Weave Habitat Restoration into Food Gardens

Botanist Ryan Godfrey

Not Mutually Exclusive

Ever wondered if growing food and and growing native plants are mutually exclusive?

Our guest Ryan Godfrey talks about his sixth-floor balcony garden where he weaves together edible and native plants—all in containers.

Habitat-Themed Containers

Godfrey’s balcony container garden includes habitat-themed containers:

• Alvar container garden

• Riverside container garden

• Boulder container garden

• Woodland container garden

Edible plants include woodland strawberries, Jerusalem artichoke, sweet grass, and Virginia mountain mint.

Godfrey also has an allotment garden plot where he grows both food and native plants. He says that his plot draws a lot of pollinators.

It Started with Acorns

In a journey that started with vacuuming acorns as a child, Ryan went on to study biology and evolutionary biology. He says this makes him a “plant nerd,” a gardener who learned about plants outside of a garden context. It colours his approach to gardening.

“Failure is a huge part of gardening. I encourage folks to document and learn from your failures.” Ryan Godfrey

Godfrey currently works with World Wildlife Fund Canada on a project called In The Zone, an initiative to build Carolinean habitat in Canada.