There’s a lot to think about when it comes to starting a new native garden, and it’s easy to get lost in the details.
Where am I getting the plants?
Where am I putting the plants?
What plants am I even looking for??
You’re doing the research, making the decisions, but it feels like the more you learn, the less you know. It feels overwhelming, and you find yourself coming up with reasons not to do it, just to avoid the whole thing in the first place
“What’s my neighbor Linda going to think about me?”
“I can’t have thousands of spiders right outside my door, I won’t be able to sleep at night.”
“I wouldn’t even be helping the pollinators that much anyway, I might as well just save my money.”
Don’t fall into the trap!
Making the conscious effort to choose native plants is a big decision, but it comes with a big reward.
Imagine you are a monarch butterfly. You’ve spent your entire life migrating North from Mexico. You’re exhausted, you’re cranky, all you want to do is give your wings a little break after hours of flying. On top of it all, you haven’t seen any food for hours, just a never-ending grass wasteland. This is the longest and worst road trip of your life.
After hours and hours of endless searching, you finally see something off in the distance, a shining beacon of hope for your growling tummy! A Joe Pye Weed plant! Never in your life could you have imagined the joy and excitement you feel in this very moment. You land on a soft leaf and gulp down the sweet, juicy nectar, savoring every moment. This one little pitstop made you feel like you have the strength to finish your long journey North.
The power to help the butterflies is in your hands! It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the little details that come with native gardening, but remember the big picture. The insects and butterflies we know and love can not continue on their life journeys without the food and shelter these plants give them. By including just a few natives in your yard, you’re providing a valuable resource for them.
I’ve put together a list of easy solutions to the complaints/worries I hear most often. The next time you’re not feeling too sure about this whole gardening thing, take a look and remember that it will all be worth it in the end.
Everyone thinks that native gardens are too messy, they will lower the value of their property, or their neighbors will complain about how it looks. It doesn’t have to be this way!
There's a difference between letting your yard go and planting native. Planting native is just a guide for the types of plants you focus on.
Do you want a formal English garden where hedgerows are planted in a big rectangle and there's a fountain in the middle? Try out inkberry holly! It can be styled and trimmed like boxwood, but it’ll still feed the cardinals over the winter.
Do you want a French cottage style garden that makes you want to sit outside forever, smelling the flowers, going for strolls, and picking a few to put in a vase in your kitchen? Grab some black-eyed susans, columbine, geraniums, coneflowers, and native honeysuckle!
Do you want a wooded area with a bench next to a pond that makes you feel like Little Red Riding Hood taking a break on her way to her grandma’s house? Plant a few oaks and maples, and some wild ginger and ferns to cover the ground.
The power to make the vision you want does not depend on whether the plants are native or not. You can have the beautiful, serene, or whimsical garden you have always dreamed of, and still support our local insects and wildlife.
Some ideas that will help keep your neighbors at bay:
Yeah I get it. Could not agree more.
Plants are crazy expensive and to redo an entire yard could cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Yikes.
But there are ways to save!
If you’re planning on changing your entire yard, it helps to break it up into chunks.
I would recommend planting any trees or large shrubs the first year. Since they’re slower to grow, they’ll be getting a bit of a head start and will be ready sooner. After that, just take it one bed at a time. It will still cost a bit of money, but it’ll be broken up into much more manageable bite sized pieces.
If you’re okay with waiting a bit longer to have a nicer looking garden, there are plenty of nurseries out there that sell plugs or bulbs at much lower costs than a regular garden center. You won’t have the luxury of enjoying your garden the first year, but it will definitely help to save money.
If you’ve got a really tight budget, there are ethical ways to get plants from your surrounding environment. I don’t recommend uprooting entire plants to put in your garden because it removes a valuable resource from animals that need it and gives room for invasive plants to take over. Instead, wait for that plant to go to seed, and collect a few for your garden. This will take a little more work, and will limit your plants to whatever you can find around you, but it will help your wallet out quite a bit.
Well have I got some good news for you!
If you thought tulips were easy, then you’ve got it all wrong. You don’t know what easy gardening is.
These plants have been around for a long time. This isn’t their first rodeo.
It’s not even their second rodeo.
They have been living here longer than you could ever imagine, long before anyone was here to water them or prune them or deadhead them or kiss them goodnight.
They have spent millions of years evolving to grow perfectly in your backyard without any help.
Which makes your life a whole lot easier.
They’re used to the weather and soil conditions, and they don’t need any outside help as long as they are established and where they’re supposed to be. You can put away your fertilizers, your pesticides, and your lawn mower. There’s no need to water them during periods of drought just to keep them alive. Instead of spending your hard earned time and money taking care of your plants, you can lay back, relax, and actually enjoy your beautiful garden
That being said, you still have to follow the Right Plant, Right Place principle.
That’s fine, keep your favorite plants!
Your garden is supposed to be a space where you feel comfortable, at peace, and at home. You deserve to grow and enjoy whatever plants you want.
I love lavender. It is my absolute favorite plant in the whole world. Every candle, soap, and lotion that I own is lavender scented. Do you think I cried when I found out that lavender is from the Mediterranean? Maybe a little, but it didn’t stop me from growing it in my backyard.
I chose to start planting native to help the insects, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t also have my lavender. It’s not a “one or the other” situation. Having a few non native plants doesn’t change all the good work you’re doing with your natives.
Adding native plants to your garden doesn’t mean that you have to get rid of your favorite plants. Next time you’re at the garden center, you can buy your tulips and your daisies, but look around to see if they have any black eyed susan’s as well.
If everyone makes the decision to plant just a few native flowers in their garden, there would be countless times more food and shelter for all of the insects and animals out there.
There are very few people in the world that aren’t totally skeeved out by some kind of insect. They have too many legs, or too many eyes, or they fly too fast, or they look at you in a way that makes you feel like they would crawl into your ears just to ruin your day.
But the reality is that most insects are just living their lives. They want the same things you do: food, shelter, and to watch The Devil Wears Prada for the thousandth time.
I have found that the more I learn about insects, the less they tend to scare me. If a spider moves a little too fast, I’m still going to run screaming out of the room. But if they’re friendly, I don’t mind picking them up every now and then. Not only does learning about them help to get rid of that scary mysterious feeling you get when looking at them, but it also makes you curious. It makes you want to learn more about that new spider in your yard that you don’t recognize.
Most people think native gardens lead to more insects, but you might actually notice them less.
Wildlife is great because they will eat each other. Those spiders you hate? They eat the annoying, pesky flies that are always buzzing around. Ladybugs eat the aphids that are taking over the milkweed. Birds eat the terrifying ticks that give you lyme disease.
There might be more bugs in your yard, but there will be less of the annoying bugs that always seem to find their way up your nose. Instead, you’ll be seeing more butterflies, pollinators, ladybugs, and other predators that prey on those small, pesky insects.
There will always be a thousand and one reasons not to take action. Something will always be a little too hard to figure out, you’ll always have a little more reading to do, it’ll always be just one step out of reach. Don’t get lost in all the little reasons not to go native. Take the leap and find one native plant that you would love to have in your garden. One small step is better than standing still.
Making the switch to a native garden is a big decision, but it doesn’t have to be scary! If you have any questions about how to start your native garden, send me an email at info@hickorytowngardens.com
