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If you’ve never considered using native plants in your garden, it’s time to take another look. Native plant gardening is a growing movement that provides multiple benefits, from water savings to habitat for birds and insects. Here are some tips and resources to get you started on going native in your garden!
Why choose native plants?
One of the most compelling reasons to include native plants in your garden is the benefit to local biodiversity. Native plants provide food sources for local wildlife, including birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. By contrast, many of the most popular garden plants and flowers you can find in your local nursery are exotics that, from the point of view of nearby critters, are a food desert. If you plant natives, you’ll be supporting our ecosystem all the way up the food chain.
The plants and animals in our region evolved together. These deep co-evolutionary relationships mean that by planting natives, you’re supporting biodiversity in our region, even if you live in a highly urbanized area. Urban ecology is a field that is emerging as critical for protecting biodiversity and adapting to climate change. Birds and insects rely on the plants in our backyards as much as the plants found in a secluded nature preserve.
For example, if you plant California fuchsia, you provide food for local hummingbirds. Those hyperactive little birds love the orange-red trumpet-shaped flowers of California fuchsia, so prepare to see them visit your garden constantly. Plant in full sun; in our local climate, they won’t require any supplemental watering once they’re established.
That brings me to another benefit of native plants: they’re adapted to our local climate, which means you won’t need to water them once they’re established. We all need to be conscious of our water usage, even in years when we’re not officially in a drought. If you remove your thirsty non-native grass lawn and replace it with a native plant garden, your water usage will drop considerably. One caveat: even native plants need supplemental watering when they’re first planted. Consult the recommendations for the specific plants you have in mind; if you put in new plants in the late fall when the rainy season is about to start, the need for supplemental watering should be minimal.
Where to find native plants?
One important thing to recognize is that just because a plant is native to California doesn’t mean it’s native to the Bay Area. California is a very large state; a plant found in the Sierra Nevada mountains may not grow well in Silicon Valley.
There are local nonprofits that operate native plant nurseries where they grow the species that are endemic to the Peninsula and South Bay. Some places to check out: Grassroots Ecology and San Bruno Mountain Watch’s Mission Blue Nursery.
What are your favorite native plants for your garden? Tell me in the comments!
