Creating a thriving home landscape that supports birds, bees, and butterflies requires thoughtful planning and sustainable gardening practices. This presentation will explore how to design and maintain a habitat that provides essential food sources, shelter, and nesting sites for pollinators and wildlife. Learn how to select native plants, incorporate diverse flowering species, and minimize pesticide use to create a balanced ecosystem that fosters biodiversity. By making small, intentional changes in your yard, you can contribute to the conservation of these vital species while enjoying a beautiful and dynamic outdoor space.

Greg Grant is an award-winning horticulturist, writer, conservationist, bulb farmer, and seventh-generation East Texan. He has a bachelor’s degree in floriculture, a master’s degree in horticulture, and a PhD in forestry. He is the author of In Greg’s Garden: A Pineywoods Perspective on Gardening, Nature, and Family and Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, and co-author of Heirloom Gardening in the South, Texas Home Landscaping, The Southern Heirloom Garden, and The Rose Rustlers. He also writes the popular “In Greg’s Garden” column for Texas Gardener magazine, a weekly garden column in the Tyler Morning Telegraph, and writes a monthly “Greg’s Ramblings” blog. His real job however is the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Tyler, Texas where he is coordinator of the Smith County Master Gardener volunteer program and director of the Tyler Botanical Garden.

Greg and his wife live in the Pineywoods of Deep East Texas in his grandparents’ old farmhouse, where he tends his Rebel Eloy Emanis Pine Savanna and Bird Sanctuary, a bluebird trail, an heirloom bulb farm, a dozen chickens, two cats, and a Jack Russell terrier.