After retiring in 2009 from a 35-year-long career in laboratory medicine, Mary Nelson decided it was time to refocus and became a Master Gardener. Not knowing in which direction she wanted to go as a gardener, she dabbled in just about everything. It wasn’t until after attending a pollinator workshop in 2012 presented by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation that she discovered her passion for pollinators. This, of course, included a passion for native plants as well.
Since that time, Mary has started over 60 varieties of native Wisconsin plants from seed, some much more successfully than others. She has done numerous presentations on pollinators and how to support them and has helped homeowners establish pollinator gardens in their backyards. She has sponsored plant sales for the town of Sherman volunteer fire department and first responders, offering hundreds of native plants to residents of Iron County and surrounding areas.
At their home in southern Wisconsin, Mary and her husband Roger sustain a 25-acre tall grass prairie and numerous smaller “groomed” pollinator gardens. The shoreline of their vacation home on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage is covered in native plants to support all sorts of pollinators, including two species of critically imperiled native bumble bees.
