Nature in Our Neighborhoods logo
Citizens in Action!

Whether you live in an apartment, condo, multi-family or single home, you can support and sustain local wildlife in ways ranging from super-easy (see Quick Tip) to multi-year ecological restoration. Help us populate the case study portfolio below with real stories from across the St. Louis region. Doing something to help nature in your neighborhood? Share your project and story

  • apartment/condo – your story here
  • street/neighborhood – your story here
  • vacant lot – Mighty Mississippians
  • community garden – your story here
  • home with yard – your story here
  • subdivision common area – your story here
  • senior living facility – your story here
  • rural property – your story here
  • farm – your story here

Quick Tip: Don't mow your dandelions! Blooming early in the spring, pollen-rich dandelions provide a jump-start for the colony-building efforts of native pollinators like bees. Later in summer, these same insects and their offspring will be pollinating the tomatoes and cucumbers in our gardens.

O DANDELION, rich and haughty,
King of village flowers!
Each day is coronation time,
You have no humble hours.
I like to see you bring a troop
To beat the blue-grass spears,
To scorn the lawn-mower that would be
Like fate’s triumphant shears,
Your yellow heads are cut away,
It seems your reign is o’er.
By noon you raise a sea of stars
More golden than before.

 
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)

Bee on dandelion

 

More resources

  • Brightside St. Louis, Neighbors Naturescaping & In your yard practices 
  • City of St. Louis, Milkweeds for Monarchs: The St. Louis Butterfly Project 
  • City of St. Louis, Sustainable Yard Management Tips (PDF) & Sustainable Neighborhood Grant 
  • Deer Creek Watershed Alliance, Reduce Watershed Pollution 
  • Deer Creek Watershed Alliance, Stream Care Guide for Streamside Landowners 
  • Greenscape Gardens, hummingbird gardens 
  • St. Louis Audubon Society Bring Conservation home 
  • St. Louis Zoo – Guide to Beneficial Pollinators 
  • Missouri Botanical Garden, Kemper Center for Home Gardening 
  • Missouri Botanical Garden, Rainscaping 
  • Missouri Department of Conservation Control Nuisance Wildlife 
  • Missouri Department of Conservation Country Land Care Packet & Greener Communities 
  • Missouri Department of Conservation Wildlife management for MO landowners 
  • Open Space Council Land Trust 
  • Shaw Nature Reserve – Native Plant School