Gardening for Wildlife with Shubber Ali 5/13/2023

Check out more here - Garden for Wildlife by NWF: Shop Plants to Save Wildlife

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome back here in the Garden withRon Wilson, and it is a pleasure.
Two great interviews in a row.I mean this is exciting for me.
Had him on the show a coupleof months ago, just like just
such a nice guy to talk to. Has taken over this new thing.
Garden for Wildlife Incorporated is the newCEO. And we first talked to him.
Uh you know, ever since theneverything has just exploded now all that

(00:24):
they explained to you. Why buthe is the CEO of Garden for Wildlife.
He has a lifelong passion for conservationand a deep understanding of the native
planned industry. As a matter offlact, he says, this little thing
he floats like a butterfly and stingslike a bee. Ladies and gentlemen,
the one and Onlie shubber Ali.Wow, thanks n I was like,

(00:48):
who's he describing? Hey, it'sgreat to be back. Two things before
we get started here. One is, ever since we had you on the
show, everything every green industry andmagazine I pick up you're in it,
which is outstanding. You have justbrought to the I seem like everything I
read is about shubber Ali and allthe great things that you are doing.

(01:08):
So congrats to you, because youknow that was your goal was to come
in here and get this thing firedup and going, and that's exactly what
you are doing. So congratulations forthat. Secondly, I googled you the
other day just to just just checkon shubber Ali. You are an active
young man. You've done a lotof things in your lifetime so far.
But at the very bottom of thisgoogle it had what does shubber stand for?

(01:32):
Did you ever look at that?I did? Not a diplomat to
the core, you're kidding ensharing peaceand creating balance for all involved parties.
Interesting communication is ambiguously the greatest strengthof people. With his name got you
so far? You love to mingleand socialize with other people. Now,

(02:00):
now it's not I'm a huge introvert, believe it or not, although it
doesn't sound like it. Actually Iam too. But but you can mingle
and socialize when you need to.Exactly right, it comes and comes with
the job. Unfortunately, that's it. It's something you learned to do over
thirty years, able to meet allsituations with ease. Whatever life chance throws

(02:21):
it you, you are welcome itwith open arms. New things feel exciting
except for weeks, except for weeze. That's all right. Expressing yourself in
an honest and sensitive manner brings happinessinto your life. That is true.
That's you, Shove Ali. Wow, all right, you have to send
me that link. I'm very curiousas to where that's from. It was,

(02:43):
it was, it was interesting,was right at the bottom of that
page, and I was like,wow, that's pretty cool. I mean,
it goes on and on and on. But for what I've what I'm
talking with you and you and Iand what I read pretty well described you
all the way through you. Anyway, that's not what we're here to talk
about, although we like talking aboutto Shove Ali. But anyway, Garden
for Wildlife going crazy, of coursethe website Garden for Wildlife dot com,

(03:04):
and May is a pretty particular monthfor you guys, it is. But
first of all, I asked,how's your garden going? Because we heard
you give the weather right before Ihopped on here A sound like you're describing
where I live. Yeah, itsounds like it's springtime there as well.
The garden getting started. Yeah,we just broke, I mean officially broke.
We kind of waived the checkered flagslast weekend and said, okay,

(03:28):
let's have at it. Let's goat this point forward, because looking ahead,
it looked like daytime temps staying nowin the mid to upper seventies,
maybe low eighties. Nighttime temps nowstaying you know, fifties, something like
that. You put the two ofthose together, we're in pretty good shape.
Soil temperatures are really warmed up.So it's pretty much a full go
at this point forward for us.Yeah, and and same here and actually

(03:50):
for much of the country. Andthat's that's why May is such an important
month for us. It's it's Gardenfor Wildlife months, which is something the
National Wildlife Federation has been doing foryears. Celebration really to get people educated
about how you can create more spacewith native plants and the rest, and
then encouraging people to actually create thosespaces, whether it's planting native plants,

(04:10):
putting in bird feeders and baths,creating nesting boxes, reducing use of things
like pesticides and herbicides, but reallytrying to get a little bit more connected
back with nature, because this isthe perfect time to put the plants in
the ground, get their roots establishedbefore it gets too hot, because we
know this summer's always like you know, it becomes a bit of a cookery
out there, so you want thoseplants like well established before that happened so
many it's the perfect time to getout there and do some gardening. Excellent

(04:34):
talking with Chavarli this morning. Again. The website is garden for Wildlife dot
com. I noticed when I wenton the website, you guys have this
thing going on where you at oneplant purchased equals one plant donated. Yeah,
I'm super excited. It's one ofthe things that we launched this year
since I got here, the plantBank. We really wanted the main planted
Forward because it's such a perfect description. Unfortunately's trademarks so we can't get them.

(04:59):
But trademarked No, No, it'sactually a company up in Canada,
and I am going to contact themand find out if there's a way we
can use it because the program wethink is really really valuable and it does
good. So we you know,in the spirit of Steve Jobs said,
you know great artists Steel. Westole the idea from Bombos Warbie partner Tom
Shoes. These these companies that everytime you buy something, they give the

(05:21):
equivalent away, whether it's giving waystocks to people who are own house,
or it's giving glasses to people can'tget them but need them to see,
etc. These companies do these greatthings, so we said, let's do
that too, and so the PlantBank is our way of doing that,
which is literally every time people buyplants from us from our website, we
set aside the same number of plants, and then we do installations at places

(05:41):
that otherwise might not get native plantsbut really need them, so think inner
city schools, community gardens, housesof worship. We're in fact, we're
doing our first big installation in Baltimore, working with a veterans association called the
Sixth Branch in Baltimore on June third, and then we have another one happening
in Connecticut in on June tenth.But we actually launched a website now because
we can't do this at scale wherewe have to go out and find places.

(06:03):
So we're literally just opening the windowand saying, if you're a not
for profit, if you're a communitygarden or an inner city school or one
of these places that you think isdeserving and having some native plants in your
area. We have a website portalnow where you can just go there and
apply for it and we'll ship youthe plants. I have to just cover
the cost of shipping, but wewill send you the plants for free,
and you can put native plants inthat are native to your area because it's

(06:26):
the right thing to do. Andas you know, and I know birds
and pollinators, they don't know whatzip codes are, and they don't know
which ones are affluent and which onesare not. They just need to go
where they need to go, andso we need to make sure that we
create these corridors wherever they go.And that means making sure plants are available
everywhere, which means getting them intoplaces that might not otherwise be able to
have access to those native plants andthat if it's the people who live there

(06:47):
too. Yeah, what a greatprogram. And again, if you want
to learn more about this, thisGarden for Wildlife dot com. Go to
the website. It's a great website, lots of great information for you as
well. We'll talking with Chabar Ali. He is the CEO of Garden for
Wildlife and this has been when theybrought him in. He's just you know,
you could tell when we first talkedto you man, you were gonna
make this thing explode, and that'sexactly what is happening, and that we

(07:09):
really congratulate you for doing that.Let's take a quick break, we come
back, talk to him more aboutthe garden for Wildlife Month that's in May,
talk about why native plants. Now, we'll get his opinion on native
selections as well. See what hehas to say about that and how you
can create a wildlife habitat in yourown garden. And if we have time,
maybe you'll even talk to us justvery quickly about the bat situation in

(07:30):
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(08:43):
Nursery, Richmond, Natuarp's nursery outlet, Mason Brimis Garden Center, Concord,
or visit Coastamain dot com to locatea retailer near you. Welcome back.

(09:39):
You're in the garden with Ron Wilson'sspecial guests this morning. Shove her allie.
And by the way, how aboutthis one. Your overflowing energy helps
you build a very strong willpower thatcompliments your talents. Really, that's it,
clearly doesn't apply you know before sixam when I haven't at my co

(10:00):
Yeah, you are able to createbig value from very little. Oh that's
true. There you go. True. See, that's what we're gonna do
right now with this company. Thereyou go. You's got it written all
over garden. The website is Gardenfor Wildlife dot com. Schabar Ali with
us this morning. So we youknow obviously why native plants. We know
why why the native plants and whythe big push? Uh? What what's
your And I think I ask youthis last time you're wrong, but I

(10:22):
just want to again, what's yourthoughts are out of Surely there's native plants
out there, But then you getsome folks to say you can't use any
of the native selections or cultivars,they must be straight natives. Well,
yeah, here's the thing. Um, we don't provide anything except for true
natives to an area because that's whatevolved in that area. Okay, Um,

(10:43):
But like you know, we're notwe're not piers in the sense of
telling other people, hey, don'tbuy even putting in if you want there's
some pretty annuals. Whatever you wantto put in, that's your choice.
Well what we do is we say, if you want the biggest impact to
help wildlife. And this is reallyimportant actually, it's it's a point that
that I've talked with students at collegeabout We've had some students the American University
working with us, and when Italk with anybody out there, this one

(11:07):
point seems to really resonate. Youknow, when you think about all the
big things out in the world seemalmost overbearing. Now like to add the
death sailing to it now, Butit's the plastic in the ocean, for
instance, in the Pacific. Ifyou use a metal straw or paper straw,
you're not going to affect the plasticin the ocean. It's the right
thing to do, but you're notgoing to make it. You can't make
a dent a problem that big samething with you know, take your big

(11:28):
climate changeing effect on the environment,any of these things. But what you
can do is you can make animpact. You'll see it in the same
year by planting actual native plants inyour yard. Right. It's funny because
when I got up a little bitearlier this morning, my wife's like,
there's a turtle in our backyard,And sure enough, turtles found the newest
section of the yard that we've takenlawn away and we put in some native
plants and we just plants, andplants are most it and then the turtle

(11:48):
hanging out there, and we're like, oh, that's really cool. But
you can see this impact in thesame year you do it. There are
very few things you can do thatare actually good for the environment, good
for the wildlife, the pollinators,the songbirds that are disappearing, and that
you can do even if it's justa container on your patio. If you
don't have a garden, that's fine, but you can make a difference,

(12:11):
and that's something that's really powerful forpeople. Oh absolutely. I think the
funny thing though about that turtle isthat it is the one that you can
ride right the great big ones.Where did that come from? Yeah?
Only when I zoom in really closely, it looks super huge. Taco with
Chavarroli. Garden for Wildlife dot Comis the website. Check it out.
Really cool. Can you briefly justtalk to me. We talked about We

(12:35):
hear about bats every now and then. I know they were having some issues
with that white nose and all that, But bad, bad populations are in
the decline. Also, yes theyare, and it's actually pretty bad,
and that's actually bad for us aswell. I said so many things.
Once you once you think about it. The loss of species that have been
part of the ecosystem in the webfor millions of years, for them to

(12:58):
disappear, that can't be good,right, There's just something bad that's going
to happen, and it's a bats. Bats do actually a lot for us
so and the you know, thebiggest one is of course they eat insects,
a lot of insects, and whichactually helps with farmers with their crops.
I mean, bats can eat theirbody weight in a night in the
amount of insects when they're flying around. They do most of their work at
night, so you don't even reallysee them except at sunset and early in

(13:18):
the morning, and then they goand hang out in their little little nests.
But they eat all kinds of bugs, they get rid of things that
are um you know, crop destroying. They actually pollinate plants, and they
also serve as prey for other animals, you know, I think about like
hawks and owls, that sort ofthing. So when you actually do things
to help them, just like helpingthe birds and the pollinators, it's actually

(13:41):
good for the environment around you.And it's so easy. You know,
you can if you're if you're handywith woodworking, like like I'm doing my
daughter right now. Or build batboxes if you if you don't want to
do that, just go to thelocal store. You can buy a batbox
and put it up on a poleor put it on the side of a
building, and that little bit givingthem a place when they're so many,
when the habitat loss and all theother problems that are out there for them,

(14:03):
you're you're helping them fight that battle, and it's actually for our own
benefits. You know, it's funnywhen I read this, I never even
thought about it because I with bats, I understand that the significance and how
important they are. But when whenthe one came up to serve as prey
for animals such as hawks, andnow as I forgot, you know,
you don't even think about that,right, But what they do they do

(14:24):
right, everything is part of thisbigger web, and so we can't lose
any piece of that because you know, it's It's the same thing as when
I first read Doug cow of thesebook years ago, which got me started
on my journey here around native plantsand the impact of the loss of the
pollinators offspring the caterpillars and how thataffected the loss of the songbirds. Once

(14:45):
you see it, you realize thatit's so obvious the break in the connection.
But whenever we break any part ofthat web, it affects everything,
I mean, across all of thebecause it's i mean, nature is really
good at building complex systems. We'rereally good at screwing them up, and
this is a good way to likehelp fix that. Yeah, I thought
it was interesting. Eighty one ofthe continents, one hundred and fifty four

(15:05):
known bat types are at risk ofsevere population decline in the next fifteen years.
It's crazy, that's right, that'sright. There's a great report out
there if if any of your listenersare interesting, you can find on the
web. It's actually really well done. It's very interactive. It's called the
State of the Bat's Report thoished bythe North American Bat Conservation Alliance, and
it's free. It's on the website. Just give it a quick look.

(15:26):
It's very visually interactive and kids willlove it too. But there's so much
great research out there, and it'sso easy to help. And this is
the thing with anything around the environment. Right now, you can actually make
a difference in your yard. Andthat's what I want the listeners to know,
right is that you know, thisdoesn't require some math action, just
you can do a little bit inyour own yard and every piece helps.
Yeah, you know, And that'sone thing I try to convince folks all

(15:48):
the time we talk about you know, I always say be a bed and
breakfast when I you know, likewhen it comes to bees, I said,
you know, don't be it.You know, we're not asking you
to be a beekeeper, but we'reasking you to be a bed and breakfast
in your landscape for all of thebees and the honey bees and all the
pollinators and the butterflies and the batsthat are out there. Make here yard
the bed and breakfast. And that'sit, you know, invite them in.
It's it's dinner in a show exactly. And actually there's two other great

(16:11):
benefits of this thing. One is, if you are a beekeeper, you
really should plant extra native pollinator plants, because some researchers just came out and
talked about how the bees. Therewas actually the Washington Post recently that those
the increase in people doing beekeeping isactually impacting the pollinators, the native ones,
because they're competing for the same foodsources. So it's fine if you
want to make honey, you wantto be a beekeeper, that's great.

(16:33):
But then plant extra plants, likeextra pollinators, so that you're creating an
even bigger you know, B andB as you say, or for all
of them. And then the otherbenefit, of course is that when you
put these these perennials in, asyou know, the the amount of carbon
in those root systems that they createis so much bigger than turf, right,
you know, graphs goes down fivesix inches, but you look at

(16:56):
these root systems. There's a greatbit of research by doctor Jerry Lover,
who's now I think the deputy directorjust id for this Center of Agriculture.
But there's a great pictures of himon the web showing the root systems of
perennials and they go down like fiveor six feet and then these dense masses
of roots. And I mean thefirst time I thought, I literally thought,
it looks like the beard from oneof the guys in zz top.

(17:18):
Right, it's just this massive thing. But but it's but that's that's really
powerful because that it does so muchfor the soil, not not just but
in the carbon the soil but itloosens it up, which allows more room
for water so it doesn't run offand create flooding. It actually goes down
to the ground. It also createsmore places for the insects and the rest.
It's just a win win. Sureare you as easy top fan?
I admit I listened to them quitea bit in my own days, and

(17:41):
I still do on the classic reward. And now we just learned more about
Shaba Ali. Yeah that I shouldn'tbe surprised, but yeah, I've tried
to teach my kids all the finerpoints of music from from when I was
a kid and we played the namethat name, that's the song when my
kids started at two years old,and you know, we've played it forever.
So you know, sometimes I said, it's five bucks, tell me

(18:03):
the name of this group talking withshober Ali, of course, wow.
Yeah, Garden for Wildlife dot theygot me. After a while, they
got older and then they I startedpaying out money. I could say in
that Garden for Wildlife dot Com isthe website. Be sure and check it
out. It's actually wonderful. Ifyou want to know how to create a
wildlife habitat garden, I mean hoverjust Shover just kind of walked us through
a bit of that. But folkscan actually you can certify that correctly.

(18:26):
I mean if you have backyard habitatlike that. Yeah, it creating a
certified while as habitat. I didit with my own yard. Um,
it's really not that difficult. It'sjust a couple of key things you need.
Um. The first one, ofcourse, is you need sources of
food. So one of the bestsources of food, of course is the
native plants right provide the pollen,they provide seeds, all kinds of things

(18:48):
that that. Um. The secondone is a source of water. That
could be a bird bat, butthe thoughts to be a pond. You
know, at the beginning the pandemic, I think I told you I was
out there on conference calls for workand I grabbed the shovel and I'd just
dug a pond. And then Iwent on line and I found a liner
and it was delivered to me.And now we have this beautiful pond out
there, surrounded by perennials, andit has frogs, and it has blue
herons, all kinds of things,and a huge turtle you can ride on,

(19:11):
and a huge turtle you can rideon correctly. He really doesn't like
that, but you can't do it. The third thing is that you need
a place of unique cover, right, so shelter type places where whether it's
in bushes or shrubs or trees.And then lastly, of course a place
to raise up. You do thosethings, and you use sustainable practices.
You do those things, and youcan self certify on the National wild That

(19:32):
Federation's website, and then you canget this really cool sign that you can
put in your yard and other peoplecan see that you've actually made equipment.
And what's interesting I found just sidenote is at least in this area here
in Maryland, Virginia, real estateagents are actually putting that in the listing
if your house is a certified wildehabitat. I've actually seen it inlisting now
because people seem to care about that. And that's actually a great indication of

(19:53):
kind of this changing mindset across thecountry about the recognition of how we can
make a difference and the impact onthe environment. You know, supposed to
just big sterile lawns. Right.It's interesting you brought that up because my
daughter's house before they moved, Ijust planted at pollinator garden for him.
That was part of the real estatethings. It had a pollinator garden in
it, so you know, it'skind of crazy. Yeah, Shober Rawley,
always a pleasure of talking with.Again. The website's Garden for Wildlife

(20:17):
dot Com. Be sure and checkit out. Man, You're blowing it
up and I'm loving it, Sokeep keep it, keep the pace going,
and we will talk to you sometimein the future. Thank you,
Ron, I really appreciate the time. All right, take care shover Ali
Garden for Wildlife dot com. Besure and check it out. Great guy,
huh, enthusiastic. Man, he'staking this this Garden for Wildlife thing

(20:37):
that they've created and just gone withit. It's everywhere I read he is
there, so again, check itout. It's Garden for Wildlife dot Com.
We'll take a quick breakbe comeback.Phone lines will be open for you
on this Mother's Day weekend. Eighthundred eight two three eight two five five.
Here in the garden, it's RunWilson help for let's do it yourself

(21:07):
gardener at one eight hundred eight twothree talk You're in the garden with Ron Wilson.