Joseph Hatch Joe enjoys vegetable gardening, beekeeping, and fiddling with stringed acoustic instruments, and especially reading and learning about nature. Joe is both an environmental advocate and Michigan master naturalist. A curious artist at heart, his love of nature builds the more he learns and explores the relationships, rhythms and patterns found in the plants and animals around us.
Kevin Cooper Kevin grew up in the Midwest, graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014, and now owns a small worker co-op building websites for NGOs. He lives in Ann Arbor with his partner and two small cats who walk on a leash and do tricks. Kevin also performs improv comedy with a local troupe.
Gina Neshewat Gina moved to Ypsilanti in 2019. Before then she spent most of her time in Ann Arbor, walking in its glorious parks and beyond, but never really thinking about how the ecology worked.
After moving to Ypsilanti she went from a 20×10 yard to over 2 acres, and that is when the adventure began. Initially just wanting to identify trees, she invited her friend Robb to walk through the woods with her. From there he explained which trees were which and much more. He eventually connected Gina to Billy when it was clear she was really into this work, and they became fast plant friends.
Since that first walk through the woods in Ypsilanti, Gina has never looked at nature the same and has become a strong supporter of native and local biodiversity.
Royal Oak
Ann E. Bueche Ann has appreciated plants and gardens for as long as she can remember. From childhood experiments with growing plants to tending houseplants and gardens throughout her life, her curiosity about plants has always been present.
Her deeper interest in native plants and ecological restoration began in 2015 after returning to Michigan from Colorado and noticing a sharp decline in bees and butterflies. Reading Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy and learning from native plant advocates helped set her on a path toward habitat gardening and ecological restoration.
Ann serves on the Planning Commission and the Sustainability and Climate Action Task Force for the City of Royal Oak. She is also an independent consultant specializing in program design, training, outreach and strategy.
Grosse Pointe Park
Kelly Konieczki Kelly is an outdoor educator who is passionate about pollinators and environmental stewardship. She enjoys helping people of all ages get involved in community science and tune into the relationships that exist within the natural world. Kelly is excited to help create pollinator pathways in her community and looks forward to connecting with others who want to support pollinators and habitat.
What makes native food forest special? By William Kirst, Executive Director
One of the truly amazing aspects of living in the southern lower peninsula of Michigan is our surprisingly diverse and beautiful ecosystems. Within rather short stretches one can go from dry, sandy, sparsely-treed oak barrens to lush and verdant sedge dominated fens, from beech and sugar maple forests with stunning displays of spring ephemeral wildflower to conifer swamp dominated by white cedar. Among these ecosystem types reside two that are especially pertinent to the topic of food forests: oak savannas and oak-hickory woodlands.
This massive white oak was likely part of an extensive savanna food forest. It could be again.
In many ways you could consider these the original food forests of the Great Lakes region. The importance of the food that comes from the two dominant species here, oaks and hickories, can not be overstated. The fruit of each species, acorns and nuts, respectively, were primary sources of nutrition for indigenous peoples. Acorns were ground into a flour and eaten as a porridge or bread and hickory nuts were boiled into a sweet and fatty milk, among many other uses for both.
Common violets… a common source of leafy greens and delicious little flowers.
Black Raspberries are the easiest to grow of our native berries. You should definitely have a patch growing somewhere near you if you don’t currently. They’re delicious, nutritious, beautiful, fairly magical and mostly not as thorny as roses…
That’s just two tree genuses. There are so many more. How about Tilia leaves, Juneberries, Hazelnuts, Currants, Raspberries, Blueberries, Paw Paw among other woody species? How about Alliums, Tradescantia, Groundnuts, Sunchokes, Violets, Milkweeds, Cattails? SO MUCH FOOD.
Now all that food, while being clearly delicious for us, is also delicious to so many other animals. And guess what? Yup, you know it. Those animals are the MOST nutritious foods from the food forest. Deer, Bear, Moose, Bison (seriously, Bison used to live in Michigan), Beavers and Rabbits, Geese, Duck, Turkey, Swans, Turtles and Fish for days. The ecosystems were simply so incredibly productive that food was literally all around.
Deer. A great source of protein in the Oak Savanna.
The communities living here cultivated what the colonists saw as ‘wild’ land, saving and selecting for the most productive trees and the bushes with the sweetest fruits. In doing so, they also cultivated the abundance of animals around them. Are deer a problem in your garden? Maybe it’s time to consider them a nutritious part of your garden…
So the thing that makes native food forests so special is that they simply ARE our forests. They provide for all of life, not just human. Thus, they fully support us, mind, body and soul. Mind as we learn the other beings around us and how they work. Body as their giving of their lives supports our living. And Soul as we connect through our Mind and Body to every other living being around us.
Late winter is a quiet, spacious time — perfect for dreaming about the growing season ahead. As you enjoy these slower days, begin imagining spring color, buzzing pollinators, and the way your garden will feel in the sun.
This is a great moment to sketch out ideas, explore our Garden Layout resources, start a few seeds indoors, and envision how you want your space to grow. A little planning now brings confidence (and beauty) when the warmer days arrive.
What’s an invasive species? How about an ‘adventive’ plant? Native…to where? We’ll get into the weeds, figuratively and thematically, and then round out the evening with resources and ways to get involved. Some species we may touch on include: Celastrus orbiculatus (bittersweet), Phragmites australis, and our old favorites, Rhamnus cathartica (buckthorn) & Lonicera species (honeysuckles).
Where: ICC Ed Center 1522 Hill St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104
What’s an invasive species? How about an ‘adventive’ plant? Native…to where? We’ll get into the weeds, figuratively and thematically, and then round out the evening with resources and ways to get involved. Some species we may touch on include: Celastrus orbiculatus (bittersweet), Phragmites australis, and our old favorites, Rhamnus cathartica (buckthorn) & Lonicera species (honeysuckles).
Accessibility: RSV, flu and COVID are running rampant, so masking is recommended (masks will be available).
Parking is available on side streets. The first floor of the Ed Center is handicap accessible but has 3 carpeted stairs to the living room. The upstairs of the Ed Center is accessible only by stairs. Feel free to reach out to info@adaptecology.org for more details or if you have questions. Zoom link may be be available if there is enough interest.
If you received a service in 2025, we kindly ask that you wait until 2027 to submit another request. Thank you for understanding — this helps us connect more people to native plants and expand our reach.
First things first, when using herbicide please follow all directions on the label. Herbicides are useful but gross tools and you should only use them when they are needed and use them responsibly
Now that that is out of the way, let’s talk about the technique. This is a technique used for the removal of naughty invasive plants in areas where pulling or spraying would be ineffective or damaging. Examples of this could be newly seeded prairies, high-quality natural areas or with species such as Canada thistle, purple loosestrife or phragmites. These deep rooted and/or rhizomatous perennials cannot be realistically managed by pulling. You may be able to get a portion of the plants out of the ground but the rhizome remains and will continue to put out new growth. As you can see from the video, this technique delivers a targeted application to the specific plants you wish to kill. No innocent plants (sweet sweet sensitive native species) were harmed in the filming of this video!
It’s important to note that this isn’t a one time treatment for any particular species. There will be rhizomes that resprout, seeds in the ground that will germinate, and you’ll always miss a few plants the first time around. Always monitor your landscape and keep track of the effectiveness of your work. A few thoughtful, well-timed treatments over the course of a few years can drastically reduce and eventually completely eliminate target species.
Pro Tips:
-Always work backwards through the area being treated. Don’t walk through plants you’ve just wicked. -Snap the flowering heads of the plants and leave them dangling so you can see the areas and plants already treated. -Feel good, you’re finally about to get rid of that Canada thistle that’s been bothering you for years.
Equipment needed: fore-arm length, chemical resistant gloves one cloth glove glyphosate spray bottle Personal Protective Equipment – Long sleeve shirt – Chemical apron – Glasses – Mask (won’t protect from aerosols unless it’s a respirator). Remember that the most important thing is to be involved with your landscape. Learn, care and interact. If this video has been helpful to you, please consider making a donation. We offer a variety of ecological services including small garden installations and garden kits free of charge! Toss a few dollars in the pot and help us help others!
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) is one of our earliest spring wildflowers. Enjoy its ephemeral nature!
As the days grow warm so too does our desire to plant. But hold your horses there friends! The vast majority of native plant producers start their seeds in unheated greenhouses. This allows the plants to germinate early and get a head start on the growing season while also being relatively in sync with their natural timing. However, it still takes these plants about 3 months to grow large enough to distribute to us, the hungry masses. That means that in colder climates, say Michigan for example, plants aren’t ready until mid-May at the earliest, sometimes we have to wait until late May or early June! Ugh. It truly is a hard-fought moral virtue to have patience at this time!
Until the baby plants are hardy enough to go to their forever homes, we have been hard at work preparing for another growing season of creation, restoration and connection.
Service Request Form is Open
Many of you have received one of our services in the past. Some of you may have requested one but it was unable to be fulfilled. Maybe you have friends, family or neighbors who might be interested in a deeper connection with their land – or at least getting a free garden. We are accepting requests and would love to fill up our slots ASAP. Please pass this information along. Below are links to the Service Request Form and our Facebook announcement.
We knew it would be a big year with the launch of Adapt Landscape but WOW this has been extraordinary. In addition to the 200 free micromeadow plantings and garden kits, and 200 native trees and shrubs will be installing in our member communities, we will be installing 35 large gardens in Michigan including a 2 acre prairie planting. In total we’ve ordered over 9000 plants to be installed just this spring!
As restoring our ecosystems through native planting gardening has become more popular, so too has the demand for plants. So much in fact that the demand is outpacing the supply. Each year certain species sell out earlier and earlier despite the best efforts of the producers to grow more and more. Here’s another place where hard-fought patience is a great moral virtue. If you can’t find what you need right now, don’t worry about it. Don’t find a replacement. Place your orders at your local native plant producer for fall planting within the next few weeks and get those plants guaranteed!
It’s barely spring, we haven’t put a plant in the ground and yet we will be placing our fall orders in just a few weeks! Get yours in before we do or we will take ALL the Carex rosea.
Visit our homepage (https://adaptecology.org/ ) and click on the location nearest you to find a list of recommended native plant sellers. We highly recommend avoiding conventional garden centers and nurseries. In addition to not selling appropriate native species, many or most of those plants are produced using insecticides including neonicotinoids. Bad news all around. Best to simply avoid!
Past Recipients, We have a Request.
Did you receive a garden kit or micromeadow planting? We want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience, ask any questions you may have…
PLEASE SEND US PHOTOS!!!
It is our sincerest hope that our connection with each other can last well beyond the short time we have together in person. Send us questions here or contact your local Community Leader to say hello and keep in touch.
If you are on Facebook, join our online community called The Adapters. You can ask questions, share photos, request and share resources like tools, plants, books, help.
The short answer is … it depends. We’d like to take you through a few examples and hopefully one is right for your situation. Remember, first and foremost, that you are working with a space that should give you energy, that you should be proud of, that you should enter and exit with great feelings about what you’ve brought into existence and care for. Think about your situation holistically. Elements that may not seem to be part of the garden can still have a profound impact on your feelings in the garden. Think of the humans around you. They are as much a part of your garden as all the plants, animals and microbes.
Situation 1: The Trailblazer.
You are the first person with a native plant garden in your community. Everyone already thought you were a little weird. Now, they KNOW it. You truly do want the best for all the plants and animals out there, you even think about FUNGI and all their cute mycelium that’s stretching for millions of miles in the soil. You know that there are overwintering insects in the stems of all the plants that you thoughtfully left stand over the winter. You also know it’s not quite warm enough yet to cut them down.
Cut them down.
Your orientation at this point should be toward your human neighbors. You want them to feel as best as THEY can about YOUR landscape. Let’s just barely push the boundary and engage their curiosity, interest and questions. Let’s not run them over with a prairie and then smack them in the face with all the dead stems. We need to get these neighbors on with living diversity before we get into the fact that dead plant debris is a functional and sorely needed aspect of diversity (and, when you learn to see, it’s beautiful as well).
Situation 2: The Tentative Explorer
You’ve planted a garden and live in a community where gardens are fairly common but not the norm. Some people leave their stems up, others are tidying the moment the thermometer hits 45 on a sunny day. You are unsure what to do. You think the morally correct action is to leave the stems up. But it feels wrong to you for whatever reason.
Cut down to 12-18 inches.
This will provide some habitat while also tidying up the look. The height you leave is up to you. Remember, this is your garden. You need to feel good about your landscape as you will convey whatever energy resides inside of you. If you feel good about it, others will too. Take the time to figure out what is making you feel off and try your best to address it. If it’s simply that you like it tidying, that’s OK! Keep in mind that fire regularly swept across vast tracts of this country. Your shears pale in destructive force next to fire.
Situation 3: The Woke City Dweller
You live in a city where gardens are the norm, more are being built every year, the council supported No Mow May (please don’t do it again), and vegetation height ordinances have exceptions for native plants. Your garden is BUCK WILD.
Leave ⅓ for the whole year, cut ⅓ at 12-18 inches, completely tidy ⅓.
You have the opportunity to create a mosaic of different habitat opportunities. Go for it. Be sure to rotate the areas year after year so that debris isn’t building up for more than 3 years in any particular spot. However, all native grasses should have the dead stems and leaves around and above them removed at least every 18 months or they will start to lose vigor.
Be sure to keep vegetation near sidewalks and driveways shorter, even though your city allows you to let it grow. We need to think of our community members who feel the least comfortable and make sure we take care of them.
Situation 4: The Rural Prairie or Woodland.
You lucky sonofa… You got your acreage complete with a forest and prairie and old field and chickens and an F250 Superduty Crewcab with a 5 ½ foot bed that you use to take the kids to soccer practice in the city. I hate you because I want to be you.
Consult local prescribed fire contractors and set fire to a portion of the prairie and, if a fire dependent ecosystem (i.e. oak forests), the woods every year. Learn from the contractors how to do it yourself if local law allows AND it is safe to do so. If fire is not allowed, mow the portion of the prairie that should get burned in any particular year. Selectively cut saplings in the woods to allow for greater light penetration to the forest floor. Always be on the lookout for invasive species!
You get to participate in the flow of life as your location encourages. Give into the flow and enjoy life
Events in the Ann Arbor Area
April 12th, “Nature in Our Neighborhood: The Heritage of Our Place in the World and How We Can Support Abundant Natural Communities” by Community Leader Jonathan Parker. Preceded at 6:30 p.m. by a potluck; bring a dish to pass. 7:15 PM talk. Pittsfield Grange, 3337 Ann Arbor–Saline Rd.
April 16th, Earth Day Ypsilanti 4. Ypsilanti Freight House, 100 Market Pl, Ypsilanti, MI 12PM-5PM.
April 26th Argus Farm Stop, Packard Cafe. 1200 Packard St, Ann Arbor. William will be giving a talk on preparing your garden for native planting. Spoiler alert! It’s very different from conventional landscaping advice. 6:30 PM.
We hope the longer days and warmer weather are lifting your spirits like they are ours. We look forward to a new season of planting with you!
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One of the three pillars of our mission at Adapt is to plant native and perennial edible gardens, for free, for those who would like to begin the process of healing their land but may not have the expertise, time, or funds to see a project through.
Thanks to our growing and generous community of supporters, we have funding this year to offer over 200 fifty square foot micro-meadow gardens and kits in our Adapt communities. Our hope is that these small, easily understood and fun to care for plantings will create and connect native habitat, increase local food resiliency, and provide fertile ground for a growing restoration of our relationship to the land.
Please share this with anyone you know who would be interested.
You can request a free garden, consultation or garden kit on our homepage. The volunteer leader of your region will contact you to set up a time to discuss details.
Please consider becoming a supporter so that we may continue to offer our services to more people in more communities. It’s EASY PEASY and you’ll sleep well at night knowing your dollars are going toward building native plant gardens and a culture of ecological wisdom.
We believe that each of us, and each plot of land, is vital to a healthy future. Adapt exists to sustain and promote the connections between people and the land that supports us through community co-creation of native plant and perennial food landscapes.
Through crowdfunding, education and volunteer effort, we aim to build a community network that supports the restoration of native plant and perennial food landscapes on small parcels of privately- and publicly-owned land where there might otherwise not be the resources to do so.
WHO WANTS A GARDEN?! 
