Anyone who has heard of or even better visited Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania knows that it is home to some of the country’s most exceptional examples of horticultural creativity and innovation. 

A multi-year biodiversity survey of the Chanticleer property has revealed that it’s also home to more than 1,000 species of insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians and even fish, who apparently all agree that it’s quite the attractive and compelling place. 

A garden’s biodiversity and how it can inform us to fine-tune our plant choices and horticultural practices is our subject today. My guests are Bill Thomas, Chanticleer’s Executive Director and Head Gardener, and Matthew Sarver, founder of Sarver Ecological, which conducted the just-published diversity survey at the renowned public garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania from 2020 through 2024. We talked about what they have learned, and what those insights are inspiring next in the gardens at Chanticleer. 

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