If you live in an area with yards, I want you to step away from your computer for a moment and look out your window.
What did you see?
If your neighborhood is like mine and if, unlike mine at this moment, it isn’t covered in snow, you saw lawns. Lots and lots of lawns. You probably also saw trees, shrubs, and (perhaps) flowers, which may or may not be native to your area. But mostly you saw lawns. You may even have seen lawns if you live in the desert southwest. My grandparents in New Mexico maintained a small lawn in front of and behind their house.
Lawns can provide play areas for kids and dogs, but they’re not really good for the environment. They don’t support local wildlife, including pollinators. They require maintenance that harms the ecosystem. Unless you are in an area that receives a decent amount of rain, they need to be watered. They need to be mowed, and unless you are using a push reel mower, that means contributing to air pollution. And then there are the fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides we put on our lawns to make them look pretty.
What if we planted native plants instead?
Okay, maybe you want to keep some of your lawn for the kids and the dogs. Or, maybe you want to get rid of your lawn but are afraid of what the neighbors would think. In some locations, a yard filled with native plants fits right in, but I live in a typical suburban neighborhood. At times, I’ve daydreamed about replacing our front lawn with native plants, but then I think about how much our house would stand out and imagine the neighbors rising up in revolt. Actually, our neighbors are nice, and perhaps changing our landscaping would give other people permission to do so. But being the first in your neighborhood takes a great deal of bravery, so I’ve never proposed this to my husband. Besides, neither of us is really into yard work or landscaping.
But you don’t have to transform your entire yard — especially not in one year. Just shrinking your lawn and adding more native plants can make a difference. You’ll reduce environmental harm and improve the habitat for local wildlife.
How do I go about adding native plants to my yard?
The first step is to identify plants that are native to your area. Several websites can help. The National Wildlife Federation and the National Audubon Society both have native plant finders that help you select plants based on your ZIP code. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center offers more choices for your search, allowing you to select the U.S. state or Canadian province you live in, soil moisture, light requirements, and other characteristics.
You may want to look for organizations in your area that can provide advice on native plants. The Meadow Project has an excellent list broken down by region and state.
When you’re ready to purchase plants, you’ll want to look for a reputable grower. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as walking into your nursery and asking a staff person to direct you to their native plants section. It’s a good idea to educate yourself before you go shopping, so that you know to ask important questions, such as where the plants were propagated. You can also look for a nursery that specializes in native plants. Again, I recommend The Meadow Project for their list of native plant nurseries. Although Portland, Oregon-based PlantNative focuses many of its resources on its area, it does have a list of native plant nurseries throughout the U.S. as well as helpful organizations in the U.S. and Canada.
For many of us in the U.S., the growing season has either just started or has yet to begin. If you have a yard and haven’t made all of your plant purchases, consider making this the year you start going native.