What is a native plant?

Plants are defined as native if they occur in a specific region, ecosystem or habitat without any intervention from people, either direct or indirect, according to the U.S. National Arboretum. The arboretum further stipulates that to be considered a native,  a plant needs to have been present before the arrival of Europeans in North America. 

Why grow native plants

Here in the eastern costal area, as in other areas across the country, there is a certain “at homeness” about native plants that adds beauty to a garden.  They provide critical habitats for local butterflies, bees and other wildlife in a manner that most non-natives do not. They long ago adjusted to the variations in soil and weather, so are hardier, more drought resistant, and require less maintenance than non-native plants. Natives help restore natural environments, wildlife and habitats.

Are non-natives harmful?

Some non-native plants such as Azaleas and Camellias, plants indigenous to Asia, co-exist peacefully with native plants although they may not provide the necessary berries, seeds or pollen required by birds, pollinators and other wildlife native to the East Coast.

Many non-natives, some deliberately introduced to the U.S. and others that arrived on their own, are now seen as highly invasive and extremely destructive.  Because they usually have no enemies in the new environment, their aggressive nature enables them to out compete native species in the country’s forests. Even if an invasive plant does not appear to spread in a gardener’s own yard, the seeds are widely dispersed to forests and elsewhere by the wind and birds after they eat the berries. A non-native vine, such as the fragrant wild honeysuckle, can climb young trees and strangle them.  They can form dense thickets, displacing numerous native woody and herbaceous plant species causing ecological and economic harm, according to the USDA Forest Service, which tracks their spread.