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Parks & Rec Business
| Gardening For Wildlife: Plant Native Species By Linda K. Schneider As gardening has become the number-one hobby in this country, thoughts turn to the animals that live in our yards and gardens. Native Species Keeping a region’s unique varieties of plant species is important to local wildlife. As plants and animals evolve together over millions of years, they are called native species to the region. Wildlife depends on these native plants for food and habitat in all seasons. It is the food animals like to eat and the places they choose to live. Food takes many forms, such as nuts, berries, seeds, fruits, nectar, pollen, sap and leaves. Put yourself in their place for a moment: growing up and loving to eat local strawberries. Suddenly, the strawberry fields are replaced with an unfamiliar fruit. Let’s use persimmon as an example, maybe never seen before and certainly a foreign fruit to the New England region. How will you adjust? What will happen to your strawberry shortcake and strawberry pie traditions? Will you replace them with persimmon shortcake and persimmon pie? Maybe, but what if the taste is not to your liking? Once native plants become established, they adapt to the local soil types and climate. They don’t need extra watering, which can be wasteful. They don’t require fertilizers and pesticides that pollute the environment. The very best way to provide for local wildlife is to plant your yard with plant species native to your region. Non-Native Species Plants that come from other parts of the world are called non-native or exotic. Many garden centers sell these plants. Unfortunately, these non-native plants do not provide for local wildlife like native plants do. Non-native plants do not provide food, cover or places to raise young. Some can be considered junk food for birds, like the berries of the invasive, exotic buckthorn. Some may provide only seasonally, where the local varieties provide all year long. Consider the North American cranberry bush that holds its fruit from fall to spring as a food source for robins, grouse and cedar waxwings. Invasive Exotic Plants Once some of these non-native plants are released, they can spread outside the garden and into woodlots and fields. Birds carry the seeds. At this point, they become invasive exotic plants, out-competing and eliminating the native plants. Purple loosestrife is an example of a garden plant “gone wild.” The wildlife suffers, for it is dependent on native species for survival. Many non-native plants have an opposite problem. This region’s climate is not suited to their needs. These high-maintenance varieties need more water, fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides than native plants do. This adds pollutants to the environment and wastes water, a precious resource. But well-established native plants require less watering. They also attract beneficial insects that will take care of the “bad bugs,” so there is no need for pesticides. Exotic plants can be carriers of disease and insects that kill native plants. And these non-native plants may not taste good to the local insects that are the food source for birds and animals. (Remember the strawberry/persimmon example.) This spring, when planning a new garden plot or revitalizing an older one, think about attracting birds, butterflies and wildlife to your yard. Help to maintain and restore the regional ecosystem by planting only native plants. Other benefits include the local history you will learn about these flowers, shrubs and trees, and lower maintenance time in the garden! Visit the following Web sites for more information on native plants: National Wildlife Federation www.nwf.org/backyardwilflifehabitat eNature.com www.enature.com/native_invasive Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center www.wildflower.org and click “Explore Plants” Linda K. Schneider is the District Manager at Ottauquechee Natural Resources Conservation District located in White River Junction, Vt. This District covers 18 towns in Windsor County and one in Rutland County. 802-295-7942 x11 linda.schneider@vt.nacdnet.net http://vacd.org/onrcd REFERENCES: National Wildlife Federation documents |
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