Why I Plant Native Plants

How did this native plant adventure start for me? Moving frequently with my husband’s job, we rent the house out whenever we are overseas.  The shrubs and perennials I planted got neglected and taken over by English ivy and Asian honeysuckle. I got the idea to plant attractive weeds that would survive renters. That didn’t work out very well because I didn’t have time to research it and implement it.  When I came home in 2008, a friend suggested I take the Arlington Tree Stewards Volunteer training. Over the course of the 3 month training, I became convinced of the literally vital role of native trees, shrubs and forb (the forest ground later that goes away in winter and comes back in the spring), not only for wildlife but for civilized life as well.

As Dr. Doug Tallamy, Professor and Chair of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at University of Delaware, points out in Bringing Nature Home , native plants are vital to survival of the food web, but we are experiencing a precipitous decline in undisturbed habitats. Bulldozing wetlands, forests, meadows and prairies for housing and monoculture farming is leaving precious little food and cover for insects, spiders, birds and mammals. Combine that with the alien invasive ornamental plants we brought over from Asia and Europe that are choking out the remaining native habitat, and we clearly have a crisis on our hands.

Dr. Tallamy’s current research shows that insects eat plants, and they largely eat the native plants they co-evolved with.  We’re losing our native bugs because we’re losing our native plants. And we’re losing our native birds because they need the bugs and fruit and nuts from the native plants, and so on. You get the picture.

Dr. Tallamy’s solution is to convince homeowners across the country to change the way they think about gardening, and to gradually replace lawns and alien ornamentals with the native trees, shrubs and forb that butterflies and moths need to survive. He focuses on Lepidoptera because he’s an entomologist, but also because butterflies are beautiful and can engage the public.  They also provide food up the chain for birds and mammals, and gardening for them also helps other species.

Blogs are supposed to be short, so I’ll stop here for today. In future posts I’ll point out the benefits of gardening with natives, how to get started, and show what’s going on with my own backyard habitat as it develops.

When you’re ready to get started, have a look at the resource links over here on the right =>