Department of Conservation and Recreation
Conserve. Protect. Enjoy.
Department of Conservation and Recreation
The benefit of growing plants within the region they evolved is they are more likely to thrive under the local conditions while being less likely to invade new habitats. Native plants are well adapted to local environmental conditions, maintain or improve soil fertility, reduce erosion, and often require less fertilizer and pesticides than many alien plants. These characteristics save time and money and reduce the amount of harmful run-off threatening the aquatic resources of our streams, rivers, and estuaries. In addition, functionally healthy and established natural communities are better able to resist invasions by alien plant species. So the use of native plants can help prevent the spread of alien species already present in a region and help avert future introductions. With the large variety of grasses, ferns, wildflowers, shrubs and trees from which to choose, native plants can fulfill any landscaping need, from simple container gardens to showy perennial borders to expansive public lawns and gardens.
Native plants provide excellent sources of food and shelter for wildlife. As natural habitats are replaced by urban and suburban development, the use of native plants in landscaping can provide essential shelter for displaced wildlife. Land managers can use native plants to maintain and restore wildlife habitat. Native wildlife species evolved with native plant species. Although alien species are often promoted for their value as wildlife food plants, there is no evidence that alien plant materials are superior to native plants. On land managed for upland game animals, native warm season grasses such as big and little bluestem and Indian grass along with native forbs such as black-eyed Susan, blazing star, and mountain-mint offer good sources of nutrition without the ecological threats associated with nonnative forage plants.
There is increasing concern that the loss of our native flora has resulted in the decline of our native pollinator species including many beneficial bee species as well as butterflies and other insects. The use of native plants and particularly milkweed species is of great benefit to the imperiled Eastern population of the monarch butterfly.
Dramatic increases in nesting success of both game birds and songbirds have been observed in fields planted with native grasses, which also offer superior winter cover. In addition, warm season grasses provide productive and palatable livestock forage. (For more information on native warm season grasses contact the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for the publication "Native Warm Season Grasses for Virginia and North Carolina: Benefits for Livestock and Wildlife.")
On a broader ecological scale, planting native species contributes to the overall health of natural communities. Disturbances of intact ecosystems that open and fragment habitat, such as land clearing activities, increase the potential of invasion by alien species. Native plants provide important alternatives to alien species for conservation and restoration projects in these disturbed areas. They can fill many land management needs currently occupied by nonnative species, and often with lower costs and maintenance requirements. Once established in an appropriate area, most native plant species are hardy and do not require watering, fertilizers, or pesticides.
In addition to ecological and land management benefits, the native flora of Virginia offers a surprising variety of color, form, and texture to gardeners and landscape designers. In fact, many familiar and popular landscaping plants such as black-eyed Susan, columbine, and bee balm are native to Virginia. Designing with natives allows the creation of distinctive natural landscapes including woodlands, meadows, and wetlands with unique regional character. In addition, native plants attract a greater variety of butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds and other wildlife than traditional lawns. In fact, the greater the variety of native species included in a landscape, the more likely uncommon or rare species will be attracted to an area.
