Today, native plants are recognized for their value not only for wildlife, but also for the beauty and hardiness that they bring to the home garden, their economic potential, and their unique spot in the ecology of our environment.

1. Today, native plants are recognized for their
value not only for wildlife, but also for the beauty
and hardiness that they bring to the home
garden, their economic potential, and their
For more nature habitat information unique spot in the ecology of our environment.
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Why Choose
Native Plants
For many years, native plants in What people today term
this country were considered little “wildflowers" frequently include
better than undesirable weeds. “exotic" species which have come
from other countries and have
Farmers cleared them from the become so well-established that
land to plant crops. Gardeners we see them growing everywhere in
pulled them up relentlessly to the wild, often at the expense of
make room for “designer" plants the true native plants that they
which may have started as crowd out.
natives, but had been manipulated
by breeders to reflect current Common examples of these
standards of floral beauty. invasives would be Japanese
honeysuckle, multiflora rose, and
Early European immigrants tried purple loosestrife.
to reproduce the lush gardens of
their homelands, regardless of the The problem has become so
differences in climate and soil severe that the federal
conditions in this new world. government has finally written
laws and established committees
Then, as the pendulum swung to help find ways to eradicate
back, “native plants" became a some of the most aggressive
catch phrase, a rallying cry for species.
environmentalists concerned
about the loss of habitat for In addition, federal regulations
wildlife. now call for the use of native
plants in landscaping projects on
What exactly is a native plant. federal and public property.
The answer to this question isn’t
as easy as you might think. All Most current definitions of
plants (unless they are the native plants require that the
product of human manipulation) species was present in this
are natives of somewhere. country before Columbus arrived in
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 1 A Plant's Home

2. 1492. There are plants which were Value for wildlife
native to the North American As plants and wildlife evolved
continent, and others that were together, adaptations were made
regional natives. by both to ensure that each was
able to serve the other in the
Some experts believe that it is most effective way possible. As
important to only grow those more and more natural habitat is
plants which were originally native destroyed by development, we need Monarch/Common Milkweed
to your specific area of the to help wildlife survive by replacing
country. some of the native flora which is “The arrangement of
lost.
There is some validity to this
plants in the landscape
viewpoint, since even native Butterflies are a prime example. and the species
plants can become invasive when It would be difficult not to composition of the
grown in a location outside their appreciate the beauty of these vegetation largely
normal range. For instance, some insects and we tend to take their determine the abundance
species which are well-behaved in presence for granted, until we and variety of wildlife living
their typically dry southwestern suddenly realize that there are far
in any area."
locale can become aggressive fewer than we remember from
when encouraged by plentiful years ago. Native Shrubs and
rainfall and richer soil. Woody Vines of the Southeast,
A look at their requirements for – Leonard Foote & Samuel Jones, Jr.
Why bother growing native survival gives us some clues to the
plants at all, when there are so reasons for their decreasing back. In our own yards we can
many beautiful species available numbers. plant native milkweed and once
from all over the world. again provide a food source for the
We often read in the newspaper monarch caterpillars as well as
While it isn’t necessary to turn about the declining forest habitat nectar for a wide variety of adult
away completely from these for monarch butterflies when they butterflies.
varieties, there are many reach the end of their migratory
advantages to incorporating journey in Mexico. This is indeed a
native plants into your habitat, concern, but we need look no If you have an area that can be
including value to wildlife, farther than our own local suburbs left natural, the common milkweed
hardiness, and conservation. to find threats to their survival. can be allowed to grow. If you
prefer a more cultivated
Monarch caterpillars eat only appearance, butterfly weed
“To these more modest milkweed plants. They have not (Asclepias tuberosa) with its
ends, the number of people adapted to other food sources, so bright orange blossoms, pink-
planting a piece of native if there is no milkweed in an area, blooming swamp milkweed
grassland, not the size or there are no monarchs.
sophistication of the
Milkweed is a plant that survives
individual plantings, is in “waste places," in abandoned
what will matter, for if we fields and along roadsides. If we
don’t grow milkweeds in have cleared the fields for homes
our gardens, we’ll have to and shopping centers, or even for
tell our grandchildren, “We cultivated crops, and mowed the
used to see monarch roadsides or polluted them with
salt in the winter, then there will
butterflies long ago." be no milkweed.
Noah’s Garden
– Sara Stein With this awareness, we can
take steps to bring the monarch Swallowtail/Butterfly Weed
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3. These are lovely to behold and
may certainly have a place in your
garden, but they are useless to
the butterfly.
In order for a butterfly to land
and get its curled tongue into the
nectar, the flower must be fairly
open and flat, or tubular without a
lot of extra petals to block the
entrance.
American Elderberry
You can incorporate many
(A. incarnata), or white milkweed different kinds of native plants in
(A. variegata) all make lovely your landscape, thus attracting a
additions to the home garden. wide range of wildlife.
Purple Coneflower
Using butterflies for still Fruiting shrubs such as
another example of wildlife’s elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) that you will be benefiting some
continued need for native plants, will draw birds, as will native species of wildlife because they are
consider the common effort of evergreens and vines such as so closely interrelated.
plant breeders to create “showier" Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus
flowers. Starting with a simple, quinquefolia). When allowed to flourish in the
open blossom, breeders will wild, native plants provide the
manipulate the plant until the To attract mammals, you can diversity that wildlife needs. Food
blooms are double or triple-petaled plant nut trees like native oaks sources are produced at a variety
and ruffled and elaborate in and hickories. Whatever native of heights, and at different times
structure. plants you choose, you can be sure of the year.
“Native plants are an integral part of all ecosystems. Some berries are eaten
Each species belongs to a carefully balanced system immediately, while others languish
on the branch. These less-favored
that supports other species. fruits will still be there in winter
when most other food sources
In a healthy ecosystem, plant and animal species have disappeared, and can mean
interact to keep the system working properly. Birds feed the difference between survival and
on berries from shrubs; seed from the berries are starvation.
deposited by the bird, thus dispersing the shrubs.
Every part of a native plant has
Earthworms churn up the soil, aerating it and improving value, whether it be the nectar of
plant growth; the plants drop their leaves, providing the the flowers, the bark for winter
earthworms with organic matter for food. consumption or for hiding insects,
or the leaves for forage.
The intricacy of ecosystems – each with thousands of
species of plants, animals, insects, and bacteria – The roots loosen the soil,
boggles the mind. There is no way to know beforehand creating space, and sometimes
food, for underground creatures.
what the loss of even one species will mean to an
ecosystem and, subsequently, to species such as Different growth habits create
humans who rely on that ecosystem." shelter to suit every species. When
we clear natural areas and plant
– Lisa Fox and Peggy Olwell only lawn grass and a variety of
Plant Conservation Alliance
exotic plants, the results may be
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 3 A Plant's Home

4. pesticides, both of which are Flowers may be shorter due to
expensive and have a negative lack of rain, but they will
effect on the environment. generally bloom. Trees that are
severely stressed by drought will
In times of drought, these actually produce more fruit
plants will require additional (seed) than usual, ensuring that
watering to survive, thus using even if the individual tree dies,
up large quantities of that the species will continue.
valuable resource when we most
need to conserve it. Plants Native plants also frequently
native to a given area, on the have a resistance to common
other hand, have adapted fungal infections and insect
strategies over many years to problems. Even if they are
survive climate extremes in their attacked, they have developed
natural habitat. the skills to survive. Milkweed
plants are likely to be eaten by
Those species which grow in caterpillars, yet their roots
arid regions have developed persist and they return each
Bluebell
smaller leaves, or even no leaves year.
at all, in order to lessen both the
pleasing to human eyes which need for water and its loss Oak trees which are attacked
have been acclimated to current through evaporation. by insects will not only survive,
standards of horticultural beauty, but the next year will produce
but little remains of value for Prairie species “cooperate" by higher amounts of toxic tannic
wildlife. distributing their roots at acid, thus “fighting back" during
various levels underground, the new season of growth.
rather than having them all
Hardiness concentrate on the nutrients Some natives have other
Despite the overly-adaptable and moisture at a single level. distinct advantages over their
nature of certain exotic species, cultivated counterparts. A
many introduced plants are Although periods of major number of landscape trees, such
temperamental and require a lot drought may occur only once or as the Bradford Pear, have been
of work on the part of the twice in our own lifetimes, even bred to provide a mass of showy
gardener if they are to thrive. species from normally wet flowers in the spring, but that’s
regions will have seen many the end of their performance.
This may include frequent droughts during their evolution
fertilizing and spraying with and will be somewhat adapted. A native Sourwood
(Oxydendrum arboreum), by
comparison, has beautiful white
“When a soil loses fertility we pour on fertilizer, or at blossoms in late spring, vibrant
best alter its tame flora and fauna, without fall foliage, and fruits which
considering the fact that its wild flora and fauna, persist through the winter.
which built the soil to begin with, may likewise be
important to its maintenance. It was recently The Bradford Pear is also an
discovered, for example, that good tobacco crops example of what can happen
depend, for some unknown reason, on the when we tamper with Mother
preconditioning of the soil by wild ragweed. It does not Nature. It has been used of its
for landscaping because
widely
occur to us that such unexpected chains of uniform, vase-like shape. This is
dependency may have wide prevalence in nature." the result of breeding to get all
of the major limbs to emerge
– A Sand County Almanac from the same spot on the
Aldo Leopold (1949)
trunk.
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5. Genetic diversity is another Clearly native plants are
concern. We have been breeding resources that we can’t afford to
plants to favor certain lose or neglect, and yet the
characteristics for so long that United States has indeed lost
the genetic makeup of many of nearly 200 plant species since
them is nearly identical. This could the 1800’s. Five thousand are at
be disastrous. Just one pest or risk, with over 600 on the
disease could wipe out an entire endangered species list.
species, perhaps permanently.
Individual concerned gardeners
Already we have had to turn to and naturalists can be a driving
native root stock to save specific force in saving species and in
Fritillary/Butterfly Weed crops such as walnuts. By planting educating others about the
a variety of native species, we may importance of native plants.
be ensuring the survival of genetic
While the result may be lines.
attractive, now that these trees How do I find and
have been around long enough to Most of the medicines used in use native plants.
mature, many of them are this country – over 40 percent – Because of the valid concern
beginning to split down the contain chemicals based on plant that natural habitat is
middle. Having the weight derivations, yet to date only about disappearing more rapidly every
centered in one area makes them two percent of the world’s plant year, native plants should not be
exceedingly vulnerable to wind and species have been analyzed. gathered in the wild. Most have
snow, unlike native varieties which very specific soil requirements, so
have branches extending from Just 25 years ago, the cancer they are unlikely to survive
points all along the trunk, thus treatment taxol was discovered in transplanting anyway.
evenly distributing the weight. the bark of the native Pacific yew
tree. Exceptions to this rule would
be the “rescue operations" which
Conservation These trees had no former are held when an area is
The rate of extinction for commercial value and could just as scheduled to be cleared for
plants and animals is at an all- easily have been rendered extinct, development. In those cases,
time high. There are a number of a casualty of logging operations trained volunteers go in and
causes, but loss of habitat is for other species. gather wild species which are
certainly a major factor. Many
zoos are now expected not just
to provide entertainment and
education, but are entrusted
with the survival of certain
species through careful breeding
programs, often with the hope of
reintroducing animals to the wild
as suitable habitat becomes
available.
While we may not have the
resources to help ensure the
continued existence of Giant
Pandas or Bengal Tigers, each of
us can participate in the
conservation of native plants,
and thus the local wildlife that
depends on them. Eared Coreopsis
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6. Cooperative Extension can direct hedgerows or evergreen windbreaks
you to additional resources. along your property line, or create
islands of native shrubs and trees
Local nature centers and garden in an open area of lawn.
clubs often have sales or “plant
swaps" where you can get Traditional lawns are of very
inexpensive plants and learn about little value to wildlife and require a
what species have done well for large investment of time, energy,
others in your area. and resources to maintain, so it’s
beneficial to reduce the amount of
Plants will have the greatest cut grass and replace it with more
chance of survival if they have been valuable plantings.
propagated in a climate zone similar
to your own. Does using natives in your
flowerbeds mean that you have to
If you have the space, one of the settle for scraggly, nondescript
easiest ways to add native plants plants. Not at all!
to your landscape is to simply leave
a portion of your yard unmowed. You Many natives are showy
might be amazed at the wildflowers performers in their own right, while
which appear when given the chance others become much more
Foxglove
to flourish. attractive when they are removed
from natural competition and
Even if the showier plants don’t given additional sunlight and
then relocated and nurtured until grow right away, remember that water.
they are reestablished. many butterfly host plants are
“weeds" such as plantain, clover, Gardeners in England treasure
Fortunately, today there are and vetch. the goldenrod which is only native
many nurseries which specialize in to America, yet here we often
native plants, and even Allowing an area to “go wild" will consider it an annoying weed.
“mainstream" nurseries carry at benefit wildlife and ensure more
least a basic selection. butterflies and bees for pollination As previously mentioned, follow
in your garden. the lead of nature and strive for
To avoid contributing to the diversity in your plantings. This
conservation problem, you should In already existing planting areas means that you should have a
ask where a nursery gets its you can tuck native flowers among variety of species and types of
native stock, and only buy from your other perennials, plant plants (herbaceous perennials,
those which propagate their own
plants, not from those which
gather them in the wild.
“By observing native plants, the gardener gains a more
While local nurseries may be a profound insight into seasonal rhythms and life cycles.
resource for some native plants, a This, in turn, assists in developing a sense of identity
wider range is available through with nature and the natural environment. There is that
mail order sources. Many also sell marvelous sense of satisfaction resulting from
seeds. Suppliers can be found in encouraging rare species of plants, or perhaps
gardening magazines or through
the Internet.
reestablishing species which might once have been
abundant in the wild and may have previously grown in
Native plant societies, local nearby areas."
conservation associations,
– Gardening with Native Wild Flowers
botanic gardens, and government Samuel Jones, Jr. and Leonard Foote
agencies such as the County
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7. “When we walk through our late summer forests and see
the profuse blooms of the white wood aster (A.
divaricatus), we look at a mangy weed. Gertrude Jekyll
saw it as a perfect late season plant and routinely
incorporated it into her borders. Similarly, may apple
(Podophyllunm pelatatum) is only a common woodland
wildflower here but is a carefully chosen spring
groundcover situated under rhododendrons on the
grounds of Windsor Castle."
– Easy Care Native Plants
Patricia Taylor
landscape. These would include the at natural areas around your
amount of light, soil conditions, home or neighborhood and see
temperature range, and amount of what kinds of plants are already
moisture. growing there, do some research
to find out what growing
White Cardinal Flower
While the species may be native conditions those plants prefer,
to your geographic region, your and then choose for yourself some
trees, shrubs, native grasses), a
own yard will have its own specific native plants which have similar
range of blooming and fruiting
times, and an assortment of plant microclimate which needs to be requirements.
heights. taken into consideration.
Think about your own interests
With the exception of large Even if it’s native, a shrub which when choosing plants for your
specimen trees, colonies of plants naturally grows along the forest yard. Do you want to attract
are more desirable than single edge, where it has the benefits of wildlife, have a wealth of flowers for
specimens when you are trying to adequate sun and rich forest soil, cutting, create a colorful autumn
benefit wildlife. is less likely to thrive if you plant it display.
under shade trees or in rocky soil.
As with any plants, be cautious of Once you have a goal, then you
those which spread via underground When you are starting out, it’s a can seek out plants which have the
runners. Bee Balm (Monarda good idea to take the time to look characteristics that you want.
didyma) is lovely and very popular
with bees and hummingbirds, but it
can take over an entire garden, so
be sure that it, and similar species,
are planted where they have room
to roam.
Those species which spread by
seed may also become a bit too
prolific, but they are relatively easy
to control and will provide seedlings
to share with other gardeners.
Despite their hardiness, it is still
important to consider the basic
requirements of native plants
before adding them to your White Trillium
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8. REFERENCES
Books
A wealth of books are available which provide extensive information on native
plants, their importance, and how to landscape using them. Some that
WindStar’s naturalists have recommended include:
• Easy Care Native Plants ,Patricia Taylor
• Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast and
Gardening with Native Wild Flowers, Leonard Foote & Samuel Jones, Jr.
• Taylor’s Guide to Natural Gardening
• A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
• Noah’s Garden and Planting Noah’s Garden, Sara Stein
Internet Sites
If you use a search engine and plug in “native plants," you will be directed to
many nurseries which carry native plants, either exclusively or in addition to
exotic species.
Often there are nice descriptions of the plants and tips on what growing
conditions they prefer. You will also find a number of state or regional sites
which discuss the flora in that locality.
For more general information on native plants, you might want to try the
following web sites, many of which will also give you additional links:
• http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/greenacres (landscaping with native plants
and weed laws)
• http://www.nps.gov/plants (Plant Conservation Alliance)
• http://www.wild-flowers.com (GardenWeb – various links)
• http://www.wildflowers.org (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research
Center)
• http://www.inpaws.org/links.html (more links)
• http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/factmain.htm (fact sheets on
invasive plants)
• http://www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/ccs/backyard.html (backyard This article was written by
conservation) Maryland Master Wildlife
• http://www.mobat.org/cpc (Center for Plant Conservation) Habitat Naturalist
• http://www.for-wild.org (Wild Ones) Cathy Gilleland.
• http://plants.usda.gov (USDA plants database) For more information or for the
name of a Master Wildlife
Other Resources Habitat Naturalist in your area,
National Garden Bureau please contact:
Suite 310, 1311 Butterfield Road
Downers Grove, IL 60515 WindStar Wildlife Institute
The Plant Conservation Alliance is a collaboration between Bureau of Land
Management, Department of Defense, U.S. Geological Survey (Biological E-mail: wildlife@windstar.org
Resources Division), Federal Highway Administration, National Park Service, http://www.windstar.org
Natural Resources Conservation Service, Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA
Agriculture Research Service, USDA Forest Service, and more than 150 WindStar Wildlife Institute is a
national, non-profit
non-federal cooperators (including WindStar Wildlife Institute). conservation organization
Plant Conservation Alliance whose mission is to help
Bureau of Land Management individuals and families
1849 C Street NW, LSB-204 establish or improve the wildlife
habitat on their properties.
Washington, DC 20240
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