Webinars
Designing Garden for Birds
Heather and Zoe Evans
Sunday, March 8 at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT
This Webinar will be 1.5 hours long to allow time for interactive sketching and discussion.
What We’ll Discuss:
You’ll learn how to design a native plant yard that nurtures both people and birds. Zoe and Heather Evans will guide you through simple sketching exercises, share design principles for creating inviting outdoor “rooms,” and show how to add paths, destinations, and woody plants for structure. You’ll leave with a first-draft layout for your space and clear next steps to continue to garden for birds.
To get the most out of the workshop, sketch along with Heather and Zoe! Gather the following in hard copy or on a tablet for this live event:
- Aerial/parcel map of your lot or a quick bird’s-eye sketch.
- Thick markers or highlighters (2–3 colors), if you’re using hard copy, or electronic pencil for a tablet.
About the Speakers:
Heather Evans
Heather writes Design Your Wild, the leading Substack on North American garden design, helping people create spaces they love and that the planet needs. She and her daughter Zoe Evans founded Design Your Wild to teach human-centered design and ecological landscaping, grounded in research (especially the work of Doug Tallamy and Doug Kent). She is a master gardener, award-winning design manager, and former senior marketing executive at Fortune 50 companies.
Zoe Evans
Zoe is vice president of Wildr, a nature-tech company that develops smart tools that make native landscaping simple. (You can join the Wildr app waitlist at planitwild.com/wildr-app-waitlist.) Zoe co-founded Design Your Wild with her mother, Heather Evans, to coach others on their innovative, science-based approach to yard transformation. She continues to lead virtual workshops and coach people through rewilding their yards step-by-step. Zoe is a master naturalist and scientist, with degrees in neuroscience and translational medicine.
Past Events: 2025 Webinars
Unlawning Our Landscapes, with Benjamin Vogt
Originally recorded on April 1, 2025.
Ben explores the history of lawns and their unforeseen consequences. Learn how to convert lawn into habitat gardens. From plant selection to design, prep to management, this lecture runs the gamut on empowering people to make landscape changes.
Invasive Plants and Our Gardens, with Mhairi McFarlane
Originally recorded on July 17, 2025.
What are invasive species and what have they got to do with my garden anyway? Learn about the basics of non-native and invasive plants and what problems they cause. Learn some tips and tricks for identifying non-native plants throughout the seasons. We’ll begin to learn what we can do about them in our own spaces.
Leaving Our Fall Garden Resources, with Doug Tallamy
Originally recorded on September 9, 2025.
Doug Tallamy, entomologist, ecologist, conservationist, and cofounder of Homegrown National Park, discusses how fallen leaves and garden resources provide vital habitat, food, and spring nesting materials—all benefits to birds and biodiversity. His wealth of knowledge will inspire you to look at fallen leaves with a newfound respect.
Stay Connected
By subscribing to stay connected to Garden for Birds, you agree to receive communications from the Cornell Lab. You may unsubscribe from the communications at any time.