Why Native Plants?
The benefits of native plants are enormous - see below.
"Local ecosystems are losing large and growing numbers of species. This reduces their ability to provide the ecosystem services we rely on. We all depend on these crucial services like clean air and water, flood control, pollination for our food, pest control, and carbon storage." -Homegrown National Park
More Wildlife!
Native plants support local wildlife that have co-evolved with them, providing food + shelter for bees, butterflies, moths, birds + other wildlife - many of these rely solely on specific natives for survival. Because of this co-evolution, native plants are stronger sources of nutrition for native wildlife than non-native plants.
More wildlife also means more predators for bugs like mosquitoes.
Less Work, Lower Cost
Once established, native plants are hardier, better adapted + more drought-tolerant, requiring less watering, mowing + maintenance than lawns + typical landscapes. Less watering also means less stagnant water around for mosquitoes to reproduce.
Natives have naturally developed defenses against common pests + diseases, reducing the need for chemical treatments + fertilizer.
Climate Friendly
Native plants' deeper, more robust root systems sequester more carbon dioxide + reduce more stormwater runoff, flooding + erosion than non-natives.
What are native plants?
Native plants naturally occur in our environment + have co-evolved with other plants + animals in their specific ecosystem. These plant + animal species depend on each other for survival. For ex., monarch butterflies will only lay eggs on one specific native plant (milkweed), birds rely on specific native plant berries with more nutrition than the berries of introduced species, etc.
Some introduced plants are harmless, but most are purely ornamental - the only wildlife that will eat or inhabit them are deer + rabbits. Some are invasive - they have few natural enemies because they didn't evolve here + therefore spread rapidly while pushing out native plants that wildlife need to survive.
But native plant ecosystems are being lost. Development with turf grass (which has zero ecological value) + a monoculture of introduced, ornamental plants with no ecological value have increasingly taken over. Turf grass is now the largest irrigated crop in the U.S. - equal to the size of Wisconsin.
Birds, butterflies, bees, lightning bugs + other species are facing extinction as a result. North America has lost ~3 billion birds since 1970 due to habitat loss, pesticides + development. Invasive plants + species also cost the U.S. economy ~$120+ billion annually.
BUT, if each person plants even just a few key native pollinator plants alongside the introduced plants, we will give these creatures the habitats they need, see more + more wildlife returning + help our environment in the process.
Check out Homegrown National Park to learn more! For a list of native plants with the most wildlife value, click here.
