Gardener by Nature

“A garden is fully alive when it becomes a healthy, functioning ecosystem.”

Dale Batchelor, owner

Gardener by Nature

Welcome! Gardener by Nature offers landscape consultations for those who want a home environment that sustains wildlife and supports the surrounding ecosystem. I also offer workshops and presentations for both beginning and experienced gardeners as well as those new to the Triangle.

I focus on habitat gardening — emphasizing native plants for their benefit to birds and other wildlife and employing sustainable landscape practices that avoid the use of insecticides and chemical fertilizers.

As a frequent contributor to Triangle Gardener Magazine, I write about native plants and their use in landscaping. In my blog, I share my experiences creating habitats in my own and clients’ gardens. My newsletter offers seasonal tips along with upcoming lectures, plant sales, and other events of interest to gardeners. Click below to learn more about the different services I offer.

Garden with Dale

What’s New?

National Wildlife Federation Certified Habitat sign

Restoring Habitat

We enjoy eating breakfast out on our deck while listening to our backyard birds’ calls and songs. Cornell University’s Merlin bird identification app is helping us learn who’s who. We’ve …

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Upcoming Events

Margaret Reid Wildflower Garden Monthly Workday

Join the NC Native Plant Society for garden stewardship and fellowship in this west Raleigh native woodland garden. Inspired by reading “how beautiful North Carolina was when the colonists came” and spurred on by a “desire to have my own woods,” Margaret Reid rescued wildflowers and other native plants from sites across Wake County for more than 50 years as subdivisions and shopping centers gradually displaced farms and woodlands. Reid planted the rescues in groupings that mimic North Carolina’s natural plant communities. Privately owned, but protected by a conservation easement, the garden has been lovingly restored and maintained by the Mackintosh family since Reid’s death in 1995.
September 14, 2024
9 a.m. to noon
1439 Dixie Trail, Raleigh, NC

Open Day at Swiftbrook Gardens

Fall Open Day Visitors are welcome at Swiftbrook Gardens, Sunday, September 22, from 3 to 6 p.m. There is no charge and registration is not required. We’ll celebrate the first day of fall and the late-summer natives flowering in the Habitat Garden. We also expect a good show from our stalwart, and so far deer-resistant, Red Spider Lilies. Garden paths are uneven, so please dress for outdoors and wear comfortable walking shoes.
September 22, 2024
3 to 6 p.m.
5508 Swiftbrook CircleRaleigh, NC 27606
Free
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