Plan It Native Grows and Flourishes in its Seventh Year

Photos and article by Chris Cardwell, Deep Roots’ Program Manager

For its 7^th iteration since 2019, Deep Roots’ Plan It Native Conference brought nearly 300 passionate native plantspeople from a diverse array of backgrounds and hometowns to Kansas City on February 10^th and 11^th. As a perennial attendee of this, and numerous other natural resource and conservation-focused gatherings, I felt a particularly strong ‘buzz’ amidst the conversations, presentations, and fellowship of this year’s event – an energy that has jump-started our community for what is sure to be an exceptionally rich season of flourishing.

In contrast to 2025’s frosty and wintry conditions, this “fool’s spring” that fell on Kansas City cast the outdoors of the conference venues in a warmth and natural vibrancy that hasn’t been experienced in years past. Bird nerds were delighted to mingle in the native landscapes of the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center, where flocks of songbirds fluttered through stands of Sumac, Buttonbush and Serviceberry shrubs. To then step into Dana Ripper’s presentation titled “How Native Plants Fuel Bird Life Year-Round” seemed truly galvanizing, hammering home the importance of our own habitats for local and migratory wildlife, especially when the plant communities we steward are still in dormancy.

The heart of Deep Roots’ advocacy, outreach and education often lies in the distillation of extensive academic research, professional practitioners’ real world management experiences, and conservation organizations’ social and behavioral impacts for the broader community. This year’s dynamic lineup of speakers from across the nation seemed perfectly within reach for an equally diverse community of attendees, which ranged from lay landscape stewards and gardeners to those with dedicated naturalist training, from engineers and architects to parks and facilities crews, librarians and educators. It’s this ‘something for everyone’ quality that has continually broadened Plan It Native’s appeal since 2019, and the inclusivity and diversity of this community was on full display.

And while the wide range of significant lessons from two full days of educational material can’t be captured in a brief follow-up review, there can be one exceptionally impactful takeaway for us all – the heart of Deep Roots’ mission – that “What You Plant Matters.” And, where you plant matters! Our urban landscapes can successfully be transformed from concrete jungles and ecologically void lawns into natural refuges that sustain wildlife with a network of microhabitats, interconnected through the built environment. This collective impact is good medicine for the maladies of climate dread, environmental injustice, and a shifting, often disempowering, social and political world around us. Our true shared strengths lie in the shovel and the seed, and no amount of misinformation can change the relationships that our gardens foster. Plan It Native has inspired us, once again, that we will take great courage and strength from the tiniest of floral / faunal connections, and find renewal in the preserved natural spaces stewarded by our local and regional agencies, municipalities, and practitioners. Save the dates for Feb 9^th and 10^th, 2027, and until then, join us as this season ramps up for plant sales, Habitat Garden Tours, and abundant educational opportunities from Deep Roots KC