Welcome to Wild Yards, a site dedicated to helping gardeners and homeowners support and preserve the natural world, from the native flowers and plants growing in your ecoregion to the birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife that call your backyard home.
Our mission is to provide expert advice and tips for supporting the plants and animals around you. As wildlife enthusiasts, we believe that working with nature is the best path toward sustainability. Re-wilding your lawn by choosing native plants for your landscape offers local wildlife their preferred foods and nesting places. This makes it easy for you to attract more of these critters to your backyard where you can observe them from the comfort of your home.
There’s nothing quite like seeing woodpeckers, butterflies, squirrels, and hummingbirds in action. Turning your property into a wild yard with the help of native plants (and a few other measures!) will provide you with endless opportunities to experience these magnificent creatures up close and personal. And did you know that letting your lawn grow wild can actually make maintaining your landscaping a lot easier, too? It’s true!
If you’ve struggled to keep your flowers alive in the past, you’re not alone. Many homeowners choose plants based on their appearance, rather than their care requirements, only to become frustrated when those plants die. But the great thing about using native plants in your garden is that not only do they take care of the local wildlife, but they can also take care of themselves. When you re-wild your landscape and learn to grow with nature, you’ll be surprised how quickly your thumb turns green!
We believe that, as humans, we have the responsibility to take care of the environment. The easiest and most effective way to do that is by creating a wild yard. Our goal is to work with nature. But, as avid gardeners ourselves, we also understand that sometimes nature can work against us.
If you’ve ever had your tomato plants destroyed by aphids, or your strawberry crop decimated by blackbirds, you know that supporting nature while also trying to protect your garden from it can be a tough line to walk. Creating a wild yard isn’t always easy. But we’re here to help you every step of the way, no matter what problems you’re facing.
With years of experience weeding, watering, and sowing seeds, we started out as newbie gardeners just like you, and we weren’t always successful. We’ve made just about every mistake there is to make. But, after years of experience, we’ve learned all the great organic gardening tricks along the way, and we’re thrilled to be able to share them with you.
No matter what your skill level is as a gardener, and no matter which types of plants you’re trying to grow — from fruits and vegetables to flowers, shrubs, and trees — we have the knowledge to help you make your backyard garden a success naturally, so you can enjoy all of your favorite plants without posing a risk to your local ecosystem or harming native wildlife in the process.
So, whether you want to learn how to support your local flora and fauna, how to attract more wildlife to your backyard, or how to grow your favorite fruits and vegetables organically, we’re here to help!
Founded and operated by two nature enthusiasts, Rob Frankson and Michelle Sanders, Wild Yards is on a mission to educate readers about the importance of supporting local wildlife.
At Wild Yards, we want to help you create a backyard space that supports nature but still works for you.
You don’t have to surrender your property to nature to be environmentally friendly. But you don’t have to have a perfectly manicured lawn to have a gorgeous landscape, either. At Wild Yards, we want people to know that you can enjoy the best of both worlds.
With backgrounds in wildlife advocacy, gardening, and landscaping, we’re excited to be able to help our readers create the wildlife-friendly backyards of their dreams. Check out the driving forces behind our operation.
Rob’s love of all things outdoors inspired him to create Wild Yards.
With a passion for birdwatching, Rob’s interest in hawks, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, and other flying feathered creatures has driven him to educate others about the marvels of the natural world.
Growing up in Vermont, Rob spent most of his childhood exploring the lush forests and hiking trails of the Green Mountains on camping trips with his family. There, his love for avians grew after a rare daytime encounter with a Northern Saw-Whet owl, a species that is notoriously elusive.
Birds will always hold a special place in Rob’s heart, but he knows that deer, squirrels, and other critters are just as important. Every animal plays a critical role in the food chain, and the ecosystem as a whole. Rob aims to educate Wild Yard’s readers on the various roles that wildlife play in the environment, to preserve our ecosystems for generations to come.
Now a homeowner and gardener, Rob spends his mornings enjoying coffee on his back porch, observing the warblers and sparrows that like to visit his suet feeders. In the afternoons, Rob can be found exploring local nature trails and identifying animal tracks.
Rob’s unwavering commitment to sharing his love for wildlife with others is the driving force behind Wild Yards. Rob’s mission is to instill in others a deep understanding and respect for the intricate and entwined relationship between plants, animals, and mankind.
With a background in landscaping and gardening, Michelle Sanders has experience growing fruits and vegetables organically and specializes in creating pollinator-friendly flower beds designed to attract bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
Michelle knows that the right landscape can support local wildlife and increase a home’s property value at the same time. She is dedicated to educating her readers about the importance of growing native plants, and how such a seemingly small act can improve an ecosystem from the bottom up.
A Texas native, Michelle has experience cultivating successful gardens in all types of environmental conditions — from extreme heat to severe dry spells and torrential flooding.
Michelle understands that working with the environment is the best way to support nature. She is enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge of plants, pollinators, and gardening with Wild Yard’s readers, and encouraging them to get outdoors where they can witness the marvels of nature for themselves.
Rob and Michelle are on a mission to instill in others a greater appreciation for the wonderful wild world around us.
With our extensive knowledge of wildlife, plants, and organic gardening, we’ve teamed up to create Wild Yards, a place where we can educate others about how they can create beautiful landscapes and successful gardens and support their local wildlife in the process.
Wildlife is something to be protected. But it’s also something to be enjoyed!
We want to empower our readers and motivate them to get their hands in the dirt and experience the outdoors. We want to encourage you to get outside, breathe in the fresh air, and discover what makes nature special to you.
We’re glad you’re here to learn along with us, and we invite you to share your own Wild Yard experiences, and what the great outdoors mean to you.
If you have any questions or if you’d like to see us cover a certain topic, feel free to get in touch by sending us an email, or commenting on a post. Thanks for stopping by, we hope you’ve enjoyed your stay!
Helping you create the perfect backyard for yourself & your local ecosystem.
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