During the past few decades, North American native plants have disappeared at an alarming rate. Preserving natural stands of native plants in forests, prairies, and wetlands is important, but you and your SAE can help reestablish native plant communities in our cities. Landscaping with native plants, regardless of the scale of the project, can conserve water and other natural resources and restore regional character.

Benefits of Native Plants

Native plants are adapted to the average rainfall and temperature extremes of their region. Once they're established, they don't need supplemental watering this is an important benefit considering Georgia’s continual drought conditions. Xeriscape, is a program that promotes water conservation through creative landscaping. One of Xeriscapes tenets is the use of drought-tolerant plants, but it doesn't emphasize using native plants exclusively.

A native landscape provides much more than Xeriscape's water-conserving features. Native landscapes in urban and rural areas provide habitats for wildlife and link larger natural areas. By planting native species, you encourage the presence of native insects and microorganisms that benefit plants and keep them healthy without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Your landscape will be an interacting, changing entity - rather than a fixed object - offering a glimpse of the complexities of the natural world in your own backyard.

Native plants provide a beautiful, hardy, drought resistant, low maintenance landscape while benefiting the environment. Native plants, once established, save time and money by eliminating or significantly reducing the need for fertilizers, pesticides, water and lawn maintenance equipment.

Native plants do not require fertilizers. Vast amounts of fertilizers are applied to lawns. Excess phosphorus and nitrogen (the main components of fertilizers) run off into lakes and rivers causing excess algae growth. This depletes oxygen in our waters, harms aquatic life and interferes with recreational uses.

Native plants require fewer pesticides than lawns. Nationally, over 70 million pounds of pesticides are applied to lawns each year. Pesticides run off lawns and can contaminate rivers and lakes. People and pets in contact with chemically treated lawns can be exposed to pesticides.

Native plants help reduce air pollution. Natural landscapes do not require mowing. Lawns, however, must be mowed regularly. Plus native plants sequester, or remove, carbon from the air.

Native plants promote biodiversity and stewardship of our natural heritage. In the U.S., approximately 20 million acres of lawn are cultivated, covering more land than any single crop. Native plants are a part of our natural heritage. Natural landscaping is an opportunity to reestablish diverse native plants, thereby inviting the birds and butterflies back home.

Getting Started

Whether you are thinking about planting a small urban plot or a few acres with native landscaping, you may have some questions about getting started and what you can expect from your new landscape.

First, you need to decide what you want to do with your land. Are you going to incorporate some native plants into your garden? Restore an area to its original presettlement condition? Is your goal to attract wildlife or to solve an environmental problem such as flooding?

Next, consider the land and climate you have to work with. Is it a sunny or shady location? Is the soil wet (a low point on your land, or under a rain gutter spout), or sandy and dry? There are native plants that were originally found in sunny prairies, shady woodlands, or moist areas. It is important to choose native plants which will thrive on the current conditions on your site. These specific plant types will flourish without additional water or fertilizers once properly established, because they are well-adapted to your particular climate and soil.

To get started, it is a good idea to prepare the area to be planted following recommendations from the nursery or garden supplier you choose to buy from. Native plants take time to become established in the landscape. Depending on whether you use seeds or plants, the wildflowers or grasses may not be abundant for one to three years because the plant's energy is directed towards developing the roots. Working with nature takes patience, but it is well worth the wait!

You can incorporate native plants into a landscape as elaborately or as simply as you want. Add them to an already existing landscape or start completely from scratch.

You'll probably want to start slowly, incorporating native plants into existing, traditionally designed flower beds. Many native perennials make ideal border plants, and their appearance can improve dramatically when they don't have to compete for light, moisture, and nutrients.

Site Assessment, Planning, and Design

Before you create a native plant landscape, you'll need to analyze your site and develop a plan. The plan doesn't have to be elaborate; it can be installed in phases as money and time permit. What do you want or need from your landscape? How do you use your yard? Do you want a formal, informal, or naturalistic look? What native plants are already on the site? Try to coordinate your landscape needs with your site conditions.

Observe native plants in their natural environments to learn more about their cultural requirements and growth habits. Note the plant's maximum size and bloom sequence and where it occurs, such as at the edge of a forest or in an open meadow. Look at wildflowers during all their growth stages before choosing what you'll plant - you don't want to plant something you'll hate to look at during some period.  Visit local natural areas so you can determine which species might grow well on your property. You don't need to know all your area s plant species, but you should at least learn about the dominant ones. If you duplicate at home what you see in nature, you'll properly place native plants in your yard.

Soil Preparation

If you select plants appropriate to your site, they should grow well, without soil improvements once they're established. Disturbing the soil, in fact, can create more problems than it solves. If your site has been disturbed or the original topsoil removed, some soil amendments can help.

Properly prepared soil helps conserve water because it absorbs and holds water more efficiently and drains better. Healthy soils support healthy plants that can better resist pests and diseases. If the soil is clay or sand, you may need to improve its content by adding organic matter such as compost. Prepare your beds two to three months before planting so the soil can settle. Apply a four- to six-inch deep mulch to control weeds.

Some plants will benefit from additional soil preparation. Many wildflowers require well-drained soil, you may need to supplement the prepared soil with sand, compost or other material that loosens it and permits good drainage. Some wildflower species require moist soil; add large amounts of rotted leaves and peat moss to accommodate those needs. Other wildflowers develop weak, spindly stems if they're planted in rich soil, so they'll fare better in a poor soil with high mineral content.

Identify the plants already on your site and decide whether you want them. If you have a lot of weeds, you may need a year or more to kill them all, although killing them may not be feasible if the site is extremely disturbed. Eliminating weeds as much as possible before planting is easier and less expensive than trying to control them in a newly seeded site.

If the site isn't too weedy and you're going to interseed wildflowers into the existing vegetation, the process is relatively easy. Mow the vegetation as short as possible and rake up the thatch. Try to open up some bare areas to allow the seeds to make soil contact.

If you want to plant wildflowers on a clean site, you can repeat an initial light tilling and watering cycle (till no deeper than one inch), or apply a non-residual herbicide treatment as many times as needed to clear the site. How many times you need to repeat the process depends on the plot size, existing weed competition problems, and the degree of weed control you desire. The seeds, roots, and rhizomes of weeds frequently lie dormant beneath the soil surface and germinate quickly after they are exposed to moisture and light. The less disturbance there is, the easier it will be to control weeds.

If you prefer not to till or hand-weed, two applications of a non-residual, post-emergent herbicide may remove existing vegetation. Before you apply the herbicide, water the site for a week or two to promote weed germination. Let the seedlings grow one or two weeks, and apply the herbicide. Repeat this process once more to ensure a fairly clean seed bed. You can plant your wildflower and native grass seeds as soon as you are sure competing vegetation is under control.

Plant Selection

If your design calls for a traditional landscape, choose species based on the size, shape, texture, and color you desire. For a more natural landscape, you'll need species that grow together naturally, worrying less about aesthetic characteristics.

The commercial availability of native plant species in your area ultimately will determine which plants you use in your landscape. As demand for native plants increases, the nursery industry will respond and begin offering native species in larger quantities.

Maintaining Your Landscape

All landscapes need several years to be come well-established. The critical period is two to three weeks after planting, when the containerized, well-cared-for plants are making the transition to living in an outdoor landscape. Your landscape will need minimal maintenance once it's established, depending on how much control you want to assert. Many maintenance practices used for traditional cultivated plants also work for native plants.

Depending on the look you're trying to achieve, you may need to prune fast-growing species or weed out undesirable plants. Clipping seedheads encourages fullness and longer bloom periods for many perennials. Some perennial wildflowers and native shrubs respond well to severe pruning in the fall or late winter.

Native plants usually do not require fertilizer. Many thrive in poor soil, and applying fertilizer could chemically burn them or stimulate lush foliage growth with few flowers.

Some Final Thoughts

Establishing native plants in your garden or landscape usually requires every bit as much work as non-native species. However, once your native plants are established, you will see not only savings in time, energy, and money, but an aesthetic sense of place only regional native plants can provide. Above all, have fun!

What is a Native Plant?

Native plants (also called indigenous plants) are plants that have evolved over thousands of years in a particular region. They have adapted to the geography, hydrology, and climate of that region. Native plants occur in communities, that is, they have evolved together with other plants. As a result, a community of native plants provides habitat for a variety of native wildlife species such as songbirds and butterflies.

What is a Non-Native Plant?

Non-native plants (also called non-indigenous plants, invasive plants,

exotic species, or weeds) are plants that have been introduced into an

environment in which they did not evolve. Introduction of non-native

plants into our landscape has been both accidental and deliberate.

Purple loosestrife, for example, was introduced from Europe in the

1800's in ship ballast and as a medicinal herb and ornamental plant. It

quickly spread and can now be found in 42 states.

In general, aggressive, non-native plants have no enemies or controls to

limit their spread. As they move in, complex native plant communities,

with hundreds of different plant species supporting wildlife, will be

converted to a monoculture. This means the community of plants and

animals is simplified, with most plant species disappearing, leaving only

the non-native plant population intact.

Questions to Ask When Buying Native Plants

1.Are the native plants locally grown or shipped in? Native plants which are locally grown are best suited to the regional climatic conditions.

2.Have the seeds been propagated in a nursery or collected from the wild? Seeds from the wild need to be protected so that we do not deplete our natural areas.

3.Will the native plants grow best in sun or shade? Survey your plot carefully.

4.What soil type is required? Is it sandy or loamy, wet or dry?

5.Which native plants grow well together? Call your local nature center or Heritage Program Office to find out about plant communities.

6.How long will it take seeds to germinate or plants to mature? The key to growing native plants is patience. 

Websites:

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Website- Gives Details on 580 Georgia Native Plant Materials

Acorn Naturalists

PO Box 2423

Tustin, CA 92781-2423

800-422-8886

This company offers resources for science and environmental education. A catalog is available either on-line or in a printed version. Offerings include educator guides, field guides, interpretive tools, toys, and numerous books on nature and the environment.

Fertile Minds, Inc.

Fertile Minds, Inc., is a resource for teachers, parents and youth leaders dedicated to encouraging inquiry and discovery through gardening. It offers

support for garden based learning for education and community organizations. Offerings include teacher development courses, garden design services,

educational materials and fundraising assistance.

Associations:

Georgia Native Plant Society

Box 422085

Roswell, GA 30342

American Horticultural Society

7931 East Boulevard Drive

Alexandria, VA 22308-1300

703-768-5700 or 800-777-7931

The American Horticultural Society, founded in 1922, is an educational, non-profit organization whose mission is " to educate and inspire people of all ages to become successful and environmentally responsible gardeners by advancing the art and science of horticulture." The AHS holds an annual Youth Gardening Symposium, which is a national forum for youth gardens and gardening education. The Web site offers gardening guides and resource lists as well as books and gifts.

Center for Plant Conservation

P.O. Box 299

St. Louis, MO 63166

314-577-9450

The mission of the Center for Plant Conservation is to conserve and restore the rare native plants of the United States.

EPA, Landscaping with Native Plants

This U. S. Environmental Protection Agency site promotes landscaping with native plants in urban, suburban and corporate environments and discusses the environmental benefits of using native plants. Some of the topics covered are lawn alternatives, attracting birds and butterflies, weed laws, maintenance techniques and case studies. Available at the site is the "Wild Ones Handbook," a compendium of practical information for the native plant landscaper and wildflower gardener.

National Gardening Association

1100 Dorset St.

South Burlington, VT 05403

802-863-5251

Founded in 1972, today the nonprofit NGA is focused primarily on children and the ways that gardening enhances education and helps build environmentally responsible adults.

Wild Ones

Wild Ones - Natural Landscapers, Ltd., is a non-profit organization with a mission to educate and share information with members and communities to promote biodiversity and environmentally sound practices. The emphasis is on using native species in developing plant communities. The Web site includes the following sections: Journal & Handbook, Chapters, Native Landscaping Conferences, Weed Control Laws, Links to Other Sites

National Plant Information Database (PLANTS)- U.S Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service

PLANTS provides a single source of standardized information about plants. It provides standardized plant names, symbols, and other plant attribute information. This standardized information permits scientists and other persons interested in plants across disciplines to freely exchange accurate plant-related information because the are all using the same plant names and symbols. PLANTS also provides a link that  allows downloading PLANTS data from the state selected via FTP. The data found in PLANTs for the plants known to occur within North