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Wednesday, March 2, 2022

March 2, 2022 Are native plants better?

 Hi gardening friends


Meteorological spring has arrived and signs that true spring is coming are popping up all over. The spring equinox is March 20. When I went to the barn this morning the temps were in the 20’s but the sun was shining, and the birds were singing like crazy. I stopped for a few minutes to put my face in the sun and listen for red wing blackbirds or robins. I didn’t hear any, but I expect them any day.

The day was supposed to be cloudy and rainy or snowy, so the morning sun was a pleasant surprise. Now the clouds are moving in but the temps have moved above 40 degrees so we should get rain instead of snow.

I am so ready for spring and flowers. I looked for snowdrops, they are up but not blooming yet.  A few warm days will probably bring them into bloom. People just 50 miles south have them in bloom. After snowdrops there will be winter aconite and crocus and from there the world explodes into bloom.

I have been slow to get the gardening itch this year, but I’m scratching now. Last night I paged through several print garden catalogs, and I have started actually looking at all the plant sales that pop into my inbox instead of moving them to trash. I stood outside yesterday deciding which seedling trees need to cut down and where I want to add and subtract plants.

I’m trying not to be too ambitious with this year’s garden because I have so many family obligations this spring. But it’s hard in spring with all the promise of the garden season stretching ahead of me not to get carried away. I’m hoping for a long, and mild spring.

I wrote an article below about choosing plant species for your garden and why it’s important not to choose plant species that other people have decided you should plant. It seems like virtue and saving the planet have merged into a strident movement to plant only “native” plants.

But gardeners should plant what they like if it suits the conditions of garden. Gardening is an art form, a mental therapy exercise, and a learning experience, and unless someone is paying you to do it their way, you should do what pleases you in your garden.

 

Should you only plant native plants?

It’s spring and the gardener’s thoughts turn to planting- and buying- plants.  And if you listen to the native plant pushers on social media the only plants you should dare to plant are native species. Don’t fall for the propaganda. It’s based on a lot of romantic, wishful thinking that planting only “native” plants will somehow save the world.

Don’t get me wrong, native plants aren’t bad. If you can put at least some native species in a garden it’s a good idea. But there is no reason that any gardener needs to limit themselves to only native plants.

Are native plants easier to grow?

Native plants are not easier to grow than most non-natives. In fact, some native plants are quite hard to establish and require much more care than common non-native garden plants. There are gardens composed of all native plants that are beautiful. But those gardens required quite a bit of effort and they need attention to remain beautiful, just like any other garden.

For example, the idea of sprinkling a “wildflower” seed mix on a piece of ground and having it spring up into a beautiful field of flowers is just advertising hype. You must carefully prepare the soil before you plant and then you’ll need to weed out aggressive plants that will want to overtake the “wildflowers”, both native and non-native bullies. And you’ll be lucky to get a pretty show for a short time in the second year, as most of these wildflowers don’t bloom the first year from seed.

Are native plants better for pollinators and other animals?

In most cases native plants are not more helpful to pollinators, birds and other animal species in the area. There are a few insects that require a specific “host” plant. But non-native plants can provide just as much food and shelter for most other inhabitants of any ecosystem as native plants. And in some cases, they are superior to natives in providing these things.

Putting some native host plants in your garden is a fine idea, but your whole garden does not need to be designed around native plants. Gardens with non-native plants support a higher diversity and number of pollinators, helpful insects and birds than if the gardens held only native plants or were left unplanted.

Often people judge plant species not for their value to other creatures in the environment but for human values. For example, planting native grasses in a garden is not helpful to pollinators and most insects. Yet the human gardener feels justified with the choice because they feel by planting “native” plants they somehow are helping save the planet. Planting buddleia, Dames Rocket, zinnias, roses, and other blooming non-natives would be so much better for everything else.



Do non-native plants spread outside the garden and displace native plants?

Non-native plants do not “displace” native plants when used in the garden unless you dig up native plants to plant them. Worrying about non-natives spreading to “wild” places is also over hyped. Most common garden plants don’t spread very far outside the garden and if they did, would harm nothing.

There are some non-native plants that are aggressive spreaders, and you should learn what those plants are- FOR YOUR AREA- and avoid planting them. But beware-many of the plants bashed by native plant pushers are not aggressive spreaders in all areas. Buddleia or butterfly bush comes to mind. In planting zones 5 and lower this plant rarely, if ever, spreads outside the garden. But native plant pushers are constantly warning all gardeners not to plant it.  

And just because non-native plants occupy space doesn’t mean they displaced native plants. In most cases they occupy disturbed land, land changed by human activity. This land is no longer suitable for native plants that once grew in the area, or they would be growing there.

Dames Rocket, a pretty, fragrant, flowering non-native plant that bees and butterflies love, often grows along roadsides and paths. Dames Rocket probably spread to wild areas from gardens at some point. There is no similar native flowering plant that would do well in these disturbed areas. Yet the native plant purists are out there spending thousands of dollars and labor hours getting rid of it.

What harm does planting only native plants do?

In a world where climate change is drastically altering what will grow well in any location, introducing new species may be the key to saving an ecological system. Nature has always allowed new species into ecosystems. Natural ecosystems constantly evolve and change. Diversity of species, no matter where they come from and how they get there, allows for adaptation and is the key to keeping any ecosystem thriving.

Besides limiting diversity, there are other problems that the native plant fad has created. Poaching native plants from natural environments to sell to gardeners has soared in many areas, particularly of cacti and succulents and some rare woodland plants. Most sellers will claim they raised the plants from seed or propagated them but there is little the average gardener can do to check this claim. This is a serious threat to these species’ survival in the natural environment.  Gardeners should not purchase rare or endangered native plants at all.  And gardeners should not collect seed from endangered plants in the wild, it should be left to reproduce plants in that area.

Another threat to natural environments comes from the relentless and often ridiculous effort to eradicate non-native plants in natural areas. Huge amounts of pesticides are being used in many cases to eradicate non-native plants. These pesticides directly impact all species of plants and animals in the area, usually much more than leaving the alien plants alone.

There are attempts to eradicate plants that have been in certain places for more than 100 years and which have become entwined and part of the local environment. And this is simply ridiculous as it will never restore what somebody thinks was the “natural” ecosystem because ecosystems constantly change. Because something is relatively new in an environment does not mean it is bad. Nature has always been changing and adapting.

Money is the driving force behind a lot of the native plant movement. People who are making money producing native plants are going to tell you that they are better for the environment, easier to grow and that you are somehow more righteous for growing them. They want to sell plants.

People whose jobs are selling pesticides or directing teams of people removing non-natives are not going to admit that much of what they are doing is useless or even harmful. The removal of non-native plants is a whole industry in itself. Some believe what they are doing is good stewardship. Only a very few plants deserve such intensive efforts to remove them. Nature is very good at adapting to change, but it’s very difficult to change a money-making environment.

What would you be giving up if you only plant native plants?

If you are going to stick to native plants, you’ll need to decide just what native means to you.  Is it native to North America (or wherever you are) or native to your immediate, local area?  And then which of those species will grow in your soil, your light, and drainage conditions? Are you going to use improved varieties of native plants or stick to wild forms?  You can see your selection could get very narrow.  

I can’t imagine spring in my garden without tulips, daffodils, peonies and lilacs or summer without roses, clematis, hosta, poppies, daylilies and hydrangeas and fall without mums, buddleia and toad lilies. These are just some common non-native plants. I’m fine with mixing in some goldenrod, milkweed, and echincea, all natives. Maybe that’s not your type of garden.  But the point is a garden is a cultivated space, and gardeners should not be afraid to add plants that are not native to it.

Don’t get hung up on what plants are native or non-native when planning a garden. Plant things that are suitable for the conditions your garden has and that you like. This will give you hundreds of choices and the ability to plan something you love while still providing for creatures like pollinators.

Your bit of garden space cannot revert to “native” status.  In the last century or so the piece of ground you intend to garden on has changed immensely. The soil has changed, the weather has changed, the plants and animals that surround it have changed. Even if humans haven’t touched it in a hundred years it has changed. Nature constantly changes. You are not going to restore it to a native state, because that state doesn’t exist.

Gardens, by definition, are cultivated places, that is people plant them and tend them.  And gardens of all kinds are good for the environment and support other creatures besides us. Your garden should be the garden you dream of, and don’t let people shame you into something else.

 

The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway. – Michael Pollan

 


Kim Willis

No part of this blog may be reproduced without permission. To contact me for any reason,  write to kimwillis151@gmail.com

 

 

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