Sustainable Plants

There are plenty of sustainable plants to choose from — ones that require no spraying, no synthetic fertilizer, little or no supplemental watering and little or no fussing by the gardener at all. They’re earth-friendly and gardener-friendly plants, so what’s not to love? Here are the terms you’ll see describing these easy plants:

Drought-tolerant. Now if your site is a consistently soggy one, drought-tolerant plants won’t work and I suggest Googling “wet plants.” But for most situations and increasingly with global warming, drought-tolerance is key to sustainability.

Resistant to disease and severe insect damage. Minor insect damage? Get over it.

Gotta be Native?

The National Wildlife Federation in its advice about sustainable gardening says that sustainable plants are native plants — a term that’s usually interpreted to mean locally native. And native plants DO sustain wildlife better as a group than do nonnatives, so sustainable gardeners include native plants in their gardens. But in landscape situations and now with climate change, many plants from other places (e.g., the Mediterranean region) are great at adapting to inhospitable conditions and thus are included in many lists of sustainable plants, like this one. These plants, regardless of their origin, were all recommended as “sustainable”in the Mid-Atlantic region by the many local gardening experts I consulted for this article.

More Myth-Busting

Even the most drought-tolerant plants typically require careful watering during their first year, and sometimes longer. So don’t assume a plant is drought-tolerant until at least its second full season. This is especially true of any plant installed in the spring (which is why fall planting is usually best.)
Many drought-tolerant plants are Mediterranean and need good drainage if they’re to survive our winter and our wet springs. So berms are helpful and well-draining soil a must. That means that if your soil is mostly clay, remove some and replace it with garden soil, or improve the clay with organic matter and coarse sand.
Where I’ve found contradictory information about a plant, with the literature saying one thing and local gardeners another, I’ve noted them as “possibly” sustainable.
Some of these plants in this article are on watch lists for possible invasive behavior because of reports from other parts of the country (nandina, liriope, ornamental grasses, butterfly bush, and daylilies), but no plants on local lists of invasive plants have been included.
I’ve used common names where the Latin names are less familiar.

Nonnative Sustainable Plants

I’ve surveyed gardening experts across the D.C. region for these recommendations. For more great sustainable plants, see my Perennials and Shrubs pages on this site.

Grasses: Carex, dwarf Mondo grass, Liriope, and most large ornamental grasses.

Perennials: Agastaches, Asters, Baptisia, Chinese Fringe Flower, daylilies, Dianthus, Epimedium, Hellebores, Heucheras, Hostas, Mazus, *purple coneflower, Rudbeckias, Sedums, Penstemon digitalis, Russian sage, Salvias, Sempervivums, and Sweet Autumn clematis. *(Some sources list Echinacea purpurea as native to the East Coast, though most list it as native to the Midwest, having been brought to the East by Lewis and Clark.)

Shrubs/small trees: Abelias, Aucuba, azaleas, Beautybush, butterfly bush, Caryopteris, Cotoneasters, Crapemyrtles (especially those with Indian names), Deutzia, Forsythias, Fothergilla, several Hydrangea paniculatas, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Asian and hybrid dogwoods, Junipers, Lespedeza, Mahonias, Nandina, Photinia, Rugosa roses, landscape roses like ‘Knockout’, Sarcococca, Spiraeas, Viburnums, Witch Hazel, Weigelia, Winter jasmine, Yaupon holly, and Yucca.