The Bringing Back the Natives garden tour is back for 2021, and on Zoom or YouTube for the second year in a row. Last year, COVID-19 shelter-in-place had just kicked in, and the team at Bringing Back the Natives had to pivot from in-person garden tours to an online venue [see Bring Back the Natives – Open (via Zoom)!]. The down side was not being able to experience the gardens in person and see friends and fellow gardeners; the upside was being able to visit a wider range of gardens without crowds and view the tours on YouTube all through the year.
Ecologist Dr. Douglas Tallamy kicked off the event last Sunday with his keynote talk, "Nature's Best Hope", based on his best-selling book. He spoke on the importance of landscaping to attract and sustain birds and insects to ensure their survival, and told his story of restoring a 300 year-old farm to its native habitat, one keystone plant at a time. He also promoted his HomegrownNationalPark.org initiative, which envisions 20 million acres of privately-owned property as a sort of virtual "national park".
Stefanie Pruegel, Bay Area native plant specialist, provided a list of top native plants to grow, in "Garden as if Life Depended on It: Top Bay Area Native Plants for Wildlife". Later Tallamy was joined by local plant experts, Bob Sorenson, Glen Schneider, and Kelly Marshal, for an "Ask the Experts" Q&A session. The garden tours started with a canyon and creek restoration near Orinda, followed by garden visits in Walnut Creek, Alameda, Oakland, and Orinda. We also had a virtual tour of the Native Here Native Plant Nursery, located in Tilden Regional Park.
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