Verify with 🔍︎ images.
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
"Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis." Preventive Medicine Reports. 2017-03-05. Pages 92–99. DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.11.007 , which I found referenced by the popular press article "If you want to live to 100, aging experts say you should take up this hobby ASAP." Parade Magazine. Updated November 6, 2023. Accessed 2023-11-09.
Native species are plants, 🍄︎ fungi or 🐟︎ 🐢︎🐇︎ animals that:
The advantages of wildscaping are many:
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.
The effects of replacing exotic landscaping with native contributors can be dramatic. In our yard, we have seen an increase in the number of butterflies and 🐦︎ birds. 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. Parts of our lawn morphed into four small pocket prairies. 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 this annoying green bug. Apparently, you don't need perfection to contribute some ecosystem services, and restore some balance to your local ecosystem. And my wife recalls that during our local Drought of 2013, our prairie areas and native shrubs were the only parts of our yard that didn't suffer. Extraordinary!
On a smaller scale, perhaps you have an apartment, with room only for a few 🪴 containers. Maybe include a local keystone species. Even a single pot containing a ⚘❀ native wildflower (in my area, perhaps butterfly milkweed Asclepias tuberosa ) could:
🚶︎🚶︎ Small steps still help!
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]
Also on a larger scale, there are efforts to educate land managers on the advantages of including Wild Areas in their plans and operations: school districts, library districts, road commissions, and utilities with right-of-ways (e.g., under powerlines and over pipelines). Can make this a win-win situation. Good idea!
If half of American lawns were replaced with native plants, we would create the equivalent of a 20-million-acre [8-million-hectare] 🏞 national park — nine times bigger than Yellowstone, or 100 times bigger than Shenandoah National Park. — Doug Tallamy, who later started the Homegrown National Park HNG. [We listed our yard's wild areas in the Homegrown National Park. If you live in 🇨🇦 Canada or 🇺🇸 USA, you can participate by listing yours, too! Free!]
On a 🌎︎🌏︎🌍︎ global scale, combining private efforts like the above with public efforts like 🏞 parks and wildlife sanctuaries, The Half Earth Project seeks to allocate half the area of 🌎︎🌏︎🌍︎ our planet for nature's use. I do not yet understand the details, but the concept is intriguing!
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.
Stand tall and proud, Sink your roots deeply into the earth, Think long term, Go out on a limb, Be content with your natural beauty, Drink plenty of water, Remember your roots, Enjoy the view! — abridged version of "Advice from a Tree," by Ilan Shamir.
[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 and Homeowner fights back against uppity neighbor's complaints about formerly 'barren' front yard.
Some reach their objectives above by planning their landscaping in several overlapping layers. (Many layers lie within the 🌱︎🦌︎ deer browse line. Click on the layer's ⚘🦌︎ link if your plants are overly-browsed by 🦌︎ deer family Cervidae. )
Canopy trees layer, consisting of mature tall trees. Please leave standing old dying and dead trees, to provide food and nesting space for woodpeckers and other 🐦︎ birds and 🐢︎🐇︎🐜︎🐛︎ animals. ↗ Above or to right is a video of PBS program Nature episode "Woodpeckers: The Hole Story". For full effect, select the video image, For full effect, select the video image, icons ⤢ fullscreen, ㏄ Closed Captions=On, and ▶︎ Play. If you live in a 🏜 desert area, consider creating the canopy layer first — your other layers will be happier!
Small trees layer, forming the "middle story" of the woodland plant community. ⚘🦌︎ Native examples in North America. Kelly D. Norris recommends tupelo genus Nyssa. "Fantastic Trees and Where to Plant Them: The Tree Planter's Guide to Protecting Clean Water and Acting on Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region."
Shrub layer, of bushes. ⚘🦌︎ This author's family removed a lot of shrubs in our backyard, to make room for the other layers. Kelly D. Norris recommends viburnum genus Viburnum.
Herbaceous layer, that die back to soil-level at the end of the growing season. ⚘🦌︎ These include: 🌾︎ grasses, ⚘ native wildflowers, bulbs, and ferns. Or, sliced a different way: Annuals. Easiest to move around and play with in your 🏞 garden or landscaping. Biennials. Can move around. Perennials. Be patient. In 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 North American areas to which it is native, Kelly D. Norris recommends ░ prairie smoke Geum triflorum.
Ground cover layer, of plants that spread horizontally. ⚘🦌︎
║ Vertical layer, of ☙ vines and climbers. ⚘🦌︎ Kelly D. Norris recommends clematis genus Clematis.
Nitrogen fixers, somewhere in the above mix. ⚘🦌︎ Kelly D. Norris recommends 🥜︎ legume / bean / pea family Fabaceae such as milkvetch genus Astragalus native to your area.
Mulch layer, to protect plants from water-loss, excessive soil temperature, competition from weeds, and erosion.
Underground layer, of plants grown for their roots and tubers — the rhizosphere.
🍄︎ Fungal / mushroom kingdom Fungi layer. You need good soil — soil that has structure, is complex, and alive! "Underground fungal relationships key to thriving plants." "Tree microbes could help crops draw phosphorous from fertilized soil." "How to Improve Clay Soil for Better Gardening." 📱︎ Soil texture calculator: percentage of sand, clay and silt. "Study shows that inoculating soil with mycorrhizal fungi can increase plant yield by by up to 40%." Science X Phys.org. 2023-11-29. DOI: rg/10.1038/s41564-023-01520-w
For full effect, select the video image, then icons YouTube (if present), ⏯︎ ⊠ Skip Ads (if present), ㏄ captions (if you wish), ⛶ fullscreen, and ▶︎ Play.
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 contributing few 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 and adding some cues to care: Keep driver sight-lines functional by keeping roadside plantings 🦵 knee- or waist-high or so. ◦ If the ⚶ flower- or 🌾︎ seedheads are skinny enough, they can extend above this level. ◦ If your plants are too high, move them further from the road, or cut them low ( mow? ) before they grow tall and flower. For example, June in the temperate 🌐︎ Northern Hemisphere, December in the temperate 🌐︎ 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 in this strip close to the ground. ◦ Finishing with a nice mulch. 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". Update your 📄︎🛂︎ community's regulations, perhaps similar to that done in Somerville MA with its ordinance 2021-05.
Having a layer of mulch around your plants has several … Advantages: Mulching your plantings helps: ◦ keep moisture in the soil (lots!), ◦ moderate soil temperature (lots! — keeps plant happy), ◦ reduce weeds (lots!), and ◦ reduces runoff erosion (a problem with some soils). This then … Allows your plants to grow a lot more, in both height and diameter. Research in Michigan shows woodchips or compost work way better than neither, regardless of any weed control. [citation needed] Disadvantages: 🐕︎🍄︎ Dog vomit fungus Fuligo septica. Despite its common name, not a 🍄︎ fungus, but a slime mode. Rake it out. Hose it off. May look bad, but doesn't do any harm. Option 1: Organic (breaks down over time, enriching your soil, so you may need to top up most years): living low groundcover plants (the best — allow to grow thick enough to hide the ground), pine bark (works great!) (single-, double- or triple-grind), hardwood bark (works great!), your 🍃︎🍂︎ leaves from last season, perhaps chopped up a bit by your chipper or mower (works surprisingly well, and keeps your yard's nutrients on-site), recycled pallets (often dyed to make "colored" mulches) (works surprisingly well, even if you don't want the color in it), cedar or cypress bark (does not work in Michigan, according to research at MSU [citation needed] ), ground-up local trees (works OK), wood chips (hardwood chips don't float away during moderate rain, like ground-up bark can), pine straw (works in some areas, see if your plants are sensitive to low pH, long needles look better and cost more), and other composted materials. Option 2: Inorganic (don't need to top up most years, but doesn't break down over time nor enrich your soil): ⬮ River rocks or ⛰ lava stones, especially if in dry areas such as 🏜 desert or dunes. 🐚︎ Seashells, especially if near a 🏖 seashore. Recycled rubber, especially if you are putting it under a swing-set. Plastic film or landscaping cloth (more of a mess than a help). Whatever you use, try to source it locally — help your local economy, minimize transport costs, and it probably looks better in your setting. Don't use bagged cypress mulch — they cut it down from sensitive areas, where it does not regrow well. Use only if from a local sustainable source. Best idea: Ask your local mulch enthusiasts! (Experts, look into Hügelkultur.) For new plantings, most sources say to apply around the new plant, out past its foliage's dripline, about 7 cm (3 in) thick. But thin it out to nothing at the stem and maybe the outer rim — apply as a donut or bagel. Applying a 🌋︎ mulch volcano will hurt the plant's trunk.
NWF's Trees for Wildlife guide: Planning, Planting and Caring for Trees
Ten Steps to a Successful Wildflower Planting Creating your own native garden, including sample designs
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.
Garden path ideas.
Homeowner shares how a simple lawn change saved them countless hours of mowing: 'Not sure what happened …'.
To replace part of your 🌾︎ turf grass lawn, turning it into a garden, pocket prairie, or xeriscape : Plan how much area of turf you want replaced. • Mark out your new garden, prairie or xeriscape, perhaps with an old hose, rope, sticks, 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 🦌︎ deer family Cervidae eat your plants, surround your holding area with a ⚘X🦌︎ deer-exclosure plant cage for areas of extreme predation, or get and install a 💦︎ motion-controlled sprinkler, or follow the tips in MSUE's article Smart Gardening to Deter Deer. 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 a thick layer of arborist woodchips, but I have not. If you are xeriscaping, I assume you will use a local product, and know which product to use. • Some people cover with 📦︎ cardboard, 📰︎ newspaper (optional), soil (optional), and/or mulch, a process called sheet mulching or lasagna gardening. I have seen advice to not use cardboard nor newspaper over septic fields, as it kills the soil microbes. I have used this method (not over a septic field), and it works very well. To do this, continue … 📦︎ If using cardboard, have your cardboard acquisition team start acquiring cardboard boxes to lay over that turf. • Select boxes that have or 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 many ⬮ ventilation holes. The next box-layer is going to have to cover up all those holes. ◦ Held together by folded die-cut joints, glue, paper tape, and/or non-excessive amounts of plastic tape, that you find you can remove most of without heroic efforts. ◦ 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 separate 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 you got enough. If you are adding a 📰︎ newspaper layer, select paper with: • No glossy coatings — not plastic nor clay. When you have your perimeter planned, your plants and seeds planned or on-site, and your first batch of cardboard (or whatever you chose above) on-site, within your kill zone: • lay down 📦︎ cardboard (or whatever) 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 (or whatever), put some ⬮ stones on top. • 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 the 📦︎ cardboard, put a layer of: • (optional) 📰︎ newspaper (I have not tried, but read about others who have), • (optional) soil (if available, and you want to add early-bulk to your garden/pocket prairie/xeriscape), and • mulch from your mulch pile. You know you've 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 with bigger-heavier: (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 and/or newspaper 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. 💦︎📦︎ Water this area well — really soak the mulch, soil and cardboard (or whatever) — making it quite soggy, starting to break down the cardboard and turf underneath.Thereafter, let it 💦︎ rain on or periodically water this area, 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, soil (or whatever you are using above), 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, including: • distance from each other, • distance from the edge, • access to sunlight, • cool groupings, • aesthetics from across the street or driving down the road, • etc. 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 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 mulch and soil, 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 soil and mulch 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.
🌐︎ Global, and in the 🇺🇸 USA, 🗺🛠 mapping tools and 🌳︎🛠 i-Tree tree analysis, planning, and design tools.
🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 In North America, NWF's "Host Plants for Butterfly and Moth Caterpillars by Eco Region." 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 In North America, more planning …
🇺🇸 In the USA, NWF's Native Plant Finder: native plants that attract butterflies and moths, and support 🐦︎ birds and other fauna > Find Native Plants > your ZIP Code. 🇺🇸 In the USA, Audubon's Native Plant Finder: native plants that support 🐦︎ birds > your ZIP Code (no email needed) > button Search.
In Western New York, Policy on Usage of Indigenous Plant Species in Landscaping (Seneca Nation of Indians SNI). (pages 57-65)
First, your jurisdiction may have rules about what kind of tree you may plant: If planning for public lands in Michigan's town of Grand Rapids, see the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks tree toolkit and Grand Rapids Approved Tree List. The first link has many links on tree selection and management!
Second, you may want to see your site's pre-settlement vegetation cover: In Michigan, you can see the 🗺 interactive map Michigan Circa 1800 Presettlement Vegetation Cover > zoom in and pan > select your site > scroll down a bit and read your natural community from Attribute=COVERTYPE. For example, we found that our favorite site is Oak Opening, but near W Oak/Hickory. Write down your results for use later, in steps 5 and 6. If the interactive map was too easy, and you want to do it old-school (I can also see old aerial photography from 1938 in my county GIS!), you can instead: (A) See the gorgeous 🗺 Vegetation circa 1800 maps from Michigan Natural Features Inventory MNFI > Choose a county=yourCounty > zoom in and pan. Awesome. (B) But to find your particular site on the map, you probably need to know your site's: ◦ county, ◦ township, ◦ section number , and ◦ where your site is within your county, township and section. You can get these from: ◦ your property description; ◦ your tax rolls; ◦ Bureau of Land Mgmt BLM > application Land Catalog > zoom in and pan; or ◦ your county's GIS ( Kent Co > turn on Layer=PLSS Sections) ( Montcalm Co > Parcel Viewer) ( Ottawa Co ). For example, we found that our favorite site is in section 32, near the middle E-W, but 90% up N-S. (C) Go back to the MNFI map in (A), and read off your site's natural community. For example, that puts our pre-settlement vegetation right on the edge of two colors. From the Legend, these two colors seem to map to mixed-oak savanna or pine barren; and oak-hickory forest or beech-sugar maple forest. (In the 1800s, for every person added to the US population, three or more acres [1.2 or more hectares] of forest were cleared for agriculture. [6] ) Write down your results for use later, in steps 5 and 6. ◦ If you cannot tell which exact colors are yours, ask your favorite graphic artist or webmaster to use a "color-picker" tool on the areas near your site, and on possible values in the Legend. For example, doing this, we found that our favorite site is on the edge of mixed-oak savanna and oak-hickory forest. Write down your results for use later, in steps 5 and 6.
If the interactive map was too easy, and you want to do it old-school (I can also see old aerial photography from 1938 in my county GIS!), you can instead: (A) See the gorgeous 🗺 Vegetation circa 1800 maps from Michigan Natural Features Inventory MNFI > Choose a county=yourCounty > zoom in and pan. Awesome. (B) But to find your particular site on the map, you probably need to know your site's: ◦ county, ◦ township, ◦ section number , and ◦ where your site is within your county, township and section. You can get these from: ◦ your property description; ◦ your tax rolls; ◦ Bureau of Land Mgmt BLM > application Land Catalog > zoom in and pan; or ◦ your county's GIS ( Kent Co > turn on Layer=PLSS Sections) ( Montcalm Co > Parcel Viewer) ( Ottawa Co ). For example, we found that our favorite site is in section 32, near the middle E-W, but 90% up N-S. (C) Go back to the MNFI map in (A), and read off your site's natural community. For example, that puts our pre-settlement vegetation right on the edge of two colors. From the Legend, these two colors seem to map to mixed-oak savanna or pine barren; and oak-hickory forest or beech-sugar maple forest. (In the 1800s, for every person added to the US population, three or more acres [1.2 or more hectares] of forest were cleared for agriculture. [6] ) Write down your results for use later, in steps 5 and 6. ◦ If you cannot tell which exact colors are yours, ask your favorite graphic artist or webmaster to use a "color-picker" tool on the areas near your site, and on possible values in the Legend. For example, doing this, we found that our favorite site is on the edge of mixed-oak savanna and oak-hickory forest. Write down your results for use later, in steps 5 and 6.
Third, you may want to see your site's current land use: 🇺🇸 In USA, USGS land cover 🗺 maps > yourState > your county > zoom in and pan, and adjust opacity slider. In Michigan, you can 🔑︎ key out your local natural community. Scroll down to see information on its soils, vegetation (rare and otherwise), animals (rare and otherwise), and more. For example, doing this, we found that our favorite site's current use is Developed & Other Human Use, right next to Forest & Woodland. (In the 1800s, for every person added to the US population, three or more acres [1.2 or more hectares] of forest were cleared for agriculture. [6] ) That describes pretty well our site, which backs up to a forest. Write down your results for use later, in steps 5 and 6.
Fourth, if you haven't found anything actionable above: 🌐︎ Anywhere in the world, you can check your: ◦ Köppen climate classification (🗺 static map), or Köppen climate classification (🗺 interactive maps). 🇺🇸 In USA-48, you can check your: ◦ Ecoregion (static, detailed) > get your local ecoregion code: a number with or without a prefix letter. For information on your ecoregion, use this code in ecoregion > Provinces > scroll down to your ecoregion > select its link. ◦ Köppen climate classification (🗺 static map), or Köppen climate classification (🗺 interactive maps). ◦ If it matters, you can see if you are in a rural area via Am I Rural? tool > yourAddress > button Locate. For example, doing this, we found that our favorite site's: ◦ ecoregion is 222 Eastern Broadleaf Forest (Continental), and ◦ Köppen Climate Classification is on the edge of Dfb Humid Continental Mild Summer, Wet All Year and Dfa Humid Continental Hot Summers With Year Around Precipitation. Write down your results for use later, in steps 5 and 6.
Fifth, investigate which plants are associated with the natural communities above: 🇺🇸 In USA, you can use NWF's "Host Plants for Butterfly and Moth Caterpillars by Eco Region." In Michigan, you can use a list of Michigan natural communities. Or use a Search Engine. For example, using the examples above, mixed-oak savanna and oak-hickory forest.
Sixth, you can investigate your soil type: Stick a shovel in your soil and feel it! ◦ It is dark and rich, with organic matter? Sandy? Clay? 📱︎ Soil texture calculator: percentage of sand, clay and silt. ◦ Is it dry? Does it hold water? ◦ When your hand squishes a handful of soil into a ball, does it stick together? Not sure what to do with these answers, other than search out some friends who know what these mean! 🇺🇸 In USA, you can use NRCS' Web Soil Survey (WSS). ◦ Following the instructions on the page, and poking around quite a bit, I found that our favorite location is type 81C: Urban land-Spinks complex, 8 to 15 percent slopes. ◦ Selecting that link, I found out a lot about that type of soil. Hmmm.
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 (50 countries, 10 provinces, 52 states and territories), 🇨🇦 Plant Hardiness Zone (Canada), 🇺🇸 Plant Hardiness Zone (USDA), 🌎︎ Plant Hardiness Zone (North America, Central America and nearby) (scroll down) (this link also has nice 🗺 maps for 🇺🇸 USA temperature, precipitation, climate and soil ), or🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 Plant Hardiness Zone historical vs. future (USA-48 + nearby Canada México). Notice how the zones vaguely follow 🌐︎ lines of latitude — lines of constant distance from the equator or pole. For example, doing this using the 2012 map, we found that our favorite site's Plant Hardiness Zone PHZ is 6a, but right on the edge of 5b, so down to -23 °C (-10 °F). However, using the 2023 map, we found that our site was moved to solidly in 6a, so down to -22 °C (-8 °F). Either seems about right — we probably get down to that temperate or 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 > yourState. 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 If you live in southern or maritime Canada, or high-elevation Hawai'i or southern Alaska, you can see the same Vegetable Planting Schedules > Plant Hardiness Zones PHZ of 3–9. ✋︎ On the other hand, limitations of Plant Hardiness Zones PHZ.
Kim Eierman of EcoBeneficial! suggests that to help 🐝︎ pollinators find your plants, you should plant pollinator-attracting plants in a block of at least 1 sq m (10 sq ft). Such as a square of at least 1 m × 1 m (3 ft × 3 ft). Or a circle of diameter 1⅛ m (3¾ ft). Or … I think this is so pollinators can easily spot a whole bunch of flowers, and then visit the group quickly, all in one chunk. Instead of having to find the same number of flowers splattered all over a field. Of course, if you have a large field in which you plant a few blocks like this, you can either let them spread out over the years (infilling any areas in-between), or you can mow edges around them periodically (so they don't spread).
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. The Xerces Society and 🇺🇸 NRCS offer recommendations for Farming for Pollinators. Author Heather Holm offers lists of native plants to support native 🐝︎ bees, wasps and other pollinators, for various regions and soil types.
🇺🇸 In the USA, Audubon's recommendations of 🐦︎ bird-friendly butterfly-friendly native plants > your ZIP Code (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) bloom dates and other growing characteristics (Maine).
🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 In North America east or south of the 🗻︎ Rocky Mountains, 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 (page 4) (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)
[6] 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 the USA:
Sources of information, plants and seeds:
If you can find a nursery that: knows which species you can buy singly, and knows which species you need to plant multiples (because some species have individuals that have all-male flowers or all-female flowers, and thus you need at least one plant of each gender to make fruit and seeds); and thus: knows the words monoecious and dioecious, and will sex your plants for you (i.e., determine which plants are which gender); that is the nursery from which you should buy all your plants. — Kim Eierman of EcoBeneficial!
While selecting your plants and seeds, this author recommends you:
For example, if ◼︎ 🍁︎ red maple Acer rubrum is native to your region:
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.)
"Wild Ones Statement on the Use of Nativars" revised July-2021 (printable). "Nativars (Native Cultivars): What We Know & Recommend" by Becca Rodomsky-Bish. Habitat Network. February 15, 2018. Accessed 2020-03-03.
"Guidelines for Selecting Native Plants: The Importance of Local Ecotype." Wild Ones Journal. May/June 2002. (page 3) (🔒︎ Wild Ones members only)
When: shopping for 🌱︎☙🌳︎ seeds/plants/shrubs/trees, and deciding when to plant them, it is good to know your: 🌐︎ 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Plant Hardiness Zone (50 countries, 10 provinces, 52 states and territories), 🇨🇦 Plant Hardiness Zone (Canada), 🇺🇸 Plant Hardiness Zone (USDA), 🌎︎ Plant Hardiness Zone (North America, Central America and nearby) (scroll down) (this link also has nice 🗺 maps for 🇺🇸 USA temperature, precipitation, climate and soil ), or🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 Plant Hardiness Zone historical vs. future (USA-48 + nearby Canada México). Notice how the zones vaguely follow 🌐︎ lines of latitude — lines of constant distance from the equator or pole. For example, doing this using the 2012 map, we found that our favorite site's Plant Hardiness Zone PHZ is 6a, but right on the edge of 5b, so down to -23 °C (-10 °F). However, using the 2023 map, we found that our site was moved to solidly in 6a, so down to -22 °C (-8 °F). Either seems about right — we probably get down to that temperate or 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 > yourState. 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 If you live in southern or maritime Canada, or high-elevation Hawai'i or southern Alaska, you can see the same Vegetable Planting Schedules > Plant Hardiness Zones PHZ 3–9. ✋︎ On the other hand, limitations of Plant Hardiness Zones PHZ. Keystone Plants for your Ecoregion Sources for butterfly/moth host plants for your ecoregion or ZIP Code.
This author recommends you get plants and seeds that are not treated with neonic neonicotinoid 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 neonic neonicotinoid insecticides. Not seed-sterile. Has a Plant Hardiness Zone PHZ equal to or lower than for your site.
[7] 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.
[8] "Picking Plants for Pollinators: The Cultivar Conundrum." Xerces Society. 2017. Accessed 2019-05-10.
[9] 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.
[10] "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!):
Eric Piehl comments on … mowing my 🌾︎ turf grass lawn. "How to Improve Clay Soil for Better Gardening." 📱︎ Soil texture calculator: percentage of sand, clay and silt. "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, plants lists that work in SE Michigan, and management. For full effect, select the video image ↖ above or to left, then icons YouTube (if present), ⏯︎ ⊠ Skip Ads (if present), ㏄ captions (if you wish), ⛶ fullscreen, and ▶︎ Play.
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 an electronic kitchen thermometer or something), ◦ [easier] something else in your yard ⚘ ❀ fully-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, get some local training, and study applicable parts of S-130 🚒︎ Firefighter Training, S-190 🔥︎ Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior, and S-212 🔥︎ Wildland Fire Chain Saws > tab Course Materials, all from NWCG training courses. "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.) Prescribed burn consultants/contractors in Michigan.
plant and native gardening terminology
🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Flora of North America USFS Wikipedia
🏠︎ 🏠︎ home page invasive plants plant and native gardening terminology
Japanese barberry Berberis thunbergii butterfly bush Buddleja davidii 🌰︎ American chestnut Castanea dentata Oriental bittersweet Celastrus orbiculatus northern bush honeysuckle Diervilla lonicera autumn olive Elaeagnus umbellata winged burning bush Euonymus alatus 🇪🇺 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 manoomin: southern (♒︎ river) wild rice Zizania aquatica manoomin: northern (♒︎ lake) wild rice Zizania palustris
🏠︎ Eric Piehl comments on … 🌲︎ green (environmental) topics … mowing your 🌾︎ turf grass lawn … installing, using and managing 💦︎🛢 rain barrels … West Michigan, in and around Kent County and Grand Rapids