{"id":22341,"date":"2026-03-18T11:17:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/?p=22341"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:17:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:17:53","slug":"becoming-more-connected-with-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/becoming-more-connected-with-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming More Connected With Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">SPRING IS FINALLY HERE<\/h3>\n<p>I can\u2019t stress this point enough. Give your brain a break. Leave your technology gadgets inside and go outside and walk around your gardens. Listen to nature: the birds, the bees humming, the wind blowing through the trees. Get some good Vitamin D from the sun. Appreciate nature and everything it offers us.<\/p>\n<p>This spring, let us all do more to support nature, our birds, our bees, and our wildlife. I am totally convinced that without them, we could not exist.<\/p>\n<p>Have you heard of the word BIODIVERSITY? Biodiversity is all about connecting with nature. It is about the newfound appreciation for Earth\u2019s precious resources and for nature. What I see trending in horticulture is people wanting to cut back on high-maintenance gardening that requires a lot of watering, fertilizing, and way too many chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>I have been in the horticultural business for a long time. One of the strongest gardening trends of the past few years is people wanting to plant more native plants. Here we are in 2026 and I sense this wonderful gardening trend becoming more and more popular. Shoppers come into our garden center and will ask about native plants. They have either talked to a friend or relative or watched a show on tv about all the benefits of planting more native plants.<\/p>\n<p>We pride ourselves with our enormous selection of native plants \u2013 perennials, shrubs, and trees that we have to offer this spring. In addition to having native plants, customers are becoming more conscientious and more knowledgeable about alternative fertilizers and chemicals. Organic products are becoming more popular. I love this trend and I don\u2019t see if coming to an end.<\/p>\n<p>My challenge to you is just to start thinking on how you can start becoming more connected with nature with your gardens and landscape. Plant more flowering perennials and annuals this spring that are beneficial to bees, butterflies, and birds. And let yourself enjoy your creation knowing that you are beginning to connect with nature and doing your part to protect our environment. The, let this \u201cbug\u201d get to you and start thinking of all the ways that you can re-connect with nature and start using less water, fertilizers, and chemicals in your landscape.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>PLANT A LITTLE PEACE AND HAPPINESS THIS SPRING!!!!!!!!!!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/\">To read more posts from Doug, visit our blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/hours-locations\/big-great-greenhouse-in-richmond-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Return to the Great Big Greenhouse homepage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SPRING IS FINALLY HERE I can\u2019t stress this point enough. Give your brain a break. Leave your technology gadgets inside and go outside and walk around your gardens. Listen to nature: the birds, the bees humming, the wind blowing through the trees. Get some good Vitamin D from the sun. Appreciate nature and everything it &#8230; <a title=\"Becoming More Connected With Nature\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/becoming-more-connected-with-nature\/\" aria-label=\"More on Becoming More Connected With Nature\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gardening-with-doug","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Becoming More Connected With Nature - The Great Big Greenhouse Gardening Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This spring, let us all do more to support nature, our birds, our bees, and our wildlife.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/becoming-more-connected-with-nature\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Becoming More Connected With Nature - 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