Lawn, Garden, and Wildlife
There are many ways to manage your lawn and garden without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or harmful pest control methods. If you have a wildlife issue, there are also a variety of options for handling it humanely and naturally.
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Lawn and Gardening Services
Strives to delight clients by building vibrant gardens from our region's native plants. In addition to their landscaping work, they also sell native plants through their website.
Do Good Gardens offers gardening services in a sustainable way. They specialize in converting boring 鈥渢raditional鈥 lawns into native pollinator-friendly gardens, using wind/solar powered equipment and vehicles. They also offer weeding and leaf removal. For every service ordered, they plant ten trees via "onetreeplanted.鈥
Mulch is a great way to help your plants and keep your yard from getting muddy! ChipDrop finds local companies removing trees in your area and notifies them that you would like wood chips or logs. The next time their truck is full, they can deliver the wood chips to you, FOR FREE.
Earthseed Native Landscaping & Edible Gardens LWCA is a Chicago-based, worker-owned garden installation and landscaping business that provides skilled services by Black & Brown land stewards who have consolidated experiences, knowledge and resources to build a collective capacity to do landscaping & beautification efforts for the land, people, pollinators and ecosystem.
Offers eco-friendly, organic landscape design, lawn care, and pest control. They prioritize preserving mature trees, enhancing native habitats, encouraging mutually beneficial species, and including native plants that are well-suited and adapted to our climate.
Offers natural lawncare services, including organic fertilizer and natural weed control, aeration and seeding, and natural mosquito control.
The Organic Gardener creates beautiful and productive organic edible gardens. They offer a full line of services including design, installation, maintenance, and education.
Planted Green is a Chicago-based landscaping business centering native plants and green gardening practices. They offer consultation, design, installation and stewardship services. A woman-owned business, its owner brings her skills as a certified Master Naturalist.
Resilient Design is an ecological horticulture firm in Chicago that creates natural gardens and landscapes for the built environment. Resilient Design offers garden design, installation, and stewardship services to the greater Chicagoland area and is a Pollinator Partnership certified Pollinator Steward Business.
Spirited Gardener specializes in eco-friendly rain gardens and hardscape designs for residential properties, utilizing native plants to enhance aesthetics, manage water run-off, and support local pollinators. They are also certified to install LEED approved LiveRoof module systems.
Vivant helps Chicago's gardeners create simple, sustainable sanctuaries. Whether you're growing organic edibles, planting a rooftop garden, maintaining your landscape, or simply getting more done, Vivant鈥檚 passionate, personable gardeners are there to lend a helping hand.
Wild World Gardens is a landscape design company focused on native plants, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, organic vegetable gardens, and therapeutic horticulture. They offer garden design, consultation, installation, and stewardship.
Plant Vendors
North Branch Natives is a home-grown, sustainable Chicago business offering locally grown native plants, gardening solutions, consultations, and classes to support DIY native gardeners. Their experts are available to help you achieve your garden goals from start to finish, every step of the way.
Wildlife Assistance
CBCM advocates and educates on the protection of migratory birds through outreach and rescue activities. They can teach you how to prevent bird collisions with windows at your home or office, and you can contact them if there is an injured bird in your area.
Chicago Honey Coop has a directory of individuals who will safely remove honey bees, bumblebees, yellowjackets, and other flying insect nests from your property without the use of harmful chemicals.
City Bee Savers performs live bee removals and relocations for honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees and all native bees. They also sell honey, honey bees, hive sponsorships, and provide educational opportunities for area beekeepers.
Wildlife Centers
If you find an injured wild animal or have a wildlife issue in your home or business, the following centers may be able to help:
DIY Resources
Community Gardens - Joining or starting a community garden is an awesome way to grow your own food or flowers, even if you don鈥檛 have a yard.
Chicago Community Gardeners Association:
Environmental Best Practices for Chicago Community Gardens
- Use this extremely comprehensive map to find community gardens across Chicago.
Composting - All resources can be found on our composting page.
Native Gardening - Choosing native plant species in your yard or garden is a way of creating a wildlife and pollinator-friendly environment. Native gardening also requires significantly less water, fertilizer, and maintenance than non-native species, and reduces erosion and flooding.
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum - , including a list of species native to our area
Chicago Botanic Garden -
- offers workshops on Aquaponics, Native Pollinators, and more.
Pest Control - Chemical pesticides and herbicides are damaging to the ecosystem, wildlife, and human health. There are many organic alternatives that work just as well.
CCGA - , specifically related to managing rats
Chicago Park District -
Greenwise Blog -
A Milkweed Seed Pod
Pollinator Resources - Vital insect species, including bees and butterflies, have seen significant population declines due to destruction of the native species they need to survive. Here鈥檚 how you can help.
EcoWatch -
- Learn how to help monarch butterflies and their native habitat thrive through 5 specific action steps. There is also a guide for
MWRD -, and get free milkweed seeds to plant (Monarch鈥檚 preferred food source)
Rain Gardens, Bioswales, and Rain Barrels - Adding one of these to your yard can reduce flooding and erosion, as they absorb significantly more water than traditional grass. This issue is particularly important as Chicago experiences erratic fluctuations in precipitation as a result of climate change. Communities of color have been especially prone to flooding during these wild weather events due to a lack of green infrastructure.
Chicago Botanic Garden -
City of Chicago -
City of Chicago -
MWRD - - Want to manage rainwater, prevent flooding in your neighborhood and home, AND cut down on your water bills? This program offers rain barrels at a reduced cost, and they will deliver them to your home!
CCGA -
Trees - The presence of trees not only cleans the air, it also reduces flooding, provides a habitat for wildlife, protects us from the sun and wind, lowers ground temperatures, reduces utility bills, improves health and well-being, and raises property values. , and restoring it is vital to the future of our city. Historically underserved communities of color have been especially impacted by this issue.
311 Chicago - - Chicago property owners who want a new tree planted on their parkways may submit a request via CHI 311 for this FREE city service!
Chicago Region Trees Initiative:
A Map of Chicago鈥檚 current canopy can be found
- Each year, CRTI offers a grant program for community groups. Each group is eligible for 10-20 trees, and CRTI staff provides all necessary training and materials to ensure that the trees thrive.
Morton Arboretum -
- a leading source of advice about trees, plants, and landscapes, helping gardeners throughout the Chicago region have healthy, attractive, well-chosen plants.
- This tool allows you to find the perfect tree for your property using keywords, preferences, or attributes to view information compiled by Arboretum experts.
MWRD - - offers FREE Pin, Red and Bur Oak saplings to Chicago residents from April to October.
Openlands:
to care for!
- this month-long course teaches about urban forestry in the age of climate change, as well as best practices in tree planting and care.
- available to people, groups, or organizations that can coordinate their neighbors to plant 10-40 trees in their neighborhood, with a special focus on areas with low canopy cover, including Archer Heights, Brighton Park, Chicago Lawn, Gage Park, Garfield Ridge, McKinley Park, New City, South Lawndale, West Elsdon, and West Lawn. Openlands provides the education, organization, supplies, and expertise on the day of planting. More info at the link!
Banner Image Credit: Dulcey Lima
If there鈥檚 a Chicago business, organization, or resource that you think should be added to this page, please let us know by filling out this form!