What’s the big deal with native plants?
If you’re a gardener, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “native plants” thrown around at one time or another. So what are native plants anyway, and why are they important?
The Importance of Native Plants
Those of us who like to garden, do so for various reasons. We appreciate being outside, we like to dig in the ground, we love the amazing wonder of nature, and most of all we enjoy the beauty of plants.
If we do enjoy the beauty and amazing natural world that we live in, adding native plants into our garden spaces should be a top priority.
Why?
Native Plants support wildlife and the ecosystem that we all depend on, by using less of the precious natural resources that are so quickly diminishing and becoming polluted. How do they do this?
- Native Plants Are Better at Using Natural Resources
- Less time intensive (less weeding and work)
- Uses less supplemental water
- Uses no artificial fertilizer
- Improves air and water quality by filtering pollutants
- Decreases pollution from mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, and other lawn equipment
How, you ask? Read on!
Native Plants Support Wildlife
It’s becoming critical to our local wildlife that help them out. Wildlife habitats are declining at an alarming rate. Wildlife can’t live on bare grass with a couple of hydrangeas and hostas. They need biodiversity! In other words, a rich mix of plants that are native to their homes. Read what the Audobon Society has to say on the matter:
Over the past century, urbanization has taken intact, ecologically productive land and fragmented and transformed it with lawns and exotic ornamental plants. The continental U.S. lost a staggering 150 million acres of habitat and farmland to urban sprawl, and that trend isn’t slowing. The modern obsession with highly manicured “perfect” lawns alone has created a green, monoculture carpet across the country that covers over 40 million acres. The human-dominated landscape no longer supports functioning ecosystems, and the remaining isolated natural areas are not large enough to support wildlife.
-excerpt from Audobon, Why Native Plants Matter (read the full article here)
Simply put, insects, mammals, amphibians, spiders, birds, and all other creatures are losing their homes and their food sources- because of us! We’re making their environment a dessert- even if we believe we’re helping by adding a large number of plants, exotic ornamentals aren’t helping them.
And that matters, because we depend on them for a healthy planet.
Native Plants Support Pollinators
Native plants are those that evolved with local food webs: native insects, birds, and wildlife that all depend on each other for survival. Our local “hometown” insects only eat and raise their young on specific native plants. These are called specialized pollinators. In turn, these support local birds, mammals, and amphibians that eat them, creating a complex web of life. If one aspect of the web disappears, the web collapses.
Most of the plants that are sold in plant nurseries carry plants that evolved in Europe or Asia. They are non-native plants, and our native insects and pollinators can’t use them for food, shelter, or to raise their young. We may like how these plants look, but they are not helping the wildlife that we love. Many of them are also aggressive spreaders- that’s usually why we plant them! – and quickly take over both wild and cultivated spaces, pushing out the beneficial native plantings that once inhabited them.
Do Bees Use Native Plants?
But you may wonder: why do I see honey bees flocking around the non-native flowers in my yard? They seem to like them just fine.
Honey bees are not native to the US. The early settlers brought them over from Europe. They are generalized, not specialized pollinators, meaning that they can use both native and non-native plants. Native bees, on the other hand, can’t use plants that are not local.
Can’t We Just Rely on Honeybees and Not Worry About Native Plants?
No, because native bees do most of the pollinating. There are about 3,600 different species of native bees in North America. In comparison, there are only 8 species of honey bees in the entire world. That’s a big difference! Native bees are usually smaller and solitary, so we don’t notice them as much as the bigger honey bees.
And native bees and other insects have a small range of only a few miles, at most. The shorter the distance they need to travel for food, water, and shelter the better. As 83 percent of the United States is privately owned. This means, what we do with our yards matters and matters in a big way. If we can use our yards to provide a densely rich environment for pollinators, we have the power to help stop their steep decline. We can provide rich, nutritious, safe, and beneficial homes for our local insects, birds, and small mammals.
Non-Native vs. Native Plants
Does that mean I have to get rid of the non-native plants that I love?
No, not at all! Leading researcher Doug Tallamy, University of Delaware Professor of Entomology, encourages homeowners to plant 70 percent of native plants in their yards. And not just any natives- native plants that are both specific to your area and productive to the species that need them. He labels these keystone species.
Read a great interview with Doug Tallamy in Why You Should Grow Native Plants in Your Garden, by Emily Underwood for Knowable Magazine, published by Smithsonian Magazine, September 7, 2023, here.
It’s important to acknowledge that we like the look of non-native ornamentals- and that’s ok. These are the plants that we’re used to seeing in magazines, gardening shows, around our neighborhoods, and on social media. These plants have been cultivated over generations to look attractive to us, but in doing so, we have made them unattractive and unusable to the pollinators that need them.
And it’s important to remember, that in their environment of origin, Europe and Asia or wherever they’re from, they are beneficial to wildlife, but not in ours. Location is key.
Native plants, on the other hand, sometimes look like weeds to us.
But this can change. The more we interact with natives, the more we understand how amazingly life-giving and beneficial they are to the world around us, they will begin to look more beautiful. You will begin to appreciate their subtle and understated beauty as much or more than showy, foreign ornamentals. Native plants will grow on you- literally! It’s hard not to become amazed at the life that springs up around native gardens, lush and full of movement and birdsong, the buzzing and industrious activity of those smallest and most vulnerable of God’s creatures.
Native Plants Are a Wonderful Addition to Any Garden Space
They not only help stop the severe and alarming decline in our smallest of wildlife neighbors, but they can also help save them. We can learn to appreciate their incredible beauty, their gift of sustaining life, and the benefits that they add to our planet.
They Save Us Time and Money in the Garden
Do you love weeding? I don’t. I’d rather spend my time in the garden doing the things that I love. What’s the solution? Native plants, of course!
One of the goals of using native plants in our gardens isn’t just to create beautiful spaces, but to support beneficial homes for all the creatures with which we share our outdoor world. What’s most beneficial to them isn’t solitary plantings with statement shrubs or flowers surrounded by a sea of mulch or dirt, but close planting with a variety of different plant species. What this does is to create a lush, full world, protected by a continuous canopy of native plants- their own food forest, if you will.
And what does this mean for us? Fewer places for weeds to spring up and grow, which equals = less time weeding for us.
They Use Less Water
The great thing about native plants is that they are uniquely suited to their environment, and usually won’t require any supplemental watering once they’re established. That means less time and money spent on watering for us. And what gardener doesn’t want to save more money? Of course, we’ll use the savings to spend it on more plants!
Native Plants Won’t Need Supplemental Fertilizer
You can throw away all those artificial fertilizers with native plants because they don’t need them. Native plants are better adapted to using the nutrition naturally occurring in the environment around them and will flourish without any help from us.
They Improve Their Environment- and Ours Too!
Native plants not only survive on their own, they make the earth better when they’re planted. Because of their longer roots and synchronicity with the environment around them, they are better suited to filtering air and water from the pollutants that we are constantly adding to the world. How great is that?
They Cut Down on Pollution
Not only do they clean our air and water from pollutants, but they actually cut down on them by reducing the need to mow and eliminating the need to clear leaves with loud leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, and more.
They teach us to work with our environment, not against it.
It’s a win-win for everybody and may be necessary for our very survival.
Are you ready to try native plants in your garden this spring?
If you would like more information on how you use natives in your area, stay tuned for more articles about this exciting topic. In the meantime, use this native plant finder from the National Wildlife Federation here.
Together, we can stop hurting this planet that we love. Planting native plants in our home landscapes is a great beginning!
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