Those of you who are interested in encouraging native plant gardens in your region might find some inspiration in World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) “In the Zone” program. The organizers help people transform their outdoor spaces with native plants that support wildlife and restore healthy ecosystems.
A few common barriers with respect to growing native plants are the following:
- Lack of knowledge about which plant species are native
- Lack of knowledge about the interdependencies between native plants and animals
- Lack of availability of native plants at garden centres
WWF has partnered with Carolinian Canada and many other organizations to address these barriers. One of the most powerful partnerships is with Loblaw Companies Ltd. Native plants can now be purchased in 120 Loblaws garden centres in southern and eastern Ontario and 10 in southern Quebec. Each native plant has an “In the Zone” tag for easy identification at the point of purchase.
In the Zone Tag
The “In the Zone” website includes a map of where to find native plants at Loblaw garden centres, a list of native plant species in Ontario and Quebec, a list of pop-up stations in garden centres where gardeners can talk to gardening and wildlife experts, a chance to “Track your impact” using citizen science, and the opportunity to connect to an enthusiastic community of like-minded gardeners.
One element I noticed that was missing was commitments. It would be great to see the organizers encouraging people to commit to growing native plants and then giving them a giveaway like a sticker or something similar so that they can make that commitment visible. This would further bolster social norms around growing native plants.
So what about the results of the program? According to WWF Canada, in 2021, nearly 70,000 native plants were sold in Ontario and Quebec, which was a 60 percent increase compared to the year before. In total, over 37,000 hectares of land are being managed by “In the Zone” participants. This is really encouraging to see, as there are undoubtedly many people who want to do something about climate change and habitat loss but don’t always have avenues to take action.
For more information about the “In the Zone” program, please visit WWF’s website here.
Readers, check out the Portland Oregon Metro area "Backyard Habitat Certification" program. It offers incentives (coupons to local garden stores, lists of places that sell native plants, nursery signage to help customers find the plants in the store, and a social norming yard sign. www.BackyardHabitats.org
Hi Keri, Thank you for sharing information about this program. I found the "Interconnected Properties" map most interesting, showing that if enough people grow native plants, it can have a positive impact by building wildlife corridors. It is good to see all of the CBSM tools they are using, too.
Thanks for sharing this project, Julie! I plan to visit the "In the Zone" program pages to learn more and for ideas to enhance Virginia's native plant marketing efforts. I am coordinating the Plant Virginia Natives Initiative (www.PlantVirginiaNatives.org), which includes regional native planting marketing campaigns using CBSM. Our first campaign on Virginia's Delmarva Peninsula - Plant Eastern Shore Natives - launched in April 2009 was featured in Social Marketing to Protect the Environment: What Works.
That campaign became a model for 9 additional campaigns statewide which employ three main CBSM tools - captivating communications, commitments/social norming and point-of-sale - www.plantvirginianatives.org/virginia-regional-native-plant-campaigns-guides. Not surprisingly, our pre-campaign research identified the same common barriers that the were found in Canada. In terms of commitment, we collect pledges through programs and exhibits (verbally or signatures on a big banner), and those who pledge receive a decal to display publicly as well as a full-color native plant guide for their region and "Please Carry Cards" to use when shopping. image.png62.2 KB An email list from on-line pledges will be useful as we roll out other campaign materials - we are about to release a 2 min animated video on the habitat benefits of native trees - and we will reach out when we conduct a survey to help measure behavior change. (We are currently designing a tool for Northern Virginia.) Developing a tool to Signage and plants tags or stickers are part of our point of sale work with centers but demand is far outpacing supply. (A Virginia Native Plant Provider Survey will go out soon.) We are currently piloting a Garden Center Liaison Program with Master Naturalists to continue building rapport with retail partners and to keep the line of communications open.
We also are responding to people who are now excited to plant native but who are new to gardening. To help break down the new barrier of "where do I start with landscaping with natives," we are adding more info to our growing website to meet that blossoming need. I love the puns that naturally come with this work!
The second facet of the Plant Virginia Native Initiative is a public-private marketing partnership to identify and prioritize opportunities to collaborate on Virginia native plant communication and marketing efforts and form cohesive and coordinated messaging and strategies to increase local availability and use of native plants state-wide. See www.plantvirginianatives.org/about-virginia-native-plant-marketing-partnership (the partnership's Action Plan and a factsheet on the regional native plant campaign marketing model are downloadable). I would be happy to answer any questions and share more details - Virginia Witmer, Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, [email protected].
Two other thoughts. The program also embraced equity, by eventually adding a sliding scale fee to zero cost (even though the fee to enter was modest $35 to offset the budget cost for a technician's visit). It also serves Apartments and is moving towards helping balcony dwellers with container options. Second, low to no cost native plant sales have been offered annually to help people begin adding plants into their landscape.
Hi Keri, This is fantastic. I'm not sure that folks managing behaviour change programs always think of equity issues, so that is so good to hear. Apartment dwellers is another demographic that may be overlooked. It sounds like your program is doing as much as possible to remove barriers to participation. Love this!
Hi Virginia, These campaigns are really impressive. The native plant guides that you have developed are very high quality and useful, I'm sure, to so many gardeners. It is great to see that you are encouraging commitments via pledges and giveaways like those beautiful decals. And I have no doubt that the public-private partnership will go a long way to encouraging more native plant purchases. There seems to be so much latent demand for this that you are tapping into -- it's exciting!
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