The program encourages gardeners to use native plants in their gardens for the sake of our environment and to help save the declining numbers of insects that visit native plants.

Native gardening is not Ken Wellnitz's profession, but in recent years it has become very important to him. He has been a flower gardener for many years and his yard now is about 70% flower gardens with a small vegetable garden and raspberry patch. His first gardening experience was gardening with his mother who had a relatively large flower garden on the farm. Years later after purchasing houses, he began to make some small flower and vegetable gardens but started to really get into flower gardens after he purchased his current house in 1995. A good share of the yard is now in flower gardens, at first with only interest in the flower. He began to see the need for native plants around 2015. Around 2015, he planted some milkweed due to the decline of the Monarch butterfly that is now on the endangered species list. In 2019, he then became serious about converting the flower beds to native plants with the goal to have 80% of the flower beds being native. Ken joined Wild Ones Quad City chapter, whose mission is education in native plant gardens. Please check out the Wild Ones Quad City chapter's website and Facebook page for more information.