Native Plants

In 2020 my family and I moved to a partially wooded lot. I had done some native planting at our previous house, but this is where I became serious. My husband helped me remove some of the larger exotic shrubs as I methodically worked through the yard.

Initially, my goal was to attract birds and other wildlife to my yard. I have added plants that birds like to help sustain them throughout the year. Then I started adding host plants for butterflies. I enjoy watching them flit about the yard. Eventually, I started getting excited about the plants themselves. Maybe they have an interesting lifecycle, flowers or foliage. I try to plant things that will be interesting in different seasons, so there is always something to see or smell. For the spaces between plants, I allow small native perennials to grow, and weed the rest. Most of my exotics are gone, but there are still a few that provide cover for my cardinals and wrens. Hopefully, as my native shrubs grow, they will fill this need and I can replace the remainder of the exotics.

I absolutely love that my yard helps sustain the native ecosystem. I feel that I am a part of nature, rather than separate. It takes a little time, money and effort, but once you get native plants , they take care of themselves. Last year I didn’t have a lot of time to work in the yard, but I still reaped the benefits all year long!