+ What is a native plant?
The plants that grew in our landscapes before the cities, before the farms, before civilization—those are “native” plants. In the Midwest, it was mostly prairie with perennial grasses and flowers. Some areas had forest with ground-level grasses and flowers. Lakes had aquatic and shoreline plants, and wetlands had plants that could handle wet and sometimes dry conditions.
+ Why are native plants important?
Plants that are native to your area are great garden plants because they have adapted to local conditions. They support the birds, bees, butterflies, and other insects that need the plants to survive—and that the plants need for pollination. Without native plants, many of the birds and insects in America would vanish, because the plants that have replaced them—plants we’ve brought in from the rest of the world—don’t support all of their food and habitat needs. Many songbirds are dependent on native prairie flowers and grasses for food (seeds and insects that feed on native plants) and habitat (nests). Monarch butterflies are totally dependent on milkweed for caterpillar food, and many insects have that exact same kind of relationship with other flowers or grasses. Goldfinches eat the seeds of coneflowers. Painted lady caterpillars eat the leaves of pussytoe flowers, and skipper butterflies need specific grasses and sedges for caterpillar food. If you have these plants in your garden, you will attract and support different butterflies, birds, and insects. The more native plants you have, the more you will support!
+ What should I plant?
Garden basics: Most native plants are a lot like the plants you already have planted in your gardens: they are perennials come back every year. There are plants that like sunny spots and plants that like shade. There are many “tame” native plants that stay in clumps and don’t spread very much and there are some native plants that spread a lot—sometimes you want a tidy garden, and sometimes you want plants that can out-compete weeds in big pollinator gardens and survive being planted in restorations.
Treat native plants the same way you’d treat a traditional garden: add some mulch, water them for a few weeks after planting, trim them back once a year (or don’t), pull the weeds, and watch them grow bigger year after year. The closer you plant them, the more the garden will fill in, and the less mulch you’ll need in future years.
Plant short plants on borders and put tall plants in the middle. Do you want a garden with shorter, tidy plants that don't spread much, or more of a pollinator jungle with taller, spreading plants?. You might want to choose plants that fit into one style of garden or the other (on our plant pages, we have a Detail on how a plant "Spreads: ex. not much, a lot, by seed, by roots, etc").
Plant at least a few of each species of flower or plant for a big visual impact (drifts of plants). Each flower species blooms for a month or two--make sure you have flowers that bloom in the spring, summer, and fall. Try to put flowers that bloom at the same time next to each other for complimentary colors.
