Neighbors for Native Plants
Date: Monday, February 26, 2024 at 7:00 PM CST, GPS (36.06396, -86.74473)
Location: The Ed Jones Auditorium in the Ellington Ag Center (416 Hogan Road, Nashville)
Our speakers for this meeting will be Bieke Puncochar and Bethany Crandell who both live in East Nashville. They are founders, along with Laura Wallace, of the organization Neighbors for Native Plants.
From the speakers: We formed the idea of Neighbors for Native Plants in 2022 because we felt the urgency to help reverse biodiversity loss and were learning about how native plants can assist with this. We wanted to make native plants readily available and affordable to our community, thereby expanding the ecological footprint of existing natural areas (e.g., Shelby Bottoms). We also aimed to create a pollinator pathway across Nashville and surrounding areas, one yard at a time. Our talk will cover how we brought native plants to busy families, curious first-time gardeners, and experienced naturalists. We’ll discuss what we’ve learned and hope that passing on this information can help other neighborhoods or groups start their own initiatives.
Bieke Puncochar is an avid gardener, child and adolescent psychologist and guest lecturer (Vanderbilt University) with a heart for nature, people, and education. Bethany Crandell nurtures her five kids and many plants, has worked in and out of the non-profit world for a decade, and recently completed a Cornell landscape design certification.
