Why Should I Use Native Plants?

All plants convert the energy of the sun into roots, leaves, and seeds, but only native plants provide adequate food for native insects. Insects feed on the leaves and, in turn, birds and other higher order animals feed on the insects. Therefore, native plants provide the foundation of the food chain and healthy ecosystems.

Disrupt this chain at its native plant foundation and the system is impaired. Prior to European settlement of North America, there were only native plants and diverse indigenous wildlife. Since then, agricultural development and urbanization have pushed our natural areas to the brink with only 3% to 5% of the United States remaining in an undisturbed condition. As native plants have been extirpated (eliminated) from their home ranges and replaced with non-native species (some of which have become invasive) so have the native insects, which cannot eat your Begonias, Petunias, Honeysuckles, Norway Maples, and other horticultural varieties that have become so popular. Our landscape is increasingly becoming barren for wildlife, which aside from the aesthetic and environmental consequences, threatens the viability of ecosystems at large. To help reverse this tide, using native plants in landscapes and natural areas can help rebuild the foundation of our ecosystems and the resulting wildlife that depends on native plants.

For the consumer, since these plants evolved here for ten thousand years, they have adapted to the extremes of our climate. They can tolerate sub-zero winter temperatures, summer heat waves, and drought – all without ever needing to be watered, fertilized, and sprayed after their establishment. In fact, these plants do better when neglected. No one babied them for millennia and there is no need to start now.