Prairie Up

It's been a while since I introduced myself and my work -- and in between we've had lots of new folks join us. What you SHOULD do is join the newsletter and don't let Meta control your life (link in comments).

I'm Benjamin Vogt, natural / native plant garden designer based in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. My locale does not mean what I share is Great Plains / Midwest only, as so much of what we discuss can and should be translated to ecoregions beyond my tallgrass, and I say as much in books and classes.

I'm the author of two books; the best-selling Prairie Up which is the newbie / practical how, and A New Garden Ethic which is the philosophical / activist why. In early 2027 my third garden-related book will arrive titled Unlawn America: A Grassroots Guide to Rewilding Your Yard; it will be a mix of history / research / activism as well as deeper, practical guidance that builds off of Prairie Up.

My design work has been featured in places like Better Homes and Gardens, Dwell, Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Midwest Living, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. I speak internationally for a wide variety of organizations, and offer tons of free / low cost / not so low cost resources on the website to help folks unlawn America from the ground up. Booklets, classes, design workshop, webinars, monthly Q&A chat with me, shirts and signs and mugs -- it's a rethinking pretty party. And you can always hire me to help you transform your lawn, long distance or locally.

I believe native plants are critical to sustainable design, are in fact an ethical component to rewilding areas where we live, work, and play, but won't be militant about it (while there was a time when I would be mega hard core, I'm simply now trying to walk the walk and lead by extreme example, which seems to irk some folks even more). Have a daylily your grandma passed down to you? Go for it. I only know of one plant police and that's city and county w**d control -- which I have a lot to say about in the new book.

So welcome! I don't hold back, I believe in stuff like the interrelationship between climate change, mass extinction, human supremacy, oligarchy, sexism, and racism (eco feminism, deep ecology) that inform all of my work -- well, read A New Garden Ethic.

Plant something. I dare you.