Selecting Native Plants

Imitate Nearby Natural Settings

The best way to determine which native plants are appropriate for your property is to identify the native plants growing in the surrounding area under similar conditions, including amount of sun, type of soil, amount of moisture in the soil, and types of neighboring plants. (Books for plant identification are listed in the Resources and Further Reading section at the end of this booklet.)

Note which native species grow near other native species, because this can be a good indication of which plants can be planted together without one species taking over. In order to attract a variety of native birds and butterflies, plant as many of the plant species you see growing nearby as possible. In addition, select and arrange the plants so that they vary in height from taller trees to ground covers, and so that you create a mixture of plant densities (some clumped, some spaced, and some open areas).

Starting From Scratch

1. Evaluate Your Yard

If there aren't many native plants nearby, you can still figure out which natives are appropriate once you determine how much moisture and sunlight the planting area gets, and how well the soil holds moisture. Take note of which areas receive full sun throughout the day, which receive sunlight only part of the day, and which areas are in the shade most or all of the day. Also notice whether the shade is complete, or if patches of sunlight filter through. You may find it helpful to draw a rough map of your yard.

To evaluate how moist the soil is and how well it holds moisture, dig a hole in the ground about six inches deep and six inches wide. Look at and feel the material you remove from the hole to see how moist or dry it is, and whether it has a lot of sand, gravel, organic matter, or clay. Then fill the hole with water, and watch how fast the water soaks into the ground. There is no hard-and-fast rule here, but if the soil soaks the water up so fast you can't fill it with water, you have very well-drained soil. And if the water is still in the hole two hours later, you definitely have poorly-draining soil. You may want to dig a number of these test holes in different areas to see if soil conditions are the same throughout your yard.

Take note of areas that are near streams or other bodies of water. Also pay attention to whether there are areas of pooling or continual dryness.

2. Use Native Plant Associations to Mimic Nature

Once you have determined the amount of sunlight and moisture and type of soil on your site, you can use the following native plant associations to decide what to plant. Rather than provide a list of plants from which to haphazardly pick-and-choose, we suggest using these plant associations so you can re-create the mix of natives that normally grow together under natural conditions.

Each native plant association is named after the amount of sunlight and soil moisture occurring where that association grows. To find the association appropriate to your property, look for the sun-moisture combination existing in the area you want to plant. While not exhaustive, the associations listed cover the most common situations and species found in our region.

Each native plant association begins with a description of the setting (sunlight, soil, water) and what the vegetation growing there would look like in the wild. Although the area you wish to plant probably won't fit the whole description, it should match the amount of sunlight, type of soil, and amount of moisture. The rest of the description will give you an overall idea of what the area will eventually look like if you plant the suggested species.

Most of the descriptions simply refer to "canopy" (the uppermost layer of vegetation), "understory" (smaller trees and shrubs below the canopy), or "ground covers" (herbaceous plants, ferns, and other low-lying plants). Below the description are lists of plant species included in these categories.

Try to plant as many of the natives listed as possible, as this will create diversity that will attract native birds and butterflies and continue looking natural over the years. Take note of the native plants that grow in the area, and feel free to add these species to your list of plants.

Before you go shopping for any of these plants, write down each plant's unique, scientific (latin) name, as many of the plants listed have more than one common name or share their common name with some other plant.

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