Founder Owen Williams

Owen has a wide variety of experience working with natural systems, ecology and gardening.  This includes meadow creation and management, forest restoration, prescribed burns, non-native invasive plant removal, gardening, tree planting, ecological restoration, stream restoration, habitat enhancement and wildlife management.

The PHILOSOPHY and native plants

We believe that transforming urban or suburban spaces into functioning meadow ecosystems simultaneously improves our community's quality of life and supports positive environmental change.  Nature provides valuable services to our communities known as "ecosystem services" and they include improving air and water quality, moderating extreme temperatures, reducing flooding and erosion, capturing carbon, supporting wildlife and pollinators, and providing beautiful recreational spaces.  Native Meadows has taken inspiration from the spirit of Douglas Tallamy's book, Bringing Nature Home in which Tallamy explains the benefits of transforming traditional yards and gardens into native plant based alternatives. 

We use only native plants in our meadows because this ensures that the meadow ecosystem will have the best chance of surviving local weather, climate, and soil conditions - reducing the burden on the gardener to provide water, fertilizer or pesticides.  In addition, native plants support our native biodiversity - plant and animal species evolved alongside each other in communities with specific relationships.  For example, Monarch butterflies pollinate and lay eggs on milkweed plants because they evolved together.  We can help protect the biodiversity of the Mid-Atlantic region by planting common native plants that have supported populations of many kinds of wildlife for millenia.  By protecting biodiversity in the Mid-Atlantic, we will be protecting biodiversity in other parts of the world - For example, migrating birds that stop in D.C. to find food and shelter during their journey will have a better chance to survive at their destination in South America or Northern Canada!