Somewhere along the way, the birds became quieter.
The rabbits slipped out of the morning, and the bees I grew up seeing turned into rare guests instead of regular neighbors.

I didn’t start growing native plants because they’re trendy or drought-tolerant or “eco-friendly.”
I started because I could feel something was missing.

Native plants are the food and shelter our local wildlife evolved with.
When we remove them, even unintentionally, we remove home itself.

Every native plant we add back into the soil is like opening a door again:
for bees,
for butterflies,
for birds,
for the small wild lives that once filled summer air with noise and motion.

I’m growing natives because I want to hear that world again
and because I think it still wants to come home.