Building off of last year’s Tiny Remnants series which looked at individual native plants and the creatures who love them, … Big Impact looks at what happens when native plants collect and work together — in prairies, wetlands, woodlands, and our home gardens.

Each painting is inspired by migratory species that have come through my yard and a nearby newly restored wetland. It chronicles sandhill cranes and the wetlands, hummingbirds and the woodland, and monarchs and the prairie as they successfully find mates in their summer home—my home.

• I planted milkweed and saw monarch eggs and caterpillars.

• I planted native flowers and saw nectaring butterflies.

• I planted a prairie and saw mating monarchs—saw them reach the pinnacle of their lives, the defining moment, the beginning of the super generation that flies to Mexico and propels their kind into the future.

When we garden for wildlife, we consciously create habitat in a world where it is dwindling, supporting complex life processes like the monarch’s. The bigger the species, the larger the remnants they need. We can restore our own yards and also advocate for the preservation of nearby remnants and restoration of farmland, empty lawns, and storm drains.*

By planting for big impact, we remember the past and protect our future.

*Click here for more ideas of what you can do to have big impact.