Oxford -- Tallamy Garden

In just over 20 years this 10-acre former hayfield has been converted close to what it might have been before it was cultivated, a healthy multi-level ecosystem that supports insects, reptiles, birds, fungi, deer and other mammals. The meadow garden, wetlands garden, and young woodlands garden are philosophy put into practice by entomologist Doug Tallamy and Cindy Tallamy. That philosophy is found in Tallamy's many books such as Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in your Yard (Timber Press, February 4, 2020). This garden is stocked almost exclusively with plants that are native to the Piedmont Plateau, many grown from seed by the owner. Wildflowers include Virginia bluebells, native goldenrods, sunflowers, aster varieties and skunk cabbage although herbaceous perennials are limited by mammalian predation. Flowering shrubs include native viburnum, fringe tree and winterberry for invertebrates and birds, caged in wire hardware cloth to protect them from deer. Shrubs that are most valuable to birds and insects, blueberry and chokeberry, and species specific milkweed for monarch butterflies also are grown. Trees that are of the greatest value to caterpillars, insects and birds, the keystone species, include native oak, hickory, beech, willow and dogwood. An annual count of the variety of moths living on the property measures the success and progress of rewilding. In 2022 there were 1,199 different moth species, or 44 percent of the varieties native to Pennsylvania. Sixty species of birds have been counted. Additional books by Doug Tallamy include "Bringing Nature Home-How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants" (Timber Press, January 1, 2009); "The Woods in Your Backyard: Learning to Create and Enhance Natural Areas Around your Home" Second Edition (NRAES, January 1, 2015); "The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of our Most Essential Native Trees" (Timber Press. March 30, 2021); and "The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Diversity in the Home Garden" Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy (Timber Press, July 1, 2014). Persons associated with the garden's design: Doug and Cindy Tallamy.