Native plant gardening is one of the fastest growing sectors of horticulture in North America today. I started growing native plants 20 years ago, but I was not really an early adopter; there were lots of books written in the 70s, 80s and 90s about growing native plants. A good number of these are on my bookshelves. 

We all start growing natives for our own reasons. Initially, for me, it was to add plants that I remembered from childhood growing up in a rural area. Our fields were full of these “weeds” that were quite beautiful. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that most of them were actually not native, but were, instead, garden escapes. These included things like chickory, mullein, goat’s beard, and teasel.  

But the more I read and discovered, the more intrigued I became with those plants that were truly native to where I lived. And after a lifetime of gardening, I finally found a set of plants that I could get passionate about. 

In the beginning, I suspect it was the novelty of growing something “different” that drew me. But as my gardens started to fill with native flowers, so my yard started to fill with butterflies, dragonflies, fireflies, hummingbirds and a wide range of fascinating bees, wasps, flower flies, and other important pollinators. 

Did you know that 90% of insects develop ONLY on plants for which they share an evolutionary history – i.e. NATIVE plants?  

Many of the people reading this will be familiar with Doug Tallamy’s work in the US showing that it takes 5-6000 caterpillars to successfully fledge a nest of Carolina chickadees. His work also showed that the adults need at least 70% native plants within their nesting territory to successfully fledge a nest of babies. He also showed that less than 30% native plants will result in the complete loss of the nest. We can probably safely assume that similar figures will hold true for almost all songbird species. 

Why are caterpillars so important? For starters, caterpillars are soft and easy to digest. In addition, they contain more protein, ounce per ounce, than beef. In fact, caterpillars transfer more energy from plants to other species than any other animal. If we have no caterpillars, we will have failed food webs.  

Interesting fact: 14% of our native plants support 90% of our caterpillars. These plants are referred to as Keystone Plants. 

Non-native plants do not support the diversity of insects – caterpillars in particular – necessary to support the food web. If we grow mostly non-natives, we will have fewer bugs which means fewer birds. And 90% of plants require insect pollinators, so if we have fewer insects, we end up with fewer plants. And we need plants for oxygen, for food (directly) and for food indirectly (in the form of animals that eat plants).   

North America has lost 3 billion birds in just the last 50 years. I wonder how much of that is the result of monoculture lawns and non-native gardens that result in no caterpillars for the baby birds. 

You don’t need to replace all your non-natives with native species. But the more native plants you grow, the more you will want to grow – especially once you see the biodiversity that appears in your garden once you do. 

Let’s grow more native plants, feed more caterpillars, bees and birds. We CAN make a difference, one garden at a time. 

A Few Plants You Can Grow for Butterflies (Pictorial) 

A Bigger List of Butterfly Host Plants