The conservation landscaping company Undoing Ruin’s slogan is “We want to kill your lawn!” That’s because they want to replace your lawn with something much more interesting. Maybe even something you can eat.

Jessy Woodke, Undoing Ruin’s founder and owner, brought Style Weekly to his nursery to introduce some of his favorite edible native plants.

Undoing Ruin handles all the hands-on aspects of landscape transformation, including site evaluation, removing invasive species and designing, installing and maintaining gardens. Some of the most important work, though, happens in clients’ imaginations.

“Once people understand that the horizons can be expanded beyond the conventional landscape, they start inviting nature in, becoming friends with the land rather than the land being something they have to deal with,” Woodke shares.

His own excitement about plants is evident, and increases with each one he introduces.

“We’ll start with Rudbeckia laciniata. Also known as sochan — that’s a First Nations name for it — cutleaf coneflower or green-eyed Susan,” explains Woodke. “The stems of the young plants are red-purple near the ground, blue-green higher up and the leaves look like ragged fleurs-de-lis.”

Woodke points out the sturdiness of the plant.

“Look how tough that is — it just pulls nutrients out of the ground. It’s super packed with vitamins and minerals. It’s also the most delicious green you are ever going to eat,” he says. “You might get a bitter citrus flavor, but once you sauté that, just like you would with kale or collards, it softens the aggressive citrus and you’re left with delicate, enhancing flavors.”

We try it — there is bitterness, and citrus and something that tastes like the smell of magnolia blossoms. It’s very good.

“It is also wonderful food for goldfinches,” says Woodke, explaining that once planted, cutleaf coneflower can “establish and maintain generations of goldfinch families.”

Next is elderberry. “All sorts of pollinators love it. Birds will eat all the berries if you don’t get to it first, but that’s okay, we like to share,” jokes Woodke. You’ve probably seen the lacy white flowering shrubs along the highway, though Woodke advises people not to harvest from the side of the road, “Because cars are gross.”

Woodke’s favored elderberry preparation is a juice.

“I can make 50, 16-ounce jars out of those two plants.” Two mature elderberries, not all that large, shrug modestly in the breeze.

To make elderberry juice, Woodke freezes the umbles (umbrella-shaped clusters of fruit) then shakes loose the tiny frozen berries (easier than picking them by hand.) He boils the berries in water, mashes them, and strains the mixture to remove the pulp, pouring the juice into sanitized jars.

Woodke says he sips the deep purple liquid to aid in recovery from winter illnesses.

With its ease of propagation and extravagant harvests, elderberry makes itself easy to share. Woodke says, “It builds community.”

Next is one of several native plum species, the Chickasaw plum.

“You’ll find the genes of these species on old farm fence rows,” Woodke explains, because it was used as border between fields. Thickets of wild plum can still serve the function of a privacy hedge, replacing popular but highly invasive options like nandina and privet.

Woodke calls Chickasaw plum “a paradigm-changer plant”— the better option you didn’t know was out there. “It can handle inundation like we get, it’s good for tight spaces that get a lot of runoff. Grows super quick, smells great.”

Preparation advice for wild plums? “Just eat them.”

Planting native edibles also feeds Virginia wildlife. Animals lose habitat and food sources to human development. Woodke sees it as our responsibility to act like the plants he grows, which give back to the places that sustain them.

Woodke sources many plants from the Afton nursery Edible Landscaping. Undoing Ruin’s website also provides links to a number of native plant nurseries in and around Richmond. There’s also always the option of rescuing a plant you find growing in an alley, as Woodke has done with a hawthorn sapling. “I’m trying to bring it back to life.”

To spread knowledge about native plants, Woodke assembles planters with selections of species, mixing native edibles and flowers with more familiar culinary herbs like rosemary and oregano. These compact container gardens can be transplanted into larger gardens, or stand on their own, making them well-suited for urban gardeners with limited space.

Woodke has a final piece of advice for preparing to eat any plant.

“Always thank it. Thanking the plants does an awesome thing to your brain that helps you feel pure connectedness, as if it’s a family member — because it is.”

You can find Woodke’s planters for sale this summer at the Richmond Growers Market, held on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon at Legend Brewing Co (321 W 7th St.).