Gardening for Birds, Butterflies & Bees

The plight of pollinators and nectar-feeding insects is well known. Honeybees, native bees, monarch butterflies, moths, and many lesser-known insects rely mainly on native plants for survival and reproduction.

About the Presenter, Nina Kozial:

I’m a garden writer and horticulturist who tends plants on a deer-infested acre about 40 miles from Chicago. I’ve been teaching horticulture, design and residential landscape design history at the Chicago Botanic Garden and The Morton Arboretum since 1997.

Why gardening? I was born in Paris, France, to a father who was a life-long, decorated military photographer. (Yes, I was an Army brat.) He met my mother in England during WWII. My grandparents had an incredible garden in Chelmsford, Essex, England, with a lovely greenhouse my grandfather built. I credit my love of all things gardening–plants, birds, insects and clouds–to my mum who encouraged me at age seven to do my science project on the parts of an Impatiens flower. After that, I was hooked.