My grandmothers didn’t have much, but they both loved to garden. They didn’t have money for fancy cultivars or expensive pesticides and fertilizers. So, they gardened naturally, using nature’s own methods to raise the beautiful flowers that they loved. They grew plants from seed, saved seed from year to year, used natural fertilizers, and practiced crush planting to keep down weeds. They weren’t necessarily gardening for wildlife, but their natural methods meant that their gardens were enjoyed by bees and butterflies, birds and earthworms, garter snakes and small mammals. They understood that nature was fertile beyond our wildest dreams. A garden wasn’t a garden if it wasn’t overflowing with greenery and exploding with life. My grandmothers both died before I ever owned my own home and began gardening myself, but they were my prime inspiration to garden and a big reason that I garden for wildlife today.