Native Plant Groupings

Creating a planting plan can feel overwhelming at first - there are so many different plants to choose from, and many factors to consider. There are many wonderful guides out there to follow (one we love is the NWF "How to Design a Better Wildlife Garden" - which you can find on our Books and Articles page) - we won't be covering all the aspects one should consider when making your plan, or providing an exhaustive guide for planning here.

However, one of the things we started to think about when working on adding native plants to our yard was looking at which plants tend to grow together in wild/naturalized areas, and extrapolating that to our yards and gardens. In nature, these plants have evolved alongside one another to thrive in the same environment and to complement each other. They prefer similar soil and water requirements, and have adapted to the challenges these environments face.

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Note : Where we use "pairs" or "groups" - some folks may refer to this as "Companion Planting" - we are not using that term here as it seems that this phrase has a more specific definition in gardening. "Companion plants" have a mutually beneficial relationship when planted close together - they might attract pollinators, deter pests, improve the soil or maximize space (like the "Three Sisters" planting method of corn, squash and beans, or marigolds planted near veggies to deter pests). While some of these do maximize space, we did not want to incorrectly infer some kind of active, symbiotic type relationship with this topic.

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Some of these paired plants may differ in their light exposure preferences - for example in a forested area with tall Douglas Firs you will usually also find Evergreen Huckleberry and Sword Ferns. The Evergreen Huckleberry (or EG Huckle as I like to call it) can grow in full sun to full shade - so while the Douglas Firs are small, the EG Huckle is able to grow in the open spaces in full sun, but it can also tolerate more shade as the trees grow and fill in the area. On the other hand, Sword Ferns prefer full shade so they are able to thrive beneath these dense canopies after these plants have grown bigger. This is a simplified example - there are many other factors to consider - but we felt like this was something we could utilize in planning.

When you are assessing your yard or garden, a starting place could be to catalog which plants are already doing well. For example, Jess' backyard had a long line of Incense Cedars in a neighbors yard, providing dense shade and dry soil - in this example, Sword Ferns, Wild Ginger and Oxalis have thrived in this area of the yard, while plants that require more sun have not done as well.

We have put together some groupings (with fun names!) for folks to reference. The plan is to share information and resources about these different pairings in separate, focused blog posts and then find examples of them in nature to share on Instagram for visual inspiration.

Native Plant Groupings

(Oak) Savanna Sidekicks: Usually 6-8 hrs sunlight per day, and well drained soil. Often a meadow-type environment, but can develop into combination shrubland/forest.

Alpine Associates: Drier, harsh, high-elevation and rocky soil environments. Tolerant of poor/challenging conditions.

Coastal Colleagues: Moist, well drained, poor soil conditions, generally not tolerant of high heat conditions.

'Desert' Dearests: Hot, sunny, and dry/poor soil conditions.

Forest Friends: Shade to partial shade, generally rich, moist to dry soils.

Marsh Mates: Moist soil to fully immersed in water, generally not too hot or cold.

Prairie Pals: Full sun, dry soil, minimal to no canopies - wildflower meadows!

Bonus Category: Water Wise Winners! Either adapted to grow in low water / dry soil environments, or dormant during summer drought. Good choices for a lower maintenance, environmentally conscious garden in a changing climate.

Sparrowhawk Native Plants has categories like this already built that you can review - on their website, click "Browse Native Plants" then choose the category you want (ie: Oakscape, Shady Woodland Garden, etc) - per their instruction, filter by moisture level and check out the options!

Check out our blog posts for each group for more details!