Why Native
"Native plants give us a sense of where we are in this great land of ours. I want Texas to look like Texas and Vermont to look like Vermont."
-Lady Bird Johnson
Why Plant Native?
Less Work!
Since native plants have spent centuries adapting to your area’s growing conditions, they aren’t going to need much in the way of supplemental fertilizer, spraying and water.
Essential for pollinators
Many butterflies and native flowering plants evolved together and are co-dependent. For instance, the monarch butterfly only feeds on plants in milkweed family. Native plants provide butterflies with the nectar or foliage they need as caterpillars and adults.
We need them for our survival
70% of what we eat is dependent on pollinators! Without enough native plants to keep pollinator populations at norm, our diets would be forever altered.
They are well behaved
Native plants are rarely invasive. Having evolved within the community, they have natural predators that help to keep them in check so they don't propagate like just another weed. They are generally easier to grow and cheaper to maintain.
Water Conservation
Native plants use less water than lawns, preventing erosion due to their deep roots that store water. They need minimal, if any, additional watering once established. Native plants reduce water runoff and flooding..
They create wildlife habitat
Turf grass and exotics have minimal positive impact on the local wildlife. We think of the obvious pollinators, like bees, birds, and butterflies, but these plants can also help create homes for small animals, warm and cold-blooded, and microscopic organisms in the soil.
Be a little wild in your landscape
Unfortunately, most of the landscaping plants available in nurseries are alien species from other countries. Pollinator friendly landscapes are seen as more fragmented and wild than the crisp cut green (and non native) turf grass. These exotic plants not only sever the food web, but many have become invasive pests, outcompeting native species and degrading habitat in remaining natural areas. By inviting in some of the wild and adding more native plants to your landscape, you can help re-establish our natural ecosystem and the wildlife that depends on it.
You can have a beautiful garden with year round interest and benefit the ecosystem at the same time!
