All posts by Nancy Lawson

Nancy Lawson is the author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife. A columnist for All Animals magazine, she founded Humane Gardener, an outreach initiative dedicated to animal-friendly landscaping methods. Her book and garden have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, and other media outlets.
Year in Review

Losing My Dad, Saving His Fellow Earthlings

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Image of Roger Lawson in his greenhouse
Above: My father, Roger Lawson, was always happiest among flowers; here he and his colleague Mark Roh posed for a magazine article in their greenhouse at the USDA’s Florist and Nursery Crops Laboratory. Featured image, top: After I transplanted ferns from my dad’s garden to our pond, a green frog took a liking to them. (Photos by ARS/USDA and Nancy Lawson)

There were many beloved beings I tried unsuccessfully to save this past fraught year, starting with my father, who died in April after doctors wrote him off as an old man and refused to perform the scan that could have prevented a massive, fatal stroke. I also couldn’t save the trees across the street from my neighbor who thinks that tree roots get in the way of his mowing, or the dogwoods and spicebushes from another neighbor who thinks shrubs get in the way of his view of the stream—all lives cut too short.

Image of Roger Lawson in his garden
My dad discovered pollinator gardening late in life and carved out a big space for butterflies in his front lawn. His gentle but determined spirit lives on and inspires us. (Photo by Nancy Lawson)

But together my family, friends, colleagues and I worked hard to protect and promote as many of our fellow Earthlings as we could. We assisted my sister in her brave, successful fight to save her pollinator garden from her turf-obsessed HOA, and we helped get a state law passed so that others won’t have to go through the same arduous experience that she did. My fellow volunteers and I on the Howard County Bee City Native Plant Subcommittee created a Bee City habitat registration program and sign, and we also expanded our residential native garden design templates, completing new designs and plant lists for use in the area’s many cul-de-sacs.

Image of Bee City sign
Howard County, Maryland, residents can now educate neighbors about their pollinator gardening efforts with the help of our new sign. (Photo by Nancy Lawson)

On the scientific front, I collaborated with a chemical ecologist to publish a paper in Ecological Entomology on a little-explored but important behavior of monarch butterflies that I had discovered in my own habitat gardens. Together we launched a national citizen science project, Monarch Rx, so we can learn as much as possible about which species monarchs are visiting to collect toxic compounds from dead plant parts for use in their defense. Our work was also featured in Entomology Today—as exciting to me as the year our garden was featured on the front page of the New York Times Real Estate section, and I only wish my dad had been here to see it.

I continued to see monarchs visiting dried boneset (Eupatorium serotinum) in the summer of 2021. This one collected pyrrolizidine alkaloids, a substance used in defense, from dried flowers, leaves and stems for the better part of an hour. (Photo by Nancy Lawson)

Because I’ve been working on a second book, I’ve had less time to write in this space and have missed interacting with my friends and fellow advocates here. It was a delight to see some of you at my Humane Gardener events for native plant societies, nature centers, garden symposiums, and wildlife rescue centers.

Image of Roger Lawson's celebration of life
My most important talk of the year was delivered on our patio at the celebration of life for my father, held almost three months after he died. Nothing could ever do him justice, but it was important to try. (Photo by Will Heinz)

In lieu of more writing on my website while I finish my manuscript, please enjoy these links to my All Animals magazine columns from the past year, as well as to the podcasts where I made guest appearances. I hope you can use some of the facts and messaging in your own advocacy. Happy New Year!

Dispelling myths about wildlife gardens and native plants
How changing the law of the land benefits animals, the environment and humans
An HOA spent $100,000 to try to destroy my sister’s pollinator garden. They did not succeed. (Photo by Nancy Lawson)

Public agencies increasingly support habitat gardens, but many HOAs still cling to antiquated notions, recycling baseless arguments to justify collecting fines. As my sister, Janet Crouch, battled each outlandish demand, we learned how flimsy the arguments against natural landscaping can be. For others fighting the good fight on behalf of habitat gardens, check out our responses and counterarguments to common myths. READ MORE

Small but mighty
Little mammals play a big role in healthy gardens
Image of grapefern
Let go of the idea that molehills are “bad,” and you’ll see amazing things unfold—like the sprouting of volunteer grapeferns that appeared in four of our molehills. (Photo by Nancy Lawson)

Divergence from conventional command-and-control, reactionary forms of gardening is not only compassionate; it’s also smart. Animals who live their lives below the surface are better tillers, seeders, weeders and insect predators than we humans will ever be. The activities of shrews, moles, voles, chipmunks and mice sculpt the land, create habitat for birds and butterflies, and help regenerate whole forests. READ MORE

Deer eat my garden­—and it flourishes
Deer sleep, eat, rest and breed in our garden, but as you can see, it’s still lush and prolific. (Photo by Nancy Lawson)

Living alongside deer for decades, I’ve learned that gardens can thrive in their presence—to the point where our habitat now hosts uncommon butterflies and bees, drawn to plants the deer leave untouched.  My strategies for coexistence with deer are creative applications of principles already known to scientists. READ MORE

The invasion of the chipmunks?
Exploring the temporary rise and fall of wildlife populations

Many factors drive fluctuating wildlife populations. Some are distinctly manmade, as when mosquito spraying in Fargo, North Dakota, killed migrating monarchs in August 2020. But others are part of the natural cycle. Young bears disperse more widely when food is scarce, but that doesn’t mean they’ve multiplied. Rabbits can reproduce more when warm winters encourage lush plants, but they won’t do so indefinitely. READ MORE

The Mike Nowak Show

Humane Gardening with Nancy Lawson

The Joe Gardener Show with Joe Lamp’l

The Humane Gardener: How to Nurture a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife

Monarch Rx: The Prescription for Healthier Butterflies

The Deal with Animals

“How to Be a Humane Gardener with Nancy Lawson”