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Native plants include the ferns, grasses, perennial and annual wildflowers, woody trees, shrubs, and vines that covered an area before the first Europeans arrived.
Our native wildlife, especially birds, butterflies and pollinators, evolved with the plants here; many can only feed on plants they co-evolved with. Additionally, native plants are needed to support songbirds by supplying food for the insects that most baby birds require.
Research by the entomologist Doug Tallamy has shown that native oak trees support over 500 species of caterpillars, whereas ginkgos, a commonly planted landscape tree from Asia, host only 5 species of caterpillars. When it takes over 6,000 caterpillars to raise one brood of chickadees, that is a significant difference. Native plants also provide the habitat (food, cover, and places to rear their young) that wildlife needs.
Unfortunately, invasive plant species of all types have become pervasive across the state and country. If left unchecked, they will crowd and replace native plants because they have no natural predators, and have a shortened dormant season, allowing them to proliferate. This is why the Invasive Warriors are doing what they do each month!
Native plants are well adapted to our climate and soils because they evolved here, so they are great additions to your garden. They are generally easier to care for once they are established, needing little or no pruning, deadheading, watering, or fertilizing.
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