To belong is not to remain where you were born — it is to remember what you are made of. In Native by Nature – Spring: Belonging , horticulturalist and storyteller Stephen Pryce Lea invites readers into a deeply human, profoundly sensory memoir of roots, renewal, and the quiet landscapes that shape a life. Blending ecological wisdom with personal truth, this first volume in the Native by Nature quartet traces Stephen’s journey from the misted hills of Wales to the sweeping meadows and tidal edges of North America, weaving the intimate story of a child raised close to the land into the awakening of an ecologist, teacher, and gardener of belonging. This is not simply a memoir of place — it is a meditation on the seasons of the self. Through vivid scenes of childhood hedgerows, early apprenticeships, family loss, spiritual grounding, and the lifelong pull of the natural world, Stephen explores how landscapes root us, heal us, and call us back to what matters. With lyrical honesty and a voice shaped by grief, gratitude, and the resilience of the Earth, he reveals how the lessons of wild plants, water, weather, and woodland edges mirror the lessons of a life lived attentively. In these pages you’ll discover: • The profound ecological and emotional influence of upland Wales • The role of native plants as teachers, healers, and ancestral memory • The interwoven themes of family, loss, and the maternal forces that guide us • Apprenticeship stories from the National Trust and the birth of a land-steward • How gardens become sanctuaries, thresholds, and reflections of the inner world • A deep, metaphysical exploration of what it means to truly “belong.” Written with clarity, heart, and a botanist’s eye for detail, Native by Nature – Spring: Belonging speaks to gardeners, seekers, ecologists, wanderers, and anyone yearning for a slower, more connected way of being. It is a book about remembering — remembering who you are, where you come from, and the living world that carries you forward. The journey begins in Spring: a season of emergence, innocence, and roots breaking open toward light.