Native Plants in the Garden
Sustainable gardeners everywhere are looking for native plants to 
incorporate into their gardens. Why? To help preserve our botanical heritage, to evoke a sense of place, and because they're so good at providing for wildlife. With natural habitats being lost to development at a rapid clip all over the world, our backyards, however small, are more important than ever as safe havens and food sources for our beloved critters.
Personally, I'm always on the look-out for native plants that work well in my garden, but I take an inclusive approach to plants because there are so many great, sustainable ones from other parts of the world. And you can tell from the plants I grow and the range of opinions in the links below that I'm no native-plant purist. In fact, I try to provide realistic information about how native plants work in landscape settings and to that end, here's what I tell my clients:
How to Choose Native Plants for Your Garden.
Some Good Landscape Plants that are Native to Somewhere in North America
Perennials
- New England asters, indigenous to the Northeast.
- Baptisia australis, indigenous to the Eastern and Southeastern U.S.
- Chelone glabra or Turtlehead is indigenous to the East and Midwest (of the U.S.)
- Chrysogonum virginiana or Green and Gold are indigenous to the Eastern U. S.
- Echinacea purpurea or Purple Coneflower is indigenous to the prairies of the Plains states
- Rudbeckias are indigenous to much of Eastern and Midwestern North America.
- Solidago or Goldenrod is indigenous to much of North America.
Trees and shrubs
- Aesculus parviflora or Bottlebrush buckeye is indigenous from the Carolinas south
- Amelanchier or Serviceberry trees are indigenous to most of the Eastern and Midwestern North America
- Hydrangea quercifolia or Oakleaf Hydrangea are indigenous from Georgia south
- Ilex glabra or Inkberry holly is native to Eastern North America.
- Itea virginica or Virginia Sweetspire is indigenous from New Jersey south
- Kalmia latifolia or Mountain laurel
- Pieris floribunda is native from Virginia south to Georgia. Scroll down on this page (through P. japonica) to find floribunda.
- Pinus strobus or white pine is native from Canada south into Georgia.
- Tsuga canadensis or Canadian hemlocks are native from Georgia to New Brunswick and west to Wisconsin.
- Viburnum nudum is native to most of the Eastern U.S., though the popular cultivated variety 'Winterthur' isn't techically native anywhere.
Know of others? If you've had success with other native plants in your garden, let me know and this list will grow.
The Case for Native Plants
- National Wildlife Federation
- Native Plant Societies
- Books by Ken Druse, Sara Stein and Doug Tallamy
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Other Perspectives
- Against Nativism, Michael Pollan's 1994 piece in the New York Times, is still current.
- Paul James on Native Plants.
- From Harvard's Arnold Arboretum:
- Brave New Ecology by Peter Del Tredici.
- Natives: Another View. [pdf]
- The Illusion of Ecological Restoration
- And Del Tredici's case for choosing sustainable trees.
- A nurseryman's perspective shows that local lawmakers need to check to see if the regs they're writing can be implemented!
- Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University on "The Myth of Native Plant Superiority" [pdf]
Stories from the Garden
- At GardenRant we've had lots of meaty discussions of the controversy. Here they all are.