Submitted by Nathalie Petri
Nathalie is a member of Emerald Necklace Garden Club and has beautiful, diverse gardens that evolve as circumstances require changes; For instance, a recent loss of shade trees created open sunny areas requiring a redesign with sun-loving plants. Her thoughts on incorporating native plants in her gardens may give you some ideas about how to add some to yours.
The Ohio legislature designated April as Ohio Native Plant Month. You’ve probably heard the buzz and I hope you’re curious about native plants.
I started looking into native plants several years ago as plants that may offer more resistance to deer, and require less maintenance and water. From my investigation of the best plants for my site, I learned of an added benefit.
Native plants provide food resources (nectar and pollen) for pollinator insects like butterflies and bees. Apparently, our insects are picky eaters and feed on exclusively one to a few lineages of native plants. Why is it important to feed these insects or pollinators? They support our food supply! Insects and other animals pollinate one-third of the food we eat – all kinds of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and beans… even coffee and chocolate!
To survive, native birds need native plants and the insects that have co-evolved with them. Most landscaping plants available in nurseries are exotic species from other countries. Many are prized for qualities that make them poor food sources for native birds — like having leaves that are unpalatable to native insects and caterpillars. With 96 percent of all terrestrial bird species in North America feeding insects to their young, planting insect-proof exotic plants is like serving up plastic food. No insects? No birds.
What is a native plant? The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition is, “A native plant is a plant that is part of the balance of nature that has developed over hundreds and thousands of years in a particular region or ecosystem.” This includes trees, evergreens, grasses, vines, perennials and annuals. Clover is one of the best native plants. Personally, I love it in the lawn along with violets — a food paradise!
So what native plants did I plant? Back to my deer problem and ease of maintenance and water concerns. My front yard is where I had the greatest need to discourage deer, as my backyard is fenced and surrounded by evergreens on two sides. The front yard is in full sun and not small, about 80’ deep x 100’ wide. I have two big beds by the street, another along the far side and one along the driveway. These beds have plants in them that I have grown and divided over the years as I have found them to meet my criteria.
These plants include Peonies, Catmint, Iris, Shasta Daisy, Yarrow (native), Amsonia, Russian sage, Butterfly bush, Goldenrod (native) and Grasses. Yet as a gardener, I yearned for more! One of the first natives I discovered is Virginia Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum Virginian), which I grew from seed. It is not what one would say, “Oooh that’s a beautiful plant.” However, it attracts tons of insects, smells good, stands about 3 feet tall, has a long bloom time and I don’t have to do anything to it. It’s a great filler in the bed as well as in a mixed vase of flowers.
Another minty native I grew from seed is Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). It blooms with lavender flowers from June to September and is 2-4 feet tall. This one can self sow easily, so best to deadhead spent flowers — which will promote more blooms.
An early bloomer is Smooth Penstemon (Penstemum digitalis) with light-pink-tinted tubular flowers. What garden would be complete without the monarch food source of Asclepia? I have the Asclepias tuberose (Butterfly weed) – (2’ tall, orange flower) and Asclepias incarnata (Swamp milkweed) – (3’ tall, rose flower). I’m enjoying seeing my beds come to life and with less effort on my part.
My backyard beds are in either part-sun or shade. Plus I don’t have to worry about deer so I find a lot more options. One of my favorites here is Indian pink (Spigelia marilandica). It has the most unusual flower of upward-facing trumpet-shaped red flowers with yellow insides. It grows about 1.5’ and is a clumper. It comes up late in the spring so I have to mark where I plant it.
Another native plant I’ve fallen for is Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum). This is the back-of-the-bed plant as it gets 6 feet or taller, has pink to purple flowers that bloom in summer and is a magnet for butterflies and other insects. A dwarf variety has recently become available.
If you want to attract hummingbirds, plant a Bee Balm (Monarda). I have the species Jacob Cline with bright red flowers. It spreads quickly but I find it easy to maintain.
Another unusual plant I grew from seed is Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) that blooms at the end of summer, 3 feet tall with blue flowers. What’s not to like about that! It appears to be self-sowing, which is fine by me.
Well, I could go on and on but I hope you will look into planting some natives in your yard. Please note the plants I’ve mentioned that I grew from seed were not difficult to grow and did flower the first year.
What about my non-native plants? Am I going to pull them out? No. Entomologist Doug Tallamy, who has done a lot of research in this area says, “I’d use some non-natives, so long as they’re not invasive.”
Dr. Harland Patch, a research entomologist and member of Penn State University’s Center for Pollinator Research, says, “Although native plants, as a whole, deliver the most ecological benefit, many non-natives are beneficial, as well.”
And he believes we can all be part of the solution by planting more pollinator-useful plants, spraying fewer (or no) pesticides, and replacing our big, ecologically barren lawns with a whole lot more plant diversity.
There are many good resources to find out about native plants. A few I recommend are:
- Ohiodnr.gov/gonative
- Audubon.org/native-plants
- “Landscaping for Biodiversity with Ohio Native Plants” (type this title in search bar) – this article is from ClevelandMetroparks.com.
