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Definition of native species Why use native plants in landscaping? To learn more about using native plants in landscaping (sustainable landscaping)
To plan native landscaping To hire a native-friendly landscaper To buy or trade native plants or seeds
To prepare, construct, plant and manage my site
Native species are plants, 🍄︎ fungi or 🐟︎ 🐢︎🐇︎ animals that:
The advantages of wildscaping are many:
The effects of replacing exotic landscaping with natives are dramatic. For a few years, we have seen an increase in the number of butterflies and 🐦︎ birds in our yard. I expected that—my wife (with some 💪︎ muscle from me) had been slowly replacing some of our plants with natives. Nothing radical, but if a non-native died or was doing poorly, we replaced it with a native. Part of our lawn morphed into a small prairie. Some plants got moved. One day, I realized it had been three years since we had put out traps for those big green hard flying Japanese beetle Popillia japonica. Weird. I looked around, and saw that we had crossed some threshold, maybe from 30% natives to 50% natives, and we no longer had any issues with the annoying green bug. Apparently, you don't need perfection to restore some balance to your local ecosystem. And my wife recalls that during the Drought of 2013, our Wild Area was the only part of our yard that didn't suffer. Extraordinary!
On a larger scale, our local Ranger Steve—and family—turned part of their larger property into an unofficial Ody Brook Nature Sanctuary, named after their dog. Here are Ranger Steve's tips to restore biodiversity where you live. [1]
On a smaller scale, perhaps you have an apartment, with room only for a few pots. Even a single pot containing a ⚘❀ native wildflower (in my area, perhaps butterfly milkweed Asclepias tuberosa ) could refresh a tired migrator (in my area, perhaps monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus ), allowing it to reach someone else's yard down the street, and then a larger project—perhaps at a park or school. Small steps can still help!
In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water. — Doug Tallamy.
A society grows great when old [wo/]men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. — Greek Proverb.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. — Teddy Roosevelt, 26th President of the 🇺🇸 USA.
Tomorrow there'll be more of us. — historic character John Laurent in Hamilton: An American Musical.
If half of American lawns were replaced with native plants, we would create the equivalent of a 20 million acre national park — nine times bigger than Yellowstone, or 100 times bigger than Shenandoah National Park. — Doug Tallamy, who later started the Homegrown National Park.
[1] Steve's actions are supported by the flip-side argument "Redefining Curb Appeal: Homeowners are recognizing the value of replacing front lawns with native plants." National Wildlife Federation. March 30, 2015. Accessed 2018-11-15.
👤︎ On a personal scale:
👥︎ On a community scale, The Politics of Planting Natives: How One Village Went Wild.
All these groups may reach their objectives by planning their landscaping using several layers:
Begin with as much biodiversity as you can fit or afford. — Steve Keto.
Martha's Laws of Gardening: If a plant in your yard isn't doing anything for you (particularly if not providing your desired ecosystem services ), get rid of it.If possible, identify a replacement plant ahead of time. If a plant isn't happy where it is in your yard, move it. If you need a new plant, think about what you want there. Consider a native. I am now less willing to fuss. — Martha MacCleery.
Keep your neighbors happy, by keeping things tidy, perhaps by adding some cues to care: Keep driver sight-lines functional by keeping roadside plantings knee- or waist-high or so. ◦ If the flower- or seed-heads are thin enough, you can probably ignore that part. ◦ If your plants are too high, move them further from the road, or cut them low ( mow? ) before they grow tall and flower, e.g., June in the 🌐︎ Northern Hemisphere, December in the 🌐︎ Southern Hemisphere. Keep a nice edge, a border, maybe ½ m (👟︎👟︎ a foot or two) wide, especially along your sidewalk, road or path. Options include: ◦ Mowing this strip. ◦ Trimming plants to the ground, finishing with nice mulch. Perhaps local hardwood chips (they don't float away during moderate rain) or double-ground pine bark mulch. In some areas, river rocks or lava stones. Ask your local mulch enthusiasts! Install an informative sign, perhaps titled Certified Wildlife Habitat, Pollinator Habitat, Pollinator Habitat (another one), Native Plant Butterfly Garden, Certified Butterfly Garden, or Monarch Waystation.
NWF's Trees for Wildlife guide: Planning, Planting and Caring for Trees Ten Steps to a Successful Wildflower Planting Rain Garden 101. Iowa Rain Garden Design and Installation Manual, including size and cost. (page 8) Rain garden (rainscaping)[?] and prairie site selection, design, 🚧 construction and management. What native plants you can plant over a septic drain field.
To replace part of your 🌾︎ grass turf lawn, turning it into a garden or prairie: Plan how much area of turf you want replaced. ◦ Mark out your new garden or prairie, perhaps with an old hose, rope or flags. ◦ Adjust as much as you want, walking all around the area, inspecting views from many locations or paths, looking at sun hours and angles, until you are happy with it. ◦ If you have underground sprinklers, mark any interior sprinkler heads with a flag. Actually, mark nearby exterior sprinkler heads with flags, too, so you can see if the spray pattern is OK. If bad, tell your support team what will need to be moved where. Start planning or acquiring plants or seeds to put in that area. Preferably native plants as defined at top, from sources listed below. ◦ If plants arrive too early, plant temporarily in a holding area. ◦ If needed, surround your holding area with a deer-exclosure cage. Choose your method to kill your turf (or invasive plants): ◦ Some people cover with clear plastic, but I have not. I hear that this is epic fail — your turf (or invasive plants) grow very well under the clear plastic, and enjoy to warmer temperatures and moisture trapped underneath. ◦ Some people cover with black plastic, but I have not. I hear that it works well, but looks unsightly while it is killing your turf. ◦ Some people cover with felted-plastic landscaping cloth, but I have not. ◦ Some people use herbicide. I tried that once, ineffectively. Applying more, totaling 3 times the rate specified on the label, got me to partly-effective. Now that I know the 📄︎🛂︎ label is the law, I will never do that again. ◦ Some people use a shovel. I have done this, for 2 or 3 years, totaling maybe 150 sq m (1,500 sq ft). Works OK if you are young or strong. Found I preferred a flat-bottom shovel to do the cut, pushed along by banging with the heel of my stiff-soled boots. Can get only so much done a day, and you have to dispose of the cut turf. ◦ Some people use a sod-cutting machine, but I have not. I hear that it works well, although expensive to rent, and you have to dispose of the cut turf. ◦ Some people cover with cardboard. I have seen the following method work very well … Have your cardboard acquisition team start acquiring cardboard boxes to lay over that turf. ◦ Select boxes that are: ◦ No waterproof coatings: not plastic nor wax. ◦ No glossy coatings: not plastic nor clay. ◦ Any amount of ink OK, including solid white or black. ◦ Minimum holes in the interior. For example, produce boxes usually have lots of ventilation holes. The next box-layer is going to have to cover up all those holes. ◦ Pizza boxes are great! ◦ Get from: ◦ Costco first hour of day, or after they have restocked their shelves and brought empty boxes to the front. ◦ Don't take all of their boxes. Leave some for customers to take home their purchases. ◦ Nest boxes if possible. Try to envision how they will fit in your car. ◦ Put on top of cart, or walk out with two big armloads. ◦ On way out, pick up and move up and down, showing they are empty, without entrained merchandize. ◦ An even better source is our local franchise retailer Wild Birds Unlimited, who lets us drive up, ask for any knocked-down cardboard they still have in the store's backroom, take it (saves them from having to carry it out), and then check their strip mall's common cardboard-recycling dumpster. ◦ There are lots of signs saying 📹︎ cameras in use and no dumping, but nothing about taking excess cardboard. Understandable, as it is completely legal here to take anyone's refuse. Once, a police car drove by, but me being white and middle-aged, paid me no notice. ◦ From the dumpster, I can choose their largest pieces, with a minimum of internal voids. ◦ Other sources? ◦ When get home, break them down (cut paper tape, remove plastic tape, and tear glued joints), and store flat in garage or (if going to use later that day) on top of car. ◦ Plan your next trip to get more boxes. There is no way that you got is enough. When you have your perimeter planned, your plants and seeds planned or on-site, and your first batch of cardboard on-site, within your kill zone: ◦ lay down cardboard on grass turf, ◦ 2-3 layers deep, ◦ with subsequent layers covering up any gaps or holes in the previous layer. If 📅︎ schedule, ☀︎ daylight, or ☁ rainclouds force you to break here, or you fear winds will remove or raccoons will disturb your cardboard, put some stones on top of the cardboard. ◦ We borrowed stones from below our gutter downspout splashblocks, and from our dry creek bed/water channel through the little ridge to get rainwater away from our house. On top of cardboard, put a layer of mulch from your mulch pile. You know you have been keeping one. Close that loop! [TODO: Have EP write up a couple things to make this less work.] On top of that, put on any top-dressings, such as double-grind pine bark mulch. ◦ If that gets washed or blown away, cover instead with: (A) pine bark nuggets , or (B) hardwood chips -- they don't float. ◦ Even now, putting some stones on top will help keep everything in place. After a couple rains or waterings, the cardboard gets kinda gooey and the mulch kinda sticks together; you can move the stones onto your next section or put them back where they belong. Let it rain on this area, and/or water it periodically as you would the rest of your lawn. Wait 3 months for the turf to die and decompose. Or if you don't have that much time, rely on the cardboard and dirt to kill most of the turf, while your new plantings poke through. When ready to plant, put plants (still in their pots or whatever) on top of everything else, all over your area, roughly where you think they will go. Move your plants around as much as you want, until you are happy with their locations:◦ distance from each other,◦ distance from the edge,◦ access to sunlight,◦ cool groupings,◦ et al. Plant your garden! FOR each plant: ◦ Put the tip of your hori-hori soil knife, trowel, or planting shovel where your plant will go, and move aside your plant a convenient distance. ◦ Dig a hole at your target location, right through the top-dress, mulch and cardboard. ◦ If you want to be really neat about it, bring a stray scrap of cardboard or plywood to lay out your nice top-dress, mulch and stuff, while you dig your hole and plant your plant. This way, after your plant is in the ground, you have a chance of having enough mulch and top-dress to make it look pretty, without having to get more. ◦ With any luck, your cardboard has been rained on or watered enough, and been there long enough, that it will be gooey. ◦ Plant your plant, as you would have if your garden soil had been totally prepared. ◦ If your plant or soil needs it, add a bit of fertilizer to the soil in your hole, or water your newly-planted plant with water containing fertilizer. ◦ Regardless of the above, water it well! End FOR. Go on to your next plant. Keep your new plants well-watered and -protected for next two weeks, and the remainder of their first growing season. Put a nice edge on it. Enjoy your new garden! — Martha MacCleery.
If you have erosion along a streambank, lakeshore, bluff, or road slope (or you have a floodplain or stormwater detention pond), look into a process called live-staking, using species native to your area, such as ◼︎ gray dogwood Cornus racemosa, ◼︎ red osier or red twig dogwood Cornus sericea, balsam poplar Populus balsamifera, ◼︎ black cottonwood Populus trichocarpa, ◼︎ black willow Salix nigra, ◼︎ American black elderberry / 🇨🇦 Canadian elderberry / common elderberry Sambucus canadensis, and ➳ southern arrowwood viburnum Viburnum dentatum.
In Western New York, Policy on Usage of Indigenous Plant Species in Landscaping (Seneca Nation of Indians). (pages 57-65)
In the 🇺🇸 USA, NWF's Native Plant Finder: native plants that attract butterflies and moths, and support 🐦︎ birds and other fauna > Find Native Plants > yourZipCode. In the 🇺🇸 USA, Audubon's Native Plant Finder: native plants that support 🐦︎ birds > yourZipCode (no email needed) > button Search.
Mostly in the 🇺🇸 USA, ▭ 🔍︎ mapping tools.
In North America, NWF's Host Plants for Butterfly and Moth Caterpillars by Eco Region. In North America, more planning …
First, your jurisdiction may have rules about what kind of tree you may plant:
Second, you may want to see your site's pre-settlement vegetation cover:
Third, you may want to see your site's current land use:
Fourth, if you haven't found anything actionable above:
Fifth, investigate which plants are associated with the natural communities above:
Now we know!
When: shopping for 🌱︎☙🌳︎ seeds/plants/shrubs/trees, and deciding when to plant them, It is good to know your: Plant Hardiness Zone (🇺🇸 USDA), Plant Hardiness Zone (🇨🇦 Canada), or Plant Hardiness Zone (🌎︎ North America, Central America and nearby) (scroll down). This link also has nice ▭ maps for 🇺🇸 USA temperature, precipitation, climate and soil! Plant Hardiness Zones in 2070-2099 (🇺🇸 USA-48, plus nearby 🇨🇦 Canada and 🇲🇽 Mexico) > left navigation Plant Hardiness Zone. For example, doing this, we found that our favorite site's Plant Hardiness Zone is 6a: -23 to -21 °C (-10 to -5 °F). That seems about right — we probably get down to that temperate maybe one winter in four, and close to it for a week or two most winters. If you buy a seed/plant/shrub/tree labelled with a zone higher than your own, it may die in your next normal ❄ winter. ☑ Check your seed/plant/shrub/tree's tag or package! If you live in 🇺🇸 USA-48, you can get this information, together with typical growing times, in these nice Vegetable Planting Schedules. If you live in high-elevation Hawai'i, southern Alaska, or 🇨🇦 southern or maritime Canada, you can see the same Vegetable Planting Schedules > Plant Hardiness Zones 3-9. On the other hand, limitations of Plant Hardiness Zones.
To help 🐝︎ pollinators, 🌳︎🐝︎ Trees for Bees recommends planting native bigleaf maple Acer macrophyllum, northern or hardy catalpa Catalpa speciosa, eastern redbud Cercis canadensis, flowering dogwood Cornus florida, 🌷︎ American tulip tree Liriodendron tulipifera, southern crabapple Malus angustifolia, staghorn sumac Rhus typhina and ◼︎ black willow Salix nigra.
The Pollinator Partnership offers recommendations for Selecting Plants for 🐝︎ Pollinators.
In the 🇺🇸 USA, Audubon's recommendations of 🐦︎ bird-friendly butterfly-friendly native plants > yourZipCode (no email needed) > button Search. Michigan Native Plants for 🐦︎ Bird-Friendly Landscapes.
Bloom dates for native herbaceous perennial beneficial-insect-attracting plants (Michigan) (page 58) bloom dates by month (Missouri) bloom dates by plant name (Missouri).
In North America's Midwest, native examples of small trees forming the "middle story" of the woodland plant community include American hornbeam or 💪︎ musclewood Carpinus caroliniana, dogwood genus Cornus, American witch-hazel Hamamelis virginiana and American hophornbeam or ⚒ ironwood Ostrya virginiana.
In Michigan, MSU Native Plants > links Teaching Tools, Regional Plant Lists, Plant Selection, etc.
Kelly D. Norris recommends American smoketree Cotinus obovatus.
For the small yard, or in regions near Pennsylvania, please see Native Plants for the Small Yard: Easy, Beautiful Home Gardens that Support Local Ecology (about).
"The Right Native Plants in the Right Landscape Means Fewer Allergies." Wild Ones Journal. September/December 2010. (pages 1, 20, 21 and 23) (🔒︎ Wild Ones members only)
[5] MacCleery, Doug. "A Brief History of Virginia's Forests." Lecture, George Mason University GMU Osher Lifelong Learning Institute OLLI, Fairfax, VA. April 27, 2020. Presentation accessed September 8, 2020.
In Minnesota, please see native plant suppliers and landscapers in Minnesota.
In West Michigan near Grand Rapids, please see a designer in the Native Plant Guild NPG.
In 🇺🇸 USA:
Sources of information, plants and seeds:
While selecting your plants and seeds, this author recommends you:
For example, if ◼︎ 🍁︎ red maple Acer rubrum is native to your region:
"Guidelines for Selecting Native Plants: The Importance of Local Ecotype." Wild Ones Journal. May/June 2002. (page 3) (🔒︎ Wild Ones members only) "Nativars: Where do they fit in?" Wild Ones Journal. November/December 2013. (pages 1, 4 and 5) (🔒︎ Wild Ones members only) "Nativars (Native Cultivars): What We Know & Recommend" by Becca Rodomsky-Bish. Habitat Network. February 15, 2018. Accessed 2020-03-03.
"Why Hardiness Zones, Native Ranges, Ecoregions?" Wild Ones Journal. May/June 2002. (🔒︎ Wild Ones members only)
Radio/podcast interview with Doug Tallamy "How effective are nativars?" A Way to Garden.com. 2018-05-28. or its 🔊︎ audio (Your browser does not support online audio control tag. Please use this link to the audio instead.)
This author also recommends you get plants and seeds that are not treated with neonicotinoid neonic insecticides: imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin, nitenpyram, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. I read that it could be months before your plants are visited by pollinators, or can provide food for your 🐦︎ local birds. Seeds harvested from these next-generation plants are probably OK. Unless your seeds are of a variety that requires these insecticides to do well. (Remedy: Use an organic seed company like High Mowing Organic Seeds. Although going with this vendor may negate choosing a local genotype.)
When you buy, ☑ check the tag: No ' ' single-quotes, nor ™ or ® trademark. And depending on details, containing subsp. or var. . Not treated with neonicotinoid neonic insecticides. Not seed-sterile. Has a Plant Hardiness Zone equal to or lower than for your site.
[6] Ryan Pankau, Horticulture Educator, Illinois Extension, at group presentation "Natives vs. Nativars — Do Cultivars of Native Flora Support Native Fauna?" 2021-03-08 attended by EP. Accessed 2021-03-08.
[7] "Picking Plants for Pollinators: The Cultivar Conundrum." Xerces Society. 2017. Accessed 2019-05-10.
[8] Based on the above blog, this is now being studied by Nativars Research Project, by budburst, a project of botanic gardens in Chicago, Denver and San Diego. To observe pollinators, they are seeking help from interested citizens scientists across the 🇺🇸 USA.
[9] "What makes those Proven Winners plants so special?" VillageSoup. Jun 16, 2010. Accessed 2020-11-13.
Local (many of these plant sales are also listed in Statewide section below ) (these dates change frequently—please ☑ 📅︎ verify dates with applicable organization!):
Statewide:
Year-round: Growers in the Native Plant Guild NPG.
Native plant sales of which we are aware (these dates change frequently—please ☑ 📅︎ verify dates with applicable organization!):
Mowing my 🌾︎ grass turf lawn. "How to Improve Clay Soil for Better Gardening." "Hazards to Outdoor Workers" by 🇺🇸 USA CDC NIOSH.
Ten Steps to a Successful Wildflower Planting.
NWF's Trees for Wildlife guide: Planning, Planting and Caring for Trees (page 13)
In West Michigan near Grand Rapids, please see a landscaper/restorer in the Native Plant Guild NPG.
Rain Garden 101. Iowa Rain Garden Design and Installation Manual, including size and cost. (page 8) Rain garden (rainscaping)[?] and prairie site selection, design, 🚧 construction and management. For full effect, select the video image above or to left, then icons ⛶ fullscreen, ㏄ captions , ▶︎ Play, and ⏯︎ ☒ Skip Ads.
In 🍂︎ autumn, leave your dried stalks up—with their seedheads! In ❄ winter, they will add visual interest. Especially with snow on them! And will bring a smile to your face every time you return home! In deepest winter (for us, mid-February), with these seedheads beautifully sticking up through the snow, birds will eat some of the seeds. Including birds that until now, have shown no interest in them! I infer that most birds don't like to eat these seeds, but with winter is at its toughest, they are OK! (Don't worry, the birds always drop or leave half, so there is plenty to seed next year's prairie, and for me to collect and give away!) In ⚘ spring, before you do lots of traipsing around in your garden, cutting down the stalks, or burning it as below, wait until: ◦ [precise] the soil temperature gets to 7-10°C (45-50°F) (use and electronic kitchen thermometer or something), ◦ [easier] something else in your yard flowers (like your early ankle-high flowers, or forsythia genus Forsythia ), ◦ [practical] the last weekend for which you can get a burn permit. ❄🐝︎ Overwintering bees will love you!
The 🔥︎💦︎🌱︎☀︎🌾︎🐛︎🐦︎ prescribed fire/controlled burn plan for my own area is 🚧 under construction. Until published, please see This Tree LOVES FIRE (longleaf pine Pinus palustris), and 🔥︎💦︎🌱︎☀︎🌾︎🐛︎🐦︎ prescribed burn videos. If you are still serious, contact your local agencies, and study applicable parts of NWCG training courses S-130 🚒︎ Firefighter Training and S-190 🔥︎ Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior and S-212 🔥︎ Wildland Fire Chain Saws student handbook. "How Indigenous Burning Practices Could Prevent Massive Wildfires." NPR radio show Science Friday. September 25, 2020. or its 🔊︎ audio (Your browser does not support online audio control tag. Please use this link to the audio instead.)
"How Indigenous Burning Practices Could Prevent Massive Wildfires." NPR radio show Science Friday. September 25, 2020. or its 🔊︎ audio (Your browser does not support online audio control tag. Please use this link to the audio instead.)
native gardening terminology
🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Flora of North America USFS Wikipedia
🏠︎ 🏠︎ home page invasive plants
Japanese barberry Berberis thunbergii Oriental bittersweet Celastrus orbiculatus 🌰︎ American chestnut Castanea dentata northern bush honeysuckle Diervilla lonicera autumn olive Elaeagnus umbellata 🇪🇺 European beech Fagus sylvatica ◼︎ copper or ◼︎ purple 🇪🇺 European beech Fagus sylvatica purpurea lesser celandine or fig buttercup Ficaria verna American witch-hazel Hamamelis virginiana dame's rocket Hesperis matronalis 🇪🇺 European privet Ligustrum vulgare Bell's honeysuckle Lonicera ×bella Japanese honeysuckle Lonicera japonica Amur honeysuckle Lonicera maackii Morrow's honeysuckle Lonicera morrowii Tatarian honeysuckle Lonicera tatarica ◼︎ purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria phlox genus Phlox 🍐︎ common pear Pyrus communis wild rice Zizania aquatica northern wild rice Zizania palustris
🏠︎ Eric Piehl comments on … 🌲︎ green (environmental) topics … mowing your 🌾︎ grass turf lawn … installing, using and managing rain barrels … West Michigan, in and around Kent County and Grand Rapids