This Saturday, the Cape Fear Native Plant festival will be having its annual plant sale. If you've talked to me for any length of time about wildlife, I've probably brought up native plants. Any discussion about wildlife conservation, climate change mitigation, water conservation, and freedom from agricultural chemicals will eventually focus on native plants, because they are an easy, integral part of a solution to all of these issues.

Like many native plant advocates, I was brought into the fold after stumbling across Doug Tallamy on YouTube. He's written a number of books on how native plants are the very foundation of wildlife conservation, and really, our own survival. If the natural food web collapses, we go with it. What sets his message apart from nearly every other conservation-based content is that you are left with a solution that is as simple as planting a single keystone tree. Now, we all have to do this - or at least a whole bunch of us - but it's not like we're having to tackle saving the rainforests in Brazil. Not that it's not a noble and necessary cause, it's just that I don't even know where to begin with that. Planting native plants and trees? That's doable, and easy. Tallamy offers us a solution we can accomplish over a weekend.

And so I spent the next five years planting over 100 native species in my yard. Some thrived, some died. I learned a LOT about what grows well here with no maintenance. And I've watched the insects show up. I've watched the caterpillars show up. And then the birds came. Every year brought new species—some I hadn't seen in years. As the microforest grew, Brown Thrashers and Eastern Towhees appeared. Then Painted Buntings. This year it was Great Crested Flycatchers and a Blue Gray Gnatcatcher. I'm over 50, so birds are naturally a big part of my life now.

So that brings me to this - what can YOU do this weekend to support conservation? Two things. If you haven't yet, go watch a Doug Tallamy video on YouTube. There are perhaps a hundred of them, given to local gardening and Audubon clubs. All with similar presentations. And then come visit any number of the Native Plant Festival sale sites - The Garden Shop on Moss, Wild Bird & Garden, Five Oaks Oleander, Farmer's Supply, and Shelton Herb Farm in Leland. If you want the most variety of vendors, Shelton Herb Farm is the place to be. I'll have a Coastal Wildlife Alliance table there and will be giving away free Longleaf Pine seedlings. Come say hi and get a free keystone tree to plant. Also, Meg's place is really just a pleasure to stroll around, and we're lucky to have it locally.

What's Blooming Now?

• Boneset EVERYWHERE. We have a few species locally. If you're in Carolina or Kure Beach, Late Boneset (Eupatorium serotinum) is chest high and blooming on the stretch from the aquarium turnoff to the boat ramp. Everywhere else, Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) is the sort of knee-high, white flowered plant you'll see on roadsides and in ditches. Pollinators love it.

• Spotted Horsemint (Monarda punctata) is winding down, much to the dismay of the Carpenter Bees and Scolid wasps. You can see patches of this very interesting flower in ditches all over New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties.

• The Gulf Fritillary butterflies have finally shown up on the Purple Passion-flower (Passiflora incarnata), depositing eggs that turn into bright rust-colored caterpillars with dark spikes.

On Deck:

• Asters (Symphyotrichum spp.)

• Goldenrods (Solidago spp.)

• Native Sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) coming up next.