Scott Woodbury
Supervisor, Horticulture – Shaw Nature Reserve
After greater than 30 years at Shaw Nature Reserve in Grey Summit, Missouri, Scott Woodbury retired this summer time from an extended profession in public horticulture to start out Cacalia Backyard Design and Wilding, a consulting and design enterprise in St. Louis. Over the period of his profession, Woodbury has seen native gardening develop from a distinct segment nook of the horticultural business to a well-liked house gardening type that’s now attracting widespread, steadily rising public curiosity—and with good motive. Native gardening provides many advantages to individuals, pollinators, and the ecosystem as an entire. Woodbury has been an enthusiastic advocate from the start, spending the previous a number of a long time working in native gardens and educating others the best way to plant their very own.
The Bascom Home overlooks the Whitmire Wildflower Backyard at Shaw Nature Reserve. Picture by Tilda Adams.
A Love of Gardening at First Sight
Within the fall of his seventh grade college yr, Woodbury acquired a job raking fallen autumn leaves for a lady in his group. He cherished the work, so she invited him again to work in her backyard the next spring. It was then that one thing clicked: this was what he needed to do together with his life. “In case you think about center college to be ‘all the time,’ then I’ve all the time identified what I needed to do,” Woodbury mentioned. “Not everybody will get to determine it out that early.”
There have been a number of stops alongside the way in which between that first yard and winding up at Shaw Nature Reserve. As a younger man, Woodbury labored at gardens and arboretums in Wisconsin, Italy, Pennsylvania, Lengthy Island, and Washington, D.C. It was in his position at Tudor Place in Washington, D.C. that he actually started to dig in to his work with native crops. There, he labored in a woodland backyard space the place Tudor Place had began to experiment with native gardening. “Utilizing native crops in gardening was a brand new idea then,” Woodbury mentioned. “There have been solely a handful of books, with Harry Phillips and Sarah Stein on the forefront. I learn every part I might get my palms on.”
The Present of Whitmire Wildflower Backyard
Whilst he was ravenously studying about this thrilling new idea, Woodbury longed to maneuver again to the Midwest. In the meantime, again in Missouri, native businessman Blanton Whitmire was planning a particular present for his spouse, Peg. Shaw Nature Reserve was a really particular place for the Whitmires, who have been longtime common guests. On Peg’s seventieth birthday in 1987, the Whitmires got here to Shaw Nature Reserve as that they had performed many instances earlier than. This time, Blanton had a shock for Peg: the promise of a backyard in her honor. In what was then an unmanaged woodland overgrown with invasive honeysuckle, the Whitmire Wildflower Backyard would develop. Woodbury was employed in 1991 to carry it to life.
Blanton and Peg Whitmire with horticulturist Scott Woodbury within the 90s.
Over the subsequent two years, Scott and former Shaw Nature Reserve Horticulturist Joyce Davit led a small group of volunteers within the restoration of the world and building of the backyard. The Whitmire Wildflower Backyard was formally devoted in 1993. At this time, it provides accessible paths via 5 plant group areas (woodland, wetland, glade, savannah, and prairie) and a house gardening space that features a native perennial backyard, rock backyard, prairie backyard, water backyard, woodland backyard, and rain backyard. Over 500 Missouri native plant species are on show.
The Whitmire Wildflower Backyard contains 5 totally different plant group areas, together with the wetland areas pictured right here. Photographs by Tilda Adams.
Native crops are sometimes destroyed en masse when their habitats are eradicated in favor of human infrastructure or non-native plantings. The animals that depend upon these crops disappear with them. With out crops, native pollinators undergo; with out these bugs, native birds undergo; with out native birds, small predators undergo; and so forth.
“To backyard with native crops is to backyard with a objective that’s perhaps somewhat deeper.”
Scott Woodbury
Reintroducing native crops to the panorama by yourself property is a strong strategy to create somewhat oasis for these crops and the life that returns together with them. And, as many gardeners are studying, native crops will reciprocate the love that you’re displaying them by making it simple on you: as soon as they’re established, they’re simple to develop. In spite of everything, they’re completely tailored to develop right here. “Native gardening isn’t just a job,” Woodbury mentioned. “It feeds the soul.”
Spreading the Native Plant Gospel
Past hands-on gardening, Woodbury has spent a lot of his profession cultivating the general public’s affection for and consciousness of native crops. He’s a frequent featured speaker at seminars and gardening curiosity teams, and he has lengthy been concerned in every kind of native native gardening efforts past his work at Shaw Nature Reserve.
In 1998, Woodbury began the primary chapter of Wild Ones, a group of gardeners that educates and helps house and enterprise house owners as they study to develop their very own native landscapes. To start with, there have been solely a pair dozen members. By 2006, the group had grown to over 100. At this time, Wild Ones has greater than 350 members, making it the most important chapter within the nation.
Scott Woodbury stands within the Whitmire Wildflower Backyard on his final day at Shaw Nature Reserve. Picture by Kristina DeYong.
“To have the ability to join with individuals is crucial a part of my job,” Woodbury mentioned. He considers himself an introvert and recollects being terribly nervous for the primary cellphone name of his skilled profession. “It was so arduous. Nevertheless it’s vital,” he mentioned. “I feel I’ve been in a position to affect individuals. That’s what I love to do—to make an influence on somebody and to get them to vary their gardening methods.”
Lately, Woodbury spends extra time on group work and training than he does within the backyard. Shaw Nature Reserve now has a number of full-time horticulturists who work within the Whitmire Wildflower Backyard, together with a large crew of volunteers. “I don’t have grime below my fingernails anymore,” Woodbury says, “and I miss that a part of the job. I can’t do every part, however I do miss it.”
Beginning Your Personal Native Backyard
For many who are able to get some grime below their very own fingernails and dig in to native gardening, Woodbury had 4 key items of recommendation.
- Study from native assets which can be obtainable to you. Develop Native is a good place to start out, and Shaw Nature Reserve’s Native Landscaping Guide takes a deep dive into native gardening necessities. The William T. Kemper Heart for Dwelling Gardening has plenty of assets as properly, together with a information to naturescaping and visible guides to native and pollinator-friendly options to frequent backyard crops.
- Embody a spot to take a seat in your backyard. Native landscaping remains to be a comparatively new idea, and never all people is on board simply but. It’s pretty frequent for house gardeners to face resistance from outdated zoning legal guidelines or unsure neighbors. To the untrained eye, decorative grasses and tall wildflowers may seem like unkempt weeds. Including a spot to take a seat sends a message that your landscaping is intentional and cared for. Plus, it provides you someplace to calm down and luxuriate in your handiwork.
- Depart a minimum of somewhat mowed turf grass in your panorama. Turf grass isn’t inherently detrimental to the atmosphere; what makes it so harmful to ecosystems is its pervasive omnipresence. Nevertheless it does have its objective—it provides a spot to play or lay within the solar. Even whether it is simply included as a border or a path, protecting some turf grass in your yard is a gesture of excellent religion to neighbors who need to see that you just aren’t simply “letting it go.”
- Realistically think about your time and talents. Don’t attempt to soar in all of sudden. As a substitute, begin small. Study what you’re able to, and construct out of your successes.
The Whitmire Wildflower Backyard is visited by a monarch butterfly in August. Picture by Tilda Adams.
Recommendation for Aspiring Horticulturists
As for many who need to dig even deeper into the sector and make a profession in horticulture, Woodbury recommends St. Louis Neighborhood School’s horticulture program. “They provide evening class choices and actually immerse their college students within the expertise,” Woodbury says. “It’s the finest program of its form.”
However he doesn’t underestimate the facility of self-teaching, both. He recommends attending Shaw Nature Reserve’s Native Plant College and protecting an eye fixed out for webinars, conferences, and volunteer alternatives placed on by locations just like the Missouri Division of Conservation. And, the very best place to start out, he says, is to “go for a stroll in a backyard.”
After spending a long time within the discipline himself, Woodbury wouldn’t change a factor. “I’ve been in love with horticulture since center college,” Woodbury mentioned. “By no means have I believed to myself that this wasn’t the best factor on the planet.”
Kristina DeYong
Public Info Coordinator