Reston, Va. – To celebrate the 50th anniversary, the National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife program recognizes the top five cities that have registered the most certified wildlife habitats as Austin (3,150), Charlotte (1,561), Indianapolis (1,433), Seattle (1,255) and Atlanta (1,210). Together, wildlife gardeners in these cities have created 8,609 certified spaces that provide pollinators and other animals with food, water, shelter and places to raise young while cultivating native plants and sustainable gardening practices. Learn more about each city’s success.

“The 50th anniversary of Garden for Wildlife is a monumental milestone in a movement that propels the value of native plant habitat to create a legacy benefiting wildlife and the planet,” said Mary Philips, head of the Garden for Wildlife Program with the National Wildlife Federation. “Wildlife gardeners in these communities are shining examples of the cumulative impact even small changes can have. They serve as an inspiration to others and continue to drive the expansion of gardening for wildlife across the nation.”

“Unlike conventional garden landscapes, Certified Wildlife Habitats® provide an abundance of benefits for surrounding environments across the nation. And we should be planting these gardens with the utmost importance for the sake of the climate change and biodiversity crisis our world faces,” says, Dr. Doug Tallamy, professor of entomology at the University of Delaware and co-founder of Homegrown National Park. “Humanity can no longer depend on the conservation in parks or federal lands, and needs to include private land. Whether it’s your backyard or front yard, if you are an owner of land on earth you have a responsibility to make sure you are doing your part to help the environment.”

Garden for Wildlife is the largest and longest-running movement to provide the essential elements of wildlife habitat where people work, play, live and worship and reaches far beyond these five cities. Across the United States more than 287,000 properties have been certified, with interest in gardening for wildlife growing year after year.

Research from the 2022 National Gardening Survey, conducted by the National Garden Association and the University of New Hampshire Survey Center on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, shows 35 percent of respondents are investing in plants that are beneficial to bees, butterflies and birds, a ten percent increase from 2021. The number of people purchasing native plants mirrored results from 2021 at 26 percent of respondents, up 14 percent from 2019.

To learn about plants native to their region, gardeners can utilize the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder and Keystone Plants by ecoregion created in partnership with Doug Tallamy, whose work has helped catalyze a growing native plant movement. For resources by state, you can view National Wildlife Federations’ network of state affiliates active in Garden for Wildlife or utilize the Garden for Wildlife, Inc. collections of native plants shipped to consumers in 38 states.