9 Tips for Landscaping With Native Plants

With native bee and insect species in decline, planting native plant species in the landscape is an amazing way to help these local bug populations. Native animals evolve alongside native plant species, and with time, they form valuable partnerships with each other. 

One example of a native plant and animal partnership is between the famous Monarch butterfly and its plant of choice, milkweed. Adult Monarch butterflies lay eggs on milkweed plants, and their larvae hatch and devour the plant’s foliage. They prefer the milkweed plant, and their populations struggle to survive in areas without it. 

Taking the time to research what plants grow naturally in your area pays off in the long run. You’ll know which species help your local ecosystem and what conditions they prefer. Contrary to popular belief, a native plant garden can be tidy and have loads of curb appeal. Follow these simple tips, and you’ll have a gorgeous native garden in no time! 

Know Your Garden

The first step in knowing what to plant is knowing your garden. When I first moved into the house I live in now, I spent weeks studying where the sun reached, which spots were shady, and how wet the dirt was. Then, a year later, I knew better what my garden’s environmental conditions were.

I’m not saying you have to study your garden for a year! Simply looking at the yard, seeing what plants are already growing, and identifying your garden’s current conditions will help you select the proper natives for your landscape.

If you live in Arizona with full sun, your native plant garden will have very different growing conditions than one in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, each garden has microclimates that further influence the environment. Living in Arizona behind a mountain provides extra shade and water protection than being on open-valley land. 

Other microclimate influencers are tall fences, hills, and overhead trees. One way to learn about your garden is by taking a weekly garden walk and slowly perusing each space as you go. Over time you’ll notice the subtle changes in the landscape and see what plants prefer to grow where. 

Identify Local Native Plants

What to plant in a native garden depends on your location, and that is where the fun comes in! Your area has a distinct climate, humidity, and rainfall level. When you learn what natives grow in these conditions in your local area, you learn what will thrive in your backyard. 

Most plants grow in distinct regions. For example, the Western bleeding heart grows on the West Coast, and the fringed bleeding heart grows in the Appalachians. Select local natives for your garden, and they’ll thrive with less care than their non-native relatives. 

Some plant species grow well in areas outside of their native range, like purple coneflower, known scientifically as Echinacea purpurea. This Midwest prairie native grows well throughout the U.S. and naturalizes in areas outside of its native range. Follow this chart for a quick breakdown of common native plants and their area of origin. 

For more ideas on what to plant in your region, use your zip code to find recommendations from the National Wildlife Federation.

Learn Your Plant’s Ideal Conditions

Within any state in the U.S., there are many different ecosystems. Even in your local area, there may be multiple types of topography that influence native plant populations. California gardeners have alpine, coast, valley, and desert climates all in one state! Other states are similarly diverse. Figure out which ecoregion you live in to determine which plants work there.

Learning what plants like in their native conditions will help you decide which plants grow best in your garden, and it will help you know how to adapt your yard for native species to survive. I live in the Pacific Northwest and have learned that the native shrub snowberry likes the shade. So what do I do? I plant snowberry in the shade in my yard, and it loves it! 

If you garden in Montana, your local species and what they prefer are very different than those in the PNW. You might want to use Lewisia rediviva, a plant species known as bitterroot, especially since it is the state flower of Montana! Noting that it likes steep drainage, you’d add it to a part of the yard where water drains well. 

This is one scenario of many, and depending on your state, your situation may be very different! Work with the conditions already present in your yard, and match it to plants that thrive in them.  

Collect Seeds with Care

Want to get your hands dirty? Collecting seeds is the best way to do it. Please note though, that seed collecting is a careful thing, and it is best done with consideration for native plant species. If everyone collected all the native seeds, plants wouldn’t have a way to reproduce and they’d struggle to survive.

A good rule of thumb is to never take more than a quarter of an individual plant’s seeds. This way, the specimen has enough seeds to continue its genetic line, and you have seeds to sow in your garden! Sample seeds from a few different plants so that your seed mix is genetically diverse. 

After collecting seeds, you may have to chafe, winnow, or clean them. Strip them off their papery coatings and let them dry. Keep seeds in cool, dark, and dry conditions. Some species can be sown in spring, while others need a period of cold-stratification and should be sown in fall.

Add Non-Invasive Introduced Species

Introduced species aren’t all bad! Some are incredibly beneficial for native species, and they fill in ecological gaps in cities that some native plants struggle to. Because cities often contain harsh conditions for plants, planting non-native, non-invasive species helps pollinators in these areas have ample nectar and pollen for nutrition.

Especially as the climate changes rapidly and garden zones require consistent updating, plants move as they please to fit new ecological niches. Gardeners in the Pacific Northwest are now experimenting with Southern California natives like manzanita and agave due to the long, hot summers of late with little rainfall. 

Some helpful introduced plants in the U.S. can boost your area’s biodiversity, which is especially helpful in cities where biodiversity is low. As long as you avoid invasive species, feel free to mix some exotic plants into your native garden. However, a concentration of native plants better supports native wildlife.

Remove Invasive Species

Some introduced species are more harmful than they are helpful, and they drive native plant populations to extinction. These are not your average plants, as they find new ecological niches with little pests or diseases. Then, they outcompete native species and spread readily.

In the South there is kudzu, in the PNW there is Himalayan blackberry and English ivy, and on the East Coast there is Japanese honeysuckle. These are but some of a few invasive species that harm local plant populations by creating monocultures. 

Remove invasive species by mowing them close to the ground or by digging them out. Then, cover the site with at least a foot of mulch. Clear any sprouts that come up, and the plants should die over time. Some invasive species, like Himalayan blackberry, require biannual cutting of their sprouts until they die. 

The best way to keep an invasive species out is to prevent its spread in the first place. After you remove one, keep a close eye on the garden to prevent it from reestablishing itself. Look to the chart below for more examples of invasive species in North America.

Replace The Lawn

Speaking of monocultures, the most common in the U.S. are grass lawns! These green squares look fantastic. However, they are examples of ecological deserts. Grasses kept mowed lack nectar, habitat space, and seeds for local wildlife.

If you enjoy your lawn, consider shrinking it to a considerable size and planting native shrubs and trees at the margins. Dig up the grass, compost it, and add mulch to the dig site. Then plant whatever natives you’d like! That way, you still have your lawn, and you now have birds, plants, and wildlife to observe from your grassy knoll. 

Another option for complete lawn removal is turning it into a meadow habitat. Do the same process of digging the grass, composting it, and adding mulch to the dig site. Then, in the fall or spring, broadcast native prairie species seeds across the area and water well. Soon, your lawn will be waist-high and full of native wildflowers! This is especially relevant to people in prairie ecoregions.

Use Trees, Shrubs, and Perennials

Having a varied mix of plant types in the garden is a boon for all species. Different forms often benefit from each other, such as the Western sword fern preferring to grow under the shade of big-leaf maple and Douglas fir trees. 

A mix of perennials, annuals, shrubs, and trees ensures a pleasant garden design. Layering a tall tree with shade-loving shrubs, then perennials in front of the shrubs, and short flowers at the front is a pleasing style. Not only this, but this diversity also provides a wealth of resources for the fauna that need plants to survive. 

Want to plant native plants in containers or planters? The same design mix works well here, and it goes by the name of a thriller, filler, and spiller combination. This means you plant a tall, striking native in the center of the planter as the “thriller.” Then, the “fillers” are shorter plants that grow at the base of the thriller. Finally, the “spillers” are ground covers or vines that flow out of the planter. An example of a native trio for the PNW is an Oregon grape thriller, Western bleeding heart filler, and kinnikinic filler. 

Transplant In Fall or Spring

Why does transplanting at a specific time matter? Summer heat and winter cold are hard on plants and are especially difficult conditions for establishing plants. They require additional assistance from nature because they recently underwent the shock of transplanting. 

Plant natives in the fall or spring, and you have moderate temperatures, increased rainfall, and mild climates for transplants and seeds to establish themselves. Use nature to your benefit, and plant when conditions are mild.

I learned this lesson the hard way after planting a yard for a client in the heat of summer. Not only did the hydrangea, Japanese maple, and oregano struggle, but they also required extra irrigation and care than I’d initially thought necessary. Now, I only plant in the fall or spring, and the plants thank me for it.