What Are Native Plants - And Why We Care

While this concept is growing in popularity here in the PNW, we thought it was worthwhile to review a few key notes about native plants.

Plants are considered native when they have grown and evolved in specific areas and ecosystems. They've adapted to and with their environment. They thrive in the local seasonal changes, sun/shade exposure, access to moisture, soil types, and interspecies relationships. Often they have developed mutually beneficial relationships with other plants, insects and animals in the area. As such, they are particularly well suited to survive and thrive in their native range. There is a common misconception that native plants look weedy or are challenging in a garden. I believe that there is no place more beautiful then a old growth PNW forest, Oak Savanna, or coastal trail. Let's bring that energy home. The peace of a PNW prairie as bees and butterflies flit about, birds chirping in the trees. I no longer want to live in a waste land devoid of life. I want joy, community, and wonderment just out my front door...

Most developed spaces have been stripped of their native plants and replaced with exotic, (sometimes invasive) plants. These spaces may offer some support to native pollinators, or provide an edible berry to animals and people (for example Himalayan Blackberry), but native plants offer far more support to the local invertebrates and the rest of the food chain. Native plants often collaborate with the plants around them, improving soil quality and our watershed.

Many of us have grass lawns, homeowners, renters, and park visitors alike. This is called a monoculture - where only one species/crop is grown in a certain area. While monocultures have been deemed successful in certain endeavors such as agriculture, it does little to support the native ecosystems where we live.

(A very brief synopsis of the history of lawns): A preference for manicured grass increased in Europe in the 1700s, and was thought to display wealth as they required significant maintenance. This was adopted in the United States by wealthy landowners, then spread to the suburbs. This led to a rise in the market for tools, herbicides and pesticides being used by citizens to maintain their status by keeping a perfectly uniform, green grass lawn.

There are benefits to an open, grassy area (we both have dogs with zoomies and who doesn't love a cookout!) AND our yards could have less grass. Two things can be true. There are edges and corners that could be joyful with a native groundcover, a hell strip that could use a glow up, a wet spot that could use a raingarden, or a steep slope is begging for deep roots to stabilize the soil.

I have been inspired and educated by many resources. Jess loves a book! Bellow are some of her favorite books, where you can learn more about native plants in general, and all of these have sections with specific plant profiles. See our Resources page for more of our favorite resources!

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