Katydid eggs on river birch

Spicebush swallowtail butterfly caterpillar on spicebush

Spiny oak caterpillar

 About Us

Our nursery has a special focus on plants that support wildlife and natural ecosystems in central Ohio and surrounding areas. Plants native to our area are our primary focus, though we will also offer plants native to our south that may be vital in our area as climate continues to shift, forcing species further north. We will continue expanding our offerings, and plan to introduce perennials in spring 2021. Our goal is to offer food forest plants starting in 2022.

At L4WL, we don't use herbicides or pesticides, so some lucky customers may take home little stowaways, like the caterpillars pictured on this page.

We reduce, reuse and recycle wherever possible, and gratefully accept donated nursery pots and trays, plant stakes, fencing, native seedlings and native seeds of most types.

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Conserving and restoring habitat is our primary focus. This is especially critical to our native pollinators, local birds, as well as the more than 325 bird species that make the round-trip each year along the Mississippi Flyway, Starting in central Canada and stretching to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi Flyway is the name given to the route followed by birds migrating from their breeding grounds in North America to their wintering grounds in the south. In Ohio, we're directly in the Mississippi Flyway, and with urban sprawl and land development, resting places that provide food, water, shelter and safety are becoming increasingly critical.

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Native pollinators may be our planet's most ecologically and economically important group of animals. They provide stability for every terrestrial ecosystem in the world, because wild flowering plants depend on these native bees, flies, butterflies, beetles, moths, bats, birds and other animals to reproduce. Other wildlife then eat the insects hosted by the plants, as well as the fruits and seeds that result from pollination, spreading the seeds that in turn give rise to future generations of plants. Most of the world's wildlife — and more than 250,000 wild flowering plants — need native pollinators to exist, and scientists estimate that 1 of every 3 bites of food we eat exists because of pollinators. When growers tinker with plants and change the shape of flowers (think double blooms), this often lowers pollen and nectar production. If the shape of the flower is altered, pollinators that co-evolved with that plant can no longer access whatever pollen and nectar are left. 

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Native plants have formed symbiotic relationships with native wildlife over thousands of years, and therefore provide the most sustainable habitat and nutritious food resources.  

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Native plants thrive in the soils, moisture and weather of our region. That means less supplemental watering, which can be wasteful, and less problematic pests that require toxic chemicals. Native plants also assist in managing rain water runoff and maintain healthy soil as their root systems are deep and prevent soil compaction.

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We're here to help you turn your yard, balcony, container garden, schoolyard, work landscape or roadside greenspace into a welcoming haven for wildlife. 

Oak trees host :>500

species of Lepidoptera

Question mark butterfly

caterpillars on elm

Great golden digger

wasp in a nursery pot

Zebra swallowtail

laying eggs on pawpaw

It takes 6000-9000 caterpillars

to feed one nest of baby birds