she spends as much time documenting the wildlife that visits her garden as she does the plants in it. Meredith also is a volunteer Habitat Steward with the National Wildlife Federation. She led the creation of a large butterfly-hummingbird demonstration garden at her son’s elementary school and is busy expanding the school’s green programs. In addition, Meredith enjoys spreading the word about wildlife gardening through presentations to groups of all ages. But her dearest pleasure is seeing the delight on her kids’ faces as they discover something new in the garden.

Chris McLaughlin

• Author at A Suburban Farmer
• Website Kid Safe Landscape
• Facebook Page
• Follow @Suburban_Farmer on Twitter

Chris is a garden writer, author, and blogger. Her recent book, the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting teaches us to remember the wildlife that thrives in healthy soil. She’s been gardening for over 30 years and became a Master Gardener in 2000. While living in the California Sierra foothills, she did wildlife rehab with Sierra Wildlife Rescue. It seemed natural to Chris to blend her love for gardening and wildlife by becoming certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat Steward so that she could help people create wildlife gardens in their yards. On her Northern California suburban farm, Chris grows anything that’ll stop long enough to grow roots and has vegetable gardens, wildlife gardens, flowers gardens, and even (*gasp*) a lawn. Also check out Chris’ other books:

• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Heirloom Vegetables