Native plants are those that were growing in a particular area prior to European settlement. Wisconsin has a wide variety of native plants because of our diverse landscape of prairies, woodlands and savannas.
Native plants aren’t just for people that have acreage to devote to restoring prairies! There are many reasons to consider using native plants in your home landscape. Since native plants have been here for so long, they are adapted to our Wisconsin climate – the temperature extremes, the rainy periods and the occasional droughts. They are also comfortable growing in our soils. This means that they don’t need a lot of coddling in the form of extra water, fertilizer or soil additives.
Many native plants have deep roots that soak up rainfall and reduce runoff of nutrients and chemicals that pollute our lakes and groundwater.
Native plants support many more species of insects than do introduced or alien plants. You may not think this is important, but it is. Yes, there are some insects that sting, bite or otherwise irritate us humans. But 99% of them provide food either directly or indirectly for most other animals. This includes humans. If insects were to disappear, the human race would soon follow.
In contrast, alien plants support very few species of insects. Have you seen “pest free” in a plant description? That is not always a good thing. Yes, insects will leave the plants alone, but that plant is not making any contribution to the ecosystem in which it lives, other than to sit there and look pretty. Not that looking pretty is a bad thing, but there is certainly a native plant that will look just as pretty and do some good as well.
Here is an example. Phragmites is an ornamental grass that came to this county from Australia, over three hundred years ago. In its native Australia, it supports 170 species of insects, while even after three centuries, it supports only five in North America. Phragmites is just recently becoming an extremely invasive plant in wetlands throughout the eastern U.S. and in the Pacific Northwest, another hazard of alien plants. You never know when conditions will become favorable for their populations to explode and crowd out native plants.
Even if you can’t bring yourself to care about the millions of insect species, what about birds, something many gardeners enjoy watching? Baby birds do not eat seeds and berries. They need insect larvae to survive. If the landscape is a sterile one comprised of alien plants that don’t support insects, those baby birds will not live.
The book Landscaping With Native Plants of Wisconsin by Lynn M. Steiner is an excellent resource for those looking to make their landscapes more than just a pretty picture.
If you’d like to learn more, attend the 15th annual Toward Harmony With Nature landscaping conference sponsored by the Fox Valley Area Chapter of Wild Ones on Saturday, January 29 at Oshkosh Convention Center. See www.towardharmonywithnature.info or call Judy at 920-525-2236 for more information.
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