“It takes time – but by understanding the land on which we live and by caring for it we can choose between just having a place to live or belonging to a living home.”
– Jeannie Baker, Belonging, Walker Books, 2004
Cities change the ecosystems in and around them and the native plants and animals dependent on them move away or are lost.
Local government, community groups, and residents can improve habitat on the many parcels of public and private land making up their community’s landscape. We can foster native species by protecting and restoring wild habitat patches, linking them with corridors, and creating havens for wildlife in the area (matrix) between them.
From Barnes, 2000. Landscape ecology and ecosystems management, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky
Every garden in the matrix is a place where wild plants and animals shelter, live, make their homes. Through our gardening, we can make our neighbourhood a place that supports locally native plants and animals.