Gardening for Nature Consulting Service

Would you like to see your property become more inviting to birds, butterflies and other wildlife? would you appreciate learning more about gardening with native plants suitable for your own home landscape? If so, Gardening for Nature is available to assist you in improving and enhancing your property for wildlife and your yourself. Gardening for Nature's mission is "to inspire and encourage the creation of welcoming habitats in the home landscape through the planting of native plants and providing the essentials that wildlife needs to thrive." Our service includes an on-site property visit, suggested yard design layout, recommended native plant lists, informaiton about native plant sources, and other ecommendation inkeeping with your particular goals.

Our fee, based on a three hour package and including the above services is $135 for properties within 10 miles of The Manada Conservancy office. There is an additional $10/additional 10 mile distance, and for projects taking more than three hours, additional charges of $45/hour. The base fee will be due at the time of the site visit.

To request a Gardening for Nature consultation or for further information, please contact Ann Bodling, our Gardening for Nature consultant, at 717.566-4122 or by email at gardeningfornature@manada.org. We are also available to do programs for local groups about creating wildlife habitat or gardening with native plants. If you are interested in knowing more, please contact Ann.

About Ann Bodling

Most recently, Ann carried out the mandates of The Manada Conservancy's Native Plant Initiative Grant, entitled "Incorporating Native Plant Species into the Built Environment of Manada Conservancy's Focus Area to Counter Loss of Biodiversity Due to Development", a $20,000 grant which was received from the Pennsylvania Wild Resources Conservation Program. Over the period of the grant, Ann assembled a database of native plants for our region, and the conditions under which they thrive, gave presentations to several hundred members of neighborhood groups or homeowners' associations and developed hand-outs for us to make available to anyone interested.

Ann has an extensive knowledge of horticulture, garden design, native plants, ecology and planting for wildlife which she has implemented in her own yard, promoted to groups interested in habitat planting, and utilized in a grant-funded role with the Pa. Game Commission & Natural Resource Conservation Service promoting the planting of conservation cover on erodable farmlands. She is an enthusiastic teacher and enjoys helping others. She is an avid bird-watcher and is President of the Lancaster County Bird Club.