Abstract
The Natural Gardening Network (NGN) is a collaboration of organic gardeners, native
plant and wildlife advocates, and land preservation organizations that grew from the need of
six Indiana-based groups to educate the public about the dangers of and alternatives to
harmful land use practices. NGN groups face enormous challenges in these efforts. As
modern gardeners, landscapers, and farmers we are shaped by a pervasive worldview of
human control over nature, which is further enabled by powerful marketing and other social
forces that serve to insulate us from our role in the larger systems of life. Beneath the cultural
veneer that human technology has limitless ability to sustain this artificial reality lies the truth
of excessive reliance on natural resources — particularly petroleum and water — and the largely
unacknowledged dangers inherent in the use of poisonous chemicals to control “pests” in the
landscape. The Natural Gardening Network formed as a result of an offer for free booth space
at the consumer-oriented Indiana Flower and Patio Show (IFPS). The hope is that this project
will lay the foundation to strengthen future collaborations of NGN groups, increasing their
ability to inform a larger sector of the population than any group could reach alone.
