Bayscape Blog 10/4/10
Go Green- Go Native
By Judy DeFiglio
It is very popular now to be “Green”. You see this message everywhere you go. I think that gardeners are the original members of the Green Team. They have a special connection to the earth as they plant and nurture their garden each year. They respect Mother Nature and realize that we all need to care for this planet or suffer the consequences.

An easy way for all of us to go green is to include some native plants in our landscape. While we all love a gorgeous garden full of beautiful flowers some of the exotic (non native) ornamentals are causing problems for the environment. Many of them require constant watering, wasting this valuable resource. Some exotics have become invasive, destroying natural habitats. Others need so many chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides to keep them growing that they have become a danger to man, animals, insects and our water supply. There are hundreds of desirable native plants that are quite happy to grow in our local sandy soil without any additional water or fertilizer.

If you are new to the world of native plants you will be surprised at the wide variety of gorgeous flowers, trees and shrubs. If you thought that native plants were all weeds and wildflowers think again. While some natives do work best in a meadow type landscape, there are many that are an asset to your traditional garden bed. If you’ve tried natives and they looked weedy it is probably because you treated them like exotics, fertilizing and overwatering them. They don’t need it and don’t want it. If you are afraid to try natives because you heard they are invasive, a few simple tips will solve that concern. First learn the growth habit of the plant to determine if it will work in your garden space. Cut off the spent flowers before they go to seed. If some plants do reseed just tug them out in the spring when they first emerge.

While it may have been difficult to find native plants at your local retail outlet in the past, their growing popularity (pun intended!) and increasing demand has made the industry take notice. More native plants are becoming available locally. There are many mail order companies that specialize in native plants. Just be sure you are ordering plants native to your region.

For more information and ideas for using native plants check out littoralsociety.org and click on the Shore Stewards and the Maris Stella Native Plant Demonstration Garden.