SMALL BUGS,

Inspired by the writings of Douglas W. Tallamy, notably Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s Best Hope, Woodbury resident Dana Boyle set to work reverting the landscape around her home back to its native state.

She began in 2018 by adding pollinator plants to two small patches where the grass was dying. Even this small change brought a host of new creatures to her property. “You’re more in touch with the natural world,” Boyle says of her new garden. “You can watch new birds come to your property, you see native pollinators like monarchs or rusty patched bumble bees. It’s so exciting.”

In 2020, Boyle, who is a master naturalist and the vice president of the Saint Paul Garden Club, took the plunge and hired a landscape designer, who removed the sod, put down wetted brown craft paper, added stepping stones for aesthetic appeal and planted 1,500 plugs of Pennsylvania sedge—a flowering plant native to the area. She also added perennials and pollinator plants to highlight the edges of the property. Before making these changes, however, Boyle did get approval from her neighbors and her homeowners’ association.