How Do Native Plants Help the Environment?

While trends in gardening and landscaping ebb and flow over time, one sentiment seems to endure among those who feel strongly about the environment: it’s important to grow native plants. 

In many circles, simply planting native doesn’t go far enough. Many gardeners have made it their mission to not only do this, but to remove anything that is non-native. This is much easier for some gardeners than for others. If you have a great deal of foreign plant life in your garden, removing it may seem daunting.

If you’ve wondered how planting native species actually helps your local ecosystem, you’re not alone. Many gardeners are beginning to wonder if this is the right direction to take with their space. Let’s discuss some reasons why it is important and helpful for both the environment and your wallet. 

The Short Answer

Growing native plants in your garden has many benefits for the environment and your wallet. Native plants improve the structure of your soil, conserve water, and feed and shelter local wildlife, to mention a few. Add the money savings on fertilizer and reduction in the dependence on chemicals, and we have all the reasons we need more native plant life in our gardens

The Long Answer

Adding more native plants to your garden helps the environment in several ways. It can also provide significant savings for you as a gardener. They often require fewer interventions than non-natives do. Whether you’re interested in fostering a healthy environment or just conserving your own resources, there are many benefits to growing native species. 

Support Native Wildlife

Native plants are exceptionally helpful for gardeners who appreciate the wildlife that they attract to the yard. The cultivation of non-native plants in the United States is a relatively new practice. Worldwide, it’s been happening for several thousand years, but that’s nothing compared to the length of time these plants have had to evolve alongside native animal and insect species. 

As native species, flora and fauna have evolved over time, forming symbiotic relationships. Certain species of butterfly, for example, require specific plants to feed their young. In fact, most herbivorous insects primarily eat plants that they evolved alongside. 

Sometimes, these relationships are obvious. You will see caterpillars of a particular species feeding specifically on their native host plants. Others are less so. Many reptiles and amphibians depend on specific plants for food and breeding grounds.

Birds, pollinators, and other wildlife, similarly, depend on the presence of certain foods at specific times of year to maintain the healthiest diet. Many birds’ diets consist almost entirely of insects. If the insects aren’t present, they have a harder time finding food. They need to have access to certain nutrients for survival and reproduction. 

When the plants that the wildlife depends upon are in short supply, those animals and insects will look elsewhere. They may leave an area altogether in search of what they need. In more extreme cases, eliminating native species can cause certain animals or insects to become threatened with extinction. 

Enhance Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a major factor in the health of an ecosystem. If even one species of insect dies off, it can seriously upset the food web. While a particular animal may not depend on any one plant for survival, its primary food source could be an insect that does. By eliminating that insect, the animal that depends on it as a food source will suffer and have to look elsewhere for a replacement. 

Essentially, the ecosystem in a particular region has grown and evolved over many millions of years. Eliminating even one link in the food chain can have a significant, rippling negative impact. This is a prevailing reason why it’s important to keep those important host plants around. Remove that one insect that depends on it for reproduction, and you put a whole chain of animals at risk of losing their food sources. 

One of the main reasons gardeners love exotic species is that they are often resistant to pest damage. While this may seem like a good thing, it’s not great for the animals that depend on those nuisance insects for food. 

Balance Pest Populations

As I add more native plants to my yard, I have noticed that the prevalence of nuisance insects has become far less of a problem. Hearkening back to the food web, every insect in your garden has its space in that web and provides food for some other insect or animal. 

Some of the most voracious predators of nuisance pests are insect larval stages, which primarily feed on nectar and pollen. Ladybugs, for instance, and green lacewings predominantly feed on nectar and honeydew, which is the sweet, sticky excrement of insects that feed on plant sap. Their larvae, however, love to eat aphids and other garden pests. 

Native plants are huge nectar sources. They provide the essential nutrients that those adults need, and bringing them to the yard will help control the populations of those bugs we want fewer of. While cultivated, non-native plants may have more flamboyant flowers, many of them are hybrids. Hybrid flowers often fall short in nectar and pollen production. 

Providing food for the adult insects results in more predatory larvae present, creating a more harmonious balance between the different species. 

Conserve Resources

In the same way that animals and insects evolved alongside native plants, these also evolved to thrive in specific environments without human intervention. This includes the amount of moisture that the region receives and the nutrient composition of the soil. 

Any time we plant something, we know that the best way to ensure it thrives is to mimic, as closely as possible, its native environment. If you’re growing tropical plants in a cold or dry climate, there is a lot more work involved in creating the right conditions. The nice thing about native plants is that you don’t have to do much; they are already adapted to the climate.

The benefit of this is a reduced need for additional resources. You don’t have to worry about excessive watering during times of drought. You can also rely on those plants to survive the hottest part of summer and the coldest part of winter. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a dense and diverse natural landscape does a superior job of sequestering carbon in the air than a turf grass lawn. Neatly landscaped lawns may suit a certain sensibility, but they don’t do nearly as much to clean the air. A more natural landscape uses the carbon in the air to photosynthesize and feed the soil.

Reduced Cost and Maintenance

Another benefit of native plants’ adaptation to your climate is the reduced cost to you! Since they’re naturally accustomed to the nutrient profile and composition of your local soil, there will be little need for fertilizer. 

While you may want to give an occasional light fertilizing to these for performance reasons, you don’t technically need to. Needless to say, the water bill will be less worrisome, too. Conserving water is an all around positive thing. 

You’ll also find that they require less overall maintenance. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t give them any attention. Deadheading, pulling weeds, and pruning are all good habits that will keep things looking beautiful. 

Most of them tend to take care of themselves, resisting diseases and standing up to native pests. The need for pesticides should decrease if you commonly use them. In general, native plants help reduce labor because they work symbiotically with the climate, wildlife, and weather.

Improve Soil Health and Structure

Native plants significantly impact soil and greatly improve its structure and health. They add to and subtract from the soil in various ways, creating another cycle that is important for a healthy ecosystem. 

Every year, they shed a certain amount of material, both root and foliage. That organic matter breaks down and feeds the soil, which in turn nourishes other plants. This balances the soil for the specific things that grow in that region. 

Many of them have deep, extensive root systems, which contribute to a dynamic soil structure. Those roots weave together, creating a fabric in the ground. This more densely structured soil is far better at preventing erosion. It also holds up better when natural disasters strike. Well-structured soil provides a more stable foundation for the roots of larger, heavier trees and shrubs. 

Another benefit of improving soil structure is that it increases the soil’s ability to store water and drain properly, reducing runoff and preventing flooding.