Native Habitats
A Commitment to Stewardship
At Eco-Restore, we believe that thoughtful, regenerative land stewardship can be practiced at any scale. Starting with our home and community gardens, we cultivate resilient landscapes that support both people and wildlife. We’re dedicated to the appreciation, conservation, and restoration of Washington’s native plants and their habitats. Eco-Restore is committed to designing and restoring landscapes that honor the interconnectedness of ecological systems. By working together, we can create spaces that benefit not only our human communities but also the birds, bees, and countless other species that call these landscapes home.
For the Birds and the Bees:
Building Resilience in Our Gardens
Gardens are often places of rest and relaxation, but they also demand our time, energy, and sweat to maintain. Despite the effort, they provide us with a deep sense of connection—one that reaches beyond daily chores and responsibilities. When we step into the garden, we engage with something much larger than ourselves: an ecosystem that has evolved over millennia, continuously adapting, rebounding, and thriving through the generations.
Whether we tend to a few potted plants on a balcony or a sprawling homestead that feeds a neighborhood, the reciprocity of nature enriches our lives. This generosity calls us to extend our stewardship beyond our personal needs—to consider the well-being of the countless creatures who share these spaces with us. A truly resilient garden is one that provides not only food and beauty for people but also sustenance and shelter for wildlife.
When Eco-Restore designs a landscape, we focus on meeting both human and ecological needs. A homeowner may envision vibrant flowers and abundant vegetable harvests, but those same plants can also support pollinators, birds, and other beneficial species. Every garden choice presents an opportunity: How can we make this space not only beautiful but also more functional?
A Resilience Garden prioritizes essential resources—fresh food, medicinal herbs, water catchment, and diverse plantings. But resilience extends beyond human benefit. Can we grow a little extra for our neighbors? And not just the ones on the other side of the fence, but those with wings, feathers, or tiny paws who need a safe haven along their journey.
As you plan your spring and summer gardens, consider how you can cultivate abundance beyond your personal harvest. Plant extra seeds, introduce diverse plant varieties, leave a few brush piles and rocks for garter snakes and fungi, and let spent flowers provide food for birds or reseed the landscape. Even simple actions, like learning to make a plantain salve for gardeners hands, reinforce the cycles of giving and receiving in nature. The more we care for the world around us, the stronger and more resilient our communities become.
Tending the Wild:
Creating and Nurturing Native Habitats This Spring
Spring arrives softly in Washington, carried on the wings of returning birds and the unfurling petals of native blossoms. It is a season of renewal, an invitation to listen deeply to the land and participate in its awakening. As the earth stirs, so too can we—by tending to the landscapes we call home, weaving ourselves back into the intricate web of life through the plants we nurture and the habitats we restore.
Offering Sanctuary to Birds and Pollinators
As winter’s hush gives way to the lively hum of spring, the land comes alive with movement. Birds return to familiar branches, bees drift between early blooms, and new life begins its quiet work. Many of last year’s perennials—standing steadfast through winter’s grip—continue to nourish the creatures who share our gardens. The last of the dried seed heads of echinacea, sunflower, and native grasses provide a feast for finches and sparrows, while hollow stems shelter overwintering pollinators.
By allowing plants to complete their cycles, we extend an offering of continuity, ensuring that no moment goes to waste in the great rhythm of the seasons. If certain plants filled your garden with beauty last year, consider gathering their seeds, casting them back into the soil, or sharing them with neighbors. In this way, we become stewards not just of our own small spaces, but of the larger tapestry of life unfolding around us.
The Wisdom of Native Plants
Washington’s native flora hold stories written in deep time—seeds carried by the wind, roots stretching into the soil for generations, flowers opening each spring to greet the same pollinators they have known for millennia. These plants belong to this land in ways that introduced species never can, offering food, shelter, and medicine to the creatures that have co-evolved alongside them.
When we bring native plants into our gardens, we do more than cultivate beauty; we restore relationships. The red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) hums with the energy of awakening hummingbirds, while camas (Camassia spp.) emerges as a reminder of ancestral foodways, its sky-colored blossoms once marking the season of harvest for Indigenous communities. Every native plant we choose to nurture is an act of reciprocity—a gift to the land that has given us so much.
A Haven for the Wild
To create a truly life-giving garden is to see it as more than a place for human enjoyment. It is a refuge, a sanctuary, a place where the wild ones find shelter and sustenance. As you step into spring, take a moment to walk your garden with fresh eyes. Where does water collect after the rain? Which branches cradle last year’s nests? How does the changing light and shadows shape the spaces between plants?
A garden rich in life provides more than just flowers—it offers sanctuary. A simple birdbath or shallow dish of water ripples with movement as birds and pollinators pause to drink. A fallen log, rather than being “dead” and removed, has a second life as shelter for salamanders and beetles. Native thickets, left to grow wild at the edges, provide safety for songbirds and small mammals. These small choices—acts of care woven into the fabric of our landscapes—allow us to step into deeper alignment with nature’s rhythms.
Honoring Your Efforts
If you have shaped your garden into a place of abundance and refuge, consider making your efforts known. The National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program recognizes gardens that provide food, water, shelter, and nesting spaces for wildlife. By certifying your space, you not only honor your own stewardship but also inspire others in your community to reimagine their own gardens as places of reciprocity and restoration.
Spring is a season of possibility, a time to root ourselves in the wisdom of the land and to nurture life in all its forms. As you step into this growing season, may your hands be gentle, your heart open, and your garden a place where both you and the wild find belonging.
A Lasting Impact
As we welcome spring, embracing native plants and habitat-friendly practices help bridge the gap between human spaces and the natural world. Whether you’re planting a single native shrub or transforming your entire landscape, every step contributes to ecological resilience.
By working with nature—rather than against it—we create thriving, biodiverse environments that support birds, bees, butterflies, and future generations of gardeners. And of course, if you’d like guidance or inspiration, Eco-Restore is here to help!
We look forward to growing alongside you this season.
