PDFs for practical action steps:

Tennessee & Kentucky butterflies most in decline and their host plants

The Miyawaki microforest method for Middle Tennessee

The Southeastern Grassland Institute in Clarksville, TN is our premier regional resource for research & restoration of native plant communities! Help protect the original patches of intact ecosystems left in our area by signing up for their Seed Scout workshops.

Beautiful, regionally sourced
& produced native seed mixes from Roundstone:

Nashville-based conservation neighbors:

  • Invitations to native plant workshops, garden tours, seed exchanges, plants sales, and stewardship projects.

  • A highly informative & funny blog dedicated to urban Nashville nature by naturalist Jo Brichetto.

  • Certify your native plant yard with UT Extension.

  • A Nashville landscaping company that works exclusively with native plants.

  • Nashville's only natives-focused nursery!

  • Grow food, not landfills! Turn your food scraps into compost.

  • Beautiful New York Times essays on nurturing nature in a biodiverse, wildlife-friendly Nashville backyard by Margaret Renkl.

  • HSN oversees two beautiful Nashville herb gardens filled with pollinators & holds a beloved spring plant sale.

  • Field trips, seminars, conferences, and courses on native plants.

  • Engaging and inspiring interviews with all kinds of conservationists, from Tennessee and beyond.

  • Get involved in waterway cleanups, native plant rain garden builds, tree plantings, and invasive species removal!

  • If you get really into native plants, become a certified Tennessee naturalist.

  • Increase your gardening know-how through the mentorship of the Davidson County Master Gardeners.

  • A local org with tree-planting initiatives, pollinator garden installs in public spaces, and educational webinars related to our environment.

  • A Bird Sanctuary Certification for your own yard.

  • Vic Scoggin, a native Tennessean, swam the entire Cumberland in the mid-90s to draw attention to its intense pollution. A documentary was made about his 25 year journey as a water protector.

  • Plant for a Change is a local Nashville initiative that employs individuals with intellectual disabilities.

  • A Facebook group devoted to helping locals create naturally safe living spaces.

National native plant orgs:

  • Founded by Doug Tallamy, an entomologist and popularizer of the native plant movement, a national initiative to get hundreds of thousands of native trees and plants in millions of yards across America.

  • Protecting pollinators, conserving endangered species, reducing pesticide use and impacts, and advocating for change.

  • Citizen monarch tagging, a milkweed market, free milkweed seeds, and many resources on gardening for butterflies.

Nashville native tree resources:

  • Actively working to save many existing old trees in the city, this is also a great source for spring and fall tree sales, and they will deliver straight to your address.

  • Free trees for your yard and neighborhoods. Get involved by becoming a Tree Captain for your area, and help them achieve their goal of 500,000 trees planted by 2050.

  • Free tree giveaways, nominate a tree for their Big Old Tree contest, and/or help them plant more trees around Nashville.

  • Tree sales, educational & volunteer events, and a program to submit your composting totals to!

  • If you have more than 10 tree species on your residential property, you can become a certified Tree Sanctuary!