Patrick Thompson has been interested in sustainability since he was kid.
Originally interested in animal preservation, Thompson, arboretum specialist, came to college and realized he knew nothing at all about plants.
So he began working at the arboretum.
"I started working as a student and have been here for 10 years now and still learn new things every week," Thompson said.
He said the arboretum has a collection of native plants that has been here for approximately 50 years.
Thompson said non-native plants are not part of the ecosystem.
"The bugs don't eat (non-native plants), so it's not making any food for the birds or the lizards or anybody else," Thompson said. "So if you have a landscape of all non-native horticulture plants, then you don't have an active ecosystem; you have a desert."
Thompson said every time he goes into the woods looking for native plants, it seems there are fewer of them.
"Being able to sustain these things in an urban ecosystem--that's one of the big things we are encouraging here," Thompson said.
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