If there ever was a silver lining to the current health crisis, it is that people are spending more time outdoors and yearning to connect with other people. For instance, in the past week, while strolling along a sidewalk, I struck up conversations with two people who were gardening in their front yards.

I was drawn in by their attractive gardens, and then thrilled to have a face-to-face chat over the split-rail fence, over the low-clipped hedge.

What messages do we send to our neighbors through the front yard garden? There is so much more that can come from a front yard conversation about plants, and there should be.

Plants spur conversation

Native plants are so much more than just beautiful flowers. They feed nectar and pollen to countless bee species whose worldwide populations are in decline. In return, bees pollinate plants so they can produce fruits such as blueberry and watermelon, and seeds eaten by wild birds.

Native plants feed moth and butterfly caterpillars with life-supporting leaf tissue. That’s why there are holes in milkweed and pawpaw leaves. And those caterpillars feed baby birds, whose populations also are in steep decline.

White oak tree bark provides a home for bats and overwintering butterflies. Its acorns feed squirrels, chipmunks and redheaded woodpeckers all winter long. And Missouri white oak wood used in barrels flavors the wine and whiskey.

Native plants are so rich, they have depth, and they are brimming with connections to nature, cuisine, history and folklore.

In the book “Ozark Magic and Folklore,” Vance Randolph writes that many old people think that ironwood trees were planted by the devil’s agents and that sassafras trees somehow sprout from grubworms. He probably wasn’t aware that ironwood is the best species for tree climbing.

Also, Randolph writes that pawpaw is well known to be connected with witchcraft, and even zebra swallowtail butterflies, who lay their eggs only on pawpaw, are thought of as “strange” because they are so often seen fluttering around pawpaw trees. If this doesn’t start or stop a front yard conversation, then nothing will.

Randolph’s books are chock-full of Ozark stories about plants and people that will either keep your neighbors hanging on your every word or send them running for the hills.

Spread the word about natives

Clearly, I’ve had extra time on my hands and need some face time — I mean real face time. But if you don’t take kindly to chatting with passersby, but still see the value in messaging, there are a number of garden signs that may be of interest.

St. Louis Wild Ones offers a sign that reads, “This garden is in harmony with nature.” St. Louis Audubon’s backyard certification program, Bring Conservation Home, provides a sign that reads, “This landscape provides outstanding wildlife habitat value.”

Grow Native, a program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation, has five different signs, one of which states, “These native plants provide food sources for beneficial insects and support songbirds and other cherished wildlife.”

If your goal is to support nature and create memories that last, consider adding native plants and perhaps a sign that says you support native gardening. Now, more than ever, nature needs us to step up and do our part.

Woodbury is a horticulturalist and curator of the Whitmore Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, Mo. He also is an adviser to the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Grow Native! program.